Great news, guys!
The name New Zealand works perfectly in Danish.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zealand
The name New Zealand works perfectly in Danish.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zealand
English Canada/French Carolina: A Timeline
- Thread starter Gabingston
- Start date
Part 39: The Improbable Colony (RETCONNED)
Part 39: The Improbable Colony
While overshadowed by the massive empires that the British, Spanish, French, Dutch and Portuguese possessed, Denmark had its own small colonial empire. Denmark had colonies in the Caribbean and West Africa for centuries, but when compared to the other colonial powers, though, the Danish empire were pathetic.
In order to boost Danish prestige, King Christian VIII ordered the creation of a new Danish colony. Locations such as Patagonia and Northern Australia were initially considered, but rejected due to Patagonia already being a British colony and Northern Australia having an unhealthy climate. Finally, in 1837, a location for the colony was determined…
Sailors that had been in the South Pacific noted that the islands the Dutch had called Nieuw Zeeland (a name that also works perfectly in Danish) were a suitable place for a colony, with a pleasant temperate climate and fertile soil. While the islands did have inhabitants, they were quite sparsely populated and divided amongst themselves into different tribes.
Thus, on October 4th, 1838, the colonial fleet carrying supplies, seeds for crops, livestock and several hundred Danish settlers departed from Copenhagen, bound for the south seas. Lutheran missionaries already present in New Zealand negotiated a deal with the local Maori chiefs for a plot of land around a key strategic isthmus, which was to be the site of the first colony. Finally, the fleet arrived in New Zealand on February 19th, 1839, over four months since they had departed from Denmark.
The settlement, named Frederiksby after their king (who would die later that same year) prospered in the mild, pleasant climate and fertile soil. News of the colony’s success soon reached the mother country, and the new king Christian VIII sanctioned several more settlements on the North Island. By 1845, the Danes had founded many new settlements across the North Island, the most notable of which were Tarashavn, Brasebugt, Strandbjerg and Storhavn.
However, the news of the success of the Danish colony did not stay exclusively in Denmark, as the news soon reached the government of Denmark’s age-old frenemies in Sweden. The Swedish king Gustav I was quite intrigued by the news, and thus began to prepare a fleet to colonize the South Island of New Zealand. Departing in April of 1841, the Swedish fleet reached the South Island in August, and the Swedish settlement of Gustavstad was Founded on August 24th, 1841.
Danish whalers discovered the Swedish colony a few months later, bringing the news back to the colony’s base at Frederiksby, who’s response was basically “ah lort, just what we needed”. After some bickering and even the Danish colony’s leaders contemplating seizing the Swedish colony, the two colonial authorities met up and signed a treaty granting the North Island to Denmark and the South Island to Sweden.
With the security of the treaty, Sweden continued to strengthen its hold on the eastern coast of the South Island, founding settlements up and down the coast, the most prominent examples of which were Valbukta, Timaru, Nya Göteborg and Södrakullen. A small but steady stream of colonists made their home on the other side of the world, in this, The Improbable Colony.
No Minnesota this TL or maybe a largely Finnish colonisation? The Scandinavians will send their excess population to Nieuw Zeeland instead.
New Zealand is so far from Europe that most Scandinavian immigrants will still go to North America. Maybe 1/4 at most will go to New Zealand (there were over 2 Million emigrants from Scandinavia ITTL, so New Zealand will still receive a few hundred thousand, plus some Germans).
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With a POD in the 17th Century, I don't think anyone alive would exist ITTL (maybe isolated Amazonian tribesmen, but IDK).
I'll add that in my next update involving Sweden (not for a while most likely, the next update is on Spanish America).
The next update is going to be on New Spain, specifically on the divisions within the colony and the growth of OTL Texas and California. I'm gonna use this map of OTL New Spain in 1819 (200 years ago to the point) as a base, but I'm likely gonna change some of the boundaries (using the Continental Divide as a border for example).
Also, how much Anglo-American settlement do you guys expect in areas like the Great Salt Lake and Northern California?
