AHC: Japanese-colonized Australia/New Zealand

Bomster

Banned
As the title states, what would a Japanese Australasia look like, and how could it come about?
 
Perhaps they round up and exile all their Christians.

I'm guessing this would be before Cook came across Australia.

I mean I'd imagine given that Japan is a relatively moderate country (at least in comparison to northern australia) they certainly would opt for somewhere where Cook first settled anyway. What was Japan's naval capabilities at that point anyway, could they make the trip from the northern pacific down to the south pacific. Certainly would be interesting.

Either way i doubt they'd be any better to the aboriginals than the British where.
 
I'm guessing this would be before Cook came across Australia.

I mean I'd imagine given that Japan is a relatively moderate country (at least in comparison to northern australia) they certainly would opt for somewhere where Cook first settled anyway. What was Japan's naval capabilities at that point anyway, could they make the trip from the northern pacific down to the south pacific. Certainly would be interesting.

Either way i doubt they'd be any better to the aboriginals than the British where.

Well they were at war with Korea and China at the time, so they had a fairly sizable navy, and their Red Seal ships were trading as far south as the East Indies, so technologically this shouldn’t be insurmountable.

It’s hard to believe it would be quite as bad as this:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_War
 
Well they were at war with Korea and China at the time, so they had a fairly sizable navy, and their Red Seal ships were trading as far south as the East Indies, so technologically this shouldn’t be insurmountable.

It’s hard to believe it would be quite as bad as this:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_War

Good point. Its hard to top that, maybe they at least provide the Indigenous some degree of education and integration without trying for outright genocide.

If they can do that then getting to Australia, in particular otl NSW or Victoria shouldn't be too hard.

Anyway what we'd have is probably a higher density and more inhabited Australia i'd imagine.
 
Tokugawa doesn’t start isolation, instead he dies a few years later and another Emperor takes his place, being more welcome to foreigners and encouraging European studies.

Eventually a exploratory trip is sponsored by the Emperor, reluctantly. The trip explores the Southern Seas, stopping in Manila and Malacca along the way, before touching off Western Australia.

The Emperor is interested in this, also fascinated with tales of the cities of gold in the East, decides to send criminals and willing people to start a colony in this unknown southern land.

by 1750, Australia has been fully colonized, alongside with it’s sister island.

This could pretty much butterfly the Opium and the World Wars, since there is a possibility Japan decides to go ham on China 200 years earlier, or a China more outward-looking.


Not wholly plausible, but a good start.


For present day, probably just like OTL Japan with some native mix if the Japanese doesn’t fully exterminate the Aboriginals.
 

Bomster

Banned
Tokugawa doesn’t start isolation, instead he dies a few years later and another Emperor takes his place, being more welcome to foreigners and encouraging European studies.

Eventually a exploratory trip is sponsored by the Emperor, reluctantly. The trip explores the Southern Seas, stopping in Manila and Malacca along the way, before touching off Western Australia.

The Emperor is interested in this, also fascinated with tales of the cities of gold in the East, decides to send criminals and willing people to start a colony in this unknown southern land.

by 1750, Australia has been fully colonized, alongside with it’s sister island.

This could pretty much butterfly the Opium and the World Wars, since there is a possibility Japan decides to go ham on China 200 years earlier, or a China more outward-looking.


Not wholly plausible, but a good start.


For present day, probably just like OTL Japan with some native mix if the Japanese doesn’t fully exterminate the Aboriginals.
What would the Japanese name Australia?
 
What would the Japanese name Australia?

Either a native name or something abstract. Maybe "南洋道" (Nan'yōdō), "South Ocean Circuit". Or maybe the OTL name "豪州" (Gōshū). New Zealand's name would probably start with the kanji 青 (ao) since the name would be derived from "Aotearoa", but it probably wouldn't be a literal translation of Aotearoa (like the name Karafuto, which is derived from an Ainu word).
 
So, I realize that what I'm about to propose maybe a bit tangential considering the OP, but it's an idea that has been floating in my head for a while, so I thought I could just share it here.

