AHC/WI: Liberia in another part of Africa

Revachah

Revachah

So I made the framework for a Namibia colony as a replacement to Liberia a long time ago but around the late 18th and early 19th century. Message me if you want :)
 

Corjomc

What if Liberians where settled on an island? Let's say the American Colonization Society is able to purchase the island of Fernando Poo (modern day Bioko off the coast of Cameroon)

Maybe the ACS thinks it easier to make an island a success and proof their ideas work and it will lead to more colonization in the future.

How does a successful Island of Liberia affect the abolitionist movement, prejudice thought, and history in general?
 
Revachah

Revachah

Corjomc said:
What if Liberians where settled on an island? Let's say the American Colonization Society is able to purchase the island of Fernando Poo (modern day Bioko off the coast of Cameroon)

Maybe the ACS thinks it easier to make an island a success and proof their ideas work and it will lead to more colonization in the future.

How does a successful Island of Liberia affect the abolitionist movement, prejudice thought, and history in general?
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Tbh I think that's a horrible idea and unlikely, Fernando Po had an established mulatto elite who were barely surviving from their waning plantation economies. In West Africa there were limited opportunities for immigrants like Americans but theyd have no advantages over a western related elite like themselves.
 

Corjomc

Is there any island off the coast that would work do you think? Once they fill the island up with Americos they wouldn't have to worry about being overrun by the indigenous peoples. Maybe the Isle of Liberia then becomes the "Taiwan" of Africa.
 

Analytical Engine

Corjomc said:
Is there any island off the coast that would work do you think? Once they fill the island up with Americos they wouldn't have to worry about being overrun by the indigenous peoples. Maybe the Isle of Liberia then becomes the "Taiwan" of Africa.
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Bioko, possibly. The US may buy rights to it from Spain (they had effectively abandoned the island), but the UK was using it as a naval base for anti-slavery patrols from 1827-1843 (lease formally revoked in 1855). I suppose the Americans could take possession of the island, and allow the Royal Navy's anti-slavery patrols to resettle rescued slaves there.
 

Corjomc

The island being populated by freed American slaves would not be antithetical to the British operations was my thought as well. More hand in glove.
 

Arkenfolm

Corjomc said:
Is there any island off the coast that would work do you think? Once they fill the island up with Americos they wouldn't have to worry about being overrun by the indigenous peoples. Maybe the Isle of Liberia then becomes the "Taiwan" of Africa.
Click to expand...

You have Sao Tomé and Principe. If Portugal would sell the island (and 19th century Portugal would always appreciate more funds) you have an island or two already inhabited by a mishmash of ethnic groups who were at one point enslaved (like the Americo-Liberians). The main problem is, there's little there to make an economy off of. It was never a historic center of trade (like Zanzibar if want a Singapore-style economy) and depended heavily on its plantation economy. OTL Sao Tomé is stable but poor, with little future potential but the possibility of offshore oil. Better than Liberia (thanks to the guys involved in the civil war there), but that isn't saying much. But maybe 150+ years of independence could result in more foreign investment so it could be like one of the modern Caribbean sugar islands and be less poor.

Corjomc said:
The island being populated by freed American slaves would not be antithetical to the British operations was my thought as well. More hand in glove.
Click to expand...

Sounds more of a replacement for Sierra Leone.
 
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