AHC: West Indies Federation

First of all, if this idea has been used recently, I am sorry.

Second of all, using as late a POD as possible, allow the West Indies Federation to survive to the modern day.

Lastly, how would this change things for such a Federation to exist?

If you want to know what the West Indies Federation is, here is a link.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Indies_Federation

P.S. Bonus points if you can make it a Canadian Province in a plausible way.
 

abc123

Banned
First of all, if this idea has been used recently, I am sorry.

Second of all, using as late a POD as possible, allow the West Indies Federation to survive to the modern day.

Lastly, how would this change things for such a Federation to exist?

If you want to know what the West Indies Federation is, here is a link.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Indies_Federation

P.S. Bonus points if you can make it a Canadian Province in a plausible way.



All of that was pretty hard to achieve IMO. WIF was IMO trainwreck from the start, but some in London were too stubborn to admitt that.
 
All of that was pretty hard to achieve IMO. WIF was IMO trainwreck from the start, but some in London were too stubborn to admitt that.

Fair enough. Then change it around so the core idea is possible. The end result does have to be a large portion of the British Caribbean possessions leaving the Empire as a single entity. Any ideas how to do that?
 
Fair enough. Then change it around so the core idea is possible. The end result does have to be a large portion of the British Caribbean possessions leaving the Empire as a single entity. Any ideas how to do that?

Well, there are probably two important factors - first, the various islands need to feel far more interconnected economically then they were OTL. Second, a sort of idea of a Pan-Caribbean identity needs to take place. I can't really think of what might help with the first one , but I can think of something for the second.

The West India Regiment was a military unit raised from the locals, served in both World Wars. However, it never really was that large, relative to the population size of the British holdings there, and the Regiment only really recruited from Jamaica, leaving the rest of the islands, including the other major population center of Trinidad, out. How about having a mobilization more in line with that of Canada or Australia - large numbers of troops, from the various islands, including the smaller ones, fighting together during the World Wars? I'd think that such a thing would have a significant political impact, especially on Trinidad and the smaller islands.
 
Perhaps a less rushed process? Many of the Islands activly didn't want independence from Britain. Perhaps a longer maturing process, where the Federation remauns under British rule as part of a longer-term plan.

As for joining Canada, its not really possible at all. The only people who wanted it less IOTL that the West Indians were the Canadians.

Russell
 
As I recall, I think Jamaica was the real problem, which was furthest flung of the WIF members.

Perhaps if Jamaica were previously a separate entity, a WIF might work.
 
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