WesWorld

[From http://wesworld.jk-clan.de/thread.php?th…354&sid=&page=6 with some additional information agreed with Peng so many years ago……]

1630s - Dutch came to control the area around the River Plate and several areas of what is now Brazil and Argentina.

1650s- Dutch forces from around Guararapes (historically New Holland) relocate to the River Plate region and reinforce the area. Added to this they help with the establishment of Cape Colony.

1700s - Despite Spanish and Portuguese efforts, the Dutch Colony of the Plate holds and prospers with heavy trade with the Cape Colony and into Asia.

1795 - France takes the Seven Providences of the Neatherlands.

1798 - The former Dutch colonies in South America and South Africa declare independence from their motherland (which is held by the French anyway)

1799 - The "Kingdom of the Plate and South Africa" becomes a kingdom of two equal states, the Plate and South Africa. Dual administrative capitals are established at Montevideo and Cape Town. The royal court moves between the two cities on a rotating schedule every few years.

1810 - 1830 - As the Spanish/Portuguese/Iberian colonies begin to consider independence, the kingdom supports those movements. (This may be out of a heartfelt desire to liberate their neighbors from an imperialist, or it may be a pragmatic recognition that several small neighbors can be easier to handle than one big neighbor – depends on which story hook is needed elsewhere).

1830 - The historic French upheavals see the House of Bourbon try to distract the masses from internal issues with some foreign victories. One happens to include a fight picked with the young "Kingdom of the Plate and South Africa". An incident takes place, and the French attack. Raids take place along the African coast. The royal family, whose court is in Cape Town, flees inland, setting up shop at Pretoria, which is out of reach of the French.

1831 - Nordmark gets involved. As the former French Marshal Bernadotte is king of Sweden as he historically was, he acts out of personal spite. Nordmark sends reinforcements, a few battles are fought at sea, and the French eventually concede defeat. The Bourbons manage to retain power a bit longer as a result of their adventuring, but are replaced by the House of Orleans anyway in 1833.

Side Effect: The conflict leads to the resurgence of Nordmark as a naval power.

1835 - After the war, the Royals decide to stay put in Pretoria, keeping Cape Town and Montevideo as administrative centers. Meanwhile, the RSAN is started.

1840s-1870s - Various shifts in power and alliances between the South American powers and the Cape Colony.

1863 – King Hendrik I (born 1833) marries Nordmarks HG Countess Kristina Amalie af Blekinge (born 1845)

1879 - War of the Pacific between Chile-Bolivia-Peru.

~1880 - Diamond and gold mining have put the South African portion of the kingdom far ahead of the Plate portion; the two administrative capitals are abolished and the functions moved to Pretoria. The "Kingdom of the Plate and South Africa" becomes the "South Africa Empire".

~1880 - There is no conflict between Argentina/Brazil and the SAE, but the relationships cool as Argentina and Brazil begin to take issue with the SAE going from "liberator" to "colonizer". The concentration of political power in South Africa furthers this schism. Tensions in the early 1880s are sufficient to keep Argentina from working with Chile on Patagonian issues.

1884 - SAE begins to industrialize to maintain its African Empire from opportunistic British and German forces and to build up the RSAN as a first class navy with modern equipment.

1890s - South Africa participates in colonial adventures, clashing with France in particular. This fuels expansion of the Empire into places like Gabon, Madagascar, and so on. There is an undeclared, low intensity conflict with some significant battles, but diplomatic pressures on both nations keeps a full-blown war from happening.

1900 to 1916 - Stabilization of the Empire´s borders and a relatively quiet period before WW1 breaks out and the SAE gets involved in 1916. The SAE takes former German colonies (instead of the British historically).

1906 - Nordmarks HRH Prince Gustav, who becomes Gustav V in 1907, marries HI&RH Princess Victoria (born 1887), daughter of the King-Emperor of South Africa

1914 – Victoria and Gustav V suffer a still-birth of an heir to the throne in Nordmark

>1919 - History as written in WesWorld; including the Death of King Gustav V of Nordmark, his wife Victoria (then age 34) and their unborn child in 1921