Alternate colonization?

What other European powers could have (realistically) colonized? Colonizing America or Africa works, bonus points if you post a map!
 
Depends on the butterflies leading up to the Age of Colonization, but I've always been fond of the Dutch colonizing the New World.
 
Depends on the butterflies leading up to the Age of Colonization, but I've always been fond of the Dutch colonizing the New World.

You mean as they did with New York, Suriname, and still do in St Marteens? Dutch was still spoken in parts of New York and New Jersey up to the 1900s (and no, not talking about Pennsylvania Dutch, that is German (Deutsch), not related to Dutch)
 
You mean as they did with New York, Suriname, and still do in St Marteens? Dutch was still spoken in parts of New York and New Jersey up to the 1900s (and no, not talking about Pennsylvania Dutch, that is German (Deutsch), not related to Dutch)
Addendum: "The Dutch colonizing the New World on a significantly grander scale than OTL."
 
You mean as they did with New York, Suriname, and still do in St Marteens? Dutch was still spoken in parts of New York and New Jersey up to the 1900s (and no, not talking about Pennsylvania Dutch, that is German (Deutsch), not related to Dutch)

Yes and no, not so much New Jersey - it was common in the Hudson Valley until the mid-19th century or so.

That said, he has a point. Unless you have a moderately early POD in mind, all the countries imaginable with a sizable population base and sea access started overseas colonies (and even some that didn't - the Knights at Malta and Curland - did too). I suppose if you want to go with some Matthias Corvinus scenario where Hungary eats the Balkans or something of that manner, they could eventually have some kind of overseas colonial venture theoretically. You could also have an early-ish Moor-screw where you have some kind of lasting independent Christian Kingdom in Morocco eventually take some colonial possessions.

Norway and Denmark if Sweden were weaker in the period.

A united Ireland with a POD that somehow imparts a large enough population and tax base to merit colonization and also independence from a British power could do it, too.
 
One could see Italian city-states seeing the writing on the wall after two of their own citizens (Columbus and Cabot) discover lands for other nations early on. Genoa might be able to get into the game early enough before Spain has all that Mexican gold and Peruvian silver to finance a war against them. In OTL we saw Austria and Prussia and even minor German states attempt colonies, along with Sweden and Scotland, they could be more successful. The Ottoman Empire would be interesting, and could lead to Muslim Jihad and Christian Crusades in the New World.
 
Yes and no, not so much New Jersey - it was common in the Hudson Valley until the mid-19th century or so.

That said, he has a point. Unless you have a moderately early POD in mind, all the countries imaginable with a sizable population base and sea access started overseas colonies (and even some that didn't - the Knights at Malta and Curland - did too). I suppose if you want to go with some Matthias Corvinus scenario where Hungary eats the Balkans or something of that manner, they could eventually have some kind of overseas colonial venture theoretically. You could also have an early-ish Moor-screw where you have some kind of lasting independent Christian Kingdom in Morocco eventually take some colonial possessions.

Norway and Denmark if Sweden were weaker in the period.

A united Ireland with a POD that somehow imparts a large enough population and tax base to merit colonization and also independence from a British power could do it, too.

Yes in NJ. Google it.
 
Yes in NJ. Google it.

I guess you learn something everyday - pretty interesting stuff. Not so much in New York though - the Dutch had been subsumed into the agricultural community in upstate New York, primarily Palatine and Yankee folks, but the Dutch language continued on until the 19th century, as did the Dutch patroon system until its later abolition.
 
I guess you learn something everyday - pretty interesting stuff. Not so much in New York though - the Dutch had been subsumed into the agricultural community in upstate New York, primarily Palatine and Yankee folks, but the Dutch language continued on until the 19th century, as did the Dutch patroon system until its later abolition.
Yes. I know. Im from Albany.
 
What if the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth had more interest in the Duchy of Courland's colonial aspirations? Jacob Kettler did meet with Wladyslaw IV in 1647 to discuss the creation of a joint trading company.
 
I have been pondering on an 'earlier (re)discovery of the Americas' based on someone in the Kalmar Union or the earlier personal union of Norway and Sweden taking an interest in the more realistic Norse sagas. An explorer attempting to follow the old Viking route could make it to Newfoundland or Nova Scotia and back somewhere between the mid-14th and mid 15th century. Less able sailors but probably better at setting up a colony, the Scandinavians would be the first Europeans to successfully settle on the western continents.

This would lead to less of a scramble, since people don't expect the new lands to be India, but rather an (at least initially) far slower drip of settlers. Instead of nations on the Iberian Peninsula being the ones with the early successes, it'd be Scandinavian and possibly Scottish and Irish interests that make initial headway, followed by England making sure to check that the other British nations do not gain an advantage over her, France heading west to check English expansion and Spain&Portugal only heading out when someone discovers some riches in the west.

The Kalmar Union breaking up might see an independent colonial state come into being far sooner - while some colonies are retained by any one of the three kingdoms, many settlers who have been born and raised in the new colonies would no longer identify as Norwegian/Swedish/Danish and would resent the expectation that they should start killing their friends and family because of what they see as a civil war back home and secede. However, this taking place before the concept of democracy has become known to common people after being almost forgotten for more than a millennium, the new entity would instead be some form of kingdom.

Since the Scandinavians have probably not forgotten everything the Vikings knew about this whole 'hygiene' thing by the time there's contact between Europe and the Native Americans, I can also see the epidemics being less ludicrously deadly and the more adaptable native nations surviving.
 
Since the Scandinavians have probably not forgotten everything the Vikings knew about this whole 'hygiene' thing by the time there's contact between Europe and the Native Americans, I can also see the epidemics being less ludicrously deadly and the more adaptable native nations surviving.

Or, given the time, they could even potentially bring the black death to the Americas - as morbid as it sounds if that were the case I don't really expect there to be many people left in gold mines or the like for ATL conquistadors (from whatever nation) to find. That time period is a bit earlier for the gold-heavy civilizations the Europeans would later encounter, though.
 
If I am not mistaken there were a couple of recent threads about possible Kalmar Union colonization but I don't recall how far the discussions went.

To be honest, I think that Denmark-Norway and Sweden pursuing colonization in the Americas separately would be easier. The breaking of the Kalmar Union, focus on controlling Baltic trade, and competition with the Hanseatic League could divert attention away from the Americas.

I'll have to see if I still have some of the material from previous discussions.
 
Theoretically any nation that has port and can generally make it to either Africa, Asia, Americas, or even Europe. Brunei could have straight up colonized France as a settler colony if the Plague could have gone much worse. Even Switzerland could have colonized the Americas if it burned through Italy.

In practice, you'll need a powerful, centralized, technologically advanced power that has enough power to sustain large colonies and to be able to defend said colonies. Plus, those nations will need to be able to cross an ocean in enough time to send enough forces to defend and to make commerce cheap but not close enough to be able to go back home whenever they want. Plus, they will need enough population to actually send colonists en masse.
 
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