Question: Canaries, Azores, and Madeira

JJohnson

Banned
What could be done to separate these three island chains from Spain and Portugal, and have them be traded to any other European country, such as the UK, Sweden, Germany, Norway, etc, either one of them, two, or all three?
 
As in have Spain and Portugal take control of them and then lost them some point after, or have them be controlled by some other states in general?
 

JJohnson

Banned
Either way. I'm not too well versed on exactly when Spain and Portugal first grabbed them, but I'd assume that's between 1400 and 1600 at least. Perhaps Sir Francis Drake could claim them? Or at the defeat of the Spanish Armada, claim the islands?
 

JJohnson

Banned
It looks like Queen Elizabeth sent Drake to try to capture the Azores, in 1589. What would a "British Azores" look like today?
 
Either way. I'm not too well versed on exactly when Spain and Portugal first grabbed them, but I'd assume that's between 1400 and 1600 at least. Perhaps Sir Francis Drake could claim them? Or at the defeat of the Spanish Armada, claim the islands?

In that case the Azores could potentially be colonized by someone else, you just have to have Portugal not be as interested in them, thus leading t no one officially claiming them awhile longer, though even then, aide frm Portugal only Castille and England I think would do so.

That said, it's more likely that any non-Iberian country controlling them would gain control via taking them from Portugal and Castille/Spain.

The Azroes I don't really see anyone but England/Britain being interested enough to try to get them, though I suppose, before a certain point, you could see a treaty where various colonies are being traded and the Azores ending-up being given to some country as compensation, most likely France.

The Canaries I could see France or England/Britain trying to get in a peace treaty with a Spain on the losing side, I suppose maybe you could see Germany gaining them following a devestating war for Spain (whether Germany was involved or not); I seem to recall reading something about the U.S. originally planning on trying to capture and take the Canaries during the Spanish-American War.
While much less likely the Dutch might take them (they sent a large amount of troops and ships during the Dutch War of Independence), and at various times Ottoman-aligned pirates captured some of the islands.

Madeira is a case where you could see it colonized by someone else, most likely England/Britain or France, though on an off chance perhaps Genoa or the Dutch; IOTL the islands were only colonized after a Portuguese ship was blown off course in a storm and landed there in desperation.
 
Didn’t the US want to buy them at some point?

No, that was Greenland and the then Danish Virgin Islands; America has never been interested in gaining territory outside the America's and Pacific Islands, gaining the Philippines and the Marianas Islands was basically the result ofus getting really lucky in war and ending-up with territory we'd never really been trying to get in the first place as a result.
 
Hmm… Then it was the other way around. At least with the Azores.

Aside from wanting to use them as an Air base from the end of WWII onwards we've never had any interest in them, before the Cold War they held zero strategic purpose, were'nt in the America's (where we wanted territory even if it was'nt useful), held no real economic use, were integral, long held parts of a European country and far away.
 
Hmm… Then it was the other way around. At least with the Azores.
Portugal never offered to sell the Azores.
During the Revolutionary period of 1974-5 when there was the perceived risk of Communist takeover, some Azoreans were determined to resist that eventual Communist state and contemplated the options of independence/annexation by the United States.
 
During 1941 there was British interest in control of the Azores & some delicate discussions took place between Brit & Portuguse representatives. Both the Brits & Portugese were concerned with possible Spaninsh plans to invade Portugal. Were that to happen Salazar was looking at the pros and cons of establishing his government in the Azores and alliance with Britain. Connected to this was a possible British inquiry about US occupation of the Azores. The nuetral US occupied Iceland in 1941 & the Brits thought something similar might be worked out for the Portuguese islands were the Axis to invade Portugal.

'Lisbon' by Neill Locherry has a chapter concerning the Brit Portuguse discussions of a Axis invasion.
 
Top