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AH Challenge: An American 'Hong Kong'
Topic Started: Aug 28 2011, 12:41 PM (301 Views)
Basil Fawlty
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Post Tenebras Lux
No, not an American colony in China, but a European colony in America similar in size, population or strategic importance to British Hong Kong.

The challenge is to envisage a situation where European retention of such a colony would be possible, given U.S. expansionism and other historical geopolitical pressures. An example would be Dutch control of Long Island up to the present day, or French control of New Orleans and the surrounding area. Bonus points are awarded if it's attached to the mainland.

We're looking for something a fair bit larger and more important than Saint Pierre and Miquelon, but not as large as Cuba, the Bahamas, or Canada. ;)
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Doctor_Strangelove
Lord of the Seven Kingdoms
.
Edited by Doctor_Strangelove, Nov 11 2016, 08:03 AM.
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Basil Fawlty
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Post Tenebras Lux
It doesn't have to be held by the British as long as it is held by a nation with the means to keep it, or if it's in Britain's interest for it to remain non-American, as Cuba was for a long time.

The difficulty is that there are so few areas that could not be taken by land.

Matt also pointed out that there are few places in the US similar to Hong Kong in function. American ports were not closed like China's were.
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Simon Darkshade
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Nefarious Swashbuckler
I really can't see it being a long term proposition due to the tactical position constraints referred to, as well as being against the long term flow of US policy. Since 1776, threats to the US have been rolled back or neutralized - Indians, Canada, Mexico, Spain - eventually culminating in the Destroyers for Bases deal which gave the US effective control of British Western hemisphere bases.

There isn't the need for an entrepot into America, as said.

The two possibilities I see in geographic terms are Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard. However, I can't at this time see a strategic rationale for continued British ownership of them after the separation of the Thirteen Colonies.
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