WI if Congress of Vienna restored Cape to the Dutch?

raharris1973

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Inspired by a comment here:

https://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showpost.php?p=1733449&postcount=27

After the Napoleonic wars the English returned most of the Dutch colonies (including the Dutch trading posts in India). The British only kept the cape colony, which had an extremely strategic position), Ceylon and the western part of Guyana. And someone (I believe analytical engine) told me that Britain would have returned those colonies, if the Netherlands hadn't gained Belgium.

So what if the British had given back the Cape colony in 1815? How would southern Africa have developed from there?

And, in Europe, what other solution might have been found for Belgium if it had not been placed under the Netherlands? If it was a created as a buffer state separate from the Netherlands from the get-go, who would be chosen as ruling dynasty? Alternatively, I believe it was physically occupied by the Prussians at the time, might it have become Prussian?
 
If the Dutch were not to get Belgium I would see the following happen to Belgium.

Prussia gets all of Saxony, like they wanted, instead of any Rhine territory. The Saxon King gets Belgium and Luxembourg which remains part of what was considered "Germany".
 

raharris1973

Gone Fishin'
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So, did the Dutch request the return of the Cape after they lost Belgium?

I don't know if they did.

But if they did, Britain whispered a quiet "no" while trying not to laugh.

Or, knowing that would be the probable British answer, the Dutch did not request it at all.
 
If the Dutch were not to get Belgium I would see the following happen to Belgium.

Prussia gets all of Saxony, like they wanted, instead of any Rhine territory. The Saxon King gets Belgium and Luxembourg which remains part of what was considered "Germany".

How can the Saxon king gain land if Saxony gets annexed by Prussia?
 
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