Cody: The British Empire was the largest empire of all time.
In just 2 centuries, it went from a small island to the sole superpower on Earth.
Its language eventually becoming the 3rd most spoken today.
The empire has been so influential, that the modern world
would be unrecognizable without it.
That...is an interesting concept.
What if the British Empire never existed?
Say, for some reason, none of this is ever colonized by the Brits.
The most they EVER controlled is their tiny island.
In this video, I'll try to craft one scenario.
Theorizing about what I believe could've happened.
This scenario will be an alternate timeline,
one that diverges from a point in our own history.
This time would need to be before the Act of Union, the creation of the United Kingdom.
Because the English and Scots had some overseas colonies in North America,
even before there was a British empire.
So, in this alternate timeline, there are never any overseas territories from Scotland or England.
There can be many reasons why the British don't create colonies.
Maybe the attempted efforts failed horrendously.
Every venture created simply ends up like Roanoke.
Colonies become too much of a risk.
Simply put, for whatever reason, the British empire doesn't exist.
So...
What happens?
In this scenario, we see a main cast of other empires to fill in the space instead.
Spain, Portugal, The Netherlands, and France, at least in the 17th century, are the main powers.
Now, this is the key point.
Since the British don't rise,
it's only logical that their rival would simply take their place instead.
Yes, that's right.
Get out your croissants and dust off that tricolor.
In a world without the British empire...
...France is a global superpower.
Shocking, I know.
This alternate world is HEAVILY influenced by the French.
Brits and Germans just cry out in sheer terror.
There are many reasons why France,
and say not Spain or Portugal, who also had their own empires, would be the strongest instead.
France had a colonial empire just like the 2,
but it was able to adapt and consistently remain prominent.
Smart economic policy kept it alive,
while Spain, on the other hand, died from silver inflation,
and Portugal simply couldn't maintain its own empire.
France was the birthplace of Mercantilism,
and it used this philisophy when it expanded into The New World,
founding its own dominion on North America, called New France.
By the 16th century, North America was a continent of open potential-
(if you don't count the native Americans).
Since the British don't settle the land, and the 13 colonies don't exist,
everything east of the Mississipi is completely open to France.
Except for New Amsterdam, but they aren't much of a threat.
By the alternate 17th century, the continent and its natives are divided between two European zones:
New Spain (yellow) and New France (purple).
Spain's power was much like a candle:
it burned hot, and then faded very fast.
The Spanish rose and fell without the British,
primarily because they weren't very good with economics.
Good thing they got that fixed.
The Spanish's wealth was from the silver mines of South America,
but this was destroyed because of silver inflation.
Spain's fate isn't too far different in this alternate timeline,
and their fate isn't too important to talk about.
I'm just saying that you shouldn't worry about them.
If there was a competition between the French and Spanish in North America,
there would be an obvious winner: France.
When looking at New France, its size is vast.
But it's also pretty misleading.
The French never had a population like the British did in North America,
and they didn't even have colonists in most of the region.
Settlement was in tiny forts, primarily around the Great Lakes and rivers.
These were centers to maintain trading routes and friendly alliances.
The French don't ever care to take the Native American land.
It benefits them to make allies and friendships instead of conquering them.
Now, the French didn't spare the natives out of the goodness of their own heart.
They didn't need a farming colony in Virginia, like the British did.
They already had their own gold mine, in Haiti.
But the one thing that North America had that Haiti didn't was fur,
primarily beaver fur.
And the people that knew where to find the beavers were the Native Americans.
And so, a trade relationship was born.
Over time, the trade relationships grew into political friendships.
The system of being under French trade is beneficial to Native Americans, since they don't get kicked out.
But when you have numerous tribes competing over limited resources, like fur,
it can lead to violence.
In this alternate timeline, there are large wars between tribes fighting for hunting grounds.
The tribes that win these conflicts become the strongest,
and some band together to form alliances.
Over centuries, New France is a very multi-ethnic colony.
Enclaves of French colonists populate small towns and forts
on the St. Lawrence river, Great Lakes, Louisiana, and Eastern Coast.
These become very similar to the Quebec of today.
