Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 301 Britain's Concession

The Berlin Conference was held half a year earlier than in history, which also meant that the progress of European powers' colonization of Africa was very different from history.

After Britain exchanged all its West African colonies, their only colonies in Africa were South Africa and North Africa, namely the Cape Colony and the Egyptian colony.

This also makes the Cairo-Cape Town link more important than ever before, and the British government will never choose to back down in this regard.

The result was that the Berlin Conference, which representatives of various countries originally thought would be completed in less than a month, actually lasted for several months.

Of course, this was not all bad news for Spain. The longer the Berlin Conference lasted, the more dissatisfied the European powers were with the current plan for dividing Africa.

The result is that less powerful countries can take advantage of the situation and obtain their own colonies in corners that the great powers pay no attention to.

The first thing the Berlin Conference had to resolve was the conflict over land in southern Congo among the major powers led by Britain and Spain.

The British demanded that Britain occupy the Kingdom of Barrowtherland, the Kingdom of Mwatakazembe, the Kingdom of Malawi and the Kingdom of Yeke to ensure that the British Cape Colony could be connected to Egypt.

With the support of Spain and under the pressure of domestic public opinion, the Portuguese government did not give up these lands, and declared that these lands were acquired by Portugal when it exchanged colonies with Spain, and that Britain had no right to carry out a colonial operation across a distance of thousands of kilometers.

What the Portuguese government said was quite reasonable. The land in the south of Congo was indeed on the route connecting Cairo and Cape Town in the UK, but the problem was that the border of the Kingdom of Barotseland in the southernmost part was more than 1100 kilometers away from the Cape Colony in the UK, and the border of the Kingdom of Yeke in the northernmost part was more than 1000 kilometers away from the Sudan colony controlled by the UK.

No matter how powerful the British Empire was, it couldn't have colonized so many places. Moreover, Spain was the first country to establish colonies in the Congo River Basin, and Spanish colonial outposts had already spread all over the land in the Congo River Basin.

Originally, the sovereignty of this land belonged to Spain. Since Spain exchanged it to Portugal, the sovereignty of the land naturally belongs to Portugal and has nothing to do with Britain.

The UK's remote demand for land is obviously too overbearing, which is why the Portuguese government cannot agree to the British government no matter what.

If the British government's proposal was agreed to at the Berlin Conference, the Portuguese prime minister and cabinet ministers would have no chance of a good ending as long as the details became known to the people at home.

Even Louis I might be affected by the public anger. With the public paying close attention to the Berlin Conference, it was impossible for the Portuguese government to make open concessions to the British government.

After all, they could still distinguish between the important and the unimportant. Anyway, the colonial dispute had become a Berlin Conference involving the great powers. Unless the British government wanted to incur public outrage, they would not launch a war against Portugal during the Berlin Conference.

Although Portugal was one of the contenders, the Portuguese representatives did not make many comments during the negotiations at the Berlin Conference.

The main debaters were representatives from Britain and Spain, and the countries below the great powers did not have much say.

At this time, the British government finally paid attention to Spain, which they had always looked down upon. Spain made them feel as difficult to deal with as the Russians.

Although they are all powerful countries, there are still differences between them. For example, the British government is not afraid of Italy at all.

Without Garibaldi, the last hero, the Italian army's combat effectiveness was extremely poor. Although the Italian King Umberto I had been promoting Italy's military expansion, the British government had never taken Italy seriously.

As a country bordering the Mediterranean, Britain only needs to block the east and west outlets of the Mediterranean. No matter how strong the Italian navy is, it will be useless because they cannot reach the ocean at all, let alone pose a threat to the British mainland.

Not to mention the army. Italy and Britain are 18,000 miles apart. Coupled with the poor combat effectiveness of the Italian army, both Italys are not taken seriously by Britain.

Spain is different.

Although Spain is also a Mediterranean country, half of its coastline is located on the east coast of the Atlantic Ocean.

