AHC: A successful Huguenot colony

Your challenge, with a PoD after 1492 (no ASBs, please) is to have a successful Huguenot colony anywhere in the world.

Thank you.

Bonus points if its in the Americas and more bonus points for plausibility.
 
What do you define as a Huguenot colony?? If you just mean a settlement in the new world made up (initially) of majority French protestants then that is OTL (eg new Rochelle). If you mean a settlement made up of majority French protestants which is also within French rather than English held territory that could be easily achieved simply by a change in French colonial policy (reverse the policy which required all settlers to be catholic).

But maybe you mean a colony which like "France antartique" is attempted without the sponsorship of any government, that's a little more difficult...
 
What do you define as a Huguenot colony?? If you just mean a settlement in the new world made up (initially) of majority French protestants then that is OTL (eg new Rochelle). If you mean a settlement made up of majority French protestants which is also within French rather than English held territory that could be easily achieved simply by a change in French colonial policy (reverse the policy which required all settlers to be catholic).

What I meant was something like the second option or a new French colony with a Huguenot majority (a Huguenot Australia would be interesting, though unlikely).
 
The French like the Spanish preferred keeping the New World clear of non-Catholics.

What you could have happen is the Huguenots don't rebel for longer. Say maybe towards the end of the Thirty's Years War instead of the beginning and middle. Then come Huguenot rebellion and its subsequent failure the Huguenots run to the Netherlands and from their to Dutch colonies like Kaapstad and New Amsterdam.

Or perhaps the Huguenots win the Wars of Religion, but this requires major work.
 
IOTL there were Huguenots amongst the settlers at Kaapstad.

Yes but not a huge amount. I've done a lot of stuff on Kaapstad. Your best bet is New Amsterdam. Kaapstad the VOC didn't really want a colony just a way point, not to mention it was farther and very different from France compared to New Amsterdam.
 
I think the island of Rodrigues, in the Mascarenes, was an unofficial Huguenot colony for some time at late 1600s - early 1700s, when the Huguenot settler Leguat described its amazing (and now lost) fauna.
 
What if France decides to use them as a weapon against Spanish expansion? Placing a Protestant French colony in Spain's way could have several advantages for France in the new world. First it would clear out some Huguenots from France proper, second it would check Spain's expansion, and third it leaves the Huguenots at the mercy of France since they can't turn to Catholic Spain and they still need support from home.
 
What if France decides to use them as a weapon against Spanish expansion? Placing a Protestant French colony in Spain's way could have several advantages for France in the new world. First it would clear out some Huguenots from France proper, second it would check Spain's expansion, and third it leaves the Huguenots at the mercy of France since they can't turn to Catholic Spain and they still need support from home.

Against French policy
 
The French like the Spanish preferred keeping the New World clear of non-Catholics.

What you could have happen is the Huguenots don't rebel for longer. Say maybe towards the end of the Thirty's Years War instead of the beginning and middle. Then come Huguenot rebellion and its subsequent failure the Huguenots run to the Netherlands and from their to Dutch colonies like Kaapstad and New Amsterdam.

Or perhaps the Huguenots win the Wars of Religion, but this requires major work.

Definitely untrue on the French part, but definitely true on the Spanish part:

There were French Huguenot colonies funded by the crown and named for the King of France in Florida, South Carolina, Brazil, and the Caribbean. The fate of most of these colonies was, however, eradication by the Spanish and Portuguese
 
How about a POD of the Siege of La Rochelle in 1627?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_La_Rochelle

This was the second siege of the French crown against the Hugenots in La Rochelle. Have the crown deport the survivors to St Kitts, or Guadeloupe, or French Guiana.

1627 actually was the year that Richelieu's government banned further Protestant immigration, deciding that they were untrustworthy as colonists. Many of the earliest settlers in New France prior to this time had been Protestant.

The PoD might have to be to avoid the renewed religious warfare in the 1620s. This was sparked by the king re-establishing Catholicism in some areas (such as Béarn) where he had the right to do so under the Edict of Nantes, but it was done in a heavy-handed manner. If there is a way to apply the terms of the Edict without sparking conflict, the monarchy doesn't have to view Protestants as a threat and can continue to allow them to settle.
 
I believe SpaceOddity had a mixed-faith French colony in Bermuda in his Now Blooms the Tudor Rose timeline, and the colony was founded by accident due to their fleet being blown off-course by a hurricane.

Ultimately, for a successful Huguenot colony you need to have colonists interested in creating an economically self-sufficient colony instead of a pirate colony (the Floridian Huguenots tipped the Spanish off to their presence by trying to take ships IIRC) and have that colony be out of range of Spanish raids, or at least far enough away that reaching them is a bother.

The Chesapeake worked out pretty well for the British, perhaps if the French Huguenots beat them to it they could establish a colony there?
 
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