AHC: Make Denmark-Norway the dominant colonial power

like the title says if its possible make Denmark-Norway the dominant colonial power by 1800.
IDK whether its possible or not, but im interested to see.
 
VERY hard to say the least. Both countries lack natural resources which would be helpful for colonization, the climate of Norway is very poor, meaning that the overall population would be quite small (unless it also goes on a rampage and integrates Sweden-Finland and northern Germany first) and the location isn't ideal either (long distances to lucrative parts of North America, even further everywhere else).

Having Denmark as a power alá German Empire in 1900 would be possible though, all that is needed is a bit of luck.
 
Step one, have the Union of Kalmar succeed, allowing a solid Scandinavian state to form.

Step two, make the Baltic a Scandinavian lake.

Step three, have them settle/colionize areas often ignored by the other powers... a Scandinavian South Pacific and Oceania perhaps?
 
It already was, just ask the Icelanders, well not dominant, but still it was a colonial power.

Hardly counts...

I say Australia and Canada could be pulled of by an united Scandinavia without much trouble. (Apart from demographics).

Difficult part will be getting them something glorious, like a good piece of India or southern America.

Obviously african colonies shouldn´t be a problem if even Belgium was able to pull it of.
 
Making it as dominant as for example Spain or England/Britain was is extremely hard, if not impossible. Being on the same level as the Netherlands or Portugal were seems possible to me.
 
What about Vinland succeeding, and staying part of Denmark-Norway?

Vinland adds to the ressources and to the population base, centuries of contact to North America would be incentive enough to improve naval technology, thus once the age of exploration begins Denmark-Norway-Vinland has a clear advantage - and already is established in America.
 
What about Vinland succeeding, and staying part of Denmark-Norway?

Vinland adds to the ressources and to the population base, centuries of contact to North America would be incentive enough to improve naval technology, thus once the age of exploration begins Denmark-Norway-Vinland has a clear advantage - and already is established in America.

In order to have Vinland to survive Greenland colonies should also succeed as the lack of resources in Greenland was the incentive for voyages to America IOTL. Anyway I'm not sure would that change anything. Norwegians(/Greenlanders) traveled to America to get wood and other stuff for years after their camp in Newfoundland was abandoned and they still didn't colonize further.
 
Making it as dominant as for example Spain or England/Britain was is extremely hard, if not impossible. Being on the same level as the Netherlands or Portugal were seems possible to me.

Can't they just be the first people to discover Mesoamerica, and to effectively conquer the place. They'd become rich on gold. It won't last. But it could see them have a golden 16th century.
 
Can't they just be the first people to discover Mesoamerica, and to effectively conquer the place. They'd become rich on gold. It won't last. But it could see them have a golden 16th century.
In my opinion no. The way Meso America was handled OTL was typically Spanish, even typicaly Spanish of that particular time. Other countries would not do exactly the same thing at the same time. If Denmark-Norway (or even England, France or Portugal) would discover the Ameria'sat the exact spot Columbus did, they would have handled the discovery very different. No conquistadors, not the exact same search for gold (or even a seach for gold). They might have ended up wealthy, but it is far from certain.
 
It already was, just ask the Icelanders, well not dominant, but still it was a colonial power.

i do count norway and denmark as the dominant colonial powers, but that was 1200 years ago.

i meant a modern era empire (1600-1900); and isn't a lack of resources a great reason to want to colonize?
 
i do count norway and denmark as the dominant colonial powers, but that was 1200 years ago.

i meant a modern era empire (1600-1900); and isn't a lack of resources a great reason to want to colonize?

Lack of resources would prevent colonization, as they would be incapable of actually enforcing power anywhere.
 
What about Vinland succeeding, and staying part of Denmark-Norway?

Vinland adds to the ressources and to the population base, centuries of contact to North America would be incentive enough to improve naval technology, thus once the age of exploration begins Denmark-Norway-Vinland has a clear advantage - and already is established in America.
Because Greenland and Iceland were never part of Norway (let alone Denmark-Norway) at the time, and Vinland would have been even further away and harder to control.
 
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