English Canada/French Carolina: A Timeline
- Thread starter Gabingston
- Start date
They were the only ones who bothered colonizing it most of the place was thought of as worthless other than Walvis Bay
Land Down Under
Part 18: Land Down Under
From ancient times, there had been a speculation that there was a Terra Australis, a great Land Down Under. These legends took off again once the Age of Exploration began, and numerous countries got involved in searching for this fabled land over the centuries. The first Europeans confirmed to discover Australia was the Dutch explorer Willem Janszoon in 1606, quickly followed by Spaniard Luis Vaez de Torres, although they didn’t know about each other’s expeditions. Numerous Dutch trading vessels washed up on the (rather useless) West Coast of Terra Australis over the years, using a route following the trade winds of the Roaring 40s, mapping the western half of the mysterious continent, as well as an island discovered by Abel Tasman.
It was in the Mid-Late 18th Century that exploration of Terra Australis really began to take off, with the British and French competing over the exploration of this land. Of particular note was British Admiral James Cook’s 1770 exploration of the Eastern Coast of Terra Australis, being the first European to explore this part of the continent. His second exploration a few years later confirmed that there was no land further south of Terra Australis, at least land of any use. With the Commonwealth of America being unwilling to take in British convicts, the Brits figured that Terra Australis would be a good place to send some undesirables…
On the Thirteenth of May, 1787, 11 Ships carrying over 1,000 people departed from the English town of Portsmouth for a land where women glow and men plunder. After over eight months at sea, the British convict fleet finally arrived in the land where beer does flow and men chunder. While their original landing sight of Botany Bay had gotten good reviews from James Cook, it turned out to not be quite so swell, so the colony relocated soon thereafter relocated a few miles up the coast to Port Jackson. However, even with the relocation to a better location, the colony still struggled, and almost starved on more than one occasion. However, even in this alien land, the colony got off the ground, and only five years after the first convicts arrived, the first free settlers arrived in New South Wales.
The British would be alone in colonizing Terra Australis for several decades, expanding along the Southeastern Coast of the Continent. However, by the 1820s, other European Nations would begin to take interest in colonizing this mysterious land on the other side of the world.
A new update is in progress and will be up later today (I'm posting this at 1AM local time).
Part 19: Vive La Révolution ou Vive Le Roi?
France in the Late 18th Century was… a mess. The ftax structure exempted the Nobility and Clergy (although the Clergy exemption mainly benefitted those at the top of the Church hierarchy, who often times also happened to be Nobles), thus putting the tax burden on the peasants and growing urban middle class. The government had racked up a lot of debt from the Seven Years War that hadn’t been paid off yet, and the government was unable to raise taxes to reduce the debt. While France was already in need of reform, the calls became increasingly visible as Enlightenment views became more widespread among the upper class (contrary to popular misconception, Louis XVI was not opposed to Enlightenment reforms, he just wasn’t able or competent enough to push them through). However, the biggest cause of instability in France during the 1770s and 80s were the food shortages that struck on multiple occasions during these two decades, due to both natural causes (such as a volcanic eruption in 1783 causing a strong El Nino, and thus failed harvests in 1788 and 1789) and a botched attempt at deregulation of the grain market, leading to the Flour War of 1775.
Just a quick note, due to the American Revolution being butterflied and France having a profitable cash crop colony in La Floride, the French economy is not as bad ITTL as it was IOTL.
At the very end of the 1780s, the Estates General convened. Now, I don’t know the specifics of how this’d be done, but let’s say some reforms are made to stabilize the economy and make the social classes as equal as you could reasonably achieve in 1790s France. The conditions in France steadily improve throughout the last decade of the 18th Century, or at least until Europe’s next major war breaks out at the turn of the Century, but more on that in another update.
