AHC: Bigger Portuguese Asia

[Gintoki Sakata]

A spinoff of my Portuguese Ryukyu Islands/Catholic Kyushu thread and inspired by those Luso-wanks I see once a month.

With a POD after 1510, have the Portuguese Empire comprised of these areas shown in the image. This means having:

• A big part of OTL Indonesia, including East Timor
• Australia
• Singapore, Malacca and Penang
• Hainan
• Macau
• Taiwan
• Ryukyu islands
• Nagasaki and Hirado (a Japanese analogue for Macau, not shown on the map)

Not shown on the maps is Portuguese influenced Kyushu through the Otomo clan.

 

[kasumigenx]

A spinoff of my Portuguese Ryukyu Islands/Catholic Kyushu thread and inspired by those Luso-wanks I see once a month.

With a POD after 1510, have the Portuguese Empire comprised of these areas shown in the image. This means having:

• A big part of OTL Indonesia, including East Timor
• Australia
• Singapore, Malacca and Penang
• Hainan
• Macau
• Taiwan
• Ryukyu islands
• Nagasaki and Hirado (a Japanese analogue for Macau, not shown on the map)

Not shown on the maps is Portuguese influenced Kyushu through the Otomo clan.

I think Luzon could be partitioned between Portugal and Spanish and Celebes could be portuguese.

 

[profxyz]

I think one of the key prerequisites for a larger Portuguese presence in Asia would be to increase the supply of what sustained Portuguese mercantile activities in the region in the first place, namely Spanish New World precious metals. With more silver Portugal might have had more resources to make earlier and more substantial mercantile + military inroads into Makassar and Java, but more importantly might have also preserved Portuguese Malacca's centrality in the SEA trade.

For that reason alone, a Portuguese discovery of Australia - and its gold deposits - would probably be the POD you need. Failing that, a Portugal under a less bankrupt Spain might also suffice.

That said...
1) I don't see how Portugal would take Hainan or Formosa instead of Brunei/Borneo or Sumatra, the latter two housing direct mercantile + political threats to Malacca. Even with a China that opens itself to foreign trade, taking Zhoushan near the Yangtze Delta, or Jeju in between Korea, China and Japan is more likely.

2) A precious-metals-rich Portugal is still probably more likely to use the extra cash to expand influence in India rather than SEA.

3) Portugal owning Java and Sulawesi in its entirety would probably have to wait until the decline of spice profitability forced a transition from a trade-based economy to a plantation-based economy. OTL, Portugal's shift occured in the 1650s as the Dutch broke their spice monopoly and Portuguese attention began shifting to Brazil. The Dutch in SEA didn't start really expanding until the mid 1800s under "New Imperialism".

 

[Phalamus]

A Portuguese Java could be accomplished with a successful luso-sundanese alliance, which would require a more stable Portuguese position in India so that they could spare resources to divert to southeast asia.

Australia is quite possible, I think. Althought it is irrealistic to expect that the Portuguese would find gold or silver before having a presence established in the region for at least a few decades. For that reason, you need a different incentive to propel early Portuguese colonization of Australia. Sandalwood would probably do it.

I don't see why the Portuguese would want to get Hainan, especially since they most definitely do not want a war with China (I feel like people tend to lump Hainan together with Taiwan because they are both islands, but they forget that Hainan is much closer to the Chinese mainland and was always considered a part of China).

Taiwan and the Ryukyus are doable, though the Ryukyus may be much less appealing due to being a close tributary state of Imperial China. Both territories would serve as good entrepots for trade with Japan, anyway. For that reason, I agree kasumigenx's suggestion of adding northern luzon to that. With the Portuguese in control of both Taiwan and northern Luzon, they would be in a great position to intercept ships of other nations wanting to trade with Japan. Althought that doesn't completely write off the Dutch, it may at least make sure that the Portuguese have the fastest trade routes.

 

[kasumigenx]

A Portuguese Java could be accomplished with a successful luso-sundanese alliance, which would require a more stable Portuguese position in India so that they could spare resources to divert to southeast asia.

Australia is quite possible, I think. Althought it is irrealistic to expect that the Portuguese would find gold or silver before having a presence established in the region for at least a few decades. For that reason, you need a different incentive to propel early Portuguese colonization of Australia. Sandalwood would probably do it.

I don't see why the Portuguese would want to get Hainan, especially since they most definitely do not want a war with China (I feel like people tend to lump Hainan together with Taiwan because they are both islands, but they forget that Hainan is much closer to the Chinese mainland and was always considered a part of China).

Taiwan and the Ryukyus are doable, though the Ryukyus may be much less appealing due to being a close tributary state of Imperial China. Both territories would serve as good entrepots for trade with Japan, anyway. For that reason, I agree kasumigenx's suggestion of adding northern luzon to that. With the Portuguese in control of both Taiwan and northern Luzon, they would be in a great position to intercept ships of other nations wanting to trade with Japan. Althought that doesn't completely write off the Dutch, it may at least make sure that the Portuguese have the fastest trade routes.

N. Luzon can be a Portuguese protectorate ruled by Tarik Soliman in the same manner as Ternate or the Spanish could also divide Luzon and give the Northern half and Celebes as a compensation to prevent Portugal from splitting from Spain, the border of Spanish and Portuguese Luzon would be roughly in Pampanga-Nueva Ecija/Bulacan border in both cases...

 

[Tanc49]

Oh that's a good one.

This is fairly difficult to do for a few reasons:

• This was a very decentralised governance, so doing big campaigns is very hard. You don't really see any of those after Albuquerque. Basically, the Portuguese just became another faction in the great game of the Indo-Pacific Ocean
• The Portuguese didn't have enough people to ensure control over any big area. It's telling that many hinterlands were ruled by locals or indigenes rather than Portuguese people. With Brazil and Morocco there wasn't enough settlers to go around

I can do more later but a good start would be to get Aden taken and Albuquerque living another 5 years. He'd give a stronger vision of the Empire, especially if he can get the king to follow his advice. Then he needs a solid successor, one devoted to King and Country and not just a fidalgos there to line his pockets. That's the hardest part.
Maybe you'd need an academy open to everyone and not just cooptation by other nobles, but this one's hard