AHC: Bigger Spanish Empire

Easy I'm doing a TL on this, but its in the slows

Spanish Armada is successful

Alvaro never lands in Brazil (leading to the Portuguese colonizing it a lot later, so that Brazil is much smaller and the Spanish have colonized more in that region

Stronger Scotland keeps England busy for longer

Jamestown a failure makes the English think that the colonies are not worth it

Longer French Religious Wars
 
Other POD is keeping the Bula Inter Coetera of 1493 active instead of OTL Tordesillas...that would keep all South America inside Spanish territory....so, no Brazil and even if another European country manages to settle the OTL Northeastern Brazilian coast (French or Dutch as they tried in OTL) major parts of Brazil would stayed into Spanish control, leading to much bigger countries as Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina, Peru etc...
 

LordKalvert

Banned
The Spanish do annex Portugal at one point 1580 when King Sebastian of Portugal dies without heir. They hold it until the Portuguese Restoration War 1640-1668

A really easy one though would be for Phillip II and Queen Mary to have a son who would inherit England as well.
 

TFSmith121

Banned
Bigger? Sure... for awhile.

Same as the "Bigger Russian Empire" thread, but POD is 1492(end of the Reconquista).

Bigger? Sure...for a while.

But lasting? That's a different question.

The Spanish - at different times - in the three centuries from 1500 to 1800 faced the problem that all global empires did - too many enemies.

The Hapsburgs - who presumably did their damndest - were unable to come up with an answer to the problem of (sometimes simultaneously) facing:

1) Islam in the Mediterranean;
2) Portuguese in Iberia;
3) "Germans"/Islam/etc in Central Europe (facing Hapsburg Austria);
3) French/English/Dutch in (north)western Europe (especially when Protestant) facing the Hapsburg low countries;
4) Europeans (English/British/French/Portuguese) in the Western Hemisphere and Pacific;
5) "Locals" (from Pope to Bolivar to Jackson to Marti and Maceo) in the Western Hemisphere;
6) etc.

Kennedy's chapter on the Hapsburgs in Rise and Fall is well worth reading; as is the entire book, but he makes a solid case that the Hapsburg attempts at dominance were always weakened because of the Iberian-Austrian issue, much less the religious divide in Europe in the Sixteenth Century and after...

Having to defend everything from Madrid to Manila was pretty much a guarantee of not being able to defend much of anything, when the balloon went up...

Best,
 

Deleted member 67076

You really need to change the way Spain ran things. It was overly feudal, very restrictive on who can do what, very biased to the nobility and mercantile matters came second to warfare.

Change Spanish policy so that they actually decide to send more settlers into the region from there empire. IIRC only something like a quarter of a million Spanish settled the New World.

Second, get rid of the feudal structure during a period of reform. Stop the restrictions on the non nobility and implement a meritocratic system and Spain can expand its grip on the colonies much easier as it can hire more people in the bureaucracy.

Third, make the colonies richer. Invest in them much more. Actually do something with Florida for example. Stop bleeding them dry with that ridiculous tribute system. Reduce at the minimum from 20% to 15 or 10%. It'll cut down on Spanish finances in the short term but long term the colonies will have more money to spend on themselves. Actually send settlers to work the land and stop focusing on bleeding the natives dry.

Fourth, don't waste your time on pointless European wars. This probably needs the Hapsburgs to die out earlier but European wars bled Spain dry and caused hyperinflation. Maybe someone or some power can kill off the entire clan? Although, if Spain does win the Italian wars that might be a huge benefit in the long term.

Fifth, obviously, integrate Portugal into the system and if possible keep the Netherlands from revolting; throw them a bone once in a while. While the Iberian Union is on, don't overtax the Portuguese and try to integrate the crowns.

Further things that could be done would be to focus on the East Indies and maybe Africa. Formosa (Taiwan), Jamaica and a couple other Caribbean islands could be kept as part of the Spanish Empire. You might be able to see some expansion into OTL South Africa and maybe parts of the Swahili coast and a few ports in India along with a greater presence in Indonesia; probably a few islands or chunks of the major ones under Spanish control here and there. Obviously Brazil and Patagonia, but also Louisiana could be added to the Spanish Empire and California could easily get a greater presence.

I have no idea on the plausibility of Spanish Australia or Spain keeping its Italian holdings but I'm throwing it out there anyway.
 
Fifth, obviously, integrate Portugal into the system and if possible keep the Netherlands from revolting; throw them a bone once in a while. While the Iberian Union is on, don't overtax the Portuguese and try to integrate the crowns.

By overtax I think you mean tax at Castillian levels ;)
 
While it seems very possible to butterfly away a few Spanish losses, thus reducing the tax burden on the Spanish Empire...

The problem is, actual taxes sufficient to defend the far-flung parts (Netherlands, Italy, Portugal) requires local legitimacy, which the Spanish never managed to maintain in the non-Castillian regions (and, arguably, managed with a lot of trouble in Aragon). Without that, it takes lucky strikes on the level of Mexican and Peruvian gold to even begin to defend the country.

However, and this may sound controversial: perhaps not getting the Burgundian inheritance (by not allying Austria, in the process) would be better for just a bigger Empire. It means the Italian front becomes a less acute issue too, I wager (with the Pope providing a natural block for overly ambitious expansion of Naples/Sicily).
As a result, Spain is mostly defending regions that pay taxes. Eventually, butterflies be damned, Spain inherits Portugal, and is in a decent position to use its wealth on fighting Portuguese rebels rather than wasting its resources on Italian and Dutch wars. Eventually Portugal will be integrated as much as Aragon is, so mostly okay but with significant divides. This adds Brazil and a smattering of tradeposts to the Empire, far larger than the Burgundian lands even if possibly poorer.

Now, eventually this Spain will probably still be eclipsed by France, England, and whatever shows up from Burgundy - but it seems more likely to result in dependency than conquest, allowing the Empire to remain huge.
 
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