Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 130 Colonial Questions

This cabinet meeting was not just about technical schools, of course. The implementation of the two previously enacted bills was also within the scope of discussion at this cabinet meeting.

Of course, there were also some new problems arising in the colonies, including the construction of railways, etc. In short, the meeting lasted a very long time and there were dozens of issues discussed.

Carlo listened to the entire cabinet meeting, but rarely expressed his own opinions. After all, the current cabinet government is still controlled by Prime Minister Primo. Although he was happy to see Carlo attend the meeting, he was not necessarily happy to see Carlo making decisions at the government meeting.

Prime Minister Primo must have his own plan in mind to promote the reform of the Spanish government. Regardless of whether such a plan is in line with Spain's future development, it is not the time for Carlo to intervene in government reform.

When Carlo gradually gains a certain amount of power in the future, he will participate more in government decision-making and make larger-scale revisions to the reforms of Prime Minister Primo and the systems of the earlier Spanish Royal Government period to ensure that the big ship of Spain can move forward at a steady speed.

In addition to domestic developments and reforms in Spain, the most discussed topic at cabinet meetings was current colonial issues.

The Cuban colony did successfully suppress the rebellion, but the Spanish government also made a big concession to the Cuban government. The Cuban government currently has more power, and the large number of Cubans who hate Spain also makes the situation in Cuba not so stable.

Perhaps this rebellion can bring peace and stability for a few years, but new problems will definitely arise in Cuba in the future, and it is even possible that rebellion will break out again in a few years.

Compared to Cuba, Carlo was actually more concerned about Spain's newly established colony in southern Morocco.

Although Cuba provides the Spanish government with revenue dozens of times more than the southern Moroccan colony each year, Cuba also has frequent problems internally.

No matter how big the problems in the southern Moroccan colony are, the cost of suppressing the rebellion is relatively low because of its proximity to the Spanish mainland.

But the Cuban colony was different. Even if Cuba was just an internal rebellion, it would still require the Spanish army to cross the Atlantic Ocean to quell the rebellion.

The cost of transporting materials across the ocean is enough to give the Spanish government a headache, not to mention that there is another country on the other side of the ocean that covets Cuba.

Even if it was just to deal with the internal rebellion in Cuba, it would be enough for the Spanish government to waste a lot of money, manpower and material resources, which was not a good thing for Spain's development.

If the Americans were still involved, the cost of Spain's suppression of the rebellion would increase exponentially and the difficulty would increase exponentially.

For Carlo, the question of whether the Cuban colony could be defended was not whether it could be defended, but whether it was necessary to defend it.

The Cuban colony was the only remaining American colony for Spain, and it was also the only one that could generate positive returns and had a relatively high income.

The Cuban colony has only one economic pillar, which is the sugar industry. According to the Spanish government's intelligence control over the Cuban colony, Cuba's current annual sugar production is about 60 tons, and there are more than 2500 factories specializing in sugar production.

You should know that the total population of Cuba is only about 100 million, of which the core population of Cuba, that is, Hispanics and Spanish-mixed people, only account for about 55%.

With a population of only a few hundred thousand people, there are more than 2000 factories engaged in sugar production, which is enough to prove how important the sugar industry is to Cuba.

The sugar industry not only created a huge amount of wealth for Cuba, but also allowed Spain, as Cuba's suzerain state, to earn a large amount of financial income every year.

But no matter what, the size of Cuba's colony and the size of its economic pillar industries are ultimately limited.

And with a large number of Cubans eager for independence, it will become more difficult for Spain to control Cuba in the future.

Rather than being trapped in a small place like Cuba, it would be better to find a suitable opportunity to take the initiative to sell Cuba, while at the same time expanding colonies in Africa as much as possible and carrying out a new round of colonial exploitation.

The Spanish Empire was a long time ago, which makes many people not very familiar with Spain's colonial policy.

People only know about the brutal exploitation of African colonies by European powers in the 18th and 19th centuries, but they don’t know that in the 16th and 17th centuries, Spain’s exploitation of its colonies was far more brutal than that of the European powers at that time.

Although Europeans generally disregarded the lives of indigenous people in the colonies, they would not be so cruel as to kill them indiscriminately.

