Empire Building

Looking at maps of ex-colonial holdings, and ex-ex-colonial holdings (for instance, when the Dutch owned S. Africa, etc.) I came to wonder how different the colonial world could have actually been. I'm talking, more or less, anywhere before 1800 really, about the colonial empires of the Dutch, British and French, and the Portuguese too.

How different could the world look concerning these powers? What sorts of POD's could we see for more action in Africa or Asia?

Curiosity kills cats, but not people.
 

Cook

Banned
Just a thought but if something unpleasant had befallen Cecil Rhodes the Boer Republics may have survived and there would not have been a Union of South Africa.

The African Lands that in OTL became Rhodesia would have probably been swallowed up later by the British, Portuguese or Boers.
 
Just a thought but if something unpleasant had befallen Cecil Rhodes the Boer Republics may have survived and there would not have been a Union of South Africa.

The African Lands that in OTL became Rhodesia would have probably been swallowed up later by the British, Portuguese or Boers.

without the whole "Cape-to-Cairo" idea, wold the British still keep the Portuguese from getting a land line between Mozambique and Angola?
 
Looking at maps of ex-colonial holdings, and ex-ex-colonial holdings (for instance, when the Dutch owned S. Africa, etc.) I came to wonder how different the colonial world could have actually been. I'm talking, more or less, anywhere before 1800 really, about the colonial empires of the Dutch, British and French, and the Portuguese too.

How different could the world look concerning these powers? What sorts of POD's could we see for more action in Africa or Asia?

Curiosity kills cats, but not people.

If the Portuguese dynasty hadn't died out, there would have been no merger with Spain and thus no merging of empires before the later re-parting.

If Portugal hadn't given Bombay to Charles II as a wedding present

If the Dutch had fought off the French in the revolutionary period, there would not have been a need to invade their empire - or if Amiens had stuck, or the Netherlands remained out of any subsequent conflict, also

Some countries abandoned their W African trading possessions a few decades before they had a new impetus to empire, which would have included building upon these

Italy could have been forceful at Ningpo

Best Regards
Grey Wolf
 
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