Canadian Colonies?

Maybe have a Canadian equivalent of Charles Lee Moses and a Canadian government that becomes interested in it and accepts the offer and gradually takes over North Borneo (modern day Sabah), convincing London to accept it by stating they brought the territory into the Empire before the Americans or Spanish or French could gain it.
 
With a more powerful (and more intendant) Canada, is it likely we could see Canada joining in the Scramble for Africa? Or possibly seeking out ports and protectorates in Asia? If so, what is the most likely rout for Canadian Imperialism? *POD is 1867*

Note: Canada gaining more British holdings, as in the Caribbean doesn't count in this. As Canada, the British, and the Caribbean colonies had plans for this to happen OTL anyhow.

Canada already has an enormous colony to colonize and invest in... called Western Canada.

If you want Canadian colonies you need a way earlier POD, a POD where Canada already has the West locked down and has the finances and will to expand elsewhere (neither of which she had OTL).

I should say that if she really pushed for it I don't think British Caribbean possessions are out of the question. And if the butterflies flap really hard Hawaii is... doable, but unlikely (there was a thread about this a while ago somewhere saying that the HBC was quite active in Hawaii for a time).
 
Canada already has an enormous colony to colonize and invest in... called Western Canada.

If you want Canadian colonies you need a way earlier POD, a POD where Canada already has the West locked down and has the finances and will to expand elsewhere (neither of which she had OTL).

I should say that if she really pushed for it I don't think British Caribbean possessions are out of the question. And if the butterflies flap really hard Hawaii is... doable, but unlikely (there was a thread about this a while ago somewhere saying that the HBC was quite active in Hawaii for a time).

I've been trying to think of ways to get Hawaii into Confederation. I couldn't come up with much. But if the HBC is already there, that at least opens a door. Have the Kingdom of Canada declare Hawaii a protectorate, and have Britain back them up on it? That should at least keep the USA from annexing it long enough to make Hawaii get more comfortable with the Kingdom of Canada.
 
here's an idea, have the canadians lose the Great Prairie War to the US. with canadians stuck on the eastern seaboard, they look for other lands to settle.
 

katchen

Banned
There were a number of serious proposals for some or all of the British West Indies to JOIN Canada, but Canada does not appear to have been interested. The last proposal was in 2009, to join the Turks and Caicos Islands to Canada. See n.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada–Caribbean_relations
 
Well besides the fact that a Kingdom of Canada is highly unlikely (no offense)

Except not really because it nearly happened OTL.

Before WW1 and its decisive battles, there were no "Canadians". The Anglican elite and the British-descended population viewed themselves as Englishmen who happened to live in North America.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Name_of_Canada#After_the_conquest_of_New_France
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canuck

Canadiens/Canadians has been used to describe the inhabitants of Canada since at least the late 1700's.

Stop. Whitewashing. And. Generalizing. Our. History.

Here's an idea: after South West Africa falls to Britain, the British become wary of direct administration, and are uneasy at permitting South African administration. The League of Nations grants Britain the mandate to South West Africa, in practice staffed by Canadians.

After the Westminster Statute in 1931, Britain makes the argument the trusteeship has passed to Canada. The League of Nations, too preoccupied with other matters, doesn't object.

Post-WW2 is when things get interesting. Canada now shares a border with South Africa and professes the intention to grant SWA independence under majority rule. South African-backed agitation among white settlers and anti-Portuguese rebels using SWA as a base threaten the mandate's stability. Events on the ground are increasingly dictated in Pretoria, Lisbon, Havana, and Washington...

That's actually a REALLY good idea. Temporary Canadian colony/trust territory in southern Africa.

On a related note, late in the game (late 1800's), Canada could be given "stewardship" of Britain's west African colonies. Sierra Leone could work particularly well as some of its earliest colonists were black Canadians from Nova Scotia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Sierra_Leone#Freetown_Colony_1792-1800
 
Before WW1 and its decisive battles, there were no "Canadians". The Anglican elite and the British-descended population viewed themselves as Englishmen who happened to live in North America.

Here's an idea: after South West Africa falls to Britain, the British become wary of direct administration, and are uneasy at permitting South African administration. The League of Nations grants Britain the mandate to South West Africa, in practice staffed by Canadians.

After the Westminster Statute in 1931, Britain makes the argument the trusteeship has passed to Canada. The League of Nations, too preoccupied with other matters, doesn't object.

Post-WW2 is when things get interesting. Canada now shares a border with South Africa and professes the intention to grant SWA independence under majority rule. South African-backed agitation among white settlers and anti-Portuguese rebels using SWA as a base threaten the mandate's stability. Events on the ground are increasingly dictated in Pretoria, Lisbon, Havana, and Washington...

