WI/AHC: Italian Colonial Power?

What POD/country could lead an Italian City State/Duchy to colonize the New World for economic benefit? I was thinking Renaissance powers leading to colonization, but earlier PODs are welcome.

I was thinking less French/Spanish interest in the area allows a large Venetian/Sicilian power that goes out and sends expeditions?
 
Didn't the Genoese bankroll part of the Portuguese's expeditions to the Azores and West Africa early on and have an agreement in place to split profits? Have Portugal suffer financial problems and be forced to sign away the Azores to Genoa to settle its debts early on, as well as giving Genoa control of Gibraltar could see a Genoese colonial power that's interested in hitting up India.
 
Would Genoese New World colonies be profitable in any way? I mean, the population base wouldn't nearly be high enough to create towns. Perhaps native cooperation?
 
Would Genoese New World colonies be profitable in any way? I mean, the population base wouldn't nearly be high enough to create towns. Perhaps native cooperation?

You don't need many whites to run a sugar island. Just have Genoa snag a Caribbean island like Barbados and the sugar and tobacco plantations (powered through slavery, of course) will generate massive profit for tiny Genoa, especially if they have the Azores and the Cape Verdes as friendly wayward stations.
 
You don't need many whites to run a sugar island. Just have Genoa snag a Caribbean island like Barbados and the sugar and tobacco plantations (powered through slavery, of course) will generate massive profit for tiny Genoa, especially if they have the Azores and the Cape Verdes as friendly wayward stations.

Or just have a few trading outposts on the coast.
 
AFAIK Ferdinando I/Cosimo II de Medici were rather interested in claiming somewhere in South America (around Guyana I think).
Cosimo II's death scuppered that plan big time. So have him survive what killed him, and we might see Tuscan colonies. Might be interesting.
 
You don't need many whites to run a sugar island. Just have Genoa snag a Caribbean island like Barbados and the sugar and tobacco plantations (powered through slavery, of course) will generate massive profit for tiny Genoa, especially if they have the Azores and the Cape Verdes as friendly wayward stations.

Could this allow Genoa to impede foreign interest in Italy, by buying tons of foreign mercenaries with their stacks of newfound cash?
 
Would Genoese New World colonies be profitable in any way? I mean, the population base wouldn't nearly be high enough to create towns. Perhaps native cooperation?

You don't need to send a huge number of colonists over if you do it early enough. With many generations to multiply, a small founder population can become substantial. Consider the cases of the French Canadians and Afrikaners.
 
Top