Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 208 Population Introduction Plan
November 1876, 11, Lan Fang Republic, Kalimantan.

It has been a long time since the Lan Fang Republic officially started cooperation with Spain, and the changes it brought to the Lan Fang Republic are also obvious.

In addition to the new army of 20,000 people that was currently in training, a large Spanish training school was also opened within the Lan Fang Republic.

In addition to providing free Spanish training to Lan Fang citizens, this training school will also provide higher-paying job opportunities to those Lan Fang people who have mastered Spanish.

Although the Lan Fang Republic was a Chinese settlement formed due to gold mining, there were still many civilians in this huge settlement, and not all of them were gold diggers.

For gold diggers, they may not look down on such high-income jobs. But for the common people of the Lan Fang Republic, the jobs provided by the Spanish are still very attractive.

Although the number of military guidance groups sent by Spain is not large, there are already dozens of Lan Fang people working for the Spaniards.

What are their jobs? In addition to being translators, they also work in Spanish schools to help more people master Spanish.

Although Lan Fang has a small population, it has great population potential as it has the support of a populous country to the north.

The purpose of Spain building a Spanish school in Lan Fang is to attract some Lan Fang people to go to Spain and the Philippines.

Of course, the main goal is still the Philippines. If there were only Filipinos in the Philippines, these Filipinos would not stay so peaceful forever.

But if the Filipinos and Lan Fangs can form a counterbalance between each other within the Philippines, and even if some other ethnic groups are mixed in, the stability of the entire Philippine region can be guaranteed.

By then, it would be very difficult for both the Filipinos and the southerners to launch an armed rebellion to fight for independence, because they would not only face the Spanish colonists, but also other ethnic groups in the colonies.

In this situation, there is only one way to fight against the colonists, that is, several nations unite to fight together.

As long as the Spanish government regulates, this situation is unlikely to happen. After all, it is difficult for different ethnic groups to unite, and everyone has their own interests.

It is impossible to achieve a situation where the Filipinos and the southerners confront each other in a short period of time. After all, the Filipinos have already formed a scale, and the southern population is insufficient. It will take a long time to form a scale in the Philippines.

Fortunately, Spain still has enough time to plan and does not have to worry about the security of the Philippines for the time being.

Historically, Spain lost the Philippines more because the Cuban rebellion aroused the covetousness of the Americans. Because the Spanish-American War broke out in Cuba, the Spanish eventually lost the Philippines.

As long as Cuba is not in a big problem, the Philippines is also relatively stable. Based on historical experience, Spain still has at least 20 years to deal with the Philippines' problems.

If Cuba can be considered to be abandoned, then the Philippines can be considered to be held for the medium to long term. Unless it can be exchanged for a colony with greater value or a longer holding period, it is better to hold on to it for now.

After all, owning the Philippines can radiate to Southeast Asia, and Southeast Asia will be a region with extremely high economic value after the birth of automobiles.

The rubber industry alone was enough to make Carlo consider owning a colony in Southeast Asia. Not to mention that the land in Southeast Asia also had other resources, and the large population of indigenous people also made excellent cannon fodder.

Give these indigenous people enough time to develop, and when World War I breaks out in the future, the land of the Philippines and Kalimantan will be able to provide Spain with at least one million troops.

This can make up for the population gap in Spain and allow Spain to mobilize more troops in World War I. Whether it is to truly participate in World War I in the future, to compete with the European powers in military strength and national heritage, or to use the military as its last trump card and demand more benefits with Spain's unique geographical location as a condition, it is a very good choice.

Up to this point, Carlo was still quite vague about World War I and had not made any plans for Spain.

If they could get enough benefits by not joining the war, for example, the British would be willing to give up Gibraltar, or the British would be willing to let Spain occupy the entire Morocco, etc.

If Spain could obtain such benefits by not participating in the war, then there would be no need for it to make unnecessary sacrifices. After all, the war itself was launched for the sake of diplomacy, and all outcomes of the war would lead to diplomatic negotiations.

If the war could not ensure that Spain would gain sufficient benefits, then Carlo would not mind considering the gains that the war would bring to Spain.

But no matter whether it is maintaining neutrality or going to war, Carlo's goal is the same, that is, to allow Spain to gain sufficient benefits in future wars, whether it is income in terms of land or capital, or technology and some industrial equipment, technical data, etc., including technical talents and scientists in various industries. These are all interests that Carlo can strive for.

Because the plan to introduce population from the south is only in its initial stages, there are currently only a few cases of southerners obtaining Spanish citizenship.

But in southern Morocco, where the population introduction program has been implemented for several years, the program has achieved quite good results.

Because Moroccans are white, Spain has relaxed the requirements for Moroccans to obtain Spanish citizenship.

As long as you convert to Catholicism and are fluent in Spanish, you are eligible to apply for Spanish citizenship.

