Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 329 1886
Just as the Colonial Affairs Department had expected, Spain successfully completed its plan to merge its African colonies in 1885.

After the war against the French in Sokoto, Spain only had four colonies left in Africa, namely the South Morocco Colony, the West Africa Colony, the Guinea Colony and the Congo Territory.

As for Ceuta and Melilla in northern Morocco, although these two cities also belong to the African land occupied by Spain, they have actually completed localization because Spain has controlled them for hundreds of years.

Ceuta and Melilla are not very large, each covering only a dozen square kilometers. Because of their small size, these two cities are mainly used for military purposes, and military fortresses are also the largest buildings in the city.

After hundreds of years of development, the main population of the two cities are Spanish or Portuguese, so it is naturally impossible for them to be treated as colonies.

Spain's localization of southern Morocco also refers to Ceuta and Melilla to a certain extent. Agadir, the current capital of the southern Moroccan colony, is not much different from cities with a large Spanish population such as Ceuta and Melilla.

In fact, there has been a discussion in Spain about the naming of the city of Agadir. Since it is going to be localized, the name Agadir must also be Spanishized.

Europe's naming of new places and cities is relatively simple, either by adding a new word to the name of an existing European region, such as New Orleans, New Newfoundland, New York, etc.

Yes, New York is named after the Duke of York, who is also known as the Duke of York.

The real meaning of New York is New York County. The name New York is just a new name based on transliteration.

There are so many examples of adding a new character in front of an existing place name to create a new place name that there is no need to explain more.

The second more common way of naming is to name after a famous person in history or now.

For example, the capital of Tsarist Russia, St. Petersburg, was named after the famous Russian Emperor Peter the Great. The United States also has such a city. The official name of San Francisco is San Francisco, and Francisco is a famous saint in Catholicism.

There are also many cities named after saints. These two naming methods are also the mainstream ways in Europe to name new places and cities.

Currently in Spain, there are several mainstream names for Agadir, the capital of the southern Moroccan colony.

The first is the naming method that starts with "new". Names such as New Madrid and New Barcelona have received some support.

There is also a naming method that starts with "Saint", such as San Carlos, San Felipe, etc.

The Carlos here does not refer to Carlos of the Carlists, but Charles V, the first Spanish king of the Habsburg dynasty and Holy Roman Emperor.

During his reign, Spain's territory spanned Europe and America, making it the true world hegemon at the time. He was also known as the second greatest king of Spain.

As for the first greatest king, it was naturally Isabella I and Ferdinand II, who created the Catholic Kings of Spain and integrated the Kingdom of Castile and the Kingdom of Aragon through marriage.

Because Spain's history is only about 400 years old, there are actually only a few kings that Spain can boast of.

Coupled with the public praise for Carlo's achievements, in the minds of many Spanish media and people, Carlo, who has been the King of Spain for only sixteen years, has already been ranked among the top five Spanish kings, second only to several kings of the Habsburg dynasty that created the British Empire.

In other words, the contributions of the Spanish kings of the Bourbon dynasty have been almost weakened. Although not all of the Bourbon family were as tyrannical as King Ferdinand VII and the previous incompetent Queen Isabel II, who made them all belong to the Bourbon dynasty?

In order to weaken the influence of the Bourbon dynasty in Spain, it was necessary to weaken the contributions of the Bourbon Spanish kings.

Of course, you can't be too blatant when downplaying the contributions of these kings. The best way in this case is to brag about the kings of the Habsburg family.

Anyway, Carlo's queen is from the Habsburg family, so she is half a member of the Habsburg family. By strengthening the contribution of the Habsburg kings and weakening the contribution of the Bourbon kings, it is possible to ensure the stability of Spain to a great extent and prevent the Bourbon dynasty from being restored in Spain.

From the historical developments of Spain during this period, it can be seen that the Bourbon dynasty, which ruled Spain for nearly two hundred years, is still very influential in Spain.

In history, Spain established a republic twice after Queen Isabel, but eventually restored the Bourbon dynasty. The Spanish monarchy even persisted until later generations, which is enough to prove the great influence of the Bourbon dynasty in Spain.

After Carlo's various means of weakening the prestige of the Bourbon dynasty, the Bourbon family's influence in Spain is now minimal.

The nobles and royalists were also purged. Those nobles and royalists who supported the Bourbon family were basically liquidated by Carlo under various names.

It is worth mentioning that in the proposal to rename Agadir, there was no proposal to name it after Carlo.

Although this may seem a little strange, it is actually quite normal.

Because Carlo's name is Carlos in Spanish, this actually represents the San Carlos proposal, and it can also be said to be named after Carlo.

In fact, according to the naming tradition of Spanish kings, since Carlo is called Carlos in Spain, then Carlo should be the fifth king of Spain named Carlos, that is, Carlos V.

However, because the Carlists of the Bourbon dynasty at that time successively supported the fake kings "Carlos V" and "Carlos VI", Carlo chose to be different and declared himself Carlo I of Spain, not Carlos V.

At that time, because the focus of Spain from top to bottom was on the formation of a new government and political and legal reforms, there was less attention paid to the ranking number of an elected king.

Prime Minister Primo, who had the highest say at the time, also expressed support for Carlo's title of Charles I because Carlo did not fight for power and independence. This also put the final nail in the coffin of Carlo I's statement.

Now, because Carlo has gradually been regarded as a great monarch, the Spaniards are no longer so picky about whether to name him Carlo I or Carlos V.

