Will Kürlich Kerl
Banned
Challenge: Have Brazil be a Portuguese, South American version of Canada up to the modern day.
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Wasn't it already to an extent in the early 19th. Century? If memory serves, the Portuguese crown even sought shelter there during the Napoleonic War until things blew over and became safe to seafare their way back to Lisbon.
I don't quite understand the challenge. In what way(s) do you want this alt-Brazil to resemble Canada?
Being a dominion?
Having a higher standard of living?
Being a lightly populated giant?
Basically, Braganza, Brazil went independent in large part due to the influence of Great Britain. The British wanted above all to keep Angola and Mozambique and the rest of the Portuguese Empire away from Brazil, ostensibly to help suppress the slave trade between Africa and Brazil but in reality because the British simply did not want Portugal as a competitor in the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans (remember, the Portuguese also had Goa and other locations in India, which the British did not yet completely control, Macao and East Timor in addition to Angola and Mozambique, which bracketed the Cape. The British never shared power gracefully, even with "friends" and certainly not when they were riding high in the early 19th Century.
So for Brazil to remain a dominion (or overseas territory of Portugal, or vice versa, Portugal an overseas territory of Brazil) , Brazil needs to do a couple things to hold it's own with Great Britain.
1. Brazil-Portugal needs to embark on a naval expansion programme FROM BRAZIL during the Napoleonic Wars. Brazil certainly has the wood to build good ships of the line and the tall trees for masts, even if they have to do some of their building at Belem, in Amazonas. And enough of a navy to train more navy.
2. Invest and get hold of those new fangled steamboats from the United States as soon as possible and start to use them on the Amazon, expanding to coastal shipping as soon as possible. This will be about 1819-20.
3. KEEP THE MONARCHY AND THE CAPITAL AT RIO DE JANEIRO AND RESIST PRESSURE TO SEND THE KING TO PORTUGAL WHEN REVOLUTION THREATENS. The Holy Alliance will finally put down the Revolution in Portugal and the status quo, as bizarre as a piece of Europe being governed from South America is, can remain.
In that way, there is nothing to negotiate with Great Britain.
Why should Brazil care about Bolivar?And when Simon Bolivar and Jose de San Martin threaten to drive Spain from South America, Brazil can send reinforcements at least to Peru and possibly even send troops via the Cassiaquare Canal and the Meta River, to Bogota to engage and defeat Simon Bolivar there.
Are you suggesting Brazil conquering and annexing Argentina? Because that's an overstretch...Then follow up by taking the La Plata region and Paraguay by land and by sea landings.