Of course, after applying for Spanish citizenship, there will be a probation period. As long as you are a clean farmer, you will generally have Spanish citizenship after the probation period and have the opportunity to go to Spain.

But if your background is a bit complicated, or you even run the risk of being an extreme nationalist, then sorry, everyone, including your family, will be denied citizenship.

The probation period is generally 3 to 6 months, with a maximum of one year. Generally speaking, it can be shortened with good performance, but the shortest period must not be less than 3 months.

Spain has built mines, construction teams and plantations in southern Morocco. Moroccans who perform well in mines, construction teams or plantations can shorten their probation period and even ignore the requirement of being proficient in Spanish. They can obtain Spanish citizenship as long as they know a few words.

Anyway, there will be opportunities to train Spanish after going to Spain, so it is acceptable to relax some restrictions in this matter.

But no matter what, if you want to obtain Spanish citizenship, you must convert to Catholicism. Spain's condition for European immigrants is that all religions within Christianity are acceptable, but for immigrants outside Europe, the immigration condition must be Catholic.

After Spain established the colony of southern Morocco, the population introduction policy did have a certain effect.

Currently, there are more than 2500 Moroccans who have acquired Spanish citizenship, and the number is increasing at a rate of more than 500 per year.

If Spain had not been so strict in assessing identity backgrounds, the rate of Moroccan immigration would probably have increased several times.

Although there are only 2500 Moroccans who have acquired Spanish citizenship, this does not mean that only these few are willing to acquire Spanish citizenship.

Spain's governance of Moroccans is polarized and blatantly double-standard. Towards more extreme Muslims and extreme Moroccan nationalists, Spain's attitude is quite cruel.

Their only treatment was to work until death in mines and other places, with no possibility of leaving the mines and other labor places in their lifetime.

As for those Moroccans who are not extreme, Spain is still willing to give them a chance. As long as they perform well in the work process, have certain technical skills, and are willing to marry Spanish soldiers, they can have the opportunity to obtain Spanish citizenship.

At present, there are hundreds of Moroccan girls who have married Spanish soldiers. This also proves that for Moroccans, a considerable number of them are not averse to becoming Spanish.

After all, Moroccans and Spanish people are very similar in appearance. The real difference between the two is religion and language, but these can be changed.

There are indeed some very extreme believers in the Muslim religion, but there are also some who are not extreme, or who do not have a deep understanding of the religion.

When it comes to one's own interests, religion or something like that is not impossible to change.

In the southern Moroccan colony, there is a huge difference in wages between those who can speak Spanish and those who cannot, and between Muslims and Catholics.

Moroccans who speak Spanish and believe in Catholicism also need to work in plantations and mines, but they are not sent to more dangerous places. The work is not as tiring, they can get enough food, and they can even see meat, vegetables and fruits every once in a while.

Those who only meet one of the two criteria, Spanish or Catholic, can still receive certain preferential treatment, such as the job is not dangerous, or the work is not too tiring, etc.

Those who didn't know Spanish and didn't believe in Catholicism were not given any preferential treatment. They were given priority for more dangerous jobs, and even those that were not dangerous were still very tiring. Their daily food was black bread made from a mixture of various grains and even straw bran. If they were lucky, they could also eat sand, tree bark, grass roots, etc.

Even so, they could only have one full meal a day. The remaining two meals were quite thin porridge and rotten vegetable soup, just enough to ensure they would not starve to death.

The reason for such a huge disparity in treatment is not only to give preferential treatment to those Moroccans who are willing to obey and attract more Moroccans to "rebel", but also to save colonial expenses as much as possible.

Compared to northern Morocco, the economy of the southern Moroccan colonies was quite backward, and the land was mostly desert and mountainous.

Spain's purpose of occupying this land was to localize southern Morocco and even the whole of Morocco, so there was naturally no need to cherish the Moroccans too much.

If the Moroccans were willing to submit to Spanish rule, then Spain could naturally assimilate these Moroccans in a gentle manner.

But if the Moroccans are quite repulsive or even hostile to Spanish colonial rule, then the Spanish government will have no choice but to consider expelling the Moroccans completely and immigrating Spanish people to occupy this area.

As long as the land of Morocco is inhabited entirely by Spaniards, then this land has been Spanish land since ancient times.

This method can also ensure the localization of Morocco, and there will be no worries. In other words, the Spanish population is too small. On the premise of assimilating the Moroccans, Carlo still wants to obtain the millions of people in Morocco.

Otherwise, there would be even more cruel means waiting for the Moroccans. Before the end of World War II, Spain still had enough time to carry out various assimilation experiments in Morocco.

In fact, Carlo really underestimated the appeal of Spanish nationality, or freeman status, to Moroccans.

Although Moroccans are white, this is a backward African region. Slavery still exists in Morocco, and Morocco is a fairly feudal monarchy.

