AHC: World class African city

birdboy2000

Banned
Maybe Malabo, the capital of Equatorial Guinea, could go the Dubai route? The place has the oil wealth; if its rulers were more interested in building up the capital and less interested in looting the country maybe it could do something.
 
I'm going to go another way and say Dakar if the the Senegalese and Sudanese (Mali) had been able to get along better. Or even if the area hadn't gone to hell so quickly. Only three Presidents (Senegal) since independence isn't indicative of a well-rounded and open society. Though that's better than Mali's constant coups.
 
Yes, that's what I was thinking. Perhaps some reason to have just a central city state achieve independence apart from the rest of the colony. Maybe an influx of Indians during the colonial era giving them a majority in the city itself which is then rejected by the rest of the country which seeks union with Somalia (much as Singapore and it's Chinese majority were kicked out by Malaysia)

Was there much immigration to French (or non-British) African colonies from India during the period?
 
Was there much immigration to French (or non-British) African colonies from India during the period?

Certainly not, that's partly why I originally suggested North Somalia or Eritrea instead of Djibouti. Call me biased but I think it much more likely that a prosperous city-state on the Horn of Africa would come out of British Somaliland than French Djibouti.
 
Islands and peninsulas tend to work. Maybe have an area for Indians who had settled in Africa or been dragged over as workers. Zanzibar of course working, though having it be build up as a resort or retirement place might also work. Dibouji might work if Ethiopia was more prosperous and somehow managed to get it. If they got the land from ITaly in that trade for Hoare-Laval that may have counted, if not for the French forcing the Ethiopians to never build a port.
 
Assuming this is restricted to sub-Saharan Africa, I would say either 1) South Africa is more centralised and the Anglophones are more on top, and Cape Town develops as the sole capital, or 2) Zanzibar as a free city along the lines of Singapore.

Cape Town definitely has the ingredients to be a World City ranking with London, New York, Paris, and Berlin.

It has a mixed ethnic background, a strong historical background. It has a good climate. In the OTL it attracts lots of the rich and famous.

To make it work in the timescale I'd say let's imagine that after the Boer War rather than following a policy of reconciliation with the Boers, the British pursued a campaign of open immigration and non-racial property qualification for the vote. So maybe instead of Argentina being a magnet for millions of poor Italians, South Africa becomes so.

Perhaps it is permissible to see South Africa as a big multi-ethnic democracy with a very successful economy. IN those circumstances Cape Town could be the big world city.
 
That, or you have nearly everyone with the exception of those without slaves and the workmen and sailors of the Cape go on the Boer Trek, leaving lots of space in the port to be filled. Maybe that can become the land for Black Loyalists or some Indians driven away by the Americans.
 
Certainly not, that's partly why I originally suggested North Somalia or Eritrea instead of Djibouti. Call me biased but I think it much more likely that a prosperous city-state on the Horn of Africa would come out of British Somaliland than French Djibouti.

Oh, ok. I thought Djibouti was what you meant.

Good point.

I suppose there could be some kind of severe disease outbreak in Pondicherry causing the Indians there to flee at some point, though I imagine there would be butterflies from that. :p
 

Wolfpaw

Banned
I suppose there could be some kind of severe disease outbreak in Pondicherry causing the Indians there to flee at some point...
The question is, why on earth would they flee to Africa? That would be astronomically more expensive/difficult than relocating to somewhere else in India.
 
Oh, ok. I thought Djibouti was what you meant.



I suppose there could be some kind of severe disease outbreak in Pondicherry causing the Indians there to flee at some point, though I imagine there would be butterflies from that. :p

Nah- that wouldn't work. Why would they run all the way to Africa when they could just move into British India. I don't think there was much of an issue with Indians moving back and forth.
 
The challenge is to have a city in Africa that is unquestionably on the scale of New York, Paris, London, and Berlin in terms of economic power and cultural significance. The POD is 1900 but bonus points for anyone who does it with a POD after 1950.

Tangier seems like it might have filled this role given the right circumstances.
 
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