The "crazy" scenario I've thought of goes basically like this:
  • Portugal takes a more assertive role in asserting its domination of Nanban trade during the 16th century. To do this, they colonize Formosa and vassalize the Ryukyus, sending a small amount of settlers from the mainland and Portuguese southeast asia to these islands. They also start to import some japanese workers, mostly from lands controlled by Catholic daimyo, which they also have more influence over ITTL due to using their strenghened position in the far east to assert dominance over the Jesuit mission to Japan.
  • Due to Portuguese control over Formosa and the Ryukyus, the Dutch are unable to begin trading with Japan. They attempt to take this possessions from the Portuguese, but fail. Due to the lack of an alternative European nation to trade with, the Tokugawas (understanding that Japan cannot be completely isolated and needs to keep at least a mininum of contact with the outside world), allow the Portuguese to continue trading even after banishing christianity, just as long as they restrain their activities to to port-city Nagasaki (which ITTL is also a Portuguese enclave from the beggining), as happaned with the Dutch IOTL.
  • Nagasaki, the Ryukyus and Formosa become the refuge for most of Japan's christian population. Wishing to maintain at least decent relatioships with the Portuguese whiole still getting rid of christianity, the Tokugawas encourage Japanese christians to settle there, with most christian daimyos being exiled instead of being force to convert. The daimyos take with them large portions of their domain's christian population, which is also encouraged by the Tokugawas so that they don't have to massacre them.
  • The Japanese christians mix with the Portuguese and eurasian creole peoples from southeast Asia, forming a new "Kirishtan" creole people.
  • The christian daimyos, still ambitious even in exile, decide that, having been exiled from newly stabilized Japan and with no realistic prospects for militairy adventures in Korea and China, it would be a good idea to establish a Kirishtan maritime empire, led by them but with Portuguese protection, with the colonies perhaps paying aleigence to Portugal, or perhaps to the Japanese emperor (though not to the Shogun, which they would decry as ilegitimate).
  • They aseembkle a fleet with material and tecnhical support from Portugal, and then proceed to conquer territories in southeast Asia. After ataining only very moderate success there, and with their prospects for future expansion limited by competition from other powers, they resort to further exploration, eventually stumbling upon Australia.
  • Finally, the colonization of Australia proceeds as a joint portuguese-kirishtan project, with most of the population coming from Formosa and the Ryukyus, but with mainland Portugal and Portuguese southeast Asia also sending some settlers. The european settlers in particular bring with them mediteranean crops which are suitable for agraiculture in southwestern Australia. That way, the population grows quickly and the colony prospers. Besides self-sufficiency, the colony's economy is initially based on rubber tree plantation, but later gold and silver deposits are found, and mining becomes profitable.
So, what do you guys think of this? I know it's not a "purely" Japanese australia scenario, but the bulk of the population is still made of japanese descents and, considering how immersive Japanse culture can be (christian missionaries sent to Japan seemed to adopt their clothing style and customs quite quickly while still remaining christians), I'd guess this alternate Australia's culture would be largely Japanese-based, althought predominantly catholic and with considerable Portuguese and southeast asian influences. No place was colonized with a completely homogenous group of settlers anyway...
 

Bomster

Banned
So, I realize that what I'm about to propose maybe a bit tangential considering the OP, but it's an idea that has been floating in my head for a while, so I thought I could just share it here.

