Open door policy in Africa?

Just curious to hear the boards thought on what would happen if the same open door policy that was in force in OTL China was applied to Africa?
 
It would'nt hapen in the first place since Africa and China were fundamentally different situations on almost every level.

China was a single, very large and populous unified state, while Africa at the time of major colonization began was a mixture of Terra Nullis, native states and European outposts and coastal settlements (some of which were centuries old).

Their's also the fact that the Open Door was very much an American invention created for the specific purpose of getting a slice of the Chinese Pie without being explicitly Imperialist/Colonialist.
 
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China came close to being carved up anyway OTL.

Take away the European scramble for colonies and it should be easier, but that's near-ASB given the attitudes of the time period. Disease and relatively organized empires didn't stop them OTL either... maaaybe anti-colonialism and relative social libealism and sympathies for non-European peoples forms but that's also ASB in this time.

My best guess is a damaging pan-European industrial war before the 1880's while still letting some trade, information, and technology seep through, and that will delay things slightly at best. Ooooor, I guess the USA could try and do an Open Door/Monroe Doctrine thing with Africa like they did with China and the Americas, but they'd need British help and they have their own ambitions on the continent.
 
With UK´s trouble in Egypt-Sudan and Bismarcks rater lukewarm interest in colonies and perhaps some opposition from Italy and Austro-Hungary to a divison of Africa the Berlin Conference gets a different outcome?

 
With UK´s trouble in Egypt-Sudan and Bismarcks rater lukewarm interest in colonies and perhaps some opposition from Italy and Austro-Hungary to a divison of Africa the Berlin Conference gets a different outcome?

Austria and Italy are'nt going to oppose (and even if they did, no one would listen to Austria, and Italy would be given something to shut-up), as opposition to Colonialism at the time was basically the equivalent to Communism in America in terms of popularity.

As for Germany, even if they never showed any interest in colonies all that would do is mean is the other powers would just get those areas instead.
 
Just curious to hear the boards thought on what would happen if the same open door policy that was in force in OTL China was applied to Africa?

As the above posters have said, the Open Door Policy is largely America's fault :)D) and without the same sort of nations in Africa (i.e., nothing like China) it wouldn't work. Not to mention that America probably wouldn't be able to enforce the Open Door Policy without pissing off a crap ton of powerful nations who want African land.
 
Well, seeing as how you could fit three China's inside Africa, we really need to look at a region of Africa.

This could be done, but would require at least a couple of PODs, to get at least the Toucouleur/Wassoulou Empire, Sokoto Caliphate, and Egyptian Khedivate stabilized and firmly in control of the Sahel and Nile region between the three of them. From there you'd need an America-analogue, likely the US itself in fact, to force open trade of the region, toppling the regional monopolies on trade & foreign policy of France & Britain.
 
The biggest difference between Africa and China in the 19th century?

China had money. Africa just had resources.

It was much easier, and profitable enough, to trade with China instead of conquering it.
 
It was much easier, and profitable enough, to trade with China instead of conquering it.

Even if they wanted to their was no way in hell any European country was going to 'conquer China', I mean even if theysomehow managed to get official (see: everyone recognizes it as theirs) control they'd be facing constant revolts of hundreds of thousands to millions.
 
The biggest difference between Africa and China in the 19th century?

China had money. Africa just had resources.

It was much easier, and profitable enough, to trade with China instead of conquering it.

:rolleyes:

That certainly didn't stop the European powers, Japanese, and even Vietnamese from trying though.

Also, African colonialism, especially above the tropics, was a very close-run thing. The idea that the Europeans just showed up with their bibles and rifles and took over the place is grossly ignorant of the sociopolitical and socioeconmic context of 19th century Africa.
 
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