PC/WI South Africa with population of 300 million

WILDGEESE

Gone Fishin'
What events would allow an earlier start to immigration to the Cape and the rest of South Africa?

Could you have US levels of immigration in the 1700's or 1800's that would allow a population of 300 million today?

If so, could South Africa land area support this number?

Regards filers
 
What events would allow an earlier start to immigration to the Cape and the rest of South Africa?

Could you have US levels of immigration in the 1700's or 1800's that would allow a population of 300 million today?

If so, could South Africa land area support this number?

Regards filers

You need a larger South Africa.
 
You need a larger South Africa.

Besides, I'm under the impression that the natives would have to deal with a more serious disease prevention than the North-American countries, considering South Africa is in the tropical zone.

I doubt we could reach some 300 million (not even Brazil and Russia have reached this), but perhaps something right above the 100 million mark might be feasible (considering South Africa today has about half of it...)
 
Besides, I'm under the impression that the natives would have to deal with a more serious disease prevention than the North-American countries, considering South Africa is in the tropical zone.

I doubt we could reach some 300 million (not even Brazil and Russia have reached this), but perhaps something right above the 100 million mark might be feasible (considering South Africa today has about half of it...)

In the main, South Africa is a temperate-zone country, south of the Tropic of Capricorn, with mostly temperate and/or highland climates. (Only the northernmost part, right next to Zimbabwe, is within the tropical zone and even that has a coolish highland/savannah climate.) The closest, climate-wise, that South Africa gets to the tropics is along the coast in Natal, with a subtropical humid climate perfect for growing sugar.
 
-Union of South Africa officially annexes SudAfrika in 1919 as 5th state.

-Botswana becomes the 6th state of South Africa in 1920.

-(Southern) Rhodesia becomes the 7th state in 1922.

-Lesotho and Swaziland become 8th and 9th states of South Africa in 1935.

-Postwar Nationalist government does not gain power, no apartheid.

-'Colonial Collective' trade bloc with Un.So.Af., Madagascar, Zambia, and Madagascar in 1970.

-Mozambique dominated by Un.So.Af. companies by 1965, it applies for statehood and gets it in 1975.

-Angola, Zaire, Kenya, Madagascar, Tanzania, and Zambia form Southern African Free Enterprise and Trade zone as outgrowth of Colonial Collective, non-voting members include Kenya, Cameroon, Rwanda, and Burundi.

-Zaire internally implodes, the war ends shortly thereafter as two of the three factions apply for membership to the S.A.F.E.T. as independent nations. The third does so two years later after being isolated from all trade until democratic elections are held, instead the nation implodes and asks for 'assistance' from Jo-berg.

-Un.So.Af. announces 'Open Ports' policy in 1977 permitting national registration with no taxes so long as vessels registered to the nation haul at least one run of cargo into and one run out of a Un.So.Af. port every year.

-Internal expansion of freeways and railways allows for passenger rail travel consistently between Jo-berg, Mombasa, Nairobi, Kinshasa, and Yaoundé with all points in between by 1986.

-Russians with 'significant scientific skills' are imported en masse following the collapse of the USSR and used to develop newer universities along with expansion of aerospace, nuclear, and other scientific capacities.

-OTRAG system set in Zaire/Congo developed into effective modular space launch system in late 1993, first South African in space in 1996, first South African Orbital Space Shuttle flight in 1999

-S.A.F.E.T. reorganized as the Federation of Southern Africa Nations, or FSAN, and stretches from Nigeria to Somalia.

-By 2015 the FSAN has a lunar base and is planning a Mars launch for 2017 to land in time for the 'Africa-nauts' to be back to Earth in late 2019. Standard of living is still highly variable, but polio is a memory while HIV and TB deaths are measured in hundreds of thousands annually instead of millions. Literacy rate is about 70% overall with ranges from 45% to universal.
 
What events would allow an earlier start to immigration to the Cape and the rest of South Africa?

Could you have US levels of immigration in the 1700's or 1800's that would allow a population of 300 million today?

If so, could South Africa land area support this number?

Regards filers

100 million might be believable with a larger South Africa, maybe 150 million with Zambia + Mozambique + Malawi + Zimbabwe.
 
300-million in South Africa's current borders is basically ASB, remember, much of western South Africa is basically desert, the Karoo and Kalahari etc.

And to get larger immigration to South Africa, you'll need an early POD. No British control of Australia may help a bit, so lots of settlers who went to Australia will go to the Cape and Natal instead, but you're still not going to get anywhere close to 300-million, 80-million ata push maybe.

