A Crack at Draka: ME's Attempt at a Better TL

Nugax

Admiral Matt said:
Really. And when exactly are those figures for? If you can recommend a source, it'd be appreciated.
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The Brazilian government census bureau estimates 1.5 million in 1766, and 2.9-3.1 million in 1800, drawn from a bunch of written sources. I interpolated a bit to give 2.5 million in 1790. You also get the same values if you extend the 1840s+ numbers (when proper census takings started happening) backwards.

As for the African populations, I misread a placement of commas - its 10k and 5k respectively for Angola and Mozambique in my estimate, though sources you find through vary enormously, some will have less than two thousand Europeans in the territories right up till the 1880s, others will have forty thousand. Its certainly has been very erratic and at times there would be much larger populations when military operations were being conducted. There just isn't the accurate record keeping in existence, and you have to make estimates.

Well, the main reason the Afrikaans population grew slowly was largely the same as New Amsterdam, or New France, or the European population of Spain's colonies: women. Early colonization of British North America was nearly unique in that it entailed largely families rather than single men. The latter strategy inevitably led to intermarriage with the native peoples, but it also led to an enormous rate of return-migration.

On the Cape in particular, the VOC in OTL actually went as far as actively discouraging and hampering settlement. Given the disease environment, it is extremely reasonable to posit a much faster rate of population growth for this sort of colony.
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Uh yes? Thats why I used a much more generous growth estimate than the OTL Afrikaans? Actually Quebec had an even faster rate of population increase than the British american colonies (a heroic 2.5% per year), but started from a much smaller base and immigrant additions. You can find women if your not too picky, but Britain sending four times as many people in the first place as the second ranked emigration source (Portugal) will tell out.
 

Municipal Engines

Society, Economics and Politics in Drakesland: 1660-1700​


The latter half of the 17th Century for Drakesland was a time of growing entrepreneurship. The Mediterranean climate of the region prompted many farmers to take to growing wine grapes, olives and figs - which were sold to ships passing to and from the Asian Continent.

Expansion of the borders led to more and more land that could be used for grazing and crops, but it also led to the encountering of more natives. The first reaction of the colonists was often to call in the Dragoons and decimate a tribe or two, enslaving or killing them. Wealthy and affluent families such as the Drakes had stake in the slave trade. Indeed, the colony became the world's leading exporter of African slaves by the mid to late 1600s.

Thomas Drake had, earlier in the century, established a "Committee for Immigration and the Promotion of Colonisation". The purpose of the committee was to attract settlers to the colony. They would travel around Europe promoting the colony of Drakesland, trying to convince people to go there instead of America. Mostly working within England, Scotland and Ireland, the Committee representatives stayed in Europe and roped in volunteers with promises of work, freedom and land. What they needed most were families and women to bolster the colony's natural population. Free transportation to the colony was organised.

The social situation in Drakesland, by the end of the 17th Century, was divided between the rural and the urban. Cities such as Praetor and New Haven grew and developed over the years. Networks of roads - crafted by slave labour - sprung up between settlements and travel was relatively easy. further on in the frontier, settlers were gruff and fiercely independent - farmers who were on the edge of civilisation - but relied totally on Praetor for protection and supplies. Meanwhile, many urbanite merchants and wealthy farmers enjoyed a comfortable, quiet lifestyle in the safety of the more coastal of municipalities.

Drakian Dragoons made up a new, special class of man. Having returned from well-paid work in Suid-Afrika, confidently threw their prestige around. The permanent militia, having rented out themselves as mercenaries, now achieved a state of semi-independence as a social body in the colony. The officers especially were respected and, with their regiments behind them, powerful. The leader of the Drakian Dragoons and the militiamen, Colonel Coll "Colin" MacColla - son of famous Scottish Royalist soldier - was able to influence enough of the more important of colonists to be able to dip his fingers into political affairs. The Colonel disliked the control that the Drakes exercised over the militia and sought to take command of the military out of civilian hands.

The result of MacColla's foothold was a factional split in the politics. The merchants and businessmen under the patriciate of the Drakes still governed the colony, but under the leadership of MacColla, the militia were considerably more independent. Relying on their protection and cooperation to maintain the colony, Nathan relented and allowed MacColla to represent the Dragoons and militia in the governing council of the colony.
 

Municipal Engines

MerryPrankster said:
Are the Draka still enslaving the Khoisan? Historically they made very poor slaves and tended to die out.
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No, the Khoisan are almost all dead. The Drakans snapped up what people they could for bulk sale abroad (a great many did not survive the transportation) and slaughtered most others. The few surviving tribes fled far off north, where they struggled to survive in the desert.

The Drakans are currently taking slaves from the eastern populations; Xhosa-speaking peoples and other smaller groups.
 
FleetMac

FleetMac

Consider me subscribed. I wonder how events will play out by the 19th century, we'll just have to see. Keep up the good work!
 

Municipal Engines

Get-Rich-Quick Schemes of the Bold: 1700-1735​


In the beginning of the 1700s, the young, brilliant Guy Drake took command of the Transatlantic Trading Company - the foremost slave-trading firm of the world[1]. His financial savviness was not missed by the ambitious independent businessmen and commercial farmers of the colony. His advice lead to higher profits for many, and his influence among the colonial elite spread.

