POD c. 1900: Kaiser Wilhelm, in one of his bursts of enthusiasm, declares that German South-West Africa! is the land of the future! The Kaiser's interest will wane in a few years, but by that time Germany has thrown roughly half a battleship's worth of cash at the distant colony.
This being Africa, a little goes a long way. Rail is laid, ports are improved, plantations are surveyed -- and a nice incentive package leads to an uptick in colonization. More German settlers flow in, as do a few British, Boers, and Portuguese.
Result: by 1914, the number of white settlers is roughly double what it was iOTL. Instead of around 12,000 Germans and another couple of thousand non-Germans, there are almost 30,000 whites, of whom almost 25,000 are Germans. Since the colony's total population is around 200,000, this means it's around 15% white (as opposed to OTL, where the figure was about half that, dropping a bit lower after 1918).
We'll assume the colony's unfortunate history of native relations is much the same as iOTL.
So, questions.
1) OTL the Germans were able to put up nearly a year of resistance in 1914-15, but in the end they were doomed. TTL, they can deploy another couple of thousand armed men. Does this make any difference?
2) OTL, a fair number of Germans left after 1918 -- some to Germany, some to South Africa or elsewhere. Under the British, the colony went into relative economic decline. TTL, I think a higher proportion of Germans would stay -- there will be bigger towns, more infrastructure, and more Germans around. So the colony will probably stay ~12%-14% white for the foreseeable future (as opposed to OTL, where it was more like 5%-6%).
How does this affect the interwar period? OTL, South Africa wanted to annex Namibia. Does the higher number of whites make this more or less likely?
Thoughts?
Doug M.
This being Africa, a little goes a long way. Rail is laid, ports are improved, plantations are surveyed -- and a nice incentive package leads to an uptick in colonization. More German settlers flow in, as do a few British, Boers, and Portuguese.
Result: by 1914, the number of white settlers is roughly double what it was iOTL. Instead of around 12,000 Germans and another couple of thousand non-Germans, there are almost 30,000 whites, of whom almost 25,000 are Germans. Since the colony's total population is around 200,000, this means it's around 15% white (as opposed to OTL, where the figure was about half that, dropping a bit lower after 1918).
We'll assume the colony's unfortunate history of native relations is much the same as iOTL.
So, questions.
1) OTL the Germans were able to put up nearly a year of resistance in 1914-15, but in the end they were doomed. TTL, they can deploy another couple of thousand armed men. Does this make any difference?
2) OTL, a fair number of Germans left after 1918 -- some to Germany, some to South Africa or elsewhere. Under the British, the colony went into relative economic decline. TTL, I think a higher proportion of Germans would stay -- there will be bigger towns, more infrastructure, and more Germans around. So the colony will probably stay ~12%-14% white for the foreseeable future (as opposed to OTL, where it was more like 5%-6%).
How does this affect the interwar period? OTL, South Africa wanted to annex Namibia. Does the higher number of whites make this more or less likely?
Thoughts?
Doug M.