The "crazy" scenario I've thought of goes basically like this:
  • Portugal takes a more assertive role in asserting its domination of Nanban trade during the 16th century. To do this, they colonize Formosa and vassalize the Ryukyus, sending a small amount of settlers from the mainland and Portuguese southeast asia to these islands. They also start to import some japanese workers, mostly from lands controlled by Catholic daimyo, which they also have more influence over ITTL due to using their strenghened position in the far east to assert dominance over the Jesuit mission to Japan.
  • Due to Portuguese control over Formosa and the Ryukyus, the Dutch are unable to begin trading with Japan. They attempt to take this possessions from the Portuguese, but fail. Due to the lack of an alternative European nation to trade with, the Tokugawas (understanding that Japan cannot be completely isolated and needs to keep at least a mininum of contact with the outside world), allow the Portuguese to continue trading even after banishing christianity, just as long as they restrain their activities to to port-city Nagasaki (which ITTL is also a Portuguese enclave from the beggining), as happaned with the Dutch IOTL.
  • Nagasaki, the Ryukyus and Formosa become the refuge for most of Japan's christian population. Wishing to maintain at least decent relatioships with the Portuguese whiole still getting rid of christianity, the Tokugawas encourage Japanese christians to settle there, with most christian daimyos being exiled instead of being force to convert. The daimyos take with them large portions of their domain's christian population, which is also encouraged by the Tokugawas so that they don't have to massacre them.
  • The Japanese christians mix with the Portuguese and eurasian creole peoples from southeast Asia, forming a new "Kirishtan" creole people.
  • The christian daimyos, still ambitious even in exile, decide that, having been exiled from newly stabilized Japan and with no realistic prospects for militairy adventures in Korea and China, it would be a good idea to establish a Kirishtan maritime empire, led by them but with Portuguese protection, with the colonies perhaps paying aleigence to Portugal, or perhaps to the Japanese emperor (though not to the Shogun, which they would decry as ilegitimate).
  • They aseembkle a fleet with material and tecnhical support from Portugal, and then proceed to conquer territories in southeast Asia. After ataining only very moderate success there, and with their prospects for future expansion limited by competition from other powers, they resort to further exploration, eventually stumbling upon Australia.
  • Finally, the colonization of Australia proceeds as a joint portuguese-kirishtan project, with most of the population coming from Formosa and the Ryukyus, but with mainland Portugal and Portuguese southeast Asia also sending some settlers. The european settlers in particular bring with them mediteranean crops which are suitable for agraiculture in southwestern Australia. That way, the population grows quickly and the colony prospers. Besides self-sufficiency, the colony's economy is initially based on rubber tree plantation, but later gold and silver deposits are found, and mining becomes profitable.
So, what do you guys think of this? I know it's not a "purely" Japanese australia scenario, but the bulk of the population is still made of japanese descents and, considering how immersive Japanse culture can be (christian missionaries sent to Japan seemed to adopt their clothing style and customs quite quickly while still remaining christians), I'd guess this alternate Australia's culture would be largely Japanese-based, althought predominantly catholic and with considerable Portuguese and southeast asian influences. No place was colonized with a completely homogenous group of settlers anyway...
That's a very interesting scenario! I would like to know, what kind of language would the "Kirishtan" peoples speak? A mix of Portuguese and Japanese with other Eurasian influences? What would be the name of Kirishtan Australia? Also how would the indigenous peoples of Australia fair in this scenario? Would they suffer as they did IOTL or would they mix in with the Kirishtan, Asians, and Europeans to form a melting pot of culture? What would this version of Australia look like in the present? And what of New Zealand?
 
I would like to know, what kind of language would the "Kirishtan" peoples speak? A mix of Portuguese and Japanese with other Eurasian influences?
I would love to see such a language! Someone posted a snippet of a Portuguese-Japanese creole on reddit, Nagasaki-Ringu. Maybe the language of the Kirishtans could share similarities with that one.
 
That's a very interesting scenario!

Thank you

I would like to know, what kind of language would the "Kirishtan" peoples speak? A mix of Portuguese and Japanese with other Eurasian influences?

Yes, I think some sort of creole is likely. There is actually a poridgious amount of Portuguese words of Japanese origin, as well as Japanese words of Portuguese origin, considering how little time the two countries were in contact.

Considering the usual patterns of creolisation, I'd guess the kirishtan language would have japanese phonetics and basic grammar, but most of the vocabulary would be Portuguese in origin.

The Portuguese language already has a bit of a tendency to follow every consonant with a vowel, but in the cases where that doesn't happen the kirishtan would make it happen. The Portuguese "r" and "l" sounds get turned into Japanese "eru", which is already a lot more similar to the way the Portuguese pronounce a lone "r" in the middle of a sentence than it is to the way r's and l's are pronounced in other languages. Double r sounds likely disappear as well. As for the Portuguese "ão" syllable, quite unique to this language, it likely reverts back to "an", like happen in the word Kirishtan itself (which is derived from the Portuguese word Cristão).

Regarding the grammar, as I said, I think it would be mostly japanese, which means an SOV sentence structure, as opposed to the SVO structure usually employed by Portuguese and other European languages (althought there are also cases of SOV in Portuguese, especially in literature). I'm unsure of how many of the japanese particles the kirishtan would mantain. Some of these particles serve to identify the role played by a word in a sentence, and they definetely add clarity, which is an important thing for a creole that aims to act as a lingua franca. But on the other hand the Japanese omit them all the time, so I don't know how likely it would be for them to carry it over to a creole language.

