AHC: Belgian East Indies?

[Ulster]

I'm been reading "The Scramble for Africa" by Thomas Pakenham recently, and came across this passage:

After his father's death in 1865, Leopold II obstinately clung to the idea that they must be "a l'affut" ("on the lookout") for a colony. He claimed he owed it to his father's memory. In vain his advisors reminded him that his own government could have nothing to do with the scheme, as the Belgians were a business people, and colonies of exploitation and settlement - especially new ones in the tropics - were considered bad business. The King replied that he could afford the expense himself. In fact he was one of Europe's richest men, as he had inherited 15 million francs (£600,000) from his parents, which he soon increased by gambling with Suez Canal shares. He could afford it and he would rope in some bankers to form a financial syndicate. He asked an emissary to sound the Spanish Ambassador. The Spanish were said to be embarassed for funds. Would they be interested in leasing the Phillipines, at present run at a deficit? His syndicate would pay 10 million francs, half of it cash down, if they could exploit the islands. Inexplicably - so Leopold said - the Spanish were too proud even to discuss these overtures. The Spanish Ambassador explained that no minister could put such an offer to Parliament, no Parliament even discuss it; "as for the Spanish King, if he took it up, it would be abdication, suicide...". Equally irrationally, according to Leopold, the Portuguese government could not be induced to part with Angola or Mozambique, or with the island or Timor. Then his eye turned to the British.

In July 1875 he summoned the British ambassador, Saville Lumley, to Brussels and disclosed his hand in a new project. Lumley, according to his own report to London, was somewhat shaken.

"What my country needs [the King began] is a safety valve for her surplus energies. Now the late King believed no better answer would be found than by establishing a Belgian colony - not only to develop our country's commercial interests, but to raise the morale of the army and create the merchant navy which we lack...

It's time [the King went on] that she [Belgium] takes her part in the great work of civilisation, following in the footsteps, however modestly, of England...

I'm happy to offer my country a colony, covering the cost of establishment from my own private resources.

The problem of where to site the colony is extremely difficult, but after reflection I believe that a site could be found on the island of New Guinea which is placed between Japan and Australia on a great commercial highway of the future..."

"I must confess my ignorance [replied Lumley] but I would be afraid that its climate might not favour Belgian colonists"

"Ah [said the King] I know my people are not as hardy and energetic as the English, but I think this great island...[is] blessed in its fertillity and nothing can exceed its beauty and the luxuriance of its vegetation"

Then explaining that the Belgian government had no part in the scheme at present, he solemnly put the question to Lumley, "Does Her Majesty's government have any intentions with regard to this island? If so I shall direct my search for a colony elsewhere".

So the challenge is this. With a POD some time after Leopold II ascends to the throne how can Belgium as a nation or Leopold as an individual gain a colony in the East Indies?

 

[azander12]

I'm been reading "The Scramble for Africa" by Thomas Pakenham recently, and came across this passage:



So the challenge is this. With a POD some time after Leopold II ascends to the throne how can Belgium as a nation or Leopold as an individual gain a colony in the East Indies?

Could they maybe purchase East Timor from the Portuguese? It's a small and out-of-the-way colony, and the Portuguese might be up for it, especially if a lot of money was offered for it.

 

[Xgentis]

I think he wanted to make a settler colony.

 

[wolf_brother]

New Guinea was one of the last places on the planet to be colonized. Although the Dutch had had a colony, and protectorate, there for decades they didn't extend their territorial claims on the island until the late 1870s iirc, and didn't have any real hold on the countryside until the 1890s. The same goes for the British and Germans, who both established their claims in the 1880s and were still seeking control of the interior by the time of WWI.

So a more forceful Leopold, perhaps in a scenario where the British are not the sole imperial-liberal power in the later 19th century, could have established his colony there.

 

[Vitruvius]

Sabah/North Borneo seems like a good prospect. It actually bounced around quite a bit during the period in question because none of its 'owners' could ever manage to make anything of it. But if Leopold stepped in to financially back Von Overbeck it could plausibly end up in Belgian hands. What they'd do with it, if anything, is a different question. At least for the British it was semi-strategic to their interests in Malaya and the South China Sea. I'm not sure what Belgian could get out of it.