Austria and Prussia, despite their shared Germanic heritage, did not get along. One was Catholic, the other Protestant. One liked the mountains, the other the sea. One was run by an insanely inbred royal family, the other may or may not have been. Both, however, wanted to control the Central European region of Silesia. There’d been wars fought between the two in the past over this region, with Prussia eventually gaining the upper hand, and Austria wanted its revenge. In 1796, the Austro-Prussian War began, with the Ottoman Empire siding with Prussia and the Russian Empire siding with Austria. The Austro-Russian alliance had many more troops in total than the Prussians and Turks, but Prussia had superior military tactics and technology, especially over Russia. However, technology wasn’t as big of a factor in wars at this time as pure manpower was, and even after suffering initial losses, the Austrian and Russian summer offensive of 1798 was a massive success, advancing far into Ottoman territory in the Balkans and Prussian territory in Germany. Due to this, the British refrained from intervening on the side of Prussia, and in 1801, Prussia sued for peace, ceding Silesia to Austria.
Ok, I am not knowledgeable on turn of the 19th Century European geopolitics, so this was quite a short update, and if any of you have advice, that would be beneficial.
In a previous update, I discussed European exploration of Terra Australis, whether it be from the British, French, or, in this case, the Dutch. The Dutch were the first Europeans to discover Terra Australis, and had stumbled upon the West Coast of Terra Australis on numerous occasions when sailing between Cape Town (Kaapstad) and Batavia/Jakarta. The Dutch found Western Australia pretty useless, as it was mostly desert, usually staking a claim and continuing on to Batavia.
However, with the British colony of New South Wales on the East Coast, and increasing French exploration in the region, The Dutch figured that it was time to establish a trading post or two in the Southwestern corner of Terra Australis. And so, on October 3rd, 1823, the Dutch established Fort Vlamingh at the mouth of the Black Swan River (the fort being named for Willem de Vlamingh, the Dutch explorer who discovered the Black Swan River). The post was established to provide food to sailors traveling between the Cape of Good Hope and the East Indies, which was grown at Nieuw Utrecht, located 25 miles up the river. Finding the area to have a Mediterranean Climate not unlike that of the Cape, vineyards were planted along the river, as well as plantings of wheat, potatoes and vegetables and raising of livestock.
Since the VOC was weakening by the Early 19th Century (not bankrupted like IOTL, but definitely not the powerhouse it was in the 1600s and Early 1700s), the New Holland colony was founded as a separate charter, called the Nieuw Holland Nederzetting Bedrijf (please suggest something better if you’re Dutch and reading this, the name I came up with was from Google Translate), or the NHNB for short. In their charter were the aims of recruiting European settlers (although prioritizing Dutch, German and Scandinavians), exploring the interior, finding resources, ensuring profitability and securing Dutch claims to the western half of Terra Australis, with the border with British Australia being set at the 135th Longitude East.
With limited fertile land along the coast, which was mainly just a sandy plain, the Dutch began to do what they do best: clear marshland. Much of the area around the Black Swan River were wetlands, which settlers began to clear soon after arrival, much to the chagrin of the locals, to which the Dutch responded with something along the lines of “this is our land now, bugger off” (after all, this is 19th Century European colonialism).
On the contrary, some colonists decided that clearing marshland was too much work, and that they wanted to go off into the vast unknown, so it didn’t take too long for exploration parties to be dispatched. The first expeditions to cross the hills to the east of the colony followed along the various rivers and streams crossing the hills, finding a vast shrubland that the Dutch named De Struiken, or The Shrublands (once again, I don’t speak Dutch, so I got it off of Google Translate). A return party founded the town of Duidgje, the first Dutch settlement west of the hills. While the soil wasn’t very fertile, farmers did figure out how to grow crops, as well as grazing sheep and cattle, clearing the scrublands and using the wood for housing and fuel. Meanwhile, in order to secure the south coast, the Dutch founded the whaling station and naval base of Regensbaai. The mild climate of the region was quite favorable to the Dutch, and soon more settlements dotted the Southwest Coast of New Holland, such as Leeuwin, Vassestad, Leschenshaven and Peronstad. The first survey of the New Holland colony in 1840 showed the population to be 8,200, of which a 3,800 were around the Black Swan River in either Fort Vlamingh or New Utrecht, 1,000 in Regensbaai and the remained scattered about. In fact, let’s get to the survey now.
Keeping with the Dutch tradition of Religious tolerance, the colony even in this early stage had an eclectic mix of different faiths, with numerous Protestant sects, Catholics and even a small Jewish community being present among the colonists. The colony was also diverse ethnically, with only around 60% having origins from the Netherlands, with 25% being German and 15% from places such as Scandinavia, Britain, Ireland and Portugal. While the colony may have been in its infancy, the future sure looked promising for Nieuw Holland...
On March 27th, 1785, Louis-Charles de France was born. The second son of King Louis XVI of France and Marie Antoinette, his older brother Louis Joseph passed away of an illness in 1789 (just before OTL’s French Revolution), thus raising Louis-Charles to Dauphin (heir). To skip pretty much the entire 1790s, it was figured by the turn of the 19th Century that Louis-Charles was ready for marriage. Now, from our OTL 21st Century perspective, it seems like a TERRIBLE idea to marry (or rather get married off) to your first cousin, but alas, in May of 1802, Louis-Charles married his first cousin Marie Amalie of Naples. Old habits die hard, and royal inbreeding is no exception. Nonetheless, after a miscarriage the first time, their daughter Marie Josephine was born on August 8th, 1807. However, what they still needed was a son, who would be the heir to the French throne once Louis XVI passed away. After their second child, born on January 21st, 1809 turned out to also be a girl (who was named Thérѐse), they were still in need of an heir. As it turns out, the third time was indeed the charm, as their third child was indeed a male. Born on October 4th, 1810, Louis-Joseph de France became the third in line to the French throne. Two more surviving children were born, Jean-Pierre in 1813 and Élizabeth in 1816, as well as two children who didn’t survive, Denis in 1814 and Marie-Anne in 1818.