In 1713, Britain was granted the Asentio as a result of the Treaty of Utrecht. Guy, in England at the time, wrestled with the new South Sea Company over who would gain the exclusive right to sell slaves to the Spanish colony. In the end, the Transatlantic Trading Company's older history and massive foothold in the international slave trade allowed Drake to secure the Asentio. However, the South Sea Company was granted a monopoly to trade all other goods to Spanish America.

This would not be the last time Guy interacted with the South Sea Company. Over the course of January in 1720, Guy saw the increase in SSC stocks and read the speculations. He convinces many wealthy businessmen in Drakia to pool their money together in an asset management consortium that he would use to buy stock in the SSC, promising a massive turnover. They bought a significant portion of Company shares through Drake.

True enough, the prices skyrocketed and, by June, shares reached £890 with an increase to £1000 in August. Drake sold the shares of him and his fellows at the peaks, and took home a pay-out of many tens of thousands of pounds. Guy would use his profits to buy into the East India Company and establish close contacts within its offices over the course of the next few years.

Elsewhere, men began exploring the interior. As Drakian borders crept further and further north, explorers and adventurers set out ahead of the advance of civilisation to find potential worth. The Governor of Drakia provided an investment to these expeditions, but didn’t expect much in the way of worth. He would eventually be proven very wrong.

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[1]: The "Company of United Merchants Trading Across the Atlantic" had a very large demand for slaves from the international market. Whenever a native tribe was aggressively subjugated by the Drakians, a great many were enslaved and given to the Company for sale abroad. Massive quantities of Africans were shipped out from Southern Africa by the TTC, and the reputation of the Company is for cheap, plentiful bulks of slaves. The prices at which the Company can afford to sell its chattel is low enough to drive customers away from competitors.
 
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Municipal Engines

I hope that isn't too unrealistic. I didn't know much about how the EIC worked, so most of this is an assumption that people would have the capacity to gain a foothold in the Company and then launch an aggressive corporate takeover of it.
 

clifton

I don't know if it is possible, but with EIC controlled from South Africa(Drakia) the travel time would be cut in half. With agressive expansions these Drakans have it could be possible that the British will gain India faster because of that.
 

Nugax

Municipal Engines said:
I hope that isn't too unrealistic. I didn't know much about how the EIC worked, so most of this is an assumption that people would have the capacity to gain a foothold in the Company and then launch an aggressive corporate takeover of it.
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Yeeeeeeaaaaah. This is a problem that the original Draka timeline had in spades, as soon as the things become apparent that the colony is running things for its own self aggrandizement rather than Britain's, London will crush them underfoot.

The amount of political power your writing about cannot be operated at a distance, especially over such a valuable and military strategic asset (since England imported its saltpeter from India), and no fucking way any businessmen or capitalist of that level would leave his operations for a journey of several months to the arse end of nowhere, and these are men with the ear of the army and the royal navy, as soon as they're on there way home Drake's thuggery (of the sort that British parliamentarians started a civil war over) will turn to so much shit. Hell, them leaving for months would allow whomever is left in London to effortlessly take over anyway.

I also don't think your quite getting how much money is being thrown around in in relation to the economy of a tiny colony (which might be wealthy but will have little capital)

Also pocket economists? Don't be anachronistic
 

Municipal Engines

Nugax said:
Yeeeeeeaaaaah. This is a problem that the original Draka timeline had in spades, as soon as the things become apparent that the colony is running things for its own self aggrandizement rather than Britain's, London will crush them underfoot.

The amount of political power your writing about cannot be operated at a distance, especially over such a valuable and military strategic asset (since England imported its saltpeter from India), and no fucking way any businessmen or capitalist of that level would leave his operations for a journey of several months to the arse end of nowhere, and these are men with the ear of the army and the royal navy, as soon as they're on there way home Drake's thuggery (of the sort that British parliamentarians started a civil war over) will turn to so much shit. Hell, them leaving for months would allow whomever is left in London to effortlessly take over anyway.

I also don't think your quite getting how much money is being thrown around in in relation to the economy of a tiny colony (which might be wealthy but will have little capital)

Also pocket economists? Don't be anachronistic
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I was planning on a re-write, but needed feedback first. Thanks for the comments.

A large part of the TL I have planned ends up hinging on Drakians gaining control of the EIC. Without it, there ability to influence London and try and stave off government interference is pretty much nil, plus I was planning for them to use Company assets for the cultivation of Cinchona. Drakian corporate lobbyists would have also had a profound effect on North America.

The problems are, as you have pointed out, the capabilities for the Drakians to control the EIC. Though wealthy, they are still a bunch of colonist merchants and if they try to throw their weight around, London will definitely not be too happy. I originally had them attempt such an aggressive takeover because I knew they were not wealthy enough to simply buy out the Company, and so would need much more leverage.

I'll need to think about how to do this...

Also, by pocket economists, do you mean bribed economists reporting baseless figures? If so, what was anachronistic?
 

MerryPrankster

I agree with Nugax. Overtly strong-arming the company, with soldiers no less, is not going to go over well at all.

Them buying shares in the EIC and trying to influence its policies and use it to influence the wider Empire is more doable.
 

Municipal Engines

MerryPrankster said:
Discovering the gold or diamonds might help with that. :D

Especially the latter--I think the Witwatersrand gold mines required a certain technological level to extract the gold.
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True. At the current rate of expansion and exploration, it should be plausible that diamonds are discovered sometime in the early 18th Century or something.
 

Municipal Engines

Map of the Colony of Drakesland, circa 1700​


drakalarge2.png
 
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