Although Morocco has a population of millions, a considerable number of them are slaves of the nobility.

As long as they obeyed Spanish rule and joined Spanish nationality, they could obtain the status of free people, which was very attractive to those Moroccans who were slaves.

As for the Spanish enslavement of the entire Moroccan population, what did it matter to the Moroccan slaves?

Before the Spanish arrived, Moroccan nobles and other landowners enslaved their people in the same way. The only difference was that the people were changed, but it was no different for the slaves.

Those who truly hated Spain, or were more extreme Moroccan nationalists and extreme Muslims, were enslaved to death in the first few years of the establishment of the southern Morocco colony.

The process of establishing the colony of South Morocco was quite bloody, which was also the standard process for European countries to establish colonies.

Most of the manpower mobilized were local indigenous people, and the life and death of these indigenous people was not a big deal for the European colonists, and they did not even need to worry about it at all.

This may also be good news. After all, after the more extreme Moroccans died, the remaining ones will be more obedient.

According to news from the southern Moroccan colony, there are now over 10,000 Moroccans who can speak Spanish, and over 100,000 Moroccans who have openly converted to Catholicism.

This also truly confirms the saying that if Spain had not been strict in its review of population introduction, the number of people with Spanish nationality in the southern Moroccan colony would have exceeded 10,000 long ago.

Regardless of whether these Moroccans who converted to Catholicism were sincere, it is clear that Spanish nationality is attractive to Moroccans in this regard.

This also means that such a plan can also be applied to the entire Morocco region. Morocco has a population of millions, which would be an excellent complement to Spain.

Even if it can only absorb half or even less than one-third of the population, it will still be a scale of millions.

Of course, Spain is more cautious in dealing with both Moroccan and foreign immigrants.

These immigrants will be dispersed and resettled, mainly in Catalonia and the Basque region, where nationalism is prevalent.

Only by continuously diluting the population of Catalonia and the Basque Country can the stability of these two regions be ensured.

Spain's current treatment of Catalonia is relatively effective. By building the Barcelona industrial base, it has helped Catalonia attract more than 100,000 immigrants.

This has also led to an effective reduction in the proportion of Catalans in Catalonia, which is still decreasing.

With the development of Barcelona's industrial base, the proportion of Catalans may even be reduced to below 60% in the future.

And among these 60% of Catalans, how many of them truly feel that they are pure Catalans?
The Basque Country was also treated in the same way. Although the population of the Basque Country is smaller, it is still difficult to immigrate to the Basque Country in a big way.

Compared to Catalans, Basques are more radical and have a clearer national consciousness.

If a considerable number of Catalans are not quite clear about whether they are Spanish or Catalan, then almost all Basques are clear that they are of Basque descent.

The population of the Basque region is sparse, and the two regions combined have only a few hundred thousand people. This also leads to the fact that most of the population of these two regions are Basques, and they have a national culture and character that is very different from that of Spain.

The Basque Country has always been a difficult problem, even more difficult than Catalonia. The Barcelona industrial base has already had hope of solving the problem in Catalonia, but there is no effective solution for the Basque Country.

Fortunately, there are not many Basques, and they cannot have much impact on Spain's rule.

Perhaps the problems in the Basque region can only be solved by waiting for Spain to receive a large number of immigrants and seizing the opportunity to immigrate more than 100,000 or even hundreds of thousands of people to the Basque region.

Otherwise, when nationalism in the Basque region becomes more radical and prosperous, and when the Basque people feel that they should enjoy autonomy or even independence, Spain will eventually usher in a civil war.

Carlo also often asked himself, why are Spain's problems always so bad?

Indeed, Spain's problems are pretty bad.

Compared to Spain, a country that has been unified for hundreds of years, the German Empire and the Kingdom of Italy, two countries that have only been unified for a few years, do not have so many problems.

Germans and Italians still quite recognize the concept of nation, and even if there is an issue of national independence, they are not so radical.

Spain is a country that has been unified for hundreds of years, but the Catalans and Basques are radically demanding autonomy and even independence, which is simply incomprehensible.

Fortunately, although Spain has many problems, it is not beyond redemption. As long as the problem of Catalonia is solved, the Basque Country will be nothing more than a minor inconvenience.

Whether victory is achieved through mass immigration or civil war, the ultimate winner will surely be the Spanish government.

The Basque population also limited the Basques' ability to defeat the Spanish government unless they had the support of other powers.

But then again, the great powers also had their own troubles. The British, who loved to stir up trouble, would also have fires in their backyards. The Indians also wanted autonomy and independence, and even the subsequent Boer War made the British even more embarrassed.

Anyway, we are all just a makeshift team, and it just depends on who has fewer problems and troubles, and who will win in the end.

5200 words two-in-one chapter, please support!


(End of this chapter)