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It probably would have depended on the perceived value of the area. The VOC only established itself at the Cape after three attempts to take Mozambique Island. The latter was seen as much more valuable due to the ivory and cloth trade. Additionally, it did not require a large number of settlers...

If the Congo Free State had not been established, it is unlikely that the entirety of the present-day DRC would have gone to one single European nation. In the 1870s, the Portuguese Geographic Society had claimed an area of Portuguese suzerainty that roughly extended as far north as the Kasai...

In the XVIII century the Safavids had hoped that the Portuguese would send a fleet against the Omanis and Goa ruminated about doing so in 1720. A monastery with Augustinian friars in Isfahan under Portuguese protection would serve as the unofficial Portuguese embassy until the mid XVIII century...

There was still the Portuguese factory at Kung/Kong where they traded with the Safavids, though it was abandoned by 1748. I imagine Southern Persia would be an area with camels. Additionally the Armenian traders with licenses at Dio were known to trade in the Makran well into the XVIII century.

The following are some of the suitable candidates around 1815 to 1816. Maria Carolina of Bourbon-Two Sicilies 1798-1870 Maria Anna of Saxony 1799-1832 Elisabeth Ludovika of Bavaria 1801-1873 Maria Luisa of Austria, Princess of Tuscany 1798-1857 Maria Theresa of Austria, Princess of Tuscany...

Regarding Madagascar, it just did not seem to be somewhere of interest mostly because it was thought that it would require a great deal of force to conquer.

The Portuguese government did consistently attempt to get Britain to intervene on its behalf in South America, however during the time of Pombal at least the British government did not see this as a worthwhile venture. The reason being that Brazil was closed off to direct British trade and...

During that period a lot really depends on the Marquis de Pombal's policy, but had he not been minister it would have probably been much more likely as Central Lisbon was still in ruins and an invasion would have only worsened things.

Moving of the court to Brazil had been proposed by Luís da Cunha to John V in 1736 stating that Brazil was necessary for Portugal's survival, but Portugal was not necessary for the survival of Brazil. He argued that Brazil's economic wealth would allow the King much greater leverage on the...

I'm not too familiar on the social structure of the Khoisan people at the time nor the Xhosa, but usually most slaves were bartered with African leaders whom would sell captives from enemy tribes. Perhaps they were seen in such a light that they were not worth trading, compared with say the...

This was the most complete description I could find by Theodore Edward Jones in 1772 in: "A New and Universal Geographical Grammar Or, a Complete System of Geography, Containing the Ancient and Present State of All the Empires, Kingdoms, States, and Republics, in the Known World ..." "The...

It is important to remember that the length of slave voyages were not the main determinant of where slaves were imported from. Slaves were not all equal in value in the eyes of the traders. Mozambique Island to Rio de Janeiro in a slave ship during the XVIII century took around an average of 75...

Southern Africa was far too sparsely populated, Mozambique is in Southeast Africa and did become a major source of slaves during the last quarter of the XVIII century, especially as Angola was becoming depopulated. Almost 275,000 arriving in Brazil alone came from Mozambique. Another 74,000 were...

Cuba and Puerto Rico were economic backwaters until the late XVIII century. During the first two and a half centuries of Spanish rule the Spanish Crown did not encourage sugar exports to Spain as a result of wanting to protect Andalusian producers. The result was that sugar production along with...

Much of North America was considered largely a worthless wilderness, especially when compared with the lands of the West Indies and South America by the European powers. Settlement in New England was largely an accident as the first choice was in Guiana. The latter was based on the descriptions...

New Light on Sir Richard Grenville, Vol. 1 by R. Pearse Chope, 1917 pg 280-282

Present-day South Africa was a sparsely populated country until the twentieth century. In 1904, it's total population was 5,175,463, with the breakdown being: 67.5% African, 21.5% were white, 8.6% coloured, and 2.4% Indian. So achieving a white plurality would be feasible if it had been...

The French Crown did have the resources to effectively settle North America, it just chose not to do so. North America was thought of as being largely worthless and desolate. Afterall, the value of trade with the West Indies was around 100 times greater, so it seemed pointless to expend funds on...

In 1574, Sir Richard Grenville had proposed establishing a settlement near the Rio de La Plata as these lands were unoccupied by the Spanish. Queen Elizabeth was attempting a rapprochement with Spain at the time so these plans did not come to fruition. A few years later, Drake spoke highly of...

Perhaps as a penal colony like Australia, Dutch Algeria could attract larger numbers of Dutch settlers. The French tried this, but found that many would return home afterwards. Overall, Algeria failed to attract many immigrants from Northern France except for refugees from now German...