I can't see South Africa going along with this right from the start. The mandate was given to them IOTL, and I understand they pretty interested in it.
However, the idea of a SN mandate is probably the only half-realistic way to give Canada anything resembling a colony. The problems I see with it are:
1) why on Earth would Canada be interested? It's going to be a money sink for no significant benefit.
2) there are not many suitable places. Tanganyika and SW Africa are clearly someone else's strategic concern, and so are German New Guinea, Micronesia and Camerun. (Part of) Togoland and Nauru are quite the only vague possibilities. Maybe the POD can be Germany having another minor colony somewhere in a place where a Canadian mandate would make sense, but that assumes a butterfly genocide. Maybe another country joins the CP and its colonies come to form the Canadian mandate, but there are not many countries that could work for this, the only half-plausible possibility being the Netherlands.
 
On a related note, late in the game (late 1800's), Canada could be given "stewardship" of Britain's west African colonies. Sierra Leone could work particularly well as some of its earliest colonists were black Canadians from Nova Scotia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Sierra_Leone#Freetown_Colony_1792-1800

This would be another good way to do it. I was thinking a similar notion before reading the post. However, I don't think that it would be workable for a place that is not Sierra Leone.
 
Try looking a little closer to home, Greenland and Iceland are possibilities. At various points in history there have also been talk of Bermuda, Barbados, Turks and Caicos Islands, Jamaica, and the failed West Indies Federation joining Canada as either another province, a part of a existing province, or territory. Some kind of deal with England transferring those holdings to Canada oh say after WW2 in exchange for debt forgiveness would be within the realms of the possible.
 
Try looking a little closer to home, Greenland and Iceland are possibilities. At various points in history there have also been talk of Bermuda, Barbados, Turks and Caicos Islands, Jamaica, and the failed West Indies Federation joining Canada as either another province, a part of a existing province, or territory. Some kind of deal with England transferring those holdings to Canada oh say after WW2 in exchange for debt forgiveness would be within the realms of the possible.

Greenland is a possibility, however there is no realistic way to gain Iceland without an Imperial War of Aggression on Canada/Britain's part; Iceland was part of Denmark for centuries and, unlike Greenland, was treated as an equal part (since it was more populous, European and Lutheran) before gaining becoming a separate Kingdom within the Danish realm in the first early years of the 20th century and eventually becoming independent.
 
Working withing the OP's constraints, I'm guessing that the place that would at the very least be remotely possible to be a Canadian colony would be...Hawai'i.

But this would require three things to go into Canada's favour:
  1. Britain doesn't snap Hawai'i up (as per OP)
  2. US doesn't snap Hawai'i up
  3. Hawai'i is not transferred to Australia or New Zealand
 
Working withing the OP's constraints, I'm guessing that the place that would at the very least be remotely possible to be a Canadian colony would be...Hawai'i.

But this would require three things to go into Canada's favour:
  1. Britain doesn't snap Hawai'i up (as per OP)
  2. US doesn't snap Hawai'i up
  3. Hawai'i is not transferred to Australia or New Zealand

You're also forgetting Russia.
 

katchen

Banned
Greenland is a possibility, however there is no realistic way to gain Iceland without an Imperial War of Aggression on Canada/Britain's part; Iceland was part of Denmark for centuries and, unlike Greenland, was treated as an equal part (since it was more populous, European and Lutheran) before gaining becoming a separate Kingdom within the Danish realm in the first early years of the 20th century and eventually becoming independent.
Denmark DID ally with Napoleon early in the Napoleonic Wars. The British could seize Greenland, Iceland and the Faroes (and the Gold Coast, Nicobar Islands and Danish Virgin Islands) for just that reason, just as the British seized (and wound up keeping) Cape Colony from the Netherlands. Greenland would certainly wind up part of Canada. Iceland might be a tossup whether it becomes part of Canada or one of the British Isles. The Faroes would almost certainly get lumped in with the Shetland Islands and annexed into the UK proper.
 
Denmark DID ally with Napoleon early in the Napoleonic Wars. The British could seize Greenland, Iceland and the Faroes (and the Gold Coast, Nicobar Islands and Danish Virgin Islands) for just that reason, just as the British seized (and wound up keeping) Cape Colony from the Netherlands. Greenland would certainly wind up part of Canada. Iceland might be a tossup whether it becomes part of Canada or one of the British Isles. The Faroes would almost certainly get lumped in with the Shetland Islands and annexed into the UK proper.

That's not how things worked back then, for everything annexed their had to be some sort of compensation, plus Britain only annexed South Africa for strategic India reasons, while they gave back everything else except Sir Lanka (again, India reasons), but ultimately did make a deal with the Netherlands that compensated them for it.
 
Surely it would be more practical to give Canada some of the odd little island territories in the Pacific or Atlantic. You the general type - sparsely inhabited, or uninhabited, maybe a research/radio or some sort of station. Then maybe useful during discussions about sovereignty and maritime boundaries
 
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