Now, to skip a few more years, we come to the big moment. On the 18th of October of the Year of our Lord 1824, Louis XVI of France passed away of Pneumonia at the age of 70. After the funeral and burial a week later at the Basilica of Saint-Denis, the coronation of King Louis XVII was held at the Notre Dame de Reims on November 1st, 1824, All Saints Day.
Now, being King Louis XVII, he had his father’s quite large shoes to fill. His father had instituted many reforms to the government, conducted voyages of exploration and kept France from potential revolution in the tough times of the Late 1780s, so how could the new King follow that up?
By the Early 19th Century, naval technology and tactics were advanced enough as to allow voyages to the other side of the world. Voyages to the Land Down Under had been conducted at the turn of the century, charting the Southern Coast of Terra Australis. The new king figured, since his father had explored Terra Australis, that he should continue his father’s work and colonize it. The East Coast was already being colonized by the British, the West Coast was in the early stages of Dutch colonization, and the North Coast was a desolate wasteland.
That left the South Coast of Terra Australis as the prospective location of a French colony. While it was known that most of the South Coast was a desert wasteland, the area around the mouth of a river was known to be quite hospitable. The areas further east along the coast were already being colonized by the Brits, so that left the areas around the Antoinette Gulf and the Gulf Saint-Vincent as the prime area for a French colony. Another expedition was conducted between 1825-1827, specifically to find good locations for settlement before the British or Dutch could get their hands on it. Several potential settlement locations were proposed from the expedition, with an official settlement being approved by Louis XVII.
Thus, on November 4th of 1828, a fleet of over 300 settlers departed from the port of La Rochelle, just as the first fleet to La Floride had nearly 200 years prior, destined for the south seas. After a brief stop for supplies and fresh air in Brazil, the expedition rounded the Cape of Good Hope in January and caught wind of the westerlies. Finally, on April 6th, 1829, after over five months at sea, the settlers landed at the mouth of a river they called the Crique des Palétuviers (Mangrove Creek), on a small sandy peninsula. This was a suitable location for a port, but not for the primary settlement, so the settlers stayed there temporarily while surveyors searched for greener pastures. Eventually, a location on higher ground was discovered, and the main settlement was built there. The port acquired the name of Louisport, as why not name it after the king, while the settlement itself got the name of Tadagne, which was from the Aboriginal name for the area. Settlers were sent to work clearing the land, defending the settlement and surveying the area. Over the following few years, more parties of settlers arrived in the colony, founding their own colonies along the coastal plain. Settlers didn’t exclusively come from France, as settlers from the Queen’s homeland of the Kingdom of Naples were recruited as well, the most notable Neapolitan settlement being Nouvelle-Salerne 20 kilometers southwest of Tadagne. Some other settlements established along the eastern shore of the St. Vincent Gulf included Nurlongue, Pataouille and Petit-Fourches.
Pretty much the first thing the initial settlers did was clear out the scrubland and plant crops. While crops like wheat and barley grew well in the new colony, the real standout were grapes. Unlike in La Floride, where the climate was unsuitable for European grapes to grow (there were native grapes in La Floride, but the French preferred their own grape varieties), traditional French and Italian grapes thrived in the Mediterranean climate of the colony, which acquired the name of Terre-Bourbon. Aside from the occasional heat wave from the desert to the north, this was perfect wine country, and while the British and Dutch had already been producing wine in their colonies, it was the French who really pioneered the Terra Australis wine industry. Livestock were introduced to the colony as well, with many less fertile crop areas grazing cattle and sheep instead. By 1840, there were 9,000 Europeans in Terre-Bourbon, of which 75% were French, 15% Neapolitan and 10% other. While most French emigres chose to go the La Floride, a small but not insignificant chunk were convinced to try their luck in the Land Down Under, where women glow and men chunder. Can you hear the thunder, you better run and you better take cover...
After a few updates away, it’s finally time to return to the Commonwealth of America. By 1800, the Commonwealth had a population of 5.5 Million (if there was no immigration, the population would grow to 87 Million by 1900 if it doubled every 25 years). The population continued to grow rapidly due to the high birth rates and low death rates when compared to the old world, as well as the steady stream of immigrants from Europe (mainly Britain). Settlers were pouring across the Appalachians by the wagonload, with new Commonwealth Provinces such as Ohio (same as OTL’s state of Ohio), Niagara (OTL Southern Ontario) and Kentucky (most of OTL’s Kentucky) being proclaimed during the first quarter of the 19th Century. The Industrial Revolution that had began in Britain in the Late 18th Century was beginning to make its way across the pond, with the Royal Navy basing much of it’s shipbuilding efforts out of New York, Boston and Kirkeston. Mount Royal really begins to boom in this era, as grain being sent upstream from Niagara and wood being sent upstream from the forests to the northwest end up in Mount Royal’s grain or lumber mills, with Mount Royal growing from a population of 24,000 in 1800 to 65,000 in 1825. Kirkeston had grown from 52,000 in 1800 to 79,000 in 1825, not as rapid growth as Mount Royal, but still the larger city. New York still reigned supreme, with over 175,000 people by 1825.
In order to organize settlement west of the Appalachians, the American Commonwealth government began giving out land grants to settlers moving west, making deals with the natives and encouraging infrastructure such as canals and roads. The White population of Niagara, for example soared from around 60,000 in 1800 to 540,000 in 1825, and would only continue to surge from there as settlers from Laurentia, New Scotland and New England and immigrants from Britain and Northern Europe poured in to grab their piece of the land. The Five Nations of Upper New York were granted their own autonomous region along Lake Ontario, leaving it as the only majority Native region east of the Appalachians. Speaking of Upper New York, the Erie Canal from the growing city of Buffalo to the Hudson River in the nation’s capital of Albany was constructed during this time period, being completed in 1825 and solidifying New York’s position as America’s premier city. Despite massive out-migration to the western territories, Laurentia’s population grew from 960,000 in 1800 to 1,825,000 in 1825, and New Scotland’s population grew from 690,000 in 1800 to 1,310,000 in 1825. The Western Territory that had been proclaimed after the formation of the Commonwealth was now being carved up into smaller Commonwealth Provinces, with the provinces of Ohio, Niagara, Michigan, Wabash (basically OTL Indiana) and Illinois all being proclaimed by 1825.
