AHC: Make Prussia a colonial power by 1860

The challenge is to make Prussia a colonial power with at least one major colony in both America and Asia by the year 1860.
 
How far back am I allowed to start?

Cause if I can start with the Great Elector I've got this in the bag.

I'd be interested to see what you could do, even with an early POD Prussia is quite poorly geographically positioned and still fairly weak in the time it has to establish a "major colony" in America, let alone Asia.
 
Ok, how big does a colony have to be to be considered "major"

A single port town + surrounding hinterlands?

Can you give me an example of what you would consider major?

Is Macau or Hong Kong or Pondicherry sufficient in Asia?

I would think just have it be to where it's sustainable to where it won't collapse after just a couple of years. My guess is if the colony has a population that's at least stable, or even better expanding, after 5 years or more of the colony founding, I'd call it major.

Of course there's a difference between a settlement-type colony where people came to live (like the English colonies in North America) and the profit-type colony where the main drive is making money in resources or trade (like the British colonies in India and virtually the entire Dutch empire)
 
I think the best way to do this is for Austria to lose Hungary but gain Southern Germany after the Napoleonic wars, with Denmark hanging on to Norway and retaining greater regional control. Prussia would have very few options to expand on the continent, even if Austria was focused South instead of West. It wouldn't take much to convince Prussia they needed a colonial empire.
 
The challenge is to make Prussia a colonial power with at least one major colony in both America and Asia by the year 1860.

Have Prussia keep the island of Vieques (albeit for 100 years) after the territory was annexed from the Danish in 1693 by Brandenburg-Prussia. Then have the Danish sell the colonies in India to "prevent" the First Schleswig War.
Totally possible right : P
 
even with an early POD Prussia is quite poorly geographically positioned and still fairly weak in the time it has to establish a "major colony" in America, let alone Asia.
In 1842 the Prussian minister in the US (Friedrich Ludwig von Roenne) was in discussions with the Mexican minister (Juan Altamonte) to buy upper California. Bunsen, the Prussian minister in London, wrote to the Foreign Ministry on 10 January 1843 urging them to take up the scheme, but they never did. I'm not sure how you get one in Asia (participation in the Arrow War, perhaps), but this would seem to be a reasonable POD to try and get Upper California.
 
Would it not be simpler to build on the colonial enterprises of the Great Elector in the 17th centuries (in Mauretania and the Gold Coast, as well as the Virgin Islands)? Perhaps buy over the Couronian empire or demand parts of the Swedish overseas empire in a peace treaty following a Swedish defeat?
 
Easy, Courland keeps its colonies and during the Third Polish Partition Prussia gets the colonies of Courland, while Russia gets Courland like IOTL.
 
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