Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 269 Second Colonial Replacement

The Pink Map Plan was not proposed suddenly by the Portuguese. Instead, it was a Greater Africa colonization plan proposed by Portugal based on the conditions of its own African colonies after the great powers accelerated their colonization of Africa.

Portugal's West African colonies and Mozambique colonies had been established for a long time, and the merger of the two colonies had always been a secret agenda of the Portuguese government and royal family.

The Portuguese were also exploring the geographical environment of the Congo Basin, but unfortunately Spain was completely ahead of Portugal and established the Congo territory before Portugal.

This also seriously disrupted the Portuguese plans. Portugal had to settle for the second best and carry out colonial development in the south of the Congo Basin, trying to establish a large Portuguese African colony between the Spanish and British colonies.

The difficulty of doing so can be imagined. Spain's Congo territory has been expanding southwards, and Britain's Cape Colony has been expanding northwards.

Portugal's goal was between the Spanish and British colonies, which was the most awkward position. If it was not careful, it would offend both Spain and Britain at the same time, which made Portugal's colonial progress very slow. The proposal to merge the West African colonies and the Mozambique colony almost stagnated.

After hearing Prime Minister Canovas' proposal, the Portuguese ambassador was stunned at first, and then felt a little surprised and surprised.

Portugal was about to give up the plan, but unexpectedly the Spanish government took the initiative to propose it and was willing to help Portugal complete the merger of the two colonies.

Although he was happy in his heart, the Portuguese ambassador did not show it. Instead, he showed an attitude of rejection: "Excuse me, Prime Minister. Matters concerning the colonies are of great importance. I need to consult with my country first."

Prime Minister Canovas was not in a hurry. He nodded and said, "Of course. This is just an idea of ​​mine. Whether this idea can be realized or not, it will not affect the relationship between our two governments."

In order to prevent the Portuguese from discovering that Spain's goal was to obtain Portugal's West African colonies, Prime Minister Canovas paused for a moment and then immediately put forward other proposals, namely a customs union between Spain and Portugal.

The so-called tariff is actually a tax on import and export trade between countries and regions. Because the Iberian Peninsula is relatively closed, Portugal needs to import supplies from Spain most of the time, in addition to relying on the supply of colonies, and only a small part is imported from other European countries.

If Portugal and Spain could establish a customs union, it would have advantages and disadvantages for both countries.

For Spain, Spanish industrial and agricultural products can enter Portugal at lower prices, and it can even achieve economic control over Portugal.

Because Spain has advantages in both industrial and agricultural output, the benefits of a customs union far outweigh the disadvantages for Spain.

For Portugal, establishing a customs union will also enable it to import cheaper industrial and agricultural products from Spain.

The disadvantages are also obvious, that is, Portugal's industrial and agricultural development will be subject to relevant restrictions. The lower the price of products imported from Spain, the more it will affect the domestic market environment in Portugal.

The situation in agriculture is fine. Portugal's grain production is not high, but its population is not large either, so it does not need to import too much grain.

What needs to be imported are vegetables and fruits, but Portugal's production in this area is not high, which will basically not affect the income of farmers and related growers.

However, in terms of industry, the impact of the customs union is still relatively large. Once a large number of cheap industrial products from Spain flood into the Portuguese market, Portugal's industry will have no chance of rising.

More importantly, Portugal and Spain are neighbors, so such an economic shock would be even more fatal. Once Spain's industrial products completely flooded the Portuguese market, wouldn't Spain be controlling Portugal's economy in disguise?
It is for this reason that when Prime Minister Canovas mentioned the customs union between the two countries, the Portuguese ambassador showed a more clear rejection attitude.

Although the customs union was also beneficial to Portugal, Portugal did not want to be led by Spain. Portugal had a large number of colonies and could also import materials from other European countries. Materials were not as scarce as imagined.

This also means that the benefits of a customs union with Spain are limited, while the disadvantages are quite obvious and unlimited.

After the Portuguese ambassador rejected Prime Minister Canovas' proposal, the two discussed some unimportant topics and then quickly ended the meeting.

The Portuguese ambassador had a blank expression on his face when he left, but when he returned to his carriage, he immediately became excited.

