AHC/WI: Post-Vinland Scandinavian colonisation of Canada

Not sure if that would be the case linguistically, but it is well-known that Germans were always looking for places to settle outside of their homeland. If you diverted some of German settlement to the New World, you'd get a thriving community early on. Especially during conflicts over Protestantism which are sure to emerge before long, butterflies or not. And like Finnish settlement in a Swedish colonised place might be a "back door" so to speak for Finnish colonisation, perhaps intensive German settlement might be a "back door" to German colonisation (more than Klein-Venedig ever was at least). Not that Danes and Norwegians and especially Icelanders wouldn't be moving there either.

Linguistically German is more similar to the Germanic Scandinavian languages than English. So for convenience I imagine Germans would go to a Scandinavian colony as it would be easier linguistically to make the jump to Danish or Swedish. Particularly if you get people who speak both Danish and German, form Denmark's German territories as administrators of the colonies and then advertise that Germans would not have to learn Danish immediately. I recon that would be an effective way of attracting a large flow of German migrants.
 
Wait, aren´t both German and English West Germanic while Scandinavian languages are North Germanic? I would say that the linguistic differences are pretty much irrelevant.
 
Wait, aren´t both German and English West Germanic while Scandinavian languages are North Germanic? I would say that the linguistic differences are pretty much irrelevant.

As I understand it English is a mix of Germanic and Romance, while the Scandinavian languages are North Germanic. My understanding therefore is that German is more similar to Scandinavian languages than English, as English is influenced by Romance languages.
 
As I understand it English is a mix of Germanic and Romance, while the Scandinavian languages are North Germanic. My understanding therefore is that German is more similar to Scandinavian languages than English, as English is influenced by Romance languages.
German also has Romance loanwords and has grammatical genders while English doesn´t, what I am saying is that the linguistic differences are hardly a relevant factor for Low German speakers in the 17th century.
 
German also has Romance loanwords and has grammatical genders while English doesn´t, what I am saying is that the linguistic differences are hardly a relevant factor for Low German speakers in the 17th century.

You could be very well right.

I think though that the use of bilingual administrators from Danish Germany could be a major selling point in terms of encouraging Germans to immigrate to Scandinavian colonies.
 
You could be very well right.

I think though that the use of bilingual administrators from Danish Germany could be a major selling point in terms of encouraging Germans to immigrate to Scandinavian colonies.
There is no need of anything official at the start, as far as I understood people would just be shipped there and do their stuff, that´s why they would immigrate to begin with.

Later on depending on the demographics (Low) German might be co-official or not, but it would probably have a lot of influence over the local Danish(?) like the Argentinian Spanish.
 
There is no need of anything official at the start, as far as I understood people would just be shipped there and do their stuff, that´s why they would immigrate to begin with.

Later on depending on the demographics (Low) German might be co-official or not, but it would probably have a lot of influence over the local Danish(?) like the Argentinian Spanish.

Fair point.
The relative size of the immigration would determine the language influence. Large immigration could result in either low German becoming Co-official or a Danish-Low German hybrid. Smaller immigration would result in a smaller low German influence on the local language.
The Danish control of German lands would certainly allow for high high levels of immigration from low German speaking areas. Particularly with the upcoming religious conflicts.
 
As I noted with the Finns, the Maritimes (may include bits of Quebec) are probably the most likely region for Low German to fluorish in.
 
I'm a long time lurker which have just becomed a member, I think this idea have some potential.

I think that a colonisation under John of Denmark would be one one of the better choice. It could happen as a reaction to the Treaty of Tordesillas. John had a claim to Greenland and Vinland as king of Norway. So as a reaction he could send expeditions to push his claim. As the find the St Lawrence river, which is a easy access to the continent. John set up some trading post to both push his claim and make a little money. As the local natives begin to die, first his son, later his brother and his brother's descendent being to send fur trappers (mostly Norwegians) and merchants into the continent. Some farms are set up to feed the outposts. While this colony only start with a few people, it increase through natural population increase and by 1600 the colony is home to 5000-10000 Scandinavian colonists, if we see the historial increase of settled European population in Canada and northern USA we will likely see a doubling every 20 years. So this would givbe us between 80000-160000 Dano-Norwegians by 1700.
 
I'm a long time lurker which have just becomed a member, I think this idea have some potential.

I think that a colonisation under John of Denmark would be one one of the better choice. It could happen as a reaction to the Treaty of Tordesillas. John had a claim to Greenland and Vinland as king of Norway. So as a reaction he could send expeditions to push his claim. As the find the St Lawrence river, which is a easy access to the continent. John set up some trading post to both push his claim and make a little money. As the local natives begin to die, first his son, later his brother and his brother's descendent being to send fur trappers (mostly Norwegians) and merchants into the continent. Some farms are set up to feed the outposts. While this colony only start with a few people, it increase through natural population increase and by 1600 the colony is home to 5000-10000 Scandinavian colonists, if we see the historial increase of settled European population in Canada and northern USA we will likely see a doubling every 20 years. So this would givbe us between 80000-160000 Dano-Norwegians by 1700.

That seems pretty high. Wasn't the total population of Denmark-Norway (plus Iceland/Faroes) something like 1.2-1.5 million in 1600? That's less than Portugal at 2 million and about a quarter of the British Isles. Now Portugal did have very high rates of emigration proportionately to Brazil, but that was mostly with gold on the line. Here you have decent (at best) farmlands, very, very rich fishing (initial lure, no doubt), and the fur trade. Now, the fur trade as we saw historically is going to enrich the colonists/mother country, but also touch off some nasty wars both against the colonists and between native groups, which touches off more wars everywhere. And god so help if England or France get involved through a New England settlement. Indian Wars could end up killing huge amounts of those people and lay tons of land to waste (see all the examples in New England). Granted, that damage is reparable and survivable, but the amount of emigrants can never be as high from Denmark-Norway (or even a united Kalmar Union state) as it was from England.

There's also an idea with religion. This guy here is according to some theories King John's son, or if not, from a powerful noble family. So if he gets the ear of the king, maybe he starts evangelising the natives. If he doesn't end up killed in the process, he might find converts and establish a Catholic tradition in some groups. If Denmark-Norway becomes Protestant as in OTL, then suddenly, these priests might not like that, and then you'll end up starting a war with the natives and...issues. That goes even moreso if France gets involved somehow--rival colonisation in the Maritimes, French *New England, I don't know.

But a combination of fur trading, the Grand Banks, backed by a decent amount of people seems solid. I don't know how far they'd get in King John's day, but if you have a small base of Europeans by the 16th century in the Maritimes, then you're probably on the way to something good.
 
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