Latin American colonialism in the South Pacific

In OTL, several Latin American countries with Pacific coasts had economic interests in the South Pacific islands during the 19th Century:

- Ecuador annexed the Galapagos Islands in 1832, establishing human settlements that have grown to encompass 25 thousand people today.

- Mexico attempted a short-lived mining colony on Clipperton Island in 1897, but the coinciding revolution diverted the country's ability to supply the settlers with much-needed provisions.

- Chile annexed Easter Island in 1888, marking the only formal Latin American conquest of an island with an indigenous population.

- Between 1862 and 1863, ships from Peru, some endorsed by the government for a period of time, engaged in "blackbirding" Polynesian islanders from the Cook Islands, Easter Island, Tonga, Tuvalu, Kiribati, and elsewhere in between to relieve a Peruvian labor shortage.

Are any Latin American countries in the 19th Century capable of colonizing some of the more populous island groups in Polynesia before the European powers show interest? Is there enough motivation, and if not, could a different turn of events drive them to attempt this?
 
...No takers? Could Peru have taken some Polynesian islands as protectorates during its labor shortage?
 
personally, im exploring a Chilean Polynesia for one project, Anglo-American Rivalry, but have no idea how plausible it is
 
I think the Guano Rush in the south pacific is what drove a lot of European colonization in that region. Maybe if the Peruvian government was more successful at the War of the Pacific they would be stable enough to better keep their monopoly.
 
Peruvians were looking for slaves, and Mexican HAD a colonial empire (the Phillipines and Central America until their independence)

My bet is Chile, they were fiercely maritime-oriented and if wasn't for other colonial powers being ahead in Tahiti (France) and Pitcairn (UK) they well have had a nice chunk of Polynesia.

Thing is over-stretching: they built a small colonial empire in a short time: Easter Island (1888), Atacama (1880), Western Patagonia (1881).
 
If Chile did, I don't see why Peru couldn't have, in a tL where it is stronger and wins the war against Chile for example. After all, IFRC, the main worpowers weren't that interested in the South Pacific till the very late of the XIX century, which gives time for a South american expansionism.

There are few candidates, however: Mexico, Perú, Chile, Ecuador and Colombia. The rest is either too small or doesn't have a coast in the Pacific.

By the why, the Chileanean case it's interesting, because it's basically a case of South American colonialism in its exact definition. Argentine and Chilenian expanssionism in Patagonia is similar to US expansionism to its west, but the colonization of the Easter Island is quite similar to the colonisation of Hawaii, for example
 
I would want to say Brazil, but they would have to have a Manifest Destiny just to get over the Andes to the Pacific.

I don't think these states have the resources to do what France and Britain did.
 
If Chile did, I don't see why Peru couldn't have, in a tL where it is stronger and wins the war against Chile for example. After all, IFRC, the main worpowers weren't that interested in the South Pacific till the very late of the XIX century, which gives time for a South american expansionism.

There are few candidates, however: Mexico, Perú, Chile, Ecuador and Colombia. The rest is either too small or doesn't have a coast in the Pacific.

By the why, the Chileanean case it's interesting, because it's basically a case of South American colonialism in its exact definition. Argentine and Chilenian expanssionism in Patagonia is similar to US expansionism to its west, but the colonization of the Easter Island is quite similar to the colonisation of Hawaii, for example

Totally agree with you, is either Chile or Peru, they were competing power in South American Pacific, and both agree the big pond was not big enough for both.

Colombia? nope, they were (and are) a Caribbean country, with no good ports nor land routes to the Pacific, still today the Colombian Goverment barely exercise its sovereignty on its Pacific coast. Ecuador? I don't know why, maybe too small, too worry not to be absorve by Colombia or Peru.
 
I'm going to say that a Bolivia that manages to hold onto a coastal outlet will also be a viable player in the 'Latin colonial game.'
 
The idea of Ecuador participating in a colonial game seems rather ironic and at the same very interesting to me. Ecuadorian Tahiti! :D


Peru has the biggest potential to be a player in the South Pacific. It already was messing around in the Polynesian islands though they didn't make protectorates or directly annex much of anything.
 
Colombia? nope, they were (and are) a Caribbean country, with no good ports nor land routes to the Pacific, still today the Colombian Goverment barely exercise its sovereignty on its Pacific coast. Ecuador? I don't know why, maybe too small, too worry not to be absorve by Colombia or Peru.

What about an alternate world where Colombia is still Gran Colombia, with Panama, Venezuela, and Ecuador in tow? That would give it a few viable ports - Guayaquil and Panama City.
 
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