AHC A South American country bordering both oceans

I'm pretty sure Chile meets this criterion OTL given that it owns all of the north coast of Tierra del Fuego and a small strip of the east coast. But if that isn't enough, then all you need is for the negotiations that led to the border treaty of 1881 to produce a slightly different result and you could have Chile either with a clear Atlantic coast or Argentina with a Pacific one.

Since the whole point of the 1881 treaty was, from the Chilean side, to get direct Atlantic access however small, I'd agree with you.
 
Just let Chile acquire all of Tierra del Fuego, and that would qualify...

If you consider the water around Antarctica a separate ocean, then Chile already does. It's not as grandiose as a Brazil that seized Peru during the Spanish Revolution but it works.
 

TFSmith121

Banned
Maybe, but it is a pretty tough connection overland

Yes, and early 19th century Argentina was in constant civil wars between federalists and unionists. So how about Argentina breaking up, and northern Argentina joining Bolivia?

Maybe, but it is a pretty tough connection overland from Tucuman or Cordoba or whatever to the Altiplano...

As bloody as the conflicts between Buenos Aires and the Provinces were, historically, there was a reason they were in conflict - the Rio de la Plata system was the highway for the entire region, and the Provinces didn't not want to be able to use it; they did. Buenos Aires wanted to charge them for the privilege, more or less.

There was more to it than that, obviously, but the RdlP is the only way to get the produce of the northwestern Argentine interior to market.

Best,
 
Maybe, but it is a pretty tough connection overland from Tucuman or Cordoba or whatever to the Altiplano...

As bloody as the conflicts between Buenos Aires and the Provinces were, historically, there was a reason they were in conflict - the Rio de la Plata system was the highway for the entire region, and the Provinces didn't not want to be able to use it; they did. Buenos Aires wanted to charge them for the privilege, more or less.

There was more to it than that, obviously, but the RdlP is the only way to get the produce of the northwestern Argentine interior to market.
Yes, but Rio de la Plata is wide and long.
OTL, the north bank, Uruguay, ends with east bank of Uruguay.

How about uniting Uruguay with Entre Rios, separate from Buenos Aires?
 

TFSmith121

Banned
Well, that was Lopez' idea....

Yes, but Rio de la Plata is wide and long.
OTL, the north bank, Uruguay, ends with east bank of Uruguay.

How about uniting Uruguay with Entre Rios, separate from Buenos Aires?

Well, that was Lopez' idea....didn't end well.

It's certainly possible in terms of the map, but the strengths of Argentina as a unitary state seem to always have been enough to overwhelm separatist efforts...same for Brazil, for that matter.

Argentina or Chile controlling the whole of the Straits, presumably in return for concessions elsewhere (not sure what they'd be, however; Chilean support for the Argentines regarding the Falklands, or in the north against Paraguay under Lopez? Argentine support for the Chileans against Peru and Bolivia in the Pacific War?) seems a lot more likely than Peru-Bolivia expanding all the way to the Atlantic...

Best,
 
I have three PoDs :

1.- Have José de san Martín not to reject the General Capitaincy of Chile, exchanging roles with O'Higgins. The result, having both Andean nations independence as one entity. It's up to you how to keep the nation united in the future.

2.- Have a Argentina in a worse standing after the civil war, enough for it to delay it's efforts in colonization for Chile to acquire an access to the Atlantic.

3.- You can avoid the founding of Fort Bulnes and start the foundation of Punta Arenas five years earlier, after all the location for the city was already considered appropriate and the fort was a gamble. Chile had a colonization policy before Argentina and, what is more, the sharp acceleration of Argentina's policy was due to the progress of Chilean one (in the Araucanía, mind you, not in Magallanes).

Or, as some pointed out, have a surviving Gran Colombia.
 
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