As others have said, a South Africa with 300-million will need vastly expanded borders compared to OTL South Africa.
 
Besides, I'm under the impression that the natives would have to deal with a more serious disease prevention than the North-American countries, considering South Africa is in the tropical zone.

I doubt we could reach some 300 million (not even Brazil and Russia have reached this), but perhaps something right above the 100 million mark might be feasible (considering South Africa today has about half of it...)

In the main, South Africa is a temperate-zone country, south of the Tropic of Capricorn, with mostly temperate and/or highland climates. (Only the northernmost part, right next to Zimbabwe, is within the tropical zone and even that has a coolish highland/savannah climate.) The closest, climate-wise, that South Africa gets to the tropics is along the coast in Natal, with a subtropical humid climate perfect for growing sugar.

Yeah, hardly any of South Africa is in the tropics, only the far-north.

That's why South Africa had relatively large levels of European settlement compared to the rest of sub-Saharan Africa. The Western Cape especially has a Mediterranean climate, perfect for growing European-type crops.
 
Unlikely without expanding borders.
Also, the user with the proposed unions and technology, I highly doubt that will work. If they do combine tension in between them would've probably erupted eventually. I do think though maybe 2 or 3 countries could've unified with SA. If used to best ability I can picture maybe 100 million max.
 
If you want this to be achieved primarily via immigration, you need to somehow butterfly away the United States (and probably any other British settler colony), so that South Africa becomes the destination of choice. You'd also have the Dutch encourage mass settlement during their rule, or else have the British take it over in the 17th century and do that.
 
There is no way to do so without making "South Africa" be both larger and colonised by a different country. Let's say Spain for the sake of the argument.

So Spanish South Africa develops like Latin America, with the majority of the population being mixed-race, although probably more mixed-race since there will be far more natives because of the lack of epidemics, even after the Spanish remove millions of them through enslavement or feeding them into gold/diamond mines (natives will "help", possibly through a Mfecane analogue).

This South Africa will be far bigger than modern South Africa, but let's limit it to all the lands south of the Zambezi River plus with a line drawn as the modern Angolan border. That's probably the limit a state in that area can get without regional secessionist tendencies, especially because the bigger the future country, the harder it is to get a large mixed-race Hispanic population established to the detriment of the natives. To conquer this land, something like the Brazilian bandeirantes are active--I'd say that's particularly plausible, since South Africa has lots of mineral wealth as well as slaves to capture. For the more organised states in the region (like Monomotapa), Spanish expeditions aimed at them end up successful and their people broken and incorporated into the Spanish Empire. African conquistadors, let's say, although they'd have to do better than the Portuguese did in that region.

Maybe Spain has some issues of its own, and key parts of their Latin American empire never develop. Let's say Pizarro fails to conquer the Inca. And let's also say Spain is promoting migration from more of their empire, as well as sending the usual emigrants who would have become the ancestors of many Peruvians/Bolivians.

Now, this country gains independence in the 19th century. It's early years are turbulent, but skilled dictators manage to create a sense of stability in the worst years and eventually a corrupt but functioning democracy evolves. Even though this South Africa is poor compared to our own South Africa, it still manages to attract immigrants because of few restrictions, active recruitment, and worse conditions than OTL in the New World for immigrants (more anti-immigrant legislation and just weaker countries in general). Turmoil in Europe and lack of solutions to dealing with emigration creates more prolongued than OTL migrations. Many South Africans as a result have German and Italian backgrounds, and South Africa has one of the largest Jewish communities in the world.

In the 20th century, the population grows rapidly, much as Latin America's historically did, as medicinal advances spread. Good healthcare policies and leaders hellbent on exterminating common diseases lead the region to eliminate smallpox at a rapid pace and make great strides in the elimination of many other diseases. But in the mid-20th century, a new dictatorship emerges that believes strongly in natalism (moreso than most Catholics) to ensure South Africa's population continues to rapidly expand to help South Africa be able to dominate world affairs. Although democracy returns within a few decades, this era of South Africa is marked with continued and artificially high expansion of the population. To deal with water issues and such, the government invests strongly in nuclear power to power desalination plants--even now, South Africa is known for leading advancements in desalination technology.

Flashforward to 2016, and South Africa is the most populous country in the world after China, with over 300 million people. The new governments have done a great effort to get the fertility rate down, and South Africa is now considered a model for how countries should approach limited births.
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So did I do it? I personally think this is a Spanish South Africa wank--realistically 150 million or so is the most even that expanded South Africa could probably expect.
 
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