Of course, this is also related to the last Spanish king named Carlos, Carlos IV. Because of a series of major wrong decisions made by Carlos IV, Spain faced a series of crises in the early nineteenth century.

During the reign of Charles IV, Spain was first mistakenly involved in the anti-French war and became a pawn of France against Britain. This decision led to the annihilation of the Spanish navy by the British navy in 1805, and the Spanish government also suffered heavy losses due to the confrontation with Britain.

This was not the end. Just two years after the war with the British, Napoleon invaded Spain. The war with France made things even worse for Spain. It can be said that it was the poor rule of Carlos IV and his son and granddaughter that made Spain face a dark century since the early 19th century.

With these Carlos kings as examples, Spain is no longer so averse to whether its king is called Carlos or not.

After all, for the Spaniards, the most important thing is whether their monarch is wise and whether their living environment and living standards can be improved under his rule.

In fact, Carlo doesn't care much about the naming of Agadir, because this kind of thing is really not important, and Carlo can accept any name of Agadir in the future.

Of course, the naming of the city should be as free from the influence of the Bourbon dynasty as possible. Carlo would have no objection if it was named after the king of the Habsburg dynasty or a place in Spain.

In addition to Agadir, many of Spain's colonial cities will be renamed in the future. Some colonies are named after local culture, while others are named after their former owners.

Since they already belong to Spain, it is natural for them to change their names to Spanish-style names.

Spain launched a war against the Sokoto Caliphate in July 1885 and ended the war at the end of September. The entire war lasted almost two and a half months.

The next two months or so were used to stabilize the situation in the Sokoto region. Because Spain's colonial annexation plan had been successfully completed, there would be basically no colonial wars in Africa in the future.

Spain's only remaining target is Morocco, and it needs to wait for a suitable opportunity to ensure that its war against Morocco will not be interfered with by Britain and France.

The war against the Sokoto Caliphate was also the last major event that Spain experienced in 1885. For more than two months thereafter, the situation in Spain remained peaceful, and time passed slowly until 1886.

For Carlo, the best proof that he is getting older is the age of his children.

Carlo's eldest son, Prince Juan Fernando, was born in 1875. If calculated according to 1886, Prince Juan Fernando would be almost 11 years old.

Carlo is quite satisfied with this little guy who is almost 11 years old. As the first heir to the throne, Prince Juan Fernando not only has a noble status, but also has extremely huge responsibilities.

As he grew older, the little guy gradually became more sensible. He knew what kind of responsibilities he should shoulder, and Prince Juan Fernando not only did not resist the relatively strict aristocratic education arranged by Carlo, but also eagerly absorbed all kinds of knowledge.

Carlo found for him the best teachers in Spain, and even the top professors and experts from various European countries.

These people have expressed to Carlo more than once that Prince Juan Fernando is very sensible. Although he is only in his teens, Prince Juan Fernando has shown enough intelligence. He has even completed the elementary school courses customized for him by many professors and experts in advance, and is studying the middle school courses in advance.

In later times, it was considered an exaggeration to start middle school at the age of eleven. You know, Carlo arranged an elite aristocratic education for Prince Juan Fernando, so the little guy naturally had to learn more than what he would learn in elementary school in later times.

Under such circumstances, Prince Juan Fernando was able to complete primary school education ahead of schedule, which is already a talent.

After entering junior high school, Prince Juan Fernando will have more to learn. In addition to basic cultural knowledge, he will also need to understand and learn about history, science, physics, chemistry, and psychology, and even receive education related to the nobility, such as aristocratic etiquette, horse riding, simple medical knowledge, etc.

So many subjects are enough to drive a middle school student crazy in the future, but for Prince Juan Fernando, this is just his normal study scope.

It can be expected that by the time Prince Juan Fernando completes the education customized for him by Carlo, he will definitely be able to grow into a monarch who is above the qualified level.

By then, after some training in the army and the government, even if he cannot become a great pioneering monarch, he can at least grow into a qualified monarch who maintains the status quo.

Although Carlo attached great importance to the education of Prince Juan Fernando, he did not neglect the education of his other children.

In addition to Prince Juan Fernando, Carlos also has two sons and two daughters, Sofia, Martin, Alexander and Cristina.

The eldest, Sophia, was born in 1876 and is now ten years old.

The youngest, Christina, was born in 1885 and is not yet one year old.

Carlo also expressed his love for these little ones of different ages. Although he was very busy with government affairs as a king, Carlo still took time to accompany them in their childhood.

Except for Prince Juan Fernando, who as the heir to the throne received education early and therefore could not enjoy Carlo's company, all other princes and princesses were accompanied by Carlo.

Even when Sophia was ten years old, she would still pester her father from time to time, asking him to take her to play in the palace garden.

Whenever this happened, Carlo would never refuse his daughter's request.

The good news is that as one of the largest palaces in Europe, the Royal Palace of Madrid has a large enough garden, which is also one of the places where the little ones often play in groups.

Under Carlo's helpful management and training, the relationship between the little ones is relatively warm and close.

This is the best news for the Spanish royal family and Carlo. No one wants to see fierce competition between their children, and no one wants their children to hate or even resent them.

At present, Carlo is doing quite well in this regard. The little ones obviously like Carlo very much and stick to their father from time to time.

When government affairs were not busy, Carlo was happy to enjoy such leisure time. Anyway, Carlo already had endless wealth in his hands, so it was very important for Carlo to take a proper rest and enjoy life.

(End of this chapter)