"Return to the embassy quickly. I have important news to report back home." The Portuguese ambassador hastily ordered.

The attendant in charge of driving the carriage nodded respectfully, waved the whip in his hand, and the whole carriage started moving.

On the Spanish side, after Prime Minister Canovas proposed the proposal for colonial exchange, the Spanish government no longer paid attention to Portugal's movements.

If the Portuguese government is interested in exchanging colonies, they will naturally take the initiative to make relevant proposals. If Portugal has no ideas for the time being, there is no point in the Spanish government being anxious.

As time came to 1881, in addition to carrying out the West African development plan, the Spanish government also continued to carry out large-scale construction in Spain.

Since the last Madrid City That Never Sleeps, European countries have significantly increased their attention to the power industry.

As the current leader in the power industry, Spain naturally cannot lag behind in this regard.

It has been a year since Madrid became the city that never sleeps. What achievements has Spain made in the power industry?

The first is the popularization of electricity. So far, the two power companies in Madrid and Barcelona have expanded significantly.

The total number of users of Madrid Electricity Company exceeds 0.72, including 0.42 corporate users and approximately 0.3 residential users.

Simply put, approximately 4200 factories and businesses in Madrid have been connected to electricity, and 3000 households have been connected to electricity.

Judging from the number of households, the Madrid Electricity Company has achieved good results. However, in fact, among the 3000 households connected to electricity, most of them are nobles, capitalists and dignitaries, and only less than 300 households, or one tenth, have taken the initiative to connect to electricity.

The situation in Barcelona is even worse. Although Barcelona Electricity also has 0.65 users, the vast majority of these users are corporate users, that is, factories and related companies in industrial areas.

There are less than 1000 households with electricity access, and less than one-tenth of the real civilians enjoy electricity.

The good news is that the electricity development in other European countries is not much different from that in Spain, and some countries are even worse than Spain.

Although this era is the era of Europe, for most European civilians, this era can be considered to be very bad.

The Industrial Revolution led to the development of capital, which intensified the exploitation of civilians. While industries in various countries were developing rapidly, workers and farmers were being exploited more and more.

This has also led to a common phenomenon in European countries, that is, ordinary people cannot afford electricity. Only factories and enterprises, or the capitalists behind the factories, can afford electricity.

But not all capitalists are willing to use electricity on a large scale. After all, the cost of electricity at this time is not small, not to mention the full popularization of electricity in factories.

Apart from Spain, perhaps the fastest electricity popularization is in Germany, which has a keen sense of electricity. As early as mid-last year, Germany built a large number of street lights in Berlin and announced that Berlin has entered the era of a city that never sleeps.

On the evening of the day the news broke, street lamps lit up one after another in the city of Berlin, illuminating the proud faces of Germans under the lamps.

Germany's electricity development is advancing at an incredibly fast pace. If Spain had not been well prepared, Germany might have surpassed Spain in just one year.

Carlo is extremely serious about the development of electricity.

Half of the funds the power company received from the sale of technology were used to popularize electricity in Spain, and the other half was used to develop more advanced power technologies.

At present, the main research direction of the Spanish Electric Power Laboratory is higher-power generators and electric motors. If this can be achieved, it may be possible to replace some steam machinery with electric machinery, allowing Spain to officially enter the electric power industry era.

After a year of development, Spain's rail transit system has taken shape.

Currently, Madrid and Barcelona have built two tram lines. It is worth mentioning that the first line built in both cities was the road connecting the city and the industrial area.

This also shows the importance that the two cities attach to industry. In this era, the stronger the industry of a country, the stronger its overall strength.

Although this statement is not absolute, the three currently more powerful countries, Britain, France and Germany, are also leading the world in industry.

The only exception is the United States, mainly because the United States does not attach importance to military development.

Ultimately, the United States' geographical location is too advantageous. In the absence of strong enemies, it will naturally neglect its military development.

But European countries are different. Competition among European countries has always existed, and many countries are still mortal enemies.

Under such circumstances, if European countries give up military development, it would be tantamount to giving up national security and national independence.

About a week later, the Portuguese government finally took the initiative to contact the Spanish government.

This also made Prime Minister Canovas feel relieved. Spain was about to give up the idea of ​​exchanging colonies with Portugal. If Portugal did not take the initiative to contact Spain, Spain might continue to colonize the southern part of the Congo Territory.

