AH Challenge: Colonial Empire Spanning Africa

Was wondering whether to put this in Before or After.

What I want, is a single colonial power, over all of Africa. Is this possible?

I was thinking, a WW2 against France, with France getting quick victories, but eventually losing, and all the colonies being given to Britain, and countries like Belgium and Portugal selling them.
 
Far more likely to occur Post-1900. Probably would only happen in a situation like yours - a war forcing either France or the UK (France is the more likely) to cede their colonies to the other, then the winning party mops up somehow.
 
Honestly I think it would have to start before the 19th century.

The best bet I'd think would be to have one country, like France or even Portugal that focuses all its effort on Africa, rather than splitting it between multiple areas, over time it will have established small to medium colonies across the continent which it can grow to connect to each other to the point that it controls say 70%+ of Africa, after that have it be on the winning side (preferably one of the main powers) of a war against the few others with colonies and then have it take their African colonies as its war reparations.
 
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Honestly I think it would have to start before the 19th century.

The best bet I'd think would be to have one country, like France or even Portugal that focuses all its effort on Africa, rather than splitting it between multiple areas, over time it will have established small to medium colonies across the continent which it can grow to connect to each other to the point that it controls say 705+ of Africa, after that have it be on the winning side (preferably one of the main powers) of a war against the few others with colonies and then have it take their African colonies as its war reparations.

Problem is, Africa's not very profitable, exception of the diamond mines which hardly plaster the entire continent, and they didn't get found 'til relatively late. Except for a few coastal areas, African colonies were only taken up late really as status symbols, and numerous colonies made a financial loss for their owners from the first day to the last. I'm not sure why any country would focus on Africa when it would be the financial death of them - better to have no colonies at all. That's why I suggested that OP's comment was the more likely.
 
I always thought that Germany at the end of TL-191 could have ended up with all of Africa except Liberia (that would piss off the Americans). They've just crushed both Britain and France and if those two don't do what they say, it's atomic hellfire for them. All they needed to do was bully the Italians, Spanish, and Portuguese out of it (pretty easy when you just got nukes and none of those countries do). So yeah, a World War would be the easiest way for this to happen.
 
How would anyone hold all that territory? By WWII the colonial empires were on borrowed time. Upsetting the balances and transferring administration to a different power would just accelerate that.

Remember France in Algeria? Imagine a power having to deal with that there, in Morocco, South Africa, etc. This isn't a computer game. There are actual people living there, and they had an impact on the nature of the regimes that ruled them.

It's just not going to happen. Even a great power would have all its resources sucked into a black hole for no real purpose. Why would anyone even want to rule the entire continent?
 
Good God, It’s not?
You’ll upset a few round here saying that mate.
;)

Absolutely correct, you grab the money making bits and leave the rest for Belgium and Portugal.
:)

Nearly half of it is desert, much of the rest disease-infested tropics, and what little else there is is not very fertile. The parts that are worthwhile are the North coast, Egypt, South Africa, and Nigeria. Africa isn't poor because Africans are incompetent, Africa is poor because Africa is poor.

You could take quinine for the malaria, but it's still 45 degrees everywhere all year. Are you going to get Germans to sail down there and maintain order? They might not get malaria, but they're all still going to melt into puddles of goo.
 

Cook

Banned
I blame people’s use of Mercator Projection Maps, it makes Africa look so small.
 

Cook

Banned
Africa is poor because Africa is poor.

Couple of years ago I worked on the planning of the Ahafo Gold Mine in Ghana.

½ Billion dollar investment, with costs covered in three years from start of production and an expected operational life of twenty years.

It ain’t all poor baby, it ain’t all poor!
:D
 
Abdul Hadi Pasha said:
It's just not going to happen. Even a great power would have all its resources sucked into a black hole for no real purpose. Why would anyone even want to rule the entire continent?

This.

Probably the largest contiguous territories you could conceivably get are the French ones you had in real life or, in the event of a British win in WWI, a series of colonies that run along a Cape-to-Cairo axis with the railway running between them.

Possibly after an ahistorical and much more brutal WWI, Africa's smaller colonisers (Portugal, Spain and Belgium) emerge broken and bankrupt. Across Europe, there is a feeling that great power rivalry contributed to the millions of dead, and a swing towards socialism make colonial holdings ideologically undesirable as well as an economic and military liability.

Spain and Belgium begin scaling down their African commitments of their own volition, seeking buyers for their unwieldy and unprofitable holdings. Portugal, though minded to hold onto her colonies, faces revolts which she simply can't afford to put down, leading to British and French intervention to keep the peace. Soldiers from both countries occupy Portuguese areas, which are de jure co-dominions, but de facto annexed.

Germany loses all her colonies as in real life and Italy, which entered as a more dedicated CP, is similarly punished.

As the two remaining GPs, responsibility for looking after Africa effectively falls to the UK and France, neither of whom are particularly keen, but realise that neccessity demands it.

By force or by purchase, Britain acquires Mozambique, Angola, Namibia, Tanzania, Somalia and Eritrea. France gains Libya, Morocco (excepting Melilla and Ceuta), Guinea-Bissao, Togo, Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea. Congo could go either way, or could be divided between the two. There might even be land trading between Britain and France regarding their existing colonies.

This gives you two massive, relatively contiguous Empires punctuated only by Liberia, Ethiopia and the Spanish cities by 1930. Upon independence, if these ex-colonies choose to federate (or if their ex-masters choose it for them), you'd have two huge African countries.

But one? Not doable I'm afraid.
 
You could take quinine for the malaria, but it's still 45 degrees everywhere all year. Are you going to get Germans to sail down there and maintain order? They might not get malaria, but they're all still going to melt into puddles of goo.

That never stopped anyone in Central America, India or Southeast Asia though. But your main point still stands.
 
Does it have to be a colonial power? Why not just a federation of African states?

I direct you to this map of the New world order.
post-war_moral_new_world_order.jpg


I'm not saying it would work, but its just an example. I personally hate this map, you can tell it's American (no offence).
 
Germany comes pretty close in my Chaos TL. (Although it's more a "sphere of influence" thing.) And after WW1, they essentially give up most of it, replacing it with the titular chaos. (Except for the good bits, like South Africa, Nigeria and so on.)
 
Does it have to be a colonial power? Why not just a federation of African states?

I direct you to this map of the New world order.
post-war_moral_new_world_order.jpg


I'm not saying it would work, but its just an example. I personally hate this map, you can tell it's American (no offence).

Definitely an Ameriwank there.

Also, I'm not aiming for it not to achieve independence, I wondered if it could exist is all.
 
Why are Germany and Italy quarenteened? Are there zombies or something?:p

Back to the topic, seems like it would be a rather difficult thing to hold. Maybe a few puppets on the less valuable land?
 
Maybe a TL with a succesfull 1940 France-Britain Union. Italian colony would be annexed during the war. And Spanish/ Portuguese 's colony invaded under the pretext of "fighting the evil fascist states."
 
And Britain is supposed to give up Northern Ireland? What have they been smoking?

That was the plan with a council of ireland, the unionists didn't like the idea so gave it up.

@Beedok
cause they were facist, japan got the same.

Sorry for disturbing the flow with that, I just like explaining things.:D

I'll post the map on the after 1900 part, people can lol at it there.
 
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