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WannabeeCartographie — Alternate Histories of Roses, Tulips, and Liberty

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Published: 2021-09-10 17:27:09 +0000 UTC; Views: 23351; Favourites: 122; Downloads: 0
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The Alternate Histories of Roses, Tulips, and Liberty

Suppose you have followed this timeline for a while. In that case, you already may have noticed that RTL's simple point of divergence in the 1600s has pretty much erased all of OTL's history and replaced it with a wholly new one, complete with different sets of events, historical figures, and nations.

Today, we pick some of those fictional events and explore how they might have played out differently. I present to you the Alternate Histories of Roses, Tulips, & Liberty.

If you do not know what RTL is, it's an alternate timeline where the Dutch, instead of the English, had dominated North America in the colonial years. Check out r/RosesTulipsAndLiberty  to check out all material in this project. It's not too late to start following the project, if you haven't already. As of now, it is only just getting started with the 20th century.

Each of the 9 scenarios will be explained in the following comment in this thread.

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Plausible

A1. Canon RTL in 1895

The Canon History: Most shortly, I can put it, the Dutch never lose the colony of New Netherland. The Dutch continued to support the Iroquois, which prevented the French from expanding south, granting the Dutch the prime position to explore most of inner America. Soon, they find themselves in a race to dominate America with New Spain/Mexico, the two largest forces on the continent. This resulted in two wars in 1855 and 1901, with multiple independent states breaking off in the process. Dutch Tussenland, the second-largest polity in the Americas after Mexico, is a federation of several Dutch colonies that gained home rule in 1861 but decided to form a federal government under the Dutch crown to shore up protection against Mexico.

A2. Balkanised Tussenland

Year of Map: 1905

The Canon History: The various colonies of Dutch Tussenland underwent a rebellion in 1859, called the Tussenland Upheavals , to fight for more autonomy. In 1861, they negotiated with the Dutch, and the Federation of Dutch Tussenland was born, establishing a common united framework, which they then carried over during Tussenland's independence in 1905.The Alternate History: During the 1859 rebellion, the various Dutch colonies still established a united front against the Dutch but never pushed for a united federal government. Upon complete independence in the 20th century, they all established independent republics but united in mutual defense and economics treaties.

A3. Tussenland sold for scraps

Year of Map: circa the 1860s

The Canon History: In 1855, the loss of the Dutch in the 2nd Dutch-Spanish War  caused the Dutch colony of Tussenland to be landlocked. In this timeline, the Dutch decided to keep the colony even though it was difficult to access and had to rely on the independent state New Netherland for access from the Atlantic.

The Alternate History: The Dutch knew that the Dutch Tussenland colony was a lost cause now and decide to sell it to Britain. It's the British's problem now.


Unlikely

B1. Dutch Victory in the Second Dutch-Spanish War

Year of Map: circa the 1860s

The Canon History: Refer to A3.

The Alternate History: The Dutch, even though they were simultaneously fighting a war against the Spanish in America and Britain and France in Asia, somehow miraculously won the American theatre of the wars. The Dutch annexed a huge portion of New Spain/Mexico, while New Netherland annexed New England.

B2. Big New Netherland

Year of Map: circa 19th century

The Canon History: When the revolutionary French Republic subjugated the Dutch Republic in 1796, their colony of New Netherland became independent. However, the Dutch could still maintain control of the interior and around the Mississippi river basin, which became split from New Netherland. Additionally, New Netherland did not have any expansionist ambition to the western lands at the time.

The Alternate History: After independence, New Netherland continued to exploit the Dutch's weakness during the French revolution. They expanded west and annexed most of the Dutch's western territories.

B3. The Secret RTL Ending

Year of Map: circa 19th century

The Canon History: Refer to A1.

The Alternate History: This is actually a nod to an earlier prototype version of RTL North America way, way back. Yes, the Dutch weren't supposed to have a considerable chunk of North America in the project's original vision. I originally wanted to focus on just a smaller region for the worldbuilding: New Netherland. But, then again, there are two reasons why that changed: (1) British North America would be less interesting (in my opinion), and (2) with the Dutch keeping New Netherland and bolstering the Iroquois, the Dutch were the only ones who had the advantage or even the permission to explore and expand down the Ohio and Mississippi, as the Appalachians blocked England and The Iroquois blocked New France's southern expansion.


Absolute Fantasy

C1. The "United States of America"

The Alternate History: After the Second Anglo-Dutch War in 1667, the English somehow managed to strong-arm the Dutch into giving up their colony of New Netherland in exchange for a cash crop colony like I don't know, maybe Suriname? And the English rename it to New York. Eventually, the English colonies broke free and expanded westward towards the Pacific Ocean and named themselves the "United States of America." Wow. I don't even know where to start pointing out why this doesn't make sense. Utterly unrealistic.

C2. Big Tussenland Federation

The Alternate History: Tussenland is essentially a federation of the former Dutch colonies, but not all joined in canon RTL because of differing ideas and histories. In this alternate history, all of the former Dutch colonies join the Tussenland Federation: the Amerikaens Free State (even though their culture was very unlike the other Dutch colonies in that they were infused with Hispanic culture), South Tussenland (even though they were born out of a slave uprising and had an Afro-Amerikaner majority), and New Netherland (even though they gained independence even before the Tussenland Federation was a thing). Another unrealistic scenario, but interesting to imagine nonetheless. (Hey, while we're at it, why not just throw Greenland in the mix too?)

C3. Wait, it's all New France?

The Alternate History: The Iroquois are defeated by the French, and the Dutch colony of New Netherland is also destroyed by the Algonquins (with the French's support). The French eventually expanded and competed against Britain over the continent, but ultimately, they prevailed.

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Comments: 3

LatvianPotatos999 [2022-05-21 12:18:03 +0000 UTC]

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Amon3445 [2021-09-23 16:16:09 +0000 UTC]

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