No British or French Empires

I am looking at a TL where the British and French Empires either didn't get off the ground, or were supreceeded by another European empire.

Ideally the POD would after 1418 so the Portuguese would have started their exploration of Africa.

Any suggestions for what empire it could be, and how I can stop the Brits and French from scrapping for Empire over 4 continents?
 
The spanish armada victorious would probably allow for Spain to become even more larger

AND for what it's worth, the conquest or subduing of England would have given the Spanish that much more leverage in manipulating France as well.

Thus, two for one, both kingdoms wind up with their overseas empires pre-empted; perhaps by the time either can wriggle off the Spanish hook, either the Spanish themselves have entrenched themselves too firmly in too many places; Spanish colonies have rebelled and seceded on their own yet have no interest in going over to being colonies of another European power, or a third power or powers has/have meanwhile occupied the field, either in competition with Spain or displacing Spain completely.

Frankly it seems unlikely to me that neither England nor France would get some kind of second chance; coming under Hapsburg dominion ought, after the first generation or so anyway, to give individuals from either access to the Spanish colonies. But then again, it's not like Spain's colonial empire of OTL ever wound up being a joint venture with Austrians, just because Austria was a fellow Hapsburg realm...
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As I've suggested at greater length in the past few months elsewhere, the most plausible route for Spain to actually neutralize England may well have been for Parma in the Lowlands to get his way, get Philip to support his conquest of the Netherlands in lieu of funding the Armada at all, then, having taken the Dutch ports and secured the whole Netherlands, a matter of a year or two's campaigning, the Hapsburg forces would be in a far better position both to build up naval forces that might beat the English at sea, based in the Netherlands, and (or with merely sufficient naval force to punch through to England itself, without fear of being flanked by Dutch forces) land there and very possibly overthrow Elizabeth. With Spanish forces already ensconced in the Netherlands and unconcerned about any Dutch threat at their backs, and England falling in line with Hapsburg direction, the French factions the Spanish supported would be that much stronger.

The Armada itself was, I think, a mistake, carried out the way it was. It was supposed to be able to cover Parma's invasion plans, but in the event even an Armada victory at sea (highly unlikely given the superior English warcraft particularly their naval gunnery) would have left Parma still unable to launch an invasion due to lack of good ports and shipping, even if the Armada could not only defeat the English but hold the Dutch at bay at sea as well. Doing it the other way round, concentrating on a land victory in the Netherlands and then using Dutch resources to build up sufficient sea power as needed just to enable striking at the very head of the English threat seems the right way to have done it in hindsight.

So it would really be a three-for-one, not only neutralizing England and indirectly France as colonial powers, but previously totally crushing the Dutch as well.

Even if, after that, the Hapsburg realms split up or fall to some German/Scandinavian coalition, I'd think Spain would tend more strongly to keep a monopoly balanced only by the Portuguese holdings (when the two crowns were not united that is), thus an Iberian lock on all European operations overseas. And if some rising interloper power takes some colonial holdings anyway, there's a fair chance it might be neither English nor French.

Not so likely, given the geography, unless Hapsburg domination proves really devastating to both's naval development.
 
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