Unlike IOTL where the institution of Slavery was expanding rapidly across the South, by 1825, Slavery was clearly on it’s way out in America, as the only place west of the Appalachians where the Peculiar Institution was present was the new province of Kentucky. Meanwhile, the public perception of Slavery in both Britain and the majority of the country that didn’t have Slavery was becoming increasingly negative. Even with the cotton boom, the institution was quickly being viewed as a dinosaur that had no place in a civilized society (the main source of cotton for European textile mills was La Floride, after all, not The Commonwealth). The Atlantic Slave Trade was being cracked down upon by the Royal Navy by this time, and several economists argued that Slavery was actually an economic detriment that stifled innovation and discouraged hard work. Meanwhile, out west, cities like Toronto, Stuarton (formerly Fort Stuart), and Chicago were growing quickly as trade centers for the new western territories. Investors from out east quickly saw the potential for these burgeoning towns to grow into new metropoli, which would only be accelerated by a new innovation that I will get to in a coming update (hint: choo choo).
Stretching from the 42nd Parallel North in California to about the equal parallel South, Spanish and Portuguese America in the Early 19th Century was a true behemoth, with a wide variety of culture, geography and demographics. There were majority European areas like the Rio De La Plata, Mestizo areas like Central Mexico and New Granada and Indigenous areas like the Highlands of Peru. Within 50 years of Columbus’ voyage, the Spanish bulldozed the Native civilizations and populations of the Americas, conquering the Aztec Empire in 1521 (with the help of the Aztec rivals of the Tlaxcala) and the Inca Empire in 1532, although the process of solidifying Spanish rule in Peru took another forty years from there.
However, by the Early 19th Century, the Spanish Empire was undoubtedly in decline. Far from it’s glory days in the 16th and 17th Centuries, Spain was a backwards nation lagging behind their contemporaries of France and Britain. It was getting increasingly difficult to manage and hold down such a large domain spanning from Madrid to Mexico to Manila, especially with increasing separatism and demands for reform and autonomy from their colonies, such as with the Casta system which privileged Peninsulares (European born) over Criollos (American born Whites), Mestizos (White/Native Mixed) and Natives, in that order from top to bottom.
In the Early 19th Century, there was already significant Spanish settlement in the northern fringes of their empire, especially in the upper Rio Bravo valley around Santa Fe. In the deserts to the west, the primary settlement was the outpost of San Xavier del Bac in the Sonoran Desert. Another outpost was founded at the place where the Miraflores and Colorado Rivers meet, Fuerte Nuestra Señora de Yuma, which became a stop for travelers from Central Mexico to California. Further north, Spanish expeditions explored the upper reaches of the Rio Bravo and Colorado Rivers, seeing a desolate, yet beautiful landscape.
Meanwhile, in South America, Spain was intent on expanding their reach south of Buenos Aires into the Pampas and further into the Patagonian Steppe. The settlement of Bahía Blanca was founded in the Early 19th Century as a base for expansion in the Pampas to the North and Steppe to the south. The Pampas turned out to be quite fertile for crops, while the steppe was prime grazing land for cattle and sheep. During this period, Spain loosened its colonial immigration laws, allowing non-Castilians to settle in Spanish colonies, as long as they were Catholic and would pledge loyalty to the Spanish crown. Thus, a decent stream of Catholic Catalans, Italians and Germans made their way to Spanish Colonies, although that would become a much greater trend in the future.
As a Bourbon ally to the French, Spain was being nudged in a more liberal direction during the Early 19th Century, in particular when it comes to their Colonies. While the Spaniards weren’t quite ready to give their Colonial possessions complete autonomy like the Brits did with America, they did set up councils for each of their Viceroyalties, granted mostly serving the interests of the Peninsular elites, but it did cool down separatism for the time being.
When it comes to Portuguese Brazil, it really became an example of the tail wagging the dog, as Brazil had a larger population than the homeland by 1800. Lisbon had been devastated by an Earthquake in 1755, while Rio De Janeiro grew in importance. There continued to be massive emigration of Portuguese to Brazil, draining the homeland while making Brazil even more of a behemoth. There were even talks and rumors about the crown packing up and moving to Rio, but they wouldn’t do that, right? Ok, they didn’t do that, but they did grant the Viceroyalty of Brazil their own colonial parliament, just as Spain had done with their colonies.
Now, I did mention the Spanish expanding in the Southern Cone, but they wouldn’t be without competition...
Patagonia, the land at the bottom at the World. A land of spectacular mountains, mysterious fjords and lonely deserts. A land that remained unsettled by European colonists long after the rest of the continent. However, that was not to last, as the interest of the Colonial Powers in this land was increasing by the Early 19th Century. To the north was the Spanish colony of the Rio De La Plata, and Spain had claimed this area as part of that colony, even if they hadn’t settled it quite yet. France had shown some interest in settling Patagonia, but in the end they were going to respect the claims of their main ally and fellow Bourbons, so French Patagonia was pretty much out of the question. The Nordic Countries were too small to set up a colony, and Prussia didn’t have the naval presence, even if they could theoretically support one.
That leaves Britain as the main competitor to Spain for colonizing Patagonia. Britain had the most powerful navy in the world, had a large pool of potential settlers (even if only a sliver of Britain’s emigrés went to Patagonia, it’d still be enough for a successful colony) and the ambition to colonize a place as remote as the tip of South America (they were the first ones to colonize Terra Australis, after all). There had been historical British exploration and claims in Patagonia, after all.
