One of the temptations of alternate history, it seems, is to come up with mirrored versions of OTL events--absolutist Britain/parliamentary France, communist US/democratic Russia, etc. A couple of
recent posts in the Map Thread have gotten me thinking about reverse colonial scenarios, in which some group of A-continent powers (Asia, Africa, Americas, Australia (OK, never seen an Australia one...)) divvy up Europe into colonies, protectorates, spheres of influence, treaty ports, all that fun stuff.
But what does Europe have to offer to potential colonial powers? Obviously, to some degree it depends on the specifics of the scenario. But in most cases, there will probably be a significant native European population, so settlement might not be easy. What uniquely European products would be valuable to the rest of the world? Is there anything as exploitable as tea, or coffee, or chocolate, or tobacco, or any number of spices? Or would colonies in Europe have to be motivated primarily by prestige?