U.S. Buys Baja California in 1917

[MerryPrankster]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baja_California#Nineteenth_and_twentieth_centuries

Apparently there was an offer from someone close to Mexican President Carranza to sell Baja California to the United States for $50 million in gold.

What if the U.S. under President Wilson had accepted this offer?

Carranza might have some public-relations problems for selling off chunks of La Patria, but $50 million would help him shore up his position somewhat.

I think it would be plausible to have it named "Lower California" and be one complete state.

 

[Dave Howery]

I don't remember any great mineral wealth ever being found in Baja, so I'd guess that the place would eventually become a big resort area... I've been to parts of it, and it does have some very nice beach areas. A rival to Florida?

 

[MerryPrankster]

I don't remember any great mineral wealth ever being found in Baja, so I'd guess that the place would eventually become a big resort area... I've been to parts of it, and it does have some very nice beach areas. A rival to Florida?

Well, the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic are warm enough to swim in. Don't know about the Pacific.

However, Lower California would be a lot closer to the Western states than Florida.

Maybe California's beach culture extends much further south. And those "death races" that take place in Baja could become major American sports.

 

[EWHM]

What was the population of Baja California in 1917? The US historically only bought properties with fairly thin population densities.

 

[King Gorilla]

I don't remember any great mineral wealth ever being found in Baja, so I'd guess that the place would eventually become a big resort area... I've been to parts of it, and it does have some very nice beach areas. A rival to Florida?

I don't think it would so much be a rival to florida, as a Californian Riviera. Still poor and sparcely populated, there is little wealth to be gained from its minerlogical and agricultural potential. I think fishing will likely end up being one its principal legitimate industries for its first decades of American ownership.

That being said, its best land is likely to quickly be gobbled up by California's new money with rival mansions being built by railroad barons, Hollywood moguls, and Oil tycoons. The first vacations communities emerge in the 20's but growth will be halted by the great depression. That being said, Baja California could potentially be another smuggling entreport during prohibition, establishing a strong early presence of organized crime. When the economy recovers, presumably in the post war era, it will boom.

The first full fledged resorts will emerge joined by hundreds of middle class California's seeking weekend beach homes as part of the "American dream" Legalized gambling will be likely, and its probably that rival to Las Vegas will be built in the 50's or 60's (if Vegas is even built in the first place) Yet Baja will remain as an almost entirely tourism based economy until the late 80's when white flight from California brings the population, investment, and talent to develop a more diversified serviced based economy.

 

[wcv215]

What was the population of Baja California in 1917? The US historically only bought properties with fairly thin population densities.

The population density of northern Baja California is only about 45/km2 today, souther has only about 8.7/km2. In 1917 I would imagine the density would be even lower.

 

[Star Warrior]

Maybe California's beach culture extends much further south. And those "death races" that take place in Baja could become major American sports.

You mean this thing:
http://bajasafari.blogspot.com/2009/06/cabal-of-baja-racing-covering-up-racing.html

You'd see that legalized around the same time as NASCAR. You'dprobably see two (Well 3) major leagues; Daytona racing, Indianapolis racing and Baja Racing as sports. Baja racing will be mainly a chicano sport at the beginning and will have that chicano cultural influence (remember OTL NASCAR was redneck/hillbilly racing at the beginning and kept that cultural influence). You'll see chicanos with their low-riders and more street racing. And I can see come crossover with filipino 'jeepneys' being used in this stuff

 

[sloreck]

The US Navy would certainly develop Cabo San Lucas as a base, later adding an airbase. This is in good position to help guard the Pacific approaches to the Panama Canal. To support this, and also to help integrate Baja you'll see a RR built from San Diego to Cabo. Through the 30s and to the present Baja has lots of empty desert and coastline made for military training sites...

 

[Plumber]

Too small for a state, especially a majority-Mexican one. It took 60 years for New Mexico to become a state when it could have become one in 1848 if it wanted. Baja would become part of California I expect. No real changes except Tijuana is a suburb of San Diego and Mexicali probably remains teeny.

 

[thekingsguard]

Basically, picture the San Deigo area as a state. Fishing is the base, and tourism builds up over time (ftr, the Sea of Cortez is breathtaking), along with service and other industries that go hand and hand with tourism. The military would likely set up a base (likely Navy or Marine) in the area, and with that will come defense jobs. As white flight picks up in the latter 20th centurey, expect the economy to boom much like it did in San Diego in the same period. Also, I expect it to be fairly right leaning politically.