For example, the Belgian king who later obtained Congo, because of his cruel colonial policy in Congo, eventually under the intervention of the great powers, Congo was transformed from the private territory of the Belgian king into a colony controlled by the Belgian government, finally ending the cruel colonization of Belgian King Leopold II.

Spain's rule in its American colonies was similar to Leopold II's rule in Congo. It basically only did four things: mining, plantations, slavery, and genocide.

The indigenous people of Cuba are Indians, but as of now, Spaniards, Spanish mixed-race people and blacks are the three major ethnic groups in Cuba, followed by even Asians, and the indigenous Indians are at the end of the population.

The fact that Indians are one of the smallest ethnic groups in Cuba is inseparable from the cruel colonial policy during the Spanish rule of Cuba. Spain carried out a genocide in Cuba, slaughtered the vast majority of Indians, and forced whites to become the main ethnic group in Cuba.

As for why there are so many blacks, in fact most of these blacks are slaves on plantations. They have no human rights, just like the animals raised by white people.

Although the Spanish government had already issued decrees and regulations to abolish slavery during the provisional government period, that is, in 1869.

But Spain's decrees had no effect on the colonies. Slavery still existed in the Cuban colony. The vast majority of blacks were slaves of whites, and only a small number of blacks had the right to freedom.

However, this does not mean that black people with freedom rights can become normal Cuban citizens. Whether in a colony like Cuba or in Europe, black people will be discriminated against by white people regardless of whether they have so-called freedom rights or not.

This phenomenon also exists in the United States and is very common. Although the United States abolished slavery and liberated black people through the Civil War, the actual human rights of black people have not been effectively improved.

Black people in the United States have only gained legal freedom, but are still at the bottom of the social, politically, economically and socially.

The so-called black citizens in the United States are subject to extremely strict restrictions on their right to vote and to be elected, which also makes it difficult for an official of black descent to appear in the United States.

Factories and companies basically do not hire black people for easy positions. The only jobs black people can apply for are those that are hard, tiring, and do not pay well.

In addition to these, black people and their children also face significant restrictions in education and medical care.

Although they are all citizens of the United States, it is impossible for blacks and their children to go to school with whites. They can only crowd into black schools with worse conditions, and even find it difficult to complete elementary school.

A large number of black people were restricted to a certain range and could not move freely in the United States. These areas where black people gathered gradually evolved into slums in the United States. The order in the slums was quite chaotic and crimes occurred from time to time.

In fact, even in later generations, there are still black slums in the United States. In addition, because the United States does not ban guns, not only are various crimes frequent in the slums, but they are also often involved in murders.

In this era, discrimination against black people by white people is unprecedented. Because most police officers in the United States are white, when black people encounter white police officers, their life and death can only be decided by that police officer.

However, white police officers generally do not go to areas where black people gather. After all, those black people can do anything when they are pushed into a corner.

But if a black person was found leaving the gathering area without permission, what might greet him might be an emptied magazine.

Let’s talk about Spain’s colonial situation.

In fact, compared with African colonies, Cuba and Puerto Rico, including previously independent Mexico and Argentina, have larger white populations, and they are all Spaniards or Hispanics.

However, due to the brutal exploitation of the colonies by the Spanish government, these colonies had a strong desire for independence, and many Spanish mixed-race people did not have much good feelings towards Spain.

The only Spaniards who truly still love this country are those who are of pure blood and have not been in the colonies for long.

But the fact that these people can immigrate abroad proves that they can no longer survive in Spain, or that there are higher incomes and opportunities abroad.

It is very difficult to get them to return to Spain, at least not in the short term. Since it is impossible to absorb too many people from Latin America, it is better to focus on the assimilation of the Moroccan population.

Moroccans are also white and their appearance is similar to that of Spanish people.

The biggest differences between Spaniards and Moroccans are language and religion, but these differences can be eliminated through long-term assimilation.

Compared with the Cuban colony far away in America, Morocco, which is only separated from the Spanish mainland by a strait, is obviously a better choice.

In any case, Morocco has greater development potential than Cuba. Morocco's population is several times that of Cuba, and its land area is more than ten times that of Cuba.

Although Cuba can currently create economic value far beyond that of Morocco, in terms of the future impact and influence on Spain, two Cubas may not be as good as one Morocco.

I wish you all a happy National Day and a happy birthday to our motherland!

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(End of this chapter)