Empire Rising: Spain

As the Berlin Conference progressed, European countries also accelerated their steps towards African colonization.

Although Carlo had no intention of establishing new African colonies, he still needed to take stabilizing measures for the current African colonies under Spain’s control.

After internal discussions by the Spanish Government, it was decided that Spain’s African colonies needed to be reduced, ideally to three colonies.

The largest of these colonies would be the Congo Territory. According to the Spanish Government’s plan, the current Gold Coast, Guinea Colony, and São Tomé and Principe would all be incorporated into the Congo Territory, making it the largest colony in Central and Western Africa.

In the West Africa region, the smaller Sierra Leone Colony would also be merged with the West Africa Colony. The new West Africa Colony would be positioned in the far west of Africa, with an area of at least tens of thousands of square kilometers.

The last African colony would be the South Morocco Colony. All the lands Spain occupied in Morocco would be incorporated into the South Morocco Colony, and if they could annex all of Morocco, the Moroccan Colony would gradually become a home province of Spain, no different from regions like Madrid.

As for the originally planned land connection from Gambia to the Congo Territory, it currently seems there is little hope of achieving it.

Several French colonies lie between these two colonies, and Germany has also dispatched some merchants and colonial expeditions into this land. Spain is unlikely to monopolize these lands.

The good news is that the war between France and Vietnam is still ongoing, which also ties up part of the French Government’s energy.

Spain finds it quite easy to merge existing colonies and almost won’t encounter conflicts with the great powers during the process.

It is worth mentioning that precisely because the war between France and Vietnam is expanding, the country behind Vietnam has to invest a lot of finances into this war.

The most obvious gap is that previously, the peace faction prevailed, which meant even when the salespeople from the Royal Military Factory actively reached out, they couldn’t sell the weapons.

However, now feeling threatened by the French, they also start to figure out ways to buy firearms to resist the French offensive.

During the Berlin Conference, sales representatives from the Royal Military Factory have already signed an arms purchase order with the other party, including tens of thousands of rifles, hundreds of cannons, and matching bullets and shells.

Regarding naval vessels, the other party also purchased several small cruisers, which are warships that the Spanish Navy has been equipped with for several years. The price is not high, basically at the cost of construction.

Buying a second-hand warship at the price of a new one seems like a loss. But considering that the purchased warships can be quickly put into this war, the strategic value they offer definitely makes it worthwhile.

After all, the naval forces of Vietnam are currently at a disadvantage. If they do not find a way to make up for the maritime strength, the French Army can land at ports with impunity.

Because Spain’s main aim is to delay France’s war progress, the weapons and equipment sold by Spain in this batch are sold at relatively low prices.

And precisely because of this, Spain has gradually sold off a large number of weapons and equipment. Given these arms, it seems

the other party can effectively slow down the French Army’s offensive speed.

Time came to August 1884, when the Minister of Colonial Affairs suddenly reported urgently, evidence was discovered in the Gold Coast and Guinea Colony areas that Germany was attempting to establish colonial footholds.

This was quite a big deal and immediately aroused vigilance from Carlo and the Spanish Government.

The strength of Germany is undeniable. Although their establishment of Southwest Africa right under the United Kingdom’s nose seemed somewhat opportunistic, it was indeed land taken from the British.

If it were another country, they might not have been able to make the British back down.

The reason the British chose to retreat and compensate the Spanish Government in the competition for Southern Congo lands is because their colony had not yet set foot in Southern Congo.

Recklessly starting disputes was not a good thing for the British either, as reaching Southern Congo lands would require crossing several indigenous tribes and even crossing past the Orange Free State and Transvaal Republic, with which they did not have the best relations.

These two countries might not be very famous, but mentioning the Boer populations widely residing there would certainly remind many of the Boer War that broke out in the early 20th century.

Though the United Kingdom won the Boer War, this war also drained a lot of British manpower, resources, and finances.

The cause of the war shares some resemblance to the dispute over Southern Congo lands, where the positions of Orange and Transvaal happened to block the British Cairo to Cape Town route.

Also, because the British Cape Colony kept expanding northwards, it severely affected the living space of Orange and Transvaal.

Returning to Spain’s colonies, after discovering the Germans’ intentions to establish colonial footholds in the Gold Coast and Guinea, Carlo immediately convened a Cabinet meeting to demand that the government come up with a solution.

Whether it is the Gold Coast or the Guinea Colony, Spain cannot give them up.

The name Gold Coast might be unfamiliar to many, but this land has another name in later generations, which is Ghana.