Pastries in the South Pacific!

[Franz Josef II]

In the mid - to - late 19th century Austria - Hungary almost obtained the Solomon Islands from Great Britain; in the end, the traditional reluctance to engage in foreign adventures negated this possibility. Now, supposing that the internal situation allowed for a more confident foreign policy and they DID obtain said islands, how useful would they be?

What kind of crops could be cultivated there, and how suitable are the islands for establishing settlements? I know that the subject of Austrian colonies has come up in the past before, I am just interested in knowing what could actually be done with them if Austria did in fact grab them up.

 

[Iserlohn]

The Solomon Islands are economically quite lackluster: the easiest way to make money there are coconut palm plantations, with everything they can produce (copra and palm oil). For everything else the soil is too infertile. Timber is another good easy to obtain, while the mineral wealth of the islands is AFAIK too hard to be taken advantage of with pre-WW1 tech. And based on that I think the colony wouldn't be economically viable and thus would be a simple prestige object. Large-scale European settlements are also out of the question due to the hardships of sustaining that population, which undoubtedly would have higher standards than the islanders (though imports from Australia could help with that a bit).

Though I have to admit, the thought of Austria having the Solomon Islands plus North Borneo and maybe the Nicobar Islands (Austria was involved there IOTL after all, too) plus maybe some stuff in eastern Africa (northern Somalia...?) is very appealing to me personally. Though of course the Ausgleich made this very hard to do.

 

[Fearless Leader]

Apparently, the Nickel deposits on Isabel Island are quite close to the coast and quite near the surface. Should the Austrians find them during their surveys in 1896, it might be enough to convince them to jump in and purchase the islands (Nickel after all, being the reason they were interested in the first place. They didn't find any, so they didn't buy).

That being said if they did take the plunge and take the Solomons as a colony they probably only hold on to them until 1914 when the Australians move in and take over.

 

[Escape Zeppelin]

The Germans controlled the North Solomon Islands until 1900. If Austria-Hungary takes possession of the British islands I can easily see a situation where Germany eventually aquires the entire group.

Gold and nickle are available but it does look like timber and palm oil are really the only major industries until mining technology improves.

 

[Franz Josef II]

Perhaps Austria acquires the islands, and not finding them immediately as profitable as hoped, they establish a port for their navy? Of course, this is predicated on the K.u.K getting some extra funding AND Vienna having a few more colonial holdings - at least the Nicobar islands, possibly OTL Eritrea.