Challenge: Venetian Venezuela

Thande

Donor
Venezuela, meaning "Little Venice", was so named by Amerigo Vespucci (the explorer, not the AH.com poster who wrote the Cuban Missile War timeline ;) ) because the natives built out on water using buildings on stilts etc., which reminded Vespucci of Venice.

Aside from that, there's no connection between the two: Venezuela was colonised first by Germans and secondly, obviously, by the Spanish. So your challenge, with a POD after say 1520 AD, is to make Venezuela a colony of the Republic of Venice by the year 1800.
 
POD: instead of focusing on Mediterranean trade, the Venetian doge focuses on newer trade routes -- IE in the Americas. Venetians land in Venezuela and begin to colonize, helped by other Italian settlers. eventually it becomesa mildly-populous colony, mostly with Venetians, slaves, and Spanish people.
 
POD: instead of focusing on Mediterranean trade, the Venetian doge focuses on newer trade routes -- IE in the Americas. Venetians land in Venezuela and begin to colonize, helped by other Italian settlers. eventually it becomesa mildly-populous colony, mostly with Venetians, slaves, and Spanish people.

If they penetrated OTL Venezuela, they would encounter the Muisca Confederation. The Muisca were a perfect match for the Venetians, all about trade and making money. This would probably work out great for both partys.

As long as the Venetians don't come a soul-saving, they might really make a buck here.

JMO...
 
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