This also means that it is difficult for Britain to completely block the Spanish navy in the Mediterranean, and the Spanish navy also has the ability to pose a threat to the British mainland.

More importantly, Britain's means of blockading the Mediterranean is to control two sea outlets, and the Strait of Gibraltar, the western Mediterranean outlet, once belonged to Spain.

Once Britain and Spain go to war, Spain can recapture Gibraltar through the army at any time and thus control the Strait of Gibraltar.

Once Britain loses control of the two outlets to the Mediterranean, the situation along the Mediterranean coast will become more unpredictable, which also means that the Suez Canal, which Britain has tried every means to control, will lose at least half of its strategic value.

England was at war with Spain, and Portugal was perhaps the first country to be annexed.

A fully unified Iberian Peninsula would become something like the United Kingdom, both powerful and able to stay outside the European continent and unaffected by the chaotic situation on the continent.

In addition, due to its independence, it was difficult for Britain to pose a threat to the Iberian Peninsula. This also meant that the war between Britain and Spain would become a helpless situation for both sides, unless Britain was willing to form an expeditionary force, but the casualties of doing so were unbearable for the British government.

Although the German and French armies are obviously more famous in terms of the army, this is more due to the weakness of Spain. Before Spain's weakness, the Spanish army was also quite strong.

If the British really formed an expeditionary force to attack the Spanish mainland, it is hard to say whether they can win. The Spaniards will become the strongest warriors under the buff of defending their country, and no powerful country wants to encounter such a Spain.

During the Berlin Conference, all parts of the famous American landmark, the Statue of Liberty, were installed and completed, attracting much media attention.

The United States at this time pursued isolationism. They had no interest in Europe across the ocean and only focused on the situation in America.

This is also the reason why the United States, which is already a powerful country and whose industrial and economic development speed cannot be surpassed by other powerful countries, has no presence or influence in Europe.

In addition, the rise of American industry and economy was due to the help and investment of too much European capital, which led to Americans being inferior in Europe.

All the major powers participated in this conference on the division of Africa, except the United States on the other side of the ocean. On the one hand, the United States really did not care about the situation in Europe and Africa, and on the other hand, Germany really did not invite the United States.

Because the negotiations at the Berlin Conference reached a stalemate, European countries did not stop their colonial expansion at all while attending the conference.

On the French side, the war with Vietnam broke out vigorously. France successfully annexed Cambodia, doubled its colony, and had a tendency to expand northwards.

On the British side, the Sudanese colonies were also expanding southwards, laying a solid foundation for the Cairo-Cape Town connection.

Italy was planning a Libyan colony, and their demand at the Berlin Conference was to gain the initiative in colonizing Libya.

The good news is that although Libya is a vast land, it has not received much attention from European powers because it is entirely desert.

Apart from the UK expressing opposition, other European countries did not express obvious opposition to Italy's occupation of Libya, and Italy still had hope of obtaining this hard-earned colony. As the most powerful country on the European continent besides the UK, Germany also had its own colonial moves.

Because Germany unified relatively late, by the time the German government launched its colonization plan, most of the world's land had already been divided up by the great powers.

Germany could only turn its attention to Africa, looking for lands that other powers had not yet set foot on.

In fact, the Germans really found such land.

Regarding this matter, we have to mention Britain's colonial policy in Africa.

Because there are many virgin forests in the interior of the African continent, European powers' colonization of Africa was mainly concentrated on the coast and rarely went deep into the African continent.

This also led to the fact that Britain's colonization did not focus on colonial sovereignty, but instead chose to control trade in Africa, a form similar to economic colonization.

Although British colonists have left their footprints all over the European continent, there are actually large tracts of land over which Britain has not declared sovereignty.

The Germans took advantage of this loophole and found two pieces of land in Africa that Britain had already reached but had not declared sovereignty over.

One of the lands is located in the northwest of the British Cape Colony, with the closest point only a few kilometers away from the British Cape Colony.

It can also be said that the Germans established their African colonies entirely under the eyes of the British.

