colonialism

So this is a question that's been rattling around in my head for a while now. What exactly caused the Congo to become even more impoverished? It is very rich in natural resources, with a large-enough population, so what was stopping a government from forming that would utilize its resources...

French Indochina, initially a protectorate in southern Cambodia, expanded northwards over time. But here I contemplate a scenario wherein France retains solely over a more expansive Cochinchina region Cochinchina was the most "developed" among the territories, and was de facto and de jure...

Do you have some ideas about possible colonial projects of a United Kingdom of the Netherlands surviving in 1830? Will this stronger union of the low countries be able to expand its colonial empire more than Belgium and Netherlands did OTL?

Before the European conquest of almost all of Africa in the late 19th century, the continent was home to many different states. Some noteworthy ones include: The Sultanate of Zanzibar, which ruled over the coast of what is now Tanzania and Kenya at its height and had vassals further inland...

Basically, I’m thinking of the changes in history if the marriage between Isabel I of Castille and Ferdinand of Aragon did not happen and instead she married either Afonso V or John II of Portugal, leading to a dynastic union between those two realms. I've read some threads here about this...

If China somehow managed to hold Siberia indefinitely, let's say up to the Yenisey River, and the part of Central Asia that the Qing lost in our reality in the 1870s, I think it would be possible to overwhelm these regions with Han settlers without using ASB. You could already stack up 20...

What would be some colonies that could European nations could have plausibility kept control of with relatively little effort? This is not meant to be a ‘No Decolonization’ thread rather it’s more about what colonies could have realistically stayed with European nations until the present without...

One question I've asked myself recently is How would the progression of science and technology be affected globally without European colonialism? Would technology progress slower then it did in OTL, or would the lack of colonialism allow for native cultures to progress faster scientifically...

I came up with this idea for my TL I'm trying to piece together and thought it would be cool to how different things would if a few African States stayed independent besides just two countries. For the Boer Republics I'm obviously referring to Transvaal and the Orange Free State, Madagascar is...

one thing point I have made a lot on discusions on the morality of colonialism is that even people who insist it was benign or that they deserve to keep colonial loot is that if things had gone differently and their countries had been colonized they would be singing a different tune. I kind of...

One alternate history scenario that interests me is if England somehow colonized Mexico before Spain did, in this timeline we will assume that either Spain shows no interest in colonizing Mexico thus Mexico remains uncolonized long enough for England to have a chance to colonize Mexico or Spain...

Do you think any of the colonial powers ever had the capability to conquer Japan, and if so when?

It has been said that the islands of the Philippines was on the verge of adopting Islam (like Indonesia OTL) by the time the Spanish first arrived in the Philippines in the early 16th century, converting the Southernmost regions of the Philippines as well as the region surrounding modern-day...

Let's say the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves survived and Brazil continued to be the capital of the Portuguese Empire. With the passage of time the colonial empire would be more and more Brazilian than Portuguese. So how long would slavery in Brazil survive and how would it...

Hello everyone , what do you think Brazil would look like if it was a colony of Britian instead of Portugal? , do you think it would end out like New Zealand or Australia did? , do you think it would be more like a bigger version of Guyana? , what do you think Brazil would be called in this...

So I'm reading a book on Arab history, and I found a few interesting passages on colonialism: It also says that the rise of Arabs who went to European-style schools meant a rise in nationalist and separatist feelings amongst the native elite With all of that, is it fair to say that the...

It's always boggled my mind how the United Kingdom, one of the largest colonial empires in history barely controlled any territory in Europe with the exception of Cyprus and Malta. So, what if the British actually, say had more colonies or territories on mainland Europe? My first idea is a...

What if the Carlists won the First Carlist War (1833-1839) and Prince Carlos became king Carlos V. What would be the colonial consequences of this? Will Spain be more involved in the Scramble for Africa or in Asia or will they do more in the New World with Mexico or something? And thus: will...

The Sultanate of Aceh was the last independent state in modern Indonesia to be conquered by the Dutch. They put up quite a fight, however, defeating the first attack against their capital and, once said capital fell when the Dutch tried again, fled to the jungle and fought a guerrilla war that...