In 1827, the British Patagonian Company was chartered in London. Their aims were to set up a successful colony in Patagonia, protect the colony from Spanish incursions and Native raids and recruit settlers to come to the colony, choosing Patagonia over more established colonies like America and Australia.
After extensive exploration of the Patagonian coast, a quality site for a colony was found. It was located on the mouth of a river, with arable land in the valley and a hinterland fit for grazing cattle and sheep. With the location set, supplies were gathered and settlers recruited, and on May 4th, 1832, a fleet of colonization departed from the Port of Southampton in England, bound for the end of the World…
Over 80 days and 8,000 miles later, the fleet arrived at the site where they were to build their settlement. A simple fishing pier was constructed on the shore, with the townsite, named Williamstown after the reigning monarch was plotted about five miles upstream from the mouth. Despite some rough patches near the beginning of the colony, such as the difficulty of farming in an arid climate (solved by irrigation from the river), the first British settlement in Patagonia soon became self-sustaining. The Patagonian Company established several more settlements along the coast (many of them just simple fishing camps), with Port Desire, Sandy Point and Saint George as three examples.
In order to lure settlers to Patagonia, the company gave out huge land grants and free transportation for anyone willing to come, as long as they settled and worked the land in return. Now, as most of Patagonia is utterly useless for agriculture, the settlers quickly turned to ranching, adopting a culture similar to the Spanish Vaqueros. Wool soon became the colony’s main export, as well as wood from further south where trees would grow. Following the Clear River from its mouth in Williamstown, early expeditions to the unknown hinterland basically described it as a God-forsaken wasteland, but kept pushing on searching for greener pastures, wherever they may be, but I will have to save that for a future update, as I have other subjects to get to soon, so farewell from Patagonia!
Austria had possessed parts of the Low Countries for hundreds of years by the 1820s, yet their rule was becoming increasingly tenuous. There’d been a revolt in 1790 due to the attempts at centralization in the Austrian Netherlands, such as the establishment of German as the language of administration, which very few spoke (Flanders spoke Dutch, while Wallonia spoke French). The rebels formed the new United States of Belgium, but the rebellion was soon quashed. Despite that, discontent remained with Austrian rule, as the Belgians, whether they be French or Dutch speaking did not feel any sort of connection or brotherhood with some distant bureaucrats far off in Vienna. France, on the other hand had desired to conquer the Austrian Netherlands for some time, as half of it was Francophone (well, they spoke Walloon, a regional language closely related to standard French) and the other half had a Francophone Upper Class. The French also had a geopolitical ambition to conquer the entire Left Bank of the Rhine, viewing it as their natural border. However, the biggest reason France wanted the Austrian Netherlands were the large reserves of Coal found in the Walloon Hills that could be used to fuel France’s growing industrial sector (as well as spurring industry in the newly acquired Belgium).
So, when the Belgians revolted in 1829, France quickly intervened on the side of the rebels. Viewing this as the perfect opportunity to get their hands on that sweet sweet coal, the French sent their army into Belgium, with a large amount of local support from the Walloons. However, with Flanders being Dutch-speaking, France negotiated a treaty with the Netherlands that would cede Flanders to the Dutch. France also drew Prussia into the war by promising them Silesia. Fellow Bourbons Spain and Naples were also in the war on France’s side. In order to balance the scales and keep France from getting too powerful, Russia joined the war on the side of Austria. French and Dutch troops conquered the Austrian Netherlands quite easily, but the fighting in Southern Germany was quite a bit more hotly contested. With Switzerland being neutral, Southern Germany became the main battleground between France and Austria, trying their best to not accidentally cripple neutral countries whose land they were trespassing upon. The two sides were about equal in terms of manpower, so it came down to industrial and technological capacity. Now, this was early on in the industrial revolution, so industrial strength would become much more important in the decades to come, but even at this early stage it was enough to push the French alliance over the top.
The terms of The 1833 Treaty of Munich had Austria cede Wallonia to France, Flanders to the Netherlands and Silesia back to Prussia. It’s been long enough, so if you guys want more details, just ask me, I’ma post this update.
Alright, time to cover a region that I haven’t touched on ITTL: Africa. It has taken a lot to keep me away from this land where the drums echo in the night and Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti, but there was nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do to keep me from doing an update on the Land of the Blessed Rains. Now, I’ve held the line long enough, and updates aren’t always on time.So, I’m gonna meet you all the way and get to the update now.
North Africa is under Ottoman influence as far west as Tunis, with independent state being located further west, as well as Spanish and French outposts along the coast. West Africa is dotted with European trading posts, trading things like ivory, weapons and… yes, slaves with the kingdoms and nations. East Africa is still part of the Indian Ocean trade network with Arabia and India, Oman being particularly influential in East Africa (as well as Portugal and Britain), as well as the Ethiopian Empire. Central Africa, meanwhile, is dotted with tribal chiefdoms and is rather unknown to Westerners at this point (IDK much about pre-colonial Africa, I’m an ignorant White boy).
My main point of focus in this undoubtedly Eurocentric TL for this update is on South Africa. By 1800, the Dutch had been present in The Cape for 150 years, with the Dutch Cape Colony being primarily ran by the Dutch East India Company, or the VOC for short. The Cape Colony began in 1652 with the establishment of the Fort de Goede Hoop, with it not intended to become a settler colony, but rather just a stopover point for Dutch sailors heading to the Indies. However, settlers eventually arrived from the Netherlands and other Germanic regions, as well as a few French Huguenots, as well as imported slaves from the East Indies, Madagascar and other parts of Africa, the two aforementioned groups mixing with the native Khoi people to form the Cape Coloureds, who made up a significant proportion of the 61,947 inhabitants of the Cape Colony in 1797.
