Marquesas Islands becomes US territory of Washington Islands in 1814

[Hamersley Macdonnell II]

Background: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuku_Hiva_Campaign
WI Congress accepted Porter's action and US annexed the islands?
Since, at the time European explorers estimated the population to be 100,000+ around that time, it proves the islands could support that much people.
Could Washington Islands today be a US territory/state with a population of 150-200,000 (or even more) with a large European-descendant and Euronesian (mixed European-Polynesian) segment? I guess it would resemble Hawaii, in a having lots of Asians and large tourism sector etc. I guess the earliest white settlers would have hailed from New England, whence Porter would've recruited colonists. It would be awesome if Madisonville (actual Taiohae with a population of few thousand) could be skyscraper city with 100,000+ people. and if WI were admitted to the Union as a state there could theoretically be a US president born there..

 

[Alamo]

Assuming that things go better for the US on Nuku Hiva, and they maintain a presence post 1814? Well, first off, I suspect that Congress will be wary over the idea of such a territory , one fundamentally different from existing territories in the continental US, which were seen more as a mere transitional phase to statehood. There was apparently unpleasant talk of Porter's action in Congress, and of of his "empire building". I think it's more likely to see a protectorate established, rather than a formal annexation and transition into a territory, though by the latter half of the 19th century, that would likely change.

I don't foresee much 19th or early 20th century migration from the mainland - aside from serving as a resupply and repair station for American vessels, the islands will likely be an ignored backwater, with whites limited to a small populace near the main port and perhaps some missionaries. Perhaps there might be a few sporadic attempts at developing plantations there for tropical crops at the turn of the century, as an alternative to Central and South American imports, but I don't see that spurring large scale white settlement.

So a large populace would have to come predominantly from natives - looking at other small tourism oriented islands in the South Pacific, I doubt modern emigration from the mainland would suffice to bring a hypothetical state composing all of the Marquesas Islands up to 200,000 people. The populace of the islands shrank drastically over the course of the 19th century, due in large part of Peruvian slave raids and smallpox epidemics. It's possible that the presence of even a small US naval squadron could deter the slave raids, and as for smallpox, inoculation was well known to doctors of the time. It's possible that an immunization campaign could be carried out, which would help cut back on the population decline.

As for statehood, it seems unlikely - perhaps if American control extends across a large swath of Polynesia, you'll have have a sufficiently large population that "Pacifica" could become a state, but the Marquesas alone would likely be too small. Even then, nothing guarantees that these clusters of islands would want to be merged into one entity - some of the OTL Pacifica proposals, which would have combined Guam, the North Marianas Islands, American Samoa, and the Pacific Trust Territories in an attempt to reach a more palatable size for admission, foundered on these grounds.

 

[thekingsguard]

You're telling me there is a way the USA could have nabbed a greater swath of Polynesia?

I've been doing my Ameriwanks wrong this entire time.

 

[Luminous]

Been toying with this. In addition to all that @Alamo said, which covers the entire situation very well, there are the knock-ons that could result. A US protectorate in the Marquesas would, perhaps, lead to a series of local protectorates in the area in the smaller islands. While it would likely be ignored for a few decades, it might lead to a competition between the US in Nuku Hiva and the French in Tahiti, and might eventually spur a series of other US protectorates based on the same model.

The other issue is it might have spurred greater interest in the West, and pushed the US towards and even earlier acquisition of a Pacific port, if only because the potential expansion of the US fishing fleets in the South Pacific and a greater desire for a mainland port, especially in the North Pacific on the Oregon coast, likely. The butterflies themselves are the most interesting part.

As for island population... weren't the Marquesas home to about 60k before the smallpox epidemic? been a while since I checked.

 

[raharris1973]

Here's a case where the US should hope word of its annexation does not get around to the British Navy before the British commanders all hear that the treaty of Ghent is a done deal.

It is just so easy for Britain to take over, if they care to.