As for verbs, Portuguese and Japanese are both somewhat conjugation obsessed, but in very different ways and for very diferent reasons. From what I know of the language, Japanese verbs are very regular and suffer conjugation for things like indicating respect (masu form), making a request (te form) or expressing a desire (tai form), with the only "normal" conjugation (from an European point of view) being the pasrt form (ta). In the kirishtan language, ethymologically Portuguese verbs would likely be conjugated in the Japanese manner. As happens with other creoles, they would just take one portuguese conjugation which was intended for a specific person and tense and apply and use it basically everytime the verb is used. However, unlike it happens with others creole languages, they would then conjugate the verbs in the japanese fashion, making kirishtan versions of the masu, te, tai and ta forms which are more or less based in the Japanese rules.

It's also likely that some of the Japanese language's aglutinative tendencies get carries on to kirishtan, which may lead to words of portuguese origin being a aglutinated to form new words, in ways they probably wouldn't in their mother language.

I'm not sure of how to account for south and southeast asian influences in the language, but they would definitely be significant, since the number of settlers from Portuguese southeast asia would be very large in both Formosa and Australia.

In Macanese creole (patuá), the influence of Malay is actually even greater than the influence of cantonese itself (the language being closely related to Malaccan Kristang), but that was mostly because Portuguese settlers (overwhelmingly male) refused to marry Chinese women because they weren't catholic, and prefered to marry eurasian women instead. To be honest, I really don't get why this happaned, as it seems to be a rather unique case in an otherwise very miscegenation-friendly Portuguese Empire, the ancestors of these men's wives certainly showed little problem in marrying muslim, hindu and buddhist women, or otherwise the Kristang wouldn't even exist. But regardless of that this is unlikely to happen in TTL's Portuguese Formosa, since the amount of women among the Japanese catholic refugees will be significant. So, kirishtan language wouldn't be as southeast asian as patuá, but influences from these languages will surely exist. The Malay form of making plural, which is basically just repeating the word and adding an hifen, seems to be very simple and intuitive, so maybe that will stick (it certainly does in both Kristang and Patuá). On the other hand, that's only really convenient for short words, and the Krishtan language is likely to have longer words, so maybe just repeat the las syllable or something?

Anyway, this is obivously all very speculative...

What would be the name of Kirishtan Australia?

I don't know. I guess either something religious or something derived from what some arboriginal tribe calls it (in accordance with both Portuguese and Japanese naming custums)

Also how would the indigenous peoples of Australia fair in this scenario? Would they suffer as they did IOTL or would they mix in with the Kirishtan, Asians, and Europeans to form a melting pot of culture?

They would certainly fair a lot better than they did IOTL. As several people have already pointed out in this thread, the British were particularily brutal with the arboriginals, getting pretty close to the point of genocide. That was probably the result of racialist theories being deeply entrenched in them by the 19th century. This kind of thinking did not exist in most Portuguese colonies, especially not in Asia. Since the Kirishtan would be a product of portuguese colonialism in asia, they would likely follow that model. The aboriginals would be converted to christianity (if necessary, by use of force) and encouraged to miscegenate. No mass killings. They'd still suffer a lot from disease, though.

What would this version of Australia look like in the present?

Well, that depends on a lot of things. If I was too quick to make any prediction about that I'd be hanged as butterfly-murderer.

And what of New Zealand?

It could also get colonised by the Kirishtan, or it could not. On one hand, there doesn't seem to be an economic incentive for them to do so. But on the other hand the island is an very good position to be grabed just for the sake of grabing land. If the kirishtan maintain a Japanese inspired system of daimyos for a while (which seems likely in my opinion), as well as a general samurai culture, then it's likely that some of the nobility would want to go war with the Maori, hoping to win glory and maybe some land.


God, I wrote a lot. I'm really excited about this, haha.
 
I would love to see such a language! Someone posted a snippet of a Portuguese-Japanese creole on reddit, Nagasaki-Ringu. Maybe the language of the Kirishtans could share similarities with that one.

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing that. I'd still go for a more Japanese-based grammar, though, just because that's how creoles generally work
 
Tokugawa doesn’t start isolation, instead he dies a few years later and another Emperor takes his place, being more welcome to foreigners and encouraging European studies.

Eventually a exploratory trip is sponsored by the Emperor, reluctantly. The trip explores the Southern Seas, stopping in Manila and Malacca along the way, before touching off Western Australia.

The Emperor is interested in this, also fascinated with tales of the cities of gold in the East, decides to send criminals and willing people to start a colony in this unknown southern land.

by 1750, Australia has been fully colonized, alongside with it’s sister island.