But the British have no reason to refute because they have not declared sovereignty over this land.

The way Germany obtained sovereignty is also worth mentioning. They did not choose the traditional process of European powers to establish colonial outposts and then declare sovereignty and establish colonies. Instead, they simply used the army to forcibly conquer the local indigenous tribes, and then signed a treaty with the local indigenous tribal chiefs that they could not understand at all.

How could these natives understand the terms of the treaty written in German? Under the pressure of the German army's guns and cannons, they could only sign their names and put their fingerprints on the treaty inexplicably.

The fingerprints were another insurance measure imposed by Germany. After all, the Germans had just arrived and they did not know whether the natives were called by such names.

The natives certainly didn’t write in German; they used their own language, which the Germans couldn’t understand either.

But it doesn’t matter if you don’t understand it, as long as you press the fingerprint and the subsequent fingerprints match the person, it’s fine.

It was with the help of such a treaty, which was only known to one of the signatories, that Germany successfully established its first colony in Africa.

The process of establishing Germany's West African colonies was quite exciting, and it was basically established under the nose of Britain.

This also made the British sense a sense of crisis. If they really followed Germany's method of proof, even if Britain obtained the land in southern Congo at the Berlin Conference, the other lands along the Cairo-Cape Town line would be divided up by European powers.

Britain can use its influence to create colonial competition, but can it use this method every time?
After all, Britain is also a European country, and its strength does not completely crush other European powers.

Since it is a European country, it is natural to abide by the regulations that European countries have always taken for granted.

After internal discussions within the British government, it was decided to make certain concessions to Spain in order to more quickly push for a compromise on the land in southern Congo at the Berlin Conference.

Only by resolving the land dispute in southern Congo earlier would Britain have enough energy to complete the Cairo-Cape Town connection, while guarding against more powerful powers such as Germany from quickly colonizing Africa in their own way.

After all, Spain is a medium-sized power and the threat it can pose is limited.

Even if Spain was given the opportunity, with its population of more than 2000 million, it would not be able to colonize too much land.

But countries like Germany and France are different. Germany and France have larger populations, more developed industries and more prosperous economies, which also means that they can colonize more African land and suck more blood.

The African continent is like a big cake. Although the British have got the biggest piece of the pie, other countries are always eyeing this big cake.

Only by eating it thoroughly can Britain ensure that it will become the biggest beneficiary. Britain is mainly on guard against Germany and France, which are holding basins to grab food.

For a power like Spain that holds the bowl, there is no problem with making appropriate concessions. After all, Spain's appetite is limited, and even if the cake is given to Spain, Spain is bound to suffer from indigestion.

In Berlin, the Berlin Conference was proceeding at a steady pace.

In Madrid, the British ambassador once again found Carlo.

Unlike the last time he asked for a meeting with Carlo, this time the British ambassador expressed a more respectful attitude, and his words were not as tough as last time.

During the talks with Carlo, the British ambassador mentioned more than once the importance of the Cairo-Cape Town link to Britain, and expressed Britain's willingness to make certain concessions on land other than southern Congo.

The British put forward three conditions for Carlo and the Spanish government to choose from.

The first condition was that Britain was willing to allow Spain to occupy more land in the Dutch East Indies colony as compensation for the land in southern Congo.

However, Britain was unwilling to give up the core islands of Sumatra and Java in the Dutch East Indies to Spain.

The second condition was the colonization of New Guinea. The British government could acquiesce to Spain's colonization of New Guinea and support the colonies that Spain would establish in New Guinea in the future.

The third condition was in the Middle East. Britain could allow Spain's Oman colony to expand northwards to the truce states.

Britain's compromising attitude can also be seen from these three conditions.

However, the British concessions were not that great. Whether it was the Dutch East Indies or New Guinea, or the truce states, they were not worth that much.

The reason why Britain was willing to give up these lands was actually because Britain did not have much interest in these lands.

(End of this chapter)