Anyway, let’s get to France’s colonies overseas. Inspired by the Spanish mission system, France established their own missions across the colonies to tribes that hadn’t been converted. Some notable examples of French missions included Saint-Denis de Chisafocque, Mission Saint-Dominique and Saint-Thérѐse de Quainco, among others established throughout French-claimed territory. Meanwhile, as mentioned in a previous post, the 1770s and 80s were a time of massive emigration from France to La Floride, with almost 10,000 emigrating in the 1770s and almost 25,000 in the 1780s, with 11,000 arriving in 1789 alone. About 2/3rds of these emigres settled in the old colonies along the Atlantic, while 1/3rd ventured further and settled either on the Gulf Coast or in Louisiana. The white population had grown to 305,000 by 1780 and 435,000 by 1790, a massive increase over the course of just two decade, with a black population of 260,000, most of whom were enslaved. The black population varied significantly between different parts of the colony, with the Haut-Pays being over 80% white, while the Coastal Lowlands of Armandie and the Mississippi River Delta being majority black. Keep in mind that this is quite oversimplified, as under the general umbrella of “black” were included the Gens de Couleur, of mixed African and European descent, and who formed a middle caste between full-blooded blacks and full-blooded whites, while the “white” category included many with either distant African ancestry or more recent Indigenous ancestry (Métis).
Back to Europe now. Even without a French Revolution, Europe was still due for another war, which would break out around the turn of the century, so I’ll get to that in a future post.
The butterflies are going to start affecting Europe around this time, so this is when things really begin to change.
Ok, so here's how I'm calculating the populations of each colony I've talked about:
- For the former Scottish colony of New Scotland (Nova Scotia + New Brunswick + P.E.I + most of Maine), the population grew by 3% per year up to 1750, with a decline to 2.8% by 1775 due to emigration to other colonies, with further declines to 2.5% by 1825 as good land in New Scotland begins to fill up. New Scotland's population in 1800 is 690,000
- For Laurentia/Canada/Quebec, the population grows by 3% up until 1765, after which it slowly declines down to 2.75% by 1800 and further to 2.5% by 1825. The population grows faster than in Nova Scotia because of just how much land there is in Laurentia, and just how fertile the Saint Lawrence valley really is. By 1800, the population of 960,000 (yep, almost a million by 1800).
- For La Floride, France still doesn't send as many settlers overseas as the British do (about 400 per year by the end of the 18th century, unless it's a rough time back in France or there is a push by the government), and disease is a problem in the hot, sticky climate of Southeastern North America, so the population doesn't grow as fast as further north, but the natural growth rate has grown to 2.8% by 1800 as the Florida-born White population develops some immunity to diseases. The White population of La Floride in 1800 is 585,000, while the Black population is 330,000, around 915,000 for the total population.
My hunch on how the Australian Nations develop:
- British Australia develops much the same way as OTL, not much different here aside from the territory.
- French South Australia is concentrated mainly on the Mediterranean climate coast, while the desert interior is basically uninhabited aside from some ranches and mining towns. Historically a backwater, South Australia (or likely Antipodea, my traditional name for a French Australian colony) has become well known for it's wine production (they're French after all).
- New Holland is also quite lightly populated due to the Netherlands' small size, having an existing settler colony in South Africa and lack of mass emigration (many of the settlers to New Holland were German), and most settlement is concentrated in the Southwestern corner. As in French Australia, the hinterland is dotted with mining towns and MASSIVE ranches. Agriculturally, the southwestern corner produces a good amount of wheat, and the frontier is beef country.
- Portuguese Australia largely grew as a cash crop colony on the Northeastern Coast, using labor from India and the East Indies, with a Portuguese upper class and Mixed-Race middle class. The Northeast Coast is still where most of the population lives, while the hinterland is sparsely populated with ranchers and Aboriginals. The country has been rocked by instability in the past (likely with a civil war or two), but is moving forward into the 21st century, largely off of a boom in tourism to it's stunning beaches and culturally intriguing cities.
I'll give some information on India and East Asia right now.
The butterflies haven't gotten there yet, it's the exact same.
