WI: Spain retains Portuguese East Indies

What if Spain retains Portuguese East Indies after the dissolution of the Union between Spain and Portugal, is this even possible?
 
Possible, but Portugal highly valued these islands as the jewel in the crown. They'd fight to keep them. I'm not sure of the relative strenghts of the two navies at this time but Spain might pry it away from Portugal.
 
kasumigenx - a few questions for you.

Was there precedent in OTL of Spain keeping any Portuguese territory whatsoever after the dissolution of the Iberian Union ?

What did the Portuguese East Indies consist of, besides East Timor, when the union dissolved? Anything?

What did the Portuguese East Indies consist of at the *beginning* of the union? I would not be surprised if this was much more territory, poached by the Dutch, during the years of union.
 
kasumigenx - a few questions for you.

Was there precedent in OTL of Spain keeping any Portuguese territory whatsoever after the dissolution of the Iberian Union ?

What did the Portuguese East Indies consist of, besides East Timor, when the union dissolved? Anything?

What did the Portuguese East Indies consist of at the *beginning* of the union? I would not be surprised if this was much more territory, poached by the Dutch, during the years of union.

The only Portuguese territory that was kept by Spain after the end of the Iberian Union was Ceuta.
 
By 1640, the principal Portuguese possession, Malaca was under siege by the Dutch and would be lost in 1641. The Portuguese still controlled Macau, but news of the restoration did not even reach Macau until 1642. Once it did, the city proclaimed its loyalty to the new king. There were settlements in Timor, including West Timor, which would be lost to the Dutch later on. In addition, there were settlements in Flores, Alor, Pantar, Adonara, Solor and Lomblen by Portuguese Eurasians that would remain Portuguese until they were sold to the Dutch in 1851. This region however was really only nominal Portuguese sovereignty as the Christian Eurasians here called themselves Portuguese, but were wary of crown authority well into the 18th century when the first Portuguese forts were established.
 
By 1640, the principal Portuguese possession, Malaca was under siege by the Dutch and would be lost in 1641. The Portuguese still controlled Macau, but news of the restoration did not even reach Macau until 1642. Once it did, the city proclaimed its loyalty to the new king. There were settlements in Timor, including West Timor, which would be lost to the Dutch later on. In addition, there were settlements in Flores, Alor, Pantar, Adonara, Solor and Lomblen by Portuguese Eurasians that would remain Portuguese until they were sold to the Dutch in 1851. This region however was really only nominal Portuguese sovereignty as the Christian Eurasians here called themselves Portuguese, but were wary of crown authority well into the 18th century when the first Portuguese forts were established.

We could have Flores, Timor, Alor, Pantar, Solor and Lomblen given to the Spanish, but would they end up as parts of the Philippines?
 
Basically, both Timor, Celebes and Sulawesi are the minimum of the challenge the maximum of the challenge is that Nusa Tengarra, Melaka, Sulawesi and Java are included in the Spanish Empire.
 
thanks for the prompt response on the map. That one shows 19th century claims however.

This map might be more pertinent to the sixteenth and seventeenth century circumstances mentioned in the OP.

https://images.search.yahoo.com/ima...-orig-top&norw=1&hsimp=yhs-004&hspart=mozilla
You're welcome.
Awkwardly the latter map doesn't include Timor, Solor, E Flores and nearby islands... which is pretty much what was left Portuguese in SE Asia after the fall of Malacca in 1641.
 
One big condition agreed between Philip II and the Portuguese to recognize him as king was that the Portuguese colonial empire would be run exclusively from Lisbon and exclusively by Portuguese.

You might find a way to place people that are more loyal to Madrid than to Lisbon in a given Portuguese colony come 1640. But that's one big obstacle you have to walk around to reach it.
 
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