This could pretty much butterfly the Opium and the World Wars, since there is a possibility Japan decides to go ham on China 200 years earlier, or a China more outward-looking.


Not wholly plausible, but a good start.


For present day, probably just like OTL Japan with some native mix if the Japanese doesn’t fully exterminate the Aboriginals.

This is difficult. Tokugawa Ieyasu was the Shogun and not the Emperor, and isolationism was started under his successors. In theory, the Shogunate had plenty of power but could be just as weak as the Emperor who was largely a figurehead. The Tokugawa did everything reasonable in their power to prevent any instability to their rule, Isolationism was just one part of this. The Tokugawa's power relied on keeping the various feudal lords occupied with spending money and under observation, sending lords off to make a colony would be difficult as you would make Japanese Australia into basically OTL Austrailia colonist wise, especially if you cannot watch them.

So, I realize that what I'm about to propose maybe a bit tangential considering the OP, but it's an idea that has been floating in my head for a while, so I thought I could just share it here.

The "crazy" scenario I've thought of goes basically like this:
  • Portugal takes a more assertive role in asserting its domination of Nanban trade during the 16th century. To do this, they colonize Formosa and vassalize the Ryukyus, sending a small amount of settlers from the mainland and Portuguese southeast asia to these islands. They also start to import some japanese workers, mostly from lands controlled by Catholic daimyo, which they also have more influence over ITTL due to using their strenghened position in the far east to assert dominance over the Jesuit mission to Japan.
  • Due to Portuguese control over Formosa and the Ryukyus, the Dutch are unable to begin trading with Japan. They attempt to take this possessions from the Portuguese, but fail. Due to the lack of an alternative European nation to trade with, the Tokugawas (understanding that Japan cannot be completely isolated and needs to keep at least a mininum of contact with the outside world), allow the Portuguese to continue trading even after banishing christianity, just as long as they restrain their activities to to port-city Nagasaki (which ITTL is also a Portuguese enclave from the beggining), as happaned with the Dutch IOTL.
  • Nagasaki, the Ryukyus and Formosa become the refuge for most of Japan's christian population. Wishing to maintain at least decent relatioships with the Portuguese whiole still getting rid of christianity, the Tokugawas encourage Japanese christians to settle there, with most christian daimyos being exiled instead of being force to convert. The daimyos take with them large portions of their domain's christian population, which is also encouraged by the Tokugawas so that they don't have to massacre them.
  • The Japanese christians mix with the Portuguese and eurasian creole peoples from southeast Asia, forming a new "Kirishtan" creole people.
  • The christian daimyos, still ambitious even in exile, decide that, having been exiled from newly stabilized Japan and with no realistic prospects for militairy adventures in Korea and China, it would be a good idea to establish a Kirishtan maritime empire, led by them but with Portuguese protection, with the colonies perhaps paying aleigence to Portugal, or perhaps to the Japanese emperor (though not to the Shogun, which they would decry as ilegitimate).
  • They aseembkle a fleet with material and tecnhical support from Portugal, and then proceed to conquer territories in southeast Asia. After ataining only very moderate success there, and with their prospects for future expansion limited by competition from other powers, they resort to further exploration, eventually stumbling upon Australia.
  • Finally, the colonization of Australia proceeds as a joint portuguese-kirishtan project, with most of the population coming from Formosa and the Ryukyus, but with mainland Portugal and Portuguese southeast Asia also sending some settlers. The european settlers in particular bring with them mediteranean crops which are suitable for agraiculture in southwestern Australia. That way, the population grows quickly and the colony prospers. Besides self-sufficiency, the colony's economy is initially based on rubber tree plantation, but later gold and silver deposits are found, and mining becomes profitable.
So, what do you guys think of this? I know it's not a "purely" Japanese australia scenario, but the bulk of the population is still made of japanese descents and, considering how immersive Japanse culture can be (christian missionaries sent to Japan seemed to adopt their clothing style and customs quite quickly while still remaining christians), I'd guess this alternate Australia's culture would be largely Japanese-based, althought predominantly catholic and with considerable Portuguese and southeast asian influences. No place was colonized with a completely homogenous group of settlers anyway...

This relies on the Christian Daimyo actually being more than just several minor lords in Kyushu, and just scattered in some parts in Japan in general. The Christian Daimyo were small in both numbers and land, save the Otomo but their a paper tiger, and Otomo Sorin would not convert for a while. Otherwise the Portuguese would have to extend their influence into Honshu, and Portuguese influence in Japan was always at risk if a friendly lord got deposed, the defeat of the Ouchi in the 1550's saw any chance for Portuguese or at least chrsitian influence in Honshu shut down.

