AHC: Balkanized Mexico

With a POD as far back as 1800, the challenge is Mexico is divided into at least 4 independent nations.

Central America will not be included.

* Bonus if at least one nation becomes stable and its power comparable to India or Italy.
* Extra bonus if there is a map
 
The Republic of the Rio Grande, Republic of Sonora, and the Republic of Yucatan successfully break off and stay off. They alongside Mexico proper are four.

If you wanna have fun keep the Republic of California and Republic of Texas independent from both it and America, and the New Mexican debates of 1846 to become the Republica Mexicana del Norte happen, and you've got seven total.
 

Deleted member 114175

Zacatecas and Chiapas also attempted to secede. Independent Zacatecas is pretty impossible though because they are in the middle of the country. However if Yucatan secedes successfully, Chiapas might well become independent later.
 
Two proposal. Comments?

Prop 1.png
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Schnozzberry

Gone Fishin'
I'm not the most knowledgeable on Mexican history, but didn't Chiapas waffle about joining Mexico for a few years before it actually joined? If Mexico balkanized early, I could see it potentially regaining independence or never joining in the first place.

As for the maps, my major question is on the country still called Mexico. Doesn't it cut across a a mountain range to get to the coast? If Mexico broke up violently, I would imagine a neighboring state would have a decent chance at seizing the coast away from it.
 
As for the maps, my major question is on the country still called Mexico. Doesn't it cut across a a mountain range to get to the coast? If Mexico broke up violently, I would imagine a neighboring state would have a decent chance at seizing the coast away from it.
I confess I didn't take the mountain ranges into account. But don't Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, Chile, nations of Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia, have the same problem?

Or how could I solve it?
 
I confess I didn't take the mountain ranges into account. But don't Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, Chile, nations of Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia, have the same problem?

Or how could I solve it?
Chile don't really have that problem, the moubtain range is what make the country shape so unique, yeah its also what limits the expansion of the country, but also whar give it his "natural" borders. Now those bordee admitidelly get a lot less definied the northern and southern you go, and there is were is most of the country frontier tension lies,

mapa-fisico-de-chile-con-nombres.jpg
 
The United States was always interested in establishing dominion over North Mexico and there was proposals floated in more imperialistic circles of carving out a puppet state out of the Northern provinces.
 
I'm not sure if it's possible to have a "Balkanized" Mexico in the same sense that there was a Balkanized Balkans (or more specifically, Yugoslavia). Mexico City is too populous and centrally located to not exert some sort of dominion over the surrounding areas. With that said, I think Mexico had a definite chance of breaking up further in the 19th century. Honestly, having a less successful Santa Anna, a more successful Santa Anna, or a dead Santa Anna with varying PoDs could do the trick.
 
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Yucatan, Quintana Roo, and Campeche together would be a good bet to go it's own way if push came to shove, and they could possibly even have Guatemala join in to form a large, mostly ethnically Mayan-descented polity. I could see this state adopting the name of an old Mayan city-state, like Mayapan.

There would still be a fairly large country called Mexico. Even pre-conquista, the Valley of Mexico exerted a lot of cultural influence north and south and many of the various Nahuatl-descended regions would still feel a strong affinity towards Mexico, including southern states like Oaxaca. It could potentially be a regional hegemon, exerting influence through Central America if it can keep things stable.

Let's pretend that the balkanisation occurs earlier in the 19th Century. California is an obvious choice to go it's own way, though it's major problem is that it's underpopulated at the time. However, it's geographic isolation could go a long way towards creating a truly Californian identity.

The northern Mexican states and southwestern American states could coalesce into a country of it's own as well. Sparse population is still a problem, however, and it will inevitably come under the US orbit, as would an independent Texas, which is a no-brainer.
 
If Mexico did balkanize, I'd expect the USA and/or some of the European powers to attempt annexation of some of those Mexican states.
 
Mexico today is de-facto balkanised. Not just from cartels, but from so much being seized by foreign powers or having declared itself an ‘autonomous’ zone like Chiapas. For most of Mexico’s history the states had immense power in comparison to the very weak federal government.
 
Possibly Jalisco and states more under it’s influence form a seperate nation through a liberal revolt against the Conservatives in Mexico City?
 
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