 

[SlideAway]

Too small for a state, especially a majority-Mexican one. It took 60 years for New Mexico to become a state when it could have become one in 1848 if it wanted. Baja would become part of California I expect. No real changes except Tijuana is a suburb of San Diego and Mexicali probably remains teeny.

It's not that small. Baja California state OTL has 3.5 million people, and Baja California Sur has another 600,000+ people. Maybe it'd just get annexed to California, but it would have plenty of population to form its own state. Factor in additional U.S. immigration and sprawl from San Diego, and it's far it'd be somewhat larger than Oregon.

 

[Iori]

What was the population of Baja California in 1917? The US historically only bought properties with fairly thin population densities.

At the time it would have had a population of around 63,000.

 

[SlideAway]

At the time it would have had a population of around 63,000.

Yes, but if it remained a territory it would probably have received statehood sometime in the '50s or '60s.

(And yes, it's possible it would simply have been added to California. But territorial status would have been just as likely a move.)

 

[Iori]

Yes, but if it remained a territory it would probably have received statehood sometime in the '50s or '60s.

(And yes, it's possible it would simply have been added to California. But territorial status would have been just as likely a move.)

I don't think it would have until the 70's myself, afterall their's historically never been that much of a rush, and given the Baja California peninsula* is'nt exactly a land of fertility and promise it would take awhile for it to get to the population required for statehood (at the time probably 600,000 atleast).


*The Baja California Territory was'nt split in two until 1931, so the United States would be getting the whole thing.

 

[NomadicSky]

I'm sure it would be a state by now, I suppose they might rename it South California.

 

[Vault boy]

With the filibuster attack to the northern cities that happened a few years before 1917, I doubt the people in Baja California would have liked said proposal...

Anyway...

I don't remember any great mineral wealth ever being found in Baja, so I'd guess that the place would eventually become a big resort area...

There are copper deposits in the mountains. Though, they don't have the same output as the ones in Sonora. IIRC, there was also a small gold rush in the 1880's, when some guy found gold nuggets up in the mountains; the whole fad died rather quickly.

Well, the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic are warm enough to swim in. Don't know about the Pacific.

The water is very cold in the Pacific coast (I can attest that: I've been to the beaches in Tijuana, Rosarito, and those north of Ensenada). Though, I expect the whaling industry gaining a foothold in Ensenada, considering how many of them end up there.

But, back on the subject: I expect Ensenada becoming a Navy base, and developing a strong fishing economy later on, and even becoming the most important port in the state. A few decades later, we will get all of these resorts in the Pacific Coast littered from Popotla to Ensenada (since the Gulf coast's weather is insanely hot and uncomfortable). Mexicali and Calexico would be a single city by the end of the day, and possibly will have the largest Chinatown in the two Californias (due to the fact we've butterflied away those decision-making blunders that expelled the Chinese in the 1930's).
I can't think of anything else.

 

[Sicarius]

it would take awhile for it to get to the population required for statehood (at the time probably 600,000 atleast).

Wyoming was admitted with literally a tenth of that - statehood admissions often have a lot to do with partisan politics, and I imagine whatever party would benefit most from its admittance would make a big issue of it (once it got suitably taken out of the hands of the original hispanic inhabitants, that is).

 

[Enigmajones]

The US buys the Baja, but it doesn't end there. Its made into a territory of the USA, while US Veterans returning from Europe spend some time in the 20's fighting the crime in the Baja, how Prohibition is going to be handled there is going to be pretty hard to gauge. With the Baja in the US, Tijuana never gains the reputation it is known for today, and the Prohi's will be very active making sure Mexican Liquor doesn't get through. By WW2, its been a territory for about 25 years and there has been a steady flow of Yanqui settlers buying up cheap land for use as Vineyards and to ensure that the Anglo population remains in power, they institute some form of segregation putting the White skinned Mexicans over the Mestizo inhabitants. The Baja becomes a whole other front of the Civil Rights movement.

 

[Iori]

Wyoming was admitted with literally a tenth of that - statehood admissions often have a lot to do with partisan politics, and I imagine whatever party would benefit most from its admittance would make a big issue of it (once it got suitably taken out of the hands of the original hispanic inhabitants, that is).

Yes, but Wyoming was admitted at a different time, and in general it was'nt the norm.

 

[MerryPrankster]

With the filibuster attack to the northern cities that happened a few years before 1917, I doubt the people in Baja California would have liked said proposal...

What filibuster attack? The only one I can think of in Baja California was one of William Walker's attempts in the 1850s or so.

Granted, in 1917 there would probably be people still alive who remembered that one...