Now, the VOC ran the Cape Colony as a commercial enterprise, ruling with an iron fist over the inhabitants of the colony. Many settlers called Trekboers ventured out into the vast hinterland in order to escape VOC taxes and laws, bringing a dislike of centralized rule with them. However, by the dawn of the 19th Century, the VOC was weakening and on the verge of collapse, so the Dutch government took control of the Cape Colony in 1802, loosening laws and regulations and allowing more settlers to come in. This turned out to be quite convenient, as the Netherlands was not in a good spot in the Late 18th and Early 19th Centuries, with corruption running rampant and the economy struggling, as well as strong regional divides between North and South (more on that in the next update, though). For the Cape Colony, however, this turned out to be a huge boon though, as the unrest back home provided a steady stream of settlers to the colony (not all Dutch, some Germans and Scandinavians as well), averaging about three hundred per year during the 1800s and 1810s. Meanwhile, the British had established their trading post of Port Natal in 1822 in order to provide a stopping point for sailors heading to Australia and India, thus limiting Dutch expansion eastwards, at least along the coast. Afrikaner and Griqua trekkers continued to expand northwards and eastward from The Cape, going as far as the Orange River.
Part of the migrations towards the hinterland was due to the Afrikaners being strong Calvinists, who considered the new Catholic and Non-Calvinist Protestant immigrants to be heretics that they didn’t want to have anything to do with, although they were still loyal to the Netherlands. The first Catholic Parish in the Cape Colony opened in 1803, as well as other non-Calvinist Protestant churches and even a Synagogue soon followed in Kaapstad. By 1820, the Cape Colony’s population had grown to 126,000, split almost evenly between Europeans and Non-Europeans, mainly of Mixed descent, but also of Khoi, Bantu and Asian descent. As sailing technology improved, the rate of migration from Europe began to increase slightly to 400 per year by 1830, growing the population further to 168,432 by 1830. However, the relatively moderate rates of immigration were not to last, as events back home were about to send a wave of Dutchmen heading for the Land of the Blessed Rains...
The French colony of La Floride, located in the Southeast of North America in 1800 was no longer just some outpost on the other side of the ocean, but growing into the most integral and profitable colony of the French Colonial Empire. The port city of Richelieu was a thriving port city of 22,000 that was the designated trade hub with the motherland, exporting tobacco, rice, wood and indigo while importing… people . By this point, Richelieu had imported over 100,000 African slaves over its history, by far the largest slave trading post in mainland North America, and nearly half of the city’s population was of African descent, many of whom were enslaved (but with a large free POC community). Richelieu was also the de facto political capital of the colony, as the Governor-General’s Mansion was located in the city. The second largest city in 1800 was New Orleans, basically the Richelieu of the Gulf Coast with a population of 10,000, while Ville-Marie was the third largest at 6,000 residents. Otherwise, the vast majority of the population lived in rural areas and small towns of no more than 1,000 people located in rural areas.
With the French economic state improving after it’s low point around 1790, more Frenchmen now had the means to try their luck overseas, as well as the Crown recruiting settlers from downtrodden populations like orphans and Cagots. By 1810, an average of 1,000 Frenchmen per year were immigrating to La Floride, a number that would spike in 1816 and 1817 due to food shortages, before falling back to 1,500 by 1820, and would only continue to rise as sailing technology continued to improve.
Anyway, in 1804, a severe hurricane struck the Atlantic coast of La Floride, killing around 500 people (many of them slaves) and causing significant damage to the city of Richelieu, followed by an outbreak of yellow fever that killed hundreds more. Despite that, Richelieu grew to 35,000 people by 1810 and 55,000 by 1820. Another major natural event were a series of earthquakes between 1811 and 1812 that struck along the Mississippi River, but there were only a handful of fatalities since it struck in a lightly settled area. A quite severe hurricane struck New Orleans in 1812, followed by a yellow fever outbreak (similar to the 1804 Richelieu hurricane mentioned earlier).
The Early 19th Century was also the time when settlers began to move west of the Appalachian Mountains, with the Grand Vallée in particular receiving many settlers. In order to secure French control over the Northern route into the Grand Valley, Fort Savoie was established. In 1819, the White population of La Floride passed the million mark, with the White population as of 1820 being 1,040,000, with a Black population of 665,000 (39%), including about 90,000 Gens de Couleur Libre, or Free People Of Color (The Black proportion of the population is set to decline significantly over the 19th Century, as the Floridian government pursues a program of Blanchement, namely by encouraging loads of European immigration). I’ll do another update on French Florida soon, but I’ve got to get to work on my Dutch Civil War update, so I’ll leave it at that for now.
We return to the Commonwealth of America to see how things shake up in the land of the free, which as we will see is soon to fully live up to that title. As I’d mentioned in a previous post, the peculiar institution of Slavery was increasingly being seen as a relic of a bygone age in the Commonwealth of America. Only the provinces of Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and Kentucky allowed Slavery, and even in those provinces the institution was becoming less influential. Unlike in the French colonies to the south where Slavery was at its peak with the cotton boom of the Mid 19th Century, Slavery north of the Roanoke had clearly passed its prime, even if cotton was being produced in some parts of the country. As soon as the Commonwealth was declared, there were talks about abolishing Slavery in the commonwealth, with Pennsylvania declaring all those born after 1780 to be free (although children born to slave mothers were indentured servants until age 28). Laurentia followed in 1782, Connecticut and Rhode Island in 1784 and Nova Scotia in 1785 also passed gradual abolition laws. Massachusetts completely outlawed Slavery in 1783, and New York began gradual abolition in 1799. Finally, New Jersey began abolition in 1804, leaving only Virginia, Maryland, Kentucky and Delaware as Slave Provinces. However, these were the provinces that had most of the slaves in the first place, especially Virginia, in which 40% of the population was enslaved.
