An "African" "Mexico"

[Rekjavik]

Choosing this tile was rather difficult, I must say.

Inspired by Capricus' map, I've grown curious as to how a timeline could occur where a colonial African state can become similar to our Mexico. By that I do not mean in a strict sense, but in a broad sense of cultural mingling and assimilation of the coloniser.

Pre-Colombian Mexico was a diverse region. The Aztec Empire was the dominant force at the time of the Spanish arrival, but there were a variety of different ethnicities and cultures present as well, such as the Maya in the Yucatan, the Veracruz culture of the east and the various Native American tribes of the north. However, once the Spanish conquered the region it developed an odd framework where native cultures (partially) survived and merged overtime under a Spanish framework, neither a continuation of the former nor the latter but a fusion of the two.

How can something like this occur in Africa? Now, the biggest problem I see is that Mesoamerica, along with the rest of the Americas, suffered a large scale die-off after the Spanish arrival, so some work around would be needed. Is the inherent racism of our European colonisers a big factor as well and thus needs to be dealt with too?

The only limit in terms of theory crafting is that one or more recognisable European powers are colonising Africa. Bonus points if the African state is fairly large.

 

[othyrsyde]

South Africa to an extant, and Cape Verde fill that role.

 

[miguelrj]

South Africa to an extant, and Cape Verde fill that role.

The extant in which Cape Verde doesn't fill the role is that the cultural mingling was not made through the assimilation of the colonizer by the natives. There were no natives to begin with.
But it's indeed a good showcase of mestiço culture, I don't know if that's what the OP wanted.

 

[DTF955Baseballfan]

Maybe cheating a bit because it happens because of a strong country already there, or at least relatively speaking, in Abyssinia. But, France, not Italy, ends up controlling the horn of Africa and has its sights on Abyssinia. Worried about Ango-Egyptian Sudan and about their holdings to the south, the British move in to "protect" Abyssinia . Unlike Siam, which is allowed to remain independence as a buffer between French Indochina and British Burma, Abyssinia sees French encroachment and the British are invited in to help prop them up. British colonists end up moving in to help but even a few French colonists remain. Britain moves in to occupy even more once Germany occupies France in WW2.

As decolonization ends in the post-WW2 era, Britain gradually pulls out, seeing no more need to be there. While some label Abyssinia a pseudo-colony and never really a colony of the British, British influence has been such that it nicely gels with local Abyssinian rule.

 

[othyrsyde]

The extant in which Cape Verde doesn't fill the role is that the cultural mingling was not made through the assimilation of the colonizer by the natives. There were no natives to begin with.
But it's indeed a good showcase of mestiço culture, I don't know if that's what the OP wanted.

Whoops, I meant to put Cape Verde behind the extant as well, but got distracted.

 

[miguelrj]

Whoops, I meant to put Cape Verde behind the extant as well, but got distracted.

Funny, because I read it the way you intended to write. I wasn't correcting, I was just specifying which was the extant that didn't match the OP in Cape Verde's case.

 

[Ultimate Paragon]

Whoops, I meant to put Cape Verde behind the extant as well, but got distracted.

It's okay. We all make mistakes.

 

[Rekjavik]

South Africa to an extant, and Cape Verde fill that role.

Cape Verde isn't quite what I had in mind, for previously stated reasons. South Africa kinda works, but the impression I have of it is that it is similar to most other African countries, a bunch of smaller tribes and ethnic groups with their own individual traditions clumped together only because a state apparatus already existed (i.e. the British colony). I was thinking of a situation where the citizens would identify as their nationality first and their tribes second, but still keep a modified local culture.

I wish I could offer more, but, like most except for Jonathan Edelstein, my African history is sadly lacking.

 

[telynk]

Cape Verde isn't quite what I had in mind, for previously stated reasons. South Africa kinda works, but the impression I have of it is that it is similar to most other African countries, a bunch of smaller tribes and ethnic groups with their own individual traditions clumped together only because a state apparatus already existed (i.e. the British colony). I was thinking of a situation where the citizens would identify as their nationality first and their tribes second, but still keep a modified local culture.

I wish I could offer more, but, like most except for Jonathan Edelstein, my African history is sadly lacking.

If you want the citizens to identify as their nationality first, I think you have to have that nationality established a lot earlier than it was in OTL Africa. In OTL, most African colonialism didn't really get going until the 19th century, while that in Mexico started in the 16th century. I think that extra 300 years helped a lot in term of identity building (OK, decolonization happened in Mexico 100 years before it did in Africa so we're really only talking about 200 years difference in terms of how long colonialism lasted)

 

[FellowNerd]

Time affect is also a factor. Mexico and the lands that made it up were held longer than most African colonies by almost, What, 300 years?

 

[Alex Richards]

Perhaps you could have something work with the Kingdom of Kongo? Perhaps it becomes a Portuguese protectorate and, with the Royal family already Catholic, takes on some degree of Portuguese influence?

 

[Rekjavik]

Perhaps you could have something work with the Kingdom of Kongo? Perhaps it becomes a Portuguese protectorate and, with the Royal family already Catholic, takes on some degree of Portuguese influence?

I do like the idea of Kongo, but would a protectorate be sufficient? I would assume at least partial colonization would have to take place, else you end up with something like Egypt. Following the orders of the "mother" country but still being totall distinct from it.

 

[Alex Richards]

I do like the idea of Kongo, but would a protectorate be sufficient? I would assume at least partial colonization would have to take place, else you end up with something like Egypt. Following the orders of the "mother" country but still being totall distinct from it.

Egypt was only under strong British rule for about 40 years before becoming more of a client state. I was thinking the Kongo Kingdom would be a protectorate for a much longer time- likely a century at least- and the Catholic rulers would already be in a position to want to adopt more Portuguese cultural elements.

 

[Simreeve]

Do the colonisers have to be from Europe? If not, then presumably the Arab-influenced Egypt counts?...
... And perhaps some other Arab-influenced lands, too?

 

[CthulhuFhtagn]

How about Algeria? IIRC, there's a strong French influence in both places, and ethnic French and ethnic Algerians in both places (just look at their soccer players).

 

[St. Just]

Stronger Portuguese incursions into Monomotapa or West Africa using Catholic native auxiliaries (African climate/disease is like Kryptonite for whitey)