Portugal gets the Pink Map

katchen

Banned
The way for Portugal to make good it's claim to link up Angola and Mozambique would be to get SOMEONE to build a railroad from Angola to Mozambique from Luanda to Nova Sofala or better yet, Lourenco Marques. It could be an American railroad builder like Jay Gould or the Southern Pacific "Big Four" (Leland Stanford, Collis P. Huntington, Crocker and I believe Wells or Fargo) as long as it's someone not beholden in anyway to British interests and they start building by 1879. Cecil Rhodes can make all the treaties with African tribes like the Tswana and the Barotse that he wants, but a railroad running across the African savannah from Luanda to Mozambique with a branch to Benguela and another to Katanga will trump them all.
 
The way for Portugal to make good it's claim to link up Angola and Mozambique would be to get SOMEONE to build a railroad from Angola to Mozambique from Luanda to Nova Sofala or better yet, Lourenco Marques. It could be an American railroad builder like Jay Gould or the Southern Pacific "Big Four" (Leland Stanford, Collis P. Huntington, Crocker and I believe Wells or Fargo) as long as it's someone not beholden in anyway to British interests and they start building by 1879. Cecil Rhodes can make all the treaties with African tribes like the Tswana and the Barotse that he wants, but a railroad running across the African savannah from Luanda to Mozambique with a branch to Benguela and another to Katanga will trump them all.
The problem is, protection treaties are "built" faster than railroads. And it was the Portuguese that made the treaties that caused Rhodes to instigate the British government to make the ultimatum.
IMO the easier way to get Portugal get away with it is simply having no Cecil Rhodes around. Britain will be a lot less interested in *Rhodesia while Portugal quietly puts its paws there.

As the title says. What happens if Portugal gets their way and gets the land to link up Angola and Mozambique?
To Britain, assuming there's no Cape-to-Cairo dream in the first place, there are not many butterflies.
To Portugal, the monarchy survives, there's still a shitty economy but a few more decades of stability.

After that, the butterflies become too many and I lose track.
 
or the Southern Pacific "Big Four" (Leland Stanford, Collis P. Huntington, Crocker and I believe Wells or Fargo)

Mark Hopkins was the fourth member of the Southern Pacific's Big Four. Wells and Fargo were in the banking and stage coach business. Otherwise, I'm inclined to agree. A railroad, if done early enough, could help Portugal get the Pink Map.
 
Last edited:

Anaxagoras

Banned
The long-term butterflies for Africa are enormous. There wouldn't even be a Zambia and Zimbabwe. A suppose a TL without Robert Mugabe can't be all bad.
 
Top