In 1833, the British Parliament back in London outlawed slavery across the British Empire. However, that abolition did not apply to the Commonwealth, as America had its own separate Parliament. With most of the provinces being anti-slavery, the American Parliament could likely push through a slavery ban, but knowing that it could lead to civil unrest and even a civil war, the Americans opted for a more gradual solution for emancipating the 1,000,000 slaves in the Commonwealth. All children of slaves born from January 1st, 1835 would be born free, while slave owners would get compensation for freeing slaves born before that date. Thus, the Emancipation Act of 1834 was passed by the American Parliament, beginning the process of nationwide abolition that would play out over the following decades.
First of all, I have to say thank you to Pompejus for giving me so much information on the Dutch Republic and what was going wrong at the time. Thank you very much, it was a great help to me. Also, if I seem unreasonably favorable towards the Catholic, just know that I myself am one. Now, onto the actual update.
Ever since the 1581 Dutch Revolt against the Spanish, the Netherlands had been one of the few republics in a mainly monarchist Europe. The Dutch Republic was organized into seven Provinces, each of which had their own regional parliament that had representatives from the cities and countryside of the province. There were two other subdivisions within the Republic. First, there was the Drenthe, an area that was considered too minor to be a full province. The other category were the Generality Lands, which had no regional parliament and were governed directly from The Hague. These areas were primarily Catholic and conquered after the formation of the Republic.
The head of state was the Stadtholder, who wasn’t quite a king, but could hold quite a bit of power if he was competent enough. On the other side, there were the regents, who wanted to keep their autonomy and prevent too much centralization. There were also the colonies, which were run by companies that weren’t state run, but held quite a bit of influence in the government. The VOC was in decline by this period, so the government seized direct control of the Cape Colony in the Early 19th Century, encouraging Dutch and Northern European settlement in the Cape Colony.
By the turn of the 19th Century, the Republic had become incredibly corrupt and inept, leading to a revolt in 1802, which was swiftly put down.
However, the flames of rebellion, while diminished, weren’t extinguished, and after the annexation of Flanders in the Franco-Austrian war of the Early 1830s, the embers of rebellion exploded into a burning fire.
With decades of corruption and incompetence in the government, the Dutch public slowly came to the conclusion that the republic had failed, and that a change was needed. Over time, two main camps emerged in the conflict over the future of the Netherlands. First, there were the Monarchists. Citing the examples of France and Britain, they stated that moving towards a Constitutional Monarchy would bring stability to the Netherlands. On the other side, there were the Republicans, who favored reforming the Republic into something more representative.
The Netherlands during the 1820s and 1830s were ruled by Stadtholder Willem VI. While he had some positive qualities (the Dutch economy was pretty strong up until the Franco-Prussian war), actions he took lead to destabilization of the Dutch Republic. William was a strong Calvinist, which made him unpopular in the mainly Catholic south, not helped by the required teaching of the Reformed faith in school. When the Netherlands annexed Flanders in 1833, it was given no regional parliament, rather being ruled from The Hague. William was also quite an ambitious figure, and had dreams of being more than just Stadtholder. So, in 1835, he proclaimed himself King William I of The Netherlands, which needless to say did not sit well with many parts of the country. Protests in the underrepresented Catholic regions of the country quickly turned into calls for revolution, with the Southern Catholics finding themselves in an awkward alliance with the growing Middle Class and the established Upper Class. On the side of the monarchy were the Working Class in the North, as well as some of the Northern upper class.
I’m not going to go into the details of the war, as I don’t know the specifics of what it’d look like. The war began in Late 1835 and lasted up until Early 1838. It claimed about 100,000 lives, or around 2% of the Dutch population at the time (just a wild guess). The bigger population loss was the wave of emigration from 1839-1846, during which about 200,000 Dutchmen packed their bags for the Commonwealth of America, the newly independent Republic of South Africa and the Dutch colony of New Holland. The peace negotiations declared that Willem VI would be President of the Dutch Republic until his death, as a consolation to the losing side (Willem died on December 12th, 1843, BTW December 12th is my birthday ), with elections being held afterwards. After Willem’s death, the President would serve a five year term, being able to run for reelection as many times as he wants. The legislature was divided into two houses, one which gave each of the provinces 5 seats, and the other houses distributed 100 seats to each of the provinces by population. Arguably the most important aspect of the new Republic was that, in order to minimize tensions between Protestants and Catholics, did not declare a state religion. However, provinces were allowed to designate a religion, which went to the advantage of Catholics in the South and Calvinists in the North.
Meanwhile, in the land of the blessed rains, the Cape Colony found that this was the perfect time to realize their dreams of independence. So, on March 1st, 1837, the Republic of South Africa was declared, with its capital in Kaapstad. In contrast to the new Dutch Republic, South Africa declared the Reformed faith its official state religion, with other faiths being allowed complete freedom, but not benefitting from tax dollars or public education. With the Netherlands unable to do anything about it due to the civil war, they reluctantly accepted South African independence, as long as Dutch ships were still allowed to dock in South African ports. Between 1840 and 1845, about 50,000 Dutch immigrants arrived in South Africa, most settling along the coast (especially in and around Kaapstad), but a significant minority venturing out into the hinterland. Meanwhile, about 20,000 Dutchmen arrived in New Holland during the 1840s, mostly settling along the Coastal Plain. Most of the remaining 130,000 Dutch emigres from that time period went to the Commonwealth of America, particularly the New York City area, which even after 200 years had a notable Dutch influence.
A new era was dawning upon Europe, and indeed The World, and those republican ideals were not to remain limited to the Netherlands for too much longer… I really hope I didn’t screw this up too much.
For the entirety of the history of Mankind, one could not travel more than 20 miles on land each day. The horse and buggy had been the dominant form of long-distance land transport for centuries by the 19th Century, but their days were about to be numbered, as throughout the Early 19th Century, a new mode of transport rose to prominence throughout the Western world: The Railroad.
