In 1602 the spanish empire was in deep debt and in order to pay this debt one of their diplomats went around to friendly catholic countries looking for help. One of these countries was poland, due to the relative chaos of the polish court a fraction of noblemen made a deal with spain to buy an island from them.
The Poles thought they were going to get a larger island like cuba but instead ended up buying what many considered at the time useless island of Isla de Pinos. Many felt that the country had grossly over paid for the island and several people lost their jobs.
Dispite initial misgivings the country held onto the island, and it became Poland's only colony. When the Partition happened through some oversight of diplomacy and a desire to prevent the prussians, austrians, and Russians from getting a colony in the new world by spain, england, and france the island became the only part of poland that was still free and owned by poles.
Through luck, irrelevance, and diplomacy the island remained in polish hands and grew in population as polish nationalists fled to it. The islands population grew and when the mother country regained its independence after world war 1 the Island which had declared itself the last out post of poland returned to the fold.
Then in world war 2 Poland was once again conqured by outsiders and the free polish forces fled to the Island to regroup. When the war was over the Free Polish forces were not allowed back into their former country and remained on the island. Eventally they gave up on ever regaining the motherland and became their own country.
But what if this odd turn of history didn't happen?
What would the world look like if Poland didn't have a colony in the new world?
The Poles thought they were going to get a larger island like cuba but instead ended up buying what many considered at the time useless island of Isla de Pinos. Many felt that the country had grossly over paid for the island and several people lost their jobs.
Dispite initial misgivings the country held onto the island, and it became Poland's only colony. When the Partition happened through some oversight of diplomacy and a desire to prevent the prussians, austrians, and Russians from getting a colony in the new world by spain, england, and france the island became the only part of poland that was still free and owned by poles.
Through luck, irrelevance, and diplomacy the island remained in polish hands and grew in population as polish nationalists fled to it. The islands population grew and when the mother country regained its independence after world war 1 the Island which had declared itself the last out post of poland returned to the fold.
Then in world war 2 Poland was once again conqured by outsiders and the free polish forces fled to the Island to regroup. When the war was over the Free Polish forces were not allowed back into their former country and remained on the island. Eventally they gave up on ever regaining the motherland and became their own country.
But what if this odd turn of history didn't happen?
What would the world look like if Poland didn't have a colony in the new world?