AHC: Wank the Nordic colonial empires

In OTL, there were attempts of colonization being carried out by Nordic countries (such as Danish Gold Coast and New Sweden), but most of them didn't end up very well. Your challenge is to make the Nordic colonial empires become as big and influential as possible, rivaling other great colonial powers like Britain and France. Go!
 
Best way to do this is by having a united Scandinavia, they tried seizing eachother's colonies more than a few times, a united North allows for focused action
 
For Nordic colonies them all being united is necessary for it to last. Them also being less focused on Europe might help too. Let’s say they take a more British approach to stuff by trying to control the seas and go for defensive borders. If Sweden realizes expanding too much into Russia directly is self destructive they could go for those choke points on the river near St. Petersburg as a border and the Karelia region. It’s narrow, cold, and forested. That helps kill the Russian advantages in numbers. If Sweden or a united Scandinavia focused on making that border heavily defended and control the Baltic Seas Russia expansion there could be stop. If Scandinavia is bold or smart enough they could make the Baltic region a united puppet kingdom. Prussia could be a good ally here. Scandinavia/Denmark control the entire peninsula region(easy to defend) and seas which Prussia is ok with but Scandinavia helps them against Poland and later on both help each other at containing Russia(that Baltic puppet might be ruled by Germans). Prussia also might have a large and good army but lacks navy so they become more dependent on trade on Scandinavia for trade. Also attacking the straight might not be seen as worth it(they have plenty of expansion options if they desire it). Scandinavia now has all this land and Iceland too. During this time you see much of Scandinavia starting forming a more united culture and language.

The first colony is Greenland which they use to launch its colonization of North America by taking OTL Canada and maybe New England too. They get a few small islands or holding in Caribbean and Africa too(mostly cash crops or small ports). They lose Canada to compete or even beat Russia at the fur trade(few wars between Russia and Scandinavia could be over Russian expansion in Alaska).
 
Go back to Vinland, basically. There's a basis for this, like how Didrik Pining was hired to explore Greenland to see what happened to the locals there. Start with propping up the survivors of the Greenland in the late 15th century, then go to Vinland proper and exploit its rich cod fishing grounds. By the early 16th century, start up the fur trade amongst the local Algonquians to undercut any rivals (like Russia). Since at this point OTL we have the Kalmar Union in place, we can help Sweden out by giving them rights to colonial settlements perhaps populated by Forest Finns, who like in Scandinavia or in New Sweden OTL, carve out a new homeland from the forest. The Finns are very hardy settlers, and if Scandinavia needs to compete with the British, will make a perfect counterpart to New Englanders (preserving the Finnish language ala Canadian Gaelic would be interesting, and perhaps likely to occur in more isolated places like Cape Breton Island). Additional money for their empire can be raised in the Caribbean and Africa, where no doubt the Kalmar Union can maintain some slave castles to import plenty of slaves for their sugar plantations to make income for their colonial empire. As for the Baltic, we can still have wars there, we just need to keep the Swedes from seceding and ideally conquer Karelia, Ingria, and Livonia. The main enemies in that theater--Poland, Lithuania, and Russia--are unlikely to present much of a challenge to the colonial empire, but as long as the Swedes can get something from this colonial empire, they'll use that income to help Denmark-Norway out in protecting the Baltic.

This is best-case scenario, but a "return to Vinland" may be possible for Denmark-Norway alone. But ideally I'd combine a core of Forest Finn settlers (i.e. New Sweden) and a Danish-Norwegian "return to Vinland". At worst this leads to a "New France" situation where Britain conquers them before long, at best it could be that our Vinland extends as far south as the Ohio and Missouri and thus becomes one of the great powers along the lines of the United States.

The main problem is that for North America, Scandinavia will need a big navy to compete with the British/French/Spanish, which means they need some good international alliances. An oceangoing navy is separate from the fleet in the Baltic they need to compete with the Polish or Russians. Ideally, maybe have a few puppet states in North Germany like Bremen, Mecklenburg, and Oldenburg, keep Livonia in personal union, add Ingria and Karelia to Finland, and have Baltic territorial goals limited to keeping Poland, Lithuania, and the Russians weak. As for Germany, keep the puppet states secure and as buffer states against potential rivals. And elsewhere, build a strong navy whose goal is to establish superiority in the New World and Africa.

As I noted, Denmark-Norway or OTL Sweden can do something similar, but it's much easier if the Kalmar Union (or another union of Scandinavian crowns, maybe under a wanked Sweden) can succeed and put together this empire.
 
I think that it is enogh when you keep Denmark-Norway together and Sweden keeps Finland. They both would be strong enough to create colonial empires. And there hardly would be much of rivalry between the countries.
 
I think the most obvious points of expansion would be Canada in the New World and the Baltics / Rus in the Old World, but even the British Isles could count as a region of 'colonization'.

Depends on what you want as 'Nordic'. Because while the Baltics, Canada and even Russia could be tenatively colonized as 'Nordic' by way of the Norse, areas like the British Isles and northern France could also be deemed as Nordic / Norse influenced. And if you incorporate the Normans as a result, that gives you Greece, Italy and North Africa as possibilities.
 
I think that it is enogh when you keep Denmark-Norway together and Sweden keeps Finland. They both would be strong enough to create colonial empires. And there hardly would be much of rivalry between the countries.
But Sweden will still be more interested in Germany and the Baltic and Russia, and won't have a big enough navy or desire to make strong enough North American colonies even if they have the population (all those Finns) to do so. We need a mixture of Sweden's settler base in Finland and Denmark-Norway's economy/naval strength to make some solid American colonies.
 
Cnut’s Empire of the North survives and consolidates all or most of the Nordic world and the British Isles, plus a more sustained Vinland colonization.
 
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In November of 1786, King Gustav III of Sweden contracted William Bolts to nab an island off the coast of West Australia at which a Swedish colony and trading post could be established. But Sweden went to war with Russia the next year, so that didn't happen. Bolts OTL did a bit of sailing around for Austria from 1776-1781. He set up a little settlement in Delagoa bay (Today's Maputo) and in the Nicobar Islands (under the assumption that the Danes had abandoned the place). Later on he looked for backers to support an expedition to the northwest portion of North America, but couldn't find backers. The French sent him to colonize Tristan da Cunha too.

Sweden had St Barthelemy until 1874. It briefly had Guadeloupe from 1813-1814, though the cession to France was only internationally recognized in 1816.

I can see a dynamic in which Sweden gets West Australia and then proceeds to nab a few other spots in between. A ship can launch out of Sweden, sail to Guadeloupe and Barthelemy, head to Tristan de Cunha, then to Delagoa Bay, stop in the Kerguelen islands, and then press on to West Australia. Down the line I could see a Swedish Madagascar perhaps.




Denmark offered to swap Iceland and Greenland for Vieques in 1781 (or something like that) I think.

I think if more effort had been put in, the Danes could have expanded upon the Danish Gold Coast. Likewise, the Nicobar Islands could have been a decent launching pad for trade and colonization in southeast Asia. The big issue the Danes had was having to keep an eye on Prussia. Investing in land forces was a bit of a drain on the state's coffers I imagine.

I can imagine the Danes going for Burma. If the Danes involve themselves in the first Anglo-Burmese war, they could feasibly get Tanintharyi and perhaps all of Lower Burma aside from Rakhine (which I think the British would desire).


Anybody who assists the Sultan of Brunei fight pirates is going to get a shot at a slice of north Borneo.
 
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