While primitive railroads had been known to have existed as far back as Ancient Greece, and horse-powered railways were already in use in parts of Europe for centuries, these were all powered by man or beast, not by machine. The first steps towards the development of mechanical railroads came in Late 18th Century Britain, with the development of metal rails and steam-powered engines. Finally, in 1825, the first commercially operated railroad opened in the North of England, with the Liverpool and Manchester Railway opening soon after in 1830. This new mode of transport quickly spread both to Continental Europe and to the Commonwealth of America, with the first railway in France opening in 1827, and the first section of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad opening in 1828.
By 1840, Britain had over 1,000 miles of railroad, growing to over 6,000 by 1850. America had over 3,000 miles by 1840 and over 9,000 by 1850, the largest rail network in the world at the time. The French rail network in 1850 was largely concentrated in the industrial regions of the country, particularly the newly annexed Wallonia. Railways spread across Germany, Italy, Iberia and the European colonies over the Mid 19th Century, despite the revolutions in the Late 1840s and Early 1850s, which will be the subject of my next update. You know what, I can’t think of anything to finish this post with, so I’m just gonna end it here.
Ireland had long been under the thumb of their larger neighbors across the Irish Sea, with Ireland falling fully under Anglo rule since the 17th Century. By the Mid 19th Century, there was a clear distinction between the Anglo-Irish elite who owned most of the land, and the Irish Catholic majority that was pushed onto smaller and smaller plots of land, leading to dependence on the potato, the only crop that could feed a family on such small plots of land. Dependency on one crop just to barely get by is not a good recipe in the case that something goes wrong, and boy did it go wrong in the Mid 1840s…
There had been numerous potato failures in Ireland in the decades leading up to the big one, and the scattershot reliability of the potato was widely known on the island by the 1840s. In 1847 (two years later than OTL, I’ve got to change the dates just a little bit), a severe blight was being reported across Ireland, likely originating on ships coming from America. While other areas of Europe were affected by the blight (which would lead to some certain events in the following decade), nowhere was hit harder than the Emerald Isle (although parts of the Scottish Highlands came close). Between 1847 and 1852, the population of Ireland decreased from 8.5 Million to 6.8 Million, a decline of 20%, with 900,000 Irish starving and 800,000 fleeing to greener pastures, largely to the Commonwealth of America and Britain itself, with smaller amounts going to Australia, La Floride, Patagonia and Continental Europe.
Conditions on the several week voyage to the New World were decrepit, not much better than that of slave ships, garnering the name of “coffin ships”. In fact, the mortality rate on the coffin ships could reach as high as 30% at times. The Irish arrived dead broke, starving and sick, often settling in the city their ship arrived in (most commonly New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Saint John and Kirkeston), taking the lowliest jobs and being relegated to the poorest and dirtiest parts of the city. Anti-Irish and Anti-Catholic prejudice was rampant among the staunchly Protestant Anglo-Americans, something that would not go away until the 20th Century. Some Irishmen, turned off by the prejudice of the Anglo-Americans, chose to go further south to the fellow Catholic domain of La Floride, where the reception was significantly warmer (as was the weather, too warm in fact, as the last thing that destitute refugees from a cool, windswept isle needed were frequent outbreaks of Malaria and Yellow Fever), proving to be the single greatest wave of migration to La Floride up to that point.
Even further away, Irishmen also migrated to Australia, Patagonia and Natal, having a great impact on the cultures of those regions (especially Patagonia, which is known to the present day for it’s Gaelic-influenced culture and dialect), as well as simply moving across the Irish Sea to work in British factories, particularly in the North of England. The Emigration from Ireland would not stop with the end of the famine in 1853, but would continue for the remainder of the 19th Century, with nearly half of everyone born in Ireland during the latter half of the 19th Century going on to emigrate, almost becoming a rite of passage. The Irish diaspora that began to form during the famine would go on to have a massive impact on the development of countries all around the world, all coming from one small Emerald Isle…
The history of North America between 1825 and 1850 was one of expansion across the vast interior of the continent from the European strongholds on the coasts. The American Commonwealth rapidly expanded across the Western Territory, as settlers both from out east and from Europe poured into the fertile farmlands of the region that would go on to be named Centralia. Meanwhile, explorers (many employed by the Hudson’s Bay Company) charted routes out west, making it all the way to the Pacific Coast, with the first British settlers soon to follow. By 1850, pretty much all of the Commonwealth east of the Mississippi was settled, as well as most of French Floride east of the River (much of it set aside for the local tribes, including the southern third of the Tegueste Peninsula).
During the quarter century between 1825 and 1850, the Commonwealth of America chartered the provinces of Illinia (Illinois), Mescusing (Wisconsin), Gitchigami (Northern Ontario), Misabia (Northern Minnesota and Northwestern Wisconsin), Minnesota (Most of OTL Minnesota + Northern Iowa), Keyoshaqua (Iowa and Northern Missouri) and Winnipeg (Manitoba and the Red River Valley), as well as the first Anglo-American settlers making their way to the Pacific, the town of Fort Vancouver being the largest Anglo-American settlement west of the Rockies.
From 1820 to 1850, the population of the Commonwealth of America grew from 10,070,000 (larger than that of Britain itself) to 24,440,000. New York City’s population had surged from 175,000 in 1825 to 690,000 in 1850. Laurentia’s population grew from 1,825,000 in 1825 (complete coincidence) to 3,425,000 in 1850, while Nova Scotia grew to 2,465,000. The population of Kirkeston grew from 79,000 in 1825 to 270,000 in 1850, while Mount Royal experienced explosive growth from 65,000 in 1825 to 330,000 in 1850, annual growth of 6.75%. The population of the new western provinces ballooned during the second quarter of the 19th Century, Niagara for example grew from 540,000 in 1825 to 1,620,000 in 1850.