Part 20: 1800
Part 20: 1800
Here we are, the Year of Our Lord 1800. To begin, I’ll go over the situation in the Commonwealth of America. The Commonwealth of America has a total population of 5,575,000, with the most populous province being Laurentia at 960,000 and the most populous city is New York at 60,000, with Kirkeston in second place at 52,000. In addition, areas west of the Appalachians and along Lake Ontario were being settled rapidly, as good land in the older colonies was running out. The most prominent settlements developed around existing British forts and trading posts that I’ve already mentioned in this TL, and with deals being struck with the natives, settlers poured into the new territories, with land agents advertising large plots of fertile land. The leader of the American Parliament was now John Adams, while other prominent politicians in the Commonwealth included Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton.
Now, let’s go south of the Roanoke River to La Floride. By 1800, the population of La Floride had grown to around 915,000, of which around 300,000 were enslaved Africans. Of the 585,000 Floridians of primarily European origin (many had significant Indigenous ancestry, sometimes up to ¼), about 40% of them lived in the Region of Neusequia, which had a ¾ White population. This area had developed largely around small-scale farming and the lumber industry, not the plantation cash-crop agriculture that dominated areas further south. Speaking of those areas further south, the Region of Armandia, which was majority African. The swamps and marshlands were the perfect location for massive rice and indigo plantations, worked by many African slaves (no need into getting how shitty the conditions were, we all know already that it’d suck), with a White overclass on top. There was a significant community of Multiracials, who numbered at least 20,000 and formed a middle caste between the Black slaves and White slave owners. The other major slave colony was the Mississippi River Delta, which had effectively replaced Martinique and Guadeloupe as a sugar growing area (although still paling in comparison to the money bucket that was Saint-Domingue, aka hell on earth for the 90% of the population that was enslaved there). The Haut-Pays were beginning to be settled by pioneers looking for land, and thus were majority European.
Anyway, let’s go across the pond to Europe, and see how things are shaping up over there…
In Europe, a new major war had broken out. Tensions between Prussia and Austria over control of the region of Silesia had been building for years, and in 1796, the Austro-Prussian War broke out. The Ottoman Empire allied itself with Prussia, while Russia allied itself with Austria, and soon Europe had a new Continent-wide conflict on its hands. Now, I’ll post a Strawpoll that will let you vote on who wins the war, which is something I’ll do with a lot of wars FTR, and my next update will be on this war.
https://www.strawpoll.me/17798558
https://photos.app.goo.gl/HXd7SiFhe8CAMJDQ8
Very rough guess of North America in 2000, drawn by hand.
Green: Russian Alaska
Magenta: Commonwealth of America
Yellow: California
Orange: A Spanish-speaking country in OTL Northern Mexico, New Mexico and Texas.
Blue: La Floride
Purple: Mexico
Brown: Guatemala
Very rough guess of North America in 2000, drawn by hand.
Green: Russian Alaska
Magenta: Commonwealth of America
Yellow: California
Orange: A Spanish-speaking country in OTL Northern Mexico, New Mexico and Texas.
Blue: La Floride
Purple: Mexico
Brown: Guatemala
I'm no expert on turn of the 19th Century European geopolitics, so if any of you have suggestions on the Austro-Prussian War, that'd be help.
If the Dutch political, diplomatic and economic situation is similar to OTL, I can help you with that part.
In general I think they would want to remain neutral in a war, that was the direction of the Dutch diplomatic status OTL.
Although it certainly depend on several things. No American revolution would certainly change some parts of the Dutch political situation. The patriot situation would certainly be different.
One thing though I just thought of. The Southern Netherlands at this point were pretty unhappy with their Austrian masters and actualy revolted against them. This could happen during the war and actualy be succesful if Prussia would take advantage of the situation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Belgian_States
I'm deciding the outcome of this war via strawpoll, and so far Austria is winning, although the Austrian Netherlands/Belgium could either become independent or split along linguistic lines (the Flemish parts joining the Netherlands proper and the Walloon parts joining France).