Your making the assumption the Tokugawa's rise was inevitable when Motoyasu/Ieyasu really lucked out. The then Matsudaira Motoyasu started out as a hostage of Imagawa Yoshimoto and managed to become independent after his death at Okehazama. The now Tokugawa Ieyasu conquered his former lord's lands while managing to resist the Takeda with help from the Oda. However, this left the Tokugawa as a regional power, checked from any real power by their allies the Oda to the west and Hojo to the east. He was then dispossessed of his old lands by Toyotomi Hideyoshi and given lands in the Kanto plains even further from the capital. However because Hideyoshi failed to really secure his sucession, it allowed Ieyasu a chance to become Shogun. Getting a united Japan willing go the Tokugawa route would quite convoluted like OTL if you can even ensure a united Japan for the premise to work.

Also wouldn't Portugal be stretching itself thin to do this? Portuguese Asia alone ranges from several forts in India, Malacca, Indonesia, and Macau. Messing with the Ryukyus would piss off China, while they could go for Taiwan what would ensure they have enough of troops to go aid the weak Christian daimyo as well?

@ToolboxHD and @Joao97 A Japanese Australia and New Zealand is theoretically possible, but difficult if not impossible with a Tokugawa POD, what it would look like is another story. Japan did have a colony at this time in Hokkaido, but it was largely done by the efforts of one clan, but I do not think you can transplant the Hokkaido experience to Australia and New Zealand.
 
This relies on the Christian Daimyo actually being more than just several minor lords in Kyushu, and just scattered in some parts in Japan in general. The Christian Daimyo were small in both numbers and land, save the Otomo but their a paper tiger, and Otomo Sorin would not convert for a while. Otherwise the Portuguese would have to extend their influence into Honshu, and Portuguese influence in Japan was always at risk if a friendly lord got deposed, the defeat of the Ouchi in the 1550's saw any chance for Portuguese or at least chrsitian influence in Honshu shut down.

I'm not sure we'd need to buff up christianity in Japan that much. To get this started, we would only need enough people to colonise Formosa together with Portuguese and southeast asian settlers. We don't need a lot more christian daimyos than we had IOTL to do that.

Your making the assumption the Tokugawa's rise was inevitable when Motoyasu/Ieyasu really lucked out. The then Matsudaira Motoyasu started out as a hostage of Imagawa Yoshimoto and managed to become independent after his death at Okehazama. The now Tokugawa Ieyasu conquered his former lord's lands while managing to resist the Takeda with help from the Oda. However, this left the Tokugawa as a regional power, checked from any real power by their allies the Oda to the west and Hojo to the east. He was then dispossessed of his old lands by Toyotomi Hideyoshi and given lands in the Kanto plains even further from the capital. However because Hideyoshi failed to really secure his sucession, it allowed Ieyasu a chance to become Shogun. Getting a united Japan willing go the Tokugawa route would quite convoluted like OTL if you can even ensure a united Japan for the premise to work.

I just left Tokugawa there for the sake of convenience. I'm perfectly aware he could have lost. Anyway, all I need is a unified Japan that still becomes isolationist and bans christianity. While I know that is not certain, it is certainly as possible ITTL as it was IOTL.

Also wouldn't Portugal be stretching itself thin to do this? Portuguese Asia alone ranges from several forts in India, Malacca, Indonesia, and Macau. Messing with the Ryukyus would piss off China, while they could go for Taiwan what would ensure they have enough of troops to go aid the weak Christian daimyo as well?

Well, Portugal was stretched thin throughout the entirety of the duration of its colonial empire, that didn't keep them from continuing to grab things. The Portuguese were fanatical about colonialism and were capable of sacrifices other europeans wouldn't even consider in order to pursue it. That's how they managed to have such a large empire in the first place.

Anyway, while I'm more or less optimistic about the prospects of this potential venture (with some luck, it could work) there are also ways to strenghen Portuguese militairy presence in Asia with some fairly simple PoD's. Just getting some territories earlier than IOTL could lead to larger mestizo populations from which troops could be raised.
 

redeclipse

Banned
Maori meets samurai. Break out the popcorn. They'd be a match for each other in a fight and I bet the Maori would end up becoming samurai if assimilated.
 
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