The majority of the population remains Native American,
divided into tribes and alliances under the New France realm.
The natives have begun to recover from the massive population loss, from smallpox, generations ago.
As the natives aren't deported by the 18th-19th centuries,
that means tribes have had interactions with the French for a few hundred years.
I think by this time, a few questions would start to be asked.
Are the French partners, or rulers of the natives?
Does New France have control over the tribes?
Do tribes have the same rights in New France?
In our timeline, New France never got populated enough for these ideas to be relevant.
But, as population grows, and interaction extends farther than just trade,
these questions would have to be answered.
Conflicts could easily occur.
A weak New France could die under tribal conflict.
North America might easily become a poverty-stricken region if these questions aren't answered soon enough,
and tribal conflicts aren't prevented.
North America would be seen by Europe like we see sub-Saharan Africa today.
France was not a bastion of tolerance centuries ago, either.
They aren't even tolerant to other Europeans.
So as both groups, Native Americans and French, begin to craft a society together,
things could get ugly.
Until those problems arrive, France would use this wealth from North America to bring itself about as a global power.
Unsuprisingly, also using this wealth to fund alternate wars, probably against Britain as well.
France remains the prominent power in a world without the British Empire.
The French culture and Catholicism are a common trait across the globe.
What this also affects is religion.
As the British don't create the U.S, Protestantism is not spread as far.
The French and the Spanish, however, are left to spread Catholicism as far as they want.
Catholicism (if missionaries were successful) far outpopulates Protestantism,
which simply remains an enclave in Northern Europe.
French becomes the international language of commerce,
as France controls the trade throughout much of the world.
But wait a second...
Ironically, for a video talking about the British,
why did I spend most of the time talking about the French?
For the last few centuries, the rivalry between these 2 people has been a determining factor on world history.
Had one failed colonially, the other one would've succeeded.
This was the common theme...at least until the last century.
And in our timeline, Britain was the cultural victor.
In this scenario, English NEVER becomes a popular language without this empire.
This "English" language is simply restricted to one small island off the coast of Europe.
The greatest change of all is for Britain itself.
They'd be COMPLETELY at the whim of their rival.
The British could never challenge the French,
who would use their colonial power to dominate the island.
Ironically, in the biggest twist of fate,
the only way to stop themselves from being conquered was to conquer others.
Even though today, they seem to be close allies,
these 2 countries affected each other's legacy in the world.
It only makes sense, had one side never even been in competition in the first place,
that the other would spread its influence and culture, after all.
One of the most influential factors making this video was
the idea that only 200 years ago,
where I was born, Ohio, was considered foreign land.
But over generations, people settled, my ancestors migrated here, and eventually led to me.
Had Britain never created their empire, I unsurprisingly wouldn't exist.
This video was sponsored by AncestryDNA.
AncestryDNA is a service that uses your genetics to determine where you ancestors came from.
It is a quick, easy test that is sent to you through the mail.
Months ago, I took this test.
And I was sent this box in the mail.
All I had to do was spit in this tube, seal it up, and send it back in.
Then, in a matter of weeks, I got my results back from my DNA test.
You can do this to, by clicking in the link in the description.
www.ancestry.com/althistory
Anyway, the service showed that my ancestry was roughly 40% British.
If you're curious about the rest, it was
29% Scandinavian, 20% Irish, 7% Italian,
and then a mix of some western European and 2% Jewish.
And now, there is even a feature that allows you to see how long your ancestors may have been on America.
(If you're American).
For me, it's likely a possibility that my ancestors have been here since before the Revolution,
on the future Ohio border in Appalachia.
So, in the period of 300 years, we moved...
1 state.
Like I said, it's very easy to do.
Order your kit, return a small saliva sample, and then Ancestry will analyze your DNA.
Wait around, and you'll get your results in 6-8 weeks.
The test is $99, but if you use this url,
www.ancestry.com/althistory,
or click on the link in the description,
you'll actually get 10% off.
When you do get your results, let me know in the comments, or by tweeting #MyAncestry.
This is Cody...of AlternateHistoryHub.
*outro music*