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Japanese urban areas are not particularly dense though. They could handle easily 20%-50% more people depending on the place. Given their have the most comprehensive subway/railway network in the world, as the great high speed connections, they would actually do even better with a higher...

Japan is in a much more confortable position than South Korea right now. Their fertility rate actually increased compared to the 1990's and it's now at 1.4. South Korea, meanwhile, plunged to abysmal 0.9. The number of births dropped from 715k in 1995 to 275k or so in 2020. There's nothing rosy...

Wouldn't "Portugal-Brazil" be more likely, as Austria-Hungary? Lusitania = Portugal, so Brazil would be erased out just after being elevated to the United Kingdom status.

As long as the capital remains in Lisbon, I don't see why Portugal would break up from Brazil, regardless how big its former colony will have became. Capitals don't vote/fight for losing their hinterlands.

I guess West Germany was a bit like that till 1968.

That’s very interesting concept. Berlin as world’s federal district, butterflies would be huge, from Cold War in Europe and even to the UN, that might be have grown more influential in this neutral territory.

One possibility for this scenario is Brazil not secede from Portugal in 1822. Brazil is 20x more populated than Portugal and would eventually completely dominated their United Kingdom, while from the start would give Brazil interests in Europe, Africa and Asia.

But it’s not bad either. Farming output is impressive, and after decades of insane growth, Brazil might as well overtake the US. Mining is abundant, and recently even oil. Hydroelectric power is a big plus.

So a very broader concept with a very narrow academic application, as put together countries with completely different cultures, politics, history and economic realities. There is a mid-high income country like Chile or Uruguay in the same basket of Burundi or Somalia, with a GDP per capita 50x...

Indeed, that's a strong possibility. South America would be too small for such powerful country. I guess, if there was some Partition of Africa, Brazil, being geographically closer and with its monarchy European connections, it's more likely to take part on it than the US. I don't think it would...

I agree with most of it. A more powerful monarchy promoting social changes, more immigrants, those are a must. However, I don't see Brazil having territorial ambitions in Africa. The country is huge, lots of natural resources to explore, making colonial adventures a bit pointless. That's a bit...

Arguably before, opening up Japan and China, for example. But I meant a big debut, like the post-WWII, where the US start to interfere in every corner of the globe, as Britain did before. If China picks up Germany, than Japan would probably be pushed to Russian/French arms, while Britain, by...

Indeed. For the most of 19th century, those three were the world's biggest players. It was only the incredibly rise of Germany that locked them together. In this scenario, where must be avoided, they would probably drift apart. And if we were to expect Russia to become relatively stronger from...

In São Paulo, somewhere around the turn of the century, Italians were also a majority. New waves kept arriving, but as assimilation happened so fast, Italian was quickly dropped. Naturally, on Southern Brazil, Italian and German dialects are present even today, but that's a relic of a more rural...

I don't think that's possible. Brazil actually got big waves of European immigrations in the 19th century and first half of 20th century, and Portuguese remained firmly entrenched. Rural German and Italian in Southern Brazil last longer, but the urban Italian in São Paulo fades away extremely...

Anyway, the country would probably be a bit isolationist as the US in the 19th century, due its continental character. In South America, however, Uruguay, Paraguay, parts of Argentina, eastern Bolivia, parts of Peruvian, Colombian, and Venezuelan Amazon, part of Guianas would be annexed in...

I'd talk about that. A superpower Brazil would definitely be very linked to European affairs, probably much more than OTL US. Europe has always been by far the major economic and cultural reference to the country. Brazil has always been more interested on Europe, after all, it's a classic...

I guess the best moment for this type of organization would be in the early 1900's, when the idea was the strongest. They would probably bring representatives from Canada, Newfoundland, Cape, Natal, Australia and New Zealand into Westminster while keeping their local parliaments for domestic...

I was taking a look at Angus Maddison historical GDP tables, and in 1900 Britain was at US$ 184 bi (1990 USD), Germany at US$ 162 bi and Russia US$ 154 bi. Russia relatively declined between 1870-1900 but then started to once again grow faster than its rivals. In 1913, it was US$ 224 bi, US$ 237...

Yes, it's an interesting concept indeed. It would serve as an exciting backdrop for different timelines, with different focuses, from regular AH to science fiction. I, for one, believe history is very unpredictable and therefore small changes might easily butterfly huge events.