Although Spain currently has enough land, there is no such thing as too many colonies.

If Spain did not colonize, other countries would colonize this land sooner or later. Even if Spain did not need this land, it could still exchange benefits if it had it in its hands.

After the Portuguese government took the initiative to contact the Spanish government, it immediately expressed Portugal's interest in the colonial exchange proposal put forward by the Spanish government.

It is undeniable that Portugal as a whole was interested in establishing a large horizontal colony connecting West Africa and Mozambique.

If this plan is successful, the total area of ​​the new African colonies will be as high as millions of square kilometers, which is about the same size as the Brazilian colonies that Portugal once controlled.

As an already weakened colonial empire, Portugal was eager for a new large colony and was willing to make great efforts to achieve it.

The current Spanish proposal is a good opportunity. Even though they know that the Spaniards will not be so kind, the Portuguese government and King Louis of Portugal are unwilling to give up such a good opportunity.

Portugal's importance can also be seen from the diplomatic representatives sent by Portugal.

The diplomatic representative this time was not an ambassador, but a cabinet minister for colonial affairs in Portugal. As a former colonial empire, Portugal also had cabinet ministers similar to the Spanish Minister of Colonial Affairs.

Moreover, such cabinet ministers have high status and power, and can even rank among the top three in Portugal.

The Portuguese diplomatic mission was headed by the Colonial Secretary, who was accompanied by the Foreign Secretary, the Ambassador and a number of Portuguese officials.

It is worth mentioning that this was the second colonial exchange negotiation conducted by Spain in less than half a year.

However, the last time the colonial exchange was negotiated, the British proposed a proposal of getting something for nothing, that is, allowing Spain to conquer Oman as a condition, and Britain itself did not make any contribution to this condition.

Now, it was Spain that made a similar proposal. Spain allowed Portugal to colonize the land south of the Congo territory, and Spain did not have to pay anything except not being able to colonize the land south of the Congo.

Considering that Spain has established millions of square kilometers of territory in Congo, it would not be a loss to give up the land south of the Congo territory.

After all, the larger the colony, the more troops needed to guard it. Before Spain had enough population and financial resources to develop the colonies, the larger the area of ​​the colony, the more corresponding expenditures, and the smaller the return the colony brought to Spain.

The main topic of negotiations between the Portuguese and Spanish governments was the respective conditions for the two countries to carry out the relevant exchanges.

Although Portugal was interested in the land south of the Congo Territory, they were unwilling to give up all of their colonies in West Africa.

After all, on the surface, Portugal still owns colonies in West Africa including Portuguese Guinea, Portuguese Ziguinchor, Portuguese Cape Verde, Portuguese Ouidah and Portuguese Sao Tome and Principe.

Let’s not worry about the area, population and economic value of these colonies. Just from the perspective of quantity, owning these colonies can also help to enhance one’s prestige, right?
The sovereignty of these colonies was not what the Portuguese government cared about most. What the Portuguese government really cared about was the land that Spain was willing to let Portugal colonize. They hoped that after Portugal had fully colonized these lands, the Portuguese government would then hand over the sovereignty of the West African colonies.

But Spain will definitely not accept such conditions. This means that the Spanish government will not gain anything for a long period of time.

Although Spain allowed Portugal to colonize the land south of the Congo, both Carlo and the Spanish government knew that it would be difficult for Portugal to fully colonize the land south of the Congo.

It can also be seen from Britain’s actions in South Africa that the British also have considerable ambitions for the land north of South Africa.

The British would certainly not want Portugal to block the northward expansion of the South African colonies before Britain.

If Britain stopped Portugal's colonial expansion, wouldn't it mean that Portugal would never be able to fully colonize the land south of the Congo?
By then, Portugal obtained part of the land south of Congo, Britain obtained the remaining land, and Spain gained nothing. Who could it complain to?
Spain’s attitude was also very clear. It would allow Portugal to colonize part of the land first and then transfer the sovereignty of the West African colonies to Spain.

Spain could even provide Portugal with support including weapons, equipment and food supplies to help Portugal colonize the land south of the Congo faster.

(End of this chapter)