Plausibility Check:Spain Sells the Canaries and/or Ceuta/Mellila

I'm writing a TL centred around a pan-Arabist movement which becomes hugely successful and as a result of their vast oil reserves, hugely rich.

Given the poor economy of Spain at the moment, do you think they'd be willing to sell the Canaries and/or their two African enclaves, and if so, what would be the going rate?

I'm willing to twiddle things to make the economic crisis in Spain worse if that'll increase the chances of these territories being sold.

I should also add that in my TL there's no particular ill-will between Spain and this Arab nation that would effect the decision.
 
About nil in any case.

It is a question of national pride.

Spain would not sell Ceuta, Melilla or the Canaries, even if the alternative meant they had to eat rocks. Won't happen.
You might as well ask the British what the going rate is for Gibraltar.

Now, selling Majorca to Germany, on the other hand... It is already full of Germans, and the natives speak some strange lingo which is not very well liked in Madrid...

Kidding, of course.

Seriously, no, no way. You need huge butterflies, Mothra sized, for it to happen.

We would need first to discuss what the circumstances would be for a pan-Arabist movement that would include Morocco and Mauritania successfully... and including both in an Arab identity, even if Arabic is spoken there, is tricky, at best.
 
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About nil in any case.

It is a question of national pride.

Spain would not sell Ceuta, Melilla or the Canaries, even if the alternative meant they had to eat rocks. Won't happen.
You might as well ask the British what the going rate is for Gibraltar.

Okay, fair enough.

It wasn't really pivotal to my story anyway, just a potential extra.

Cheers for the input :)
 
It would only be possible if the purchase was coerced. You need a timeline where Spain is effectively dominated by a foreign power. Napoleon, for example, could certainly have "purchased" the Canaries, if he'd for some reason had any use for them.
 
If an Arab country could seize Ceuta/Melilla and then offer to pay compensation for it, just possibly depending on how extremely buggered Spain is - and no NATO of course.

The Canaries, never

Best Regards
Grey Wolf
 
I once wrote a mini-timeline where an unspecified event destroyed Madrid and caused Spain to collapse into chaos. In the aftermath, Britain and France had to occupy most of Spain (while the Madrid emergency zone was occupied by an international force). This occurred in 1911, butterflying the Agadir Crisis, the Italo-Turkish War, WWI, etc.

Due to the economic crippling of Spain, they were forced to sell their colonies to France, Italy and Britain (the latter grabbed the Canaries). I think a crisis like that could definitely force Spain to give up some of its more important possessions.

But that depends on the POD. If it's modern day, well those territories are pretty Spanish by now.
 
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