It wasn’t just the Commonwealth of America that was experiencing rapid population growth, as the neighboring French colony of La Floride was also growing at a precipitous clip. From 1820 to 1850, the White Population of La Floride grew from 1,040,000 to - in 1850. The high natural growth rate was compounded by the increasing amount of migration from the old world, as sailing technology was getting significantly better during the Early-Mid 19th Century. With the French population growing from 30 Million in 1800 to 40.5 Million in 1850 and the liberalization of laws towards groups like the Cagots (who I’ve mentioned before in this series, they were basically the untouchables of Southwestern France and Northern Spain), thus enabling easier emigration, immigration increased from 1,500/year in the first half of the 1820s to 5,500/year in the first half of the 1840s. However, the biggest surges in immigration were to occur during the second half of the 1840s and first half of the 1850s, as a potato blight swept across Europe, hitting a certain Emerald Isle particularly hard.
From the Late 1840s to the Mid 1850, 800,000 Irishmen emigrated (not counting the many who died on the voyage or soon after arrival), with 500,000 going to the Commonwealth of America and 75,000 going to La Floride, the largest single migration wave in the colony’s history, along with 50,000 non-Irish (mainly French) immigrants to La Floride and hundreds of thousands of non-Irish (mainly British and German) immigrants to the Commonwealth. The wave of immigration to North America would not slow down much during the remainder of the 1850s and into the 1860s, as Europe would be swept by revolts and civil unrest.
By 1850, the White Population of La Floride had grown to 2,586,000, while the Black population stood at 1,260,000 and the Creole population was 212,000. The entire coastline of the country was pretty much colonized, with much of the interior also settled, with only the Great Plains remaining unsettled by either Frenchmen in the south or Englishmen in the north. However, both the French and English had forts on the Great Plains, such as Fort Quincy for the British and Fort Quivira for the French.
North America in 1850 was a changing place, with the British presence stretching from sea to shining sea and the French as far as the slopes of the Rocky Mountains. I’m sorry that this update was out so late, I’ll get my next update in ASAP.
East Asia had long been a place of interest to the Western mind. By the Mid 19th Century, it had been 700 years since Marco Polo’s ventures through China, and the west was once again going to attempt to crack the egg that was the Far East. China and Japan had both been isolationist for the past two centuries, and with demand for Asian goods (tea, porcelain etc.), the Western imperial powers once again began to involve themselves in the East.
Now, it wasn’t like there was no Western influence in the Far East. The Philippines had been a Spanish colony for nearly three centuries by this point, and the Dutch were a major force in the Indies, but the grand prize of trade with China was still up for grabs.
We’ll get there, but to start, we’ll talk about the Land of the Rising Sun, Japan. Japan had briefly opened itself up to trade with the Portuguese and Dutch in the 17th Century, but later reversed course and closed themselves off (except for a Dutch trading post outside of Nagasaki). However, in 1853, a Royal Navy squadron led by American-born Commodore Matthew Perry sailed into Edo Harbor with guns loaded, thus ending Japan’s 200 years of isolation. Japan soon thereafter began to reform and adopt western technology and tactics, while also falling under British influence.
Anyways, back to China. China imported a load of silver from the mines of the Andes, but other than that, they weren’t really interested in any European (or colonial) goods. Meanwhile, Chinese goods were highly valued in Europe, especially Tea, so China overall had a trade surplus with the West. However, that changed with a certain drug: opium. Needless to say, this threatened China’s favorable trade conditions with the West (and created a lot of druggies), so the Chinese began to be more wary of trade with the West. Eventually, a trade conflict between the British and Chinese began, becoming known as the Opium Wars. To skim over a lot of history that is far too complicated for this ignorant white boy to cover, the British won. The Brits got the island of Hong Kong, as well as open trade and other treaty ports from the ordeal, while the Chinese got a big fat nothing.
Once again, I know next to nothing about this, most of this came from Crash Course World History, so thanks to John Green for most of this update.
It’s been a while, but it is now time to return to the Land Down Under. By 1850, the three colonies of British Australia (the name may be different ITTL), French Terre-Bourbon and Dutch New Holland were up and running, with thousands of Men At Work in the land Where Women Glow and Men Plunder. The British Australian population in 1850 was over 430,000, New Holland’s population was 31,000 and Terre-Bourbon had a population of 22,000. Due to the half-century head start, the British Australian colony dwarfed the other two colonies, and that gap would only continue to grow...
IT’S GOLD RUSH TIME!
During the Early-Mid 1850s, massive gold discoveries were found across the region of Victoria, turning this remote colony of 70,000 into the envy of the world. Gold fever spread across the entire world, as prospectors came into the Land Down Under by the hundreds of thousands during the 1850s. The port town of Melbourne grew massively over the course of the 1850s, from 25,000 in 1850 to 125,000 in 1855. The goldfield towns of Bendigo and Ballarat went from nonexistent to thriving within just a few short years.
This was also the first time in the history of the Australian Colony that many of the migrants came from outside of the British Isles, including thousands of migrants from China. Needless to say, the welcome for the Chinese on the goldfields was not the warmest, as anti-Chinese ethnic violence was common, and many returned to China after the gold dried up. A significant amount of migrants came from Continental Europe, as well as the French and Dutch colonies in Terra Australis, with a colonial official in Terre-Bourbon remarking that all of the young men of Tadagne had disappeared to the goldfields. After the young men returned from Victoria, many had the idea to search for gold in their own colony, and although there was less success in Terre-Bourbon and New Holland, some gold was still found.
Gold was also found in the colony of New South Wales, leading to smaller but still impressive gold rushes, and the British also expanded up the East Coast as far as the settlement of Brisbane. The Northern coasts of Terra Australis, however, remained uninhabited. Who will colonize Northern Terra Australis? We’ll just have to wait and see…
The Victorian Gold Rush of the 1850s had a profound impact on the British Colony of Australia. No longer just an outpost, Australia was now turning into a full-fledged nation, with major cities and a growing national identity. Greetings from the Land Down Under, Where Women Glow and Men Chunder, can’t you hear (X2) the thunder? You better run, you better take cover...