OK guys, there is one region of the world that I have pretty much ignored thus far: India.
I'm thinking now about how the subcontinent has developed ITTL. I never mentioned India in my Seven Years War update (the British won handily IOTL, but who knows, it could've been different here, although I'm hesitant to change OTL events just for the sake of the TL), so really it's up to you guys. If I were to guess, I'd imagine a British Ganges and Bengal, Portuguese Goa, French Deccan and Dutch Ceylon, but who knows, it could be almost all British like in OTL after the 7YW. Share your thoughts.
I'm thinking now about how the subcontinent has developed ITTL. I never mentioned India in my Seven Years War update (the British won handily IOTL, but who knows, it could've been different here, although I'm hesitant to change OTL events just for the sake of the TL), so really it's up to you guys. If I were to guess, I'd imagine a British Ganges and Bengal, Portuguese Goa, French Deccan and Dutch Ceylon, but who knows, it could be almost all British like in OTL after the 7YW. Share your thoughts.
I also wonder how much success the French and/or Portuguese would have in spreading Catholicism in their Indian colonies? I reckon that if the missionaries preach to the Dalits (who have nothing to lose by converting to Christianity), they could rack up a sizeable number of converts, Goa is 1/4 Christian IOTL, after all. Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself, though.
I'd like it that way too, but I'm just not sure if it's all that plausible if the 7YW goes as it did IOTL's Indian Theater.
Something I just thought of: Most of the hapsburg dynasty strongly disliked Maximilian for his liberal views. Heck, Franz Joseph forced him to leave the royal court because he couldn't stand how "revolutionary" his brother was.
Here's the thing: the Habsburgs may not be as anti-Liberal as they were IOTL if the French Revolution (and thus the guillotines and massacres) never happen.
Part 40: Nueva España
Part 40: Nueva España
The Viceroyalty of New Spain was a vast and diverse place, both geographically and in the people that inhabited the land. With the jungles and volcanoes of Guatemala in the south and the deserts and mountains of Alta California in the north, some form of internal administration was needed. There was already the existing system of Audiencias, but by the Mid 19th Century, it was time to update the system. So, New Spain was divided into four Governorates, those being California (based out of San Diego), Bravonia (Laredo), Mexico (Puebla) and Guatemala (Guatemala City), while still being part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain in Mexico City. Mexico was the most populated, Guatemala the most indigenous influenced and the other two were sparsely populated by indigenous tribes and the occasional Spanish mission and/or hacienda.
With this new division, the governor of Bravonia went about promoting settlement in the colony. Large land grants along the Rio Bravo were given out to families looking to settle in the new world. Many of these families came from the Canary Islands, which had been a large source of Spanish settlers to the new world for centuries, as the small, yet climatically diverse islands had quite a small carrying capacity. Many others came from Southern Spain, as well as from further south in New Spain. With it’s new status as the regional capital, Laredo grew from just a small outpost to a thriving city within just a few decades, not in small part due to the railroad. You know what, I think that deserves a full update, so let’s do that, shall we?
Beginning in the 1840s, the Spanish Empire realized the potential the railroad had in improving transport and communications within their New World empire. The first railway in New Spain was built from the Viceroyalty’s capital in Mexico City to the port city of Veracruz in 1844, with the second one built from Mexico City to the main Spanish Pacific port of Acapulco in 1846. The main reason to build railways was obviously economic, but the secondary reason of building railways, connecting the far-flung Spanish settlements to the rest of the Viceroyalty was the driving factor to build railroads into California, with the railroad arriving in San Diego in 1862. Bravonia saw it’s fair share of railroad construction as well, as the aforementioned Laredo was connected in 1857. I wish I could do some solid outro, but I really don’t know how to end this, so I’ll just call it a day right here. I’ll see you guys next time...
Map of the Viceroyalty of New Spain
Yellow: MexicoLime: Guatemala
Tan: Bravonia
Gold: California
