Chapter 264: Colony Exchange (Part 1)

From 1869 to 1880, these 11 years, the status of the Cuba colony underwent earth-shaking changes.

During the Bourbon Dynasty period, Cuba was Spain's most important colony and also one of the main sources of Spain's fiscal revenue.

At that time, Spain itself was not developed; although it had a certain industrial and economic scale, most of the tax revenue was withheld by aristocrats and lower-level governments.

There were a large number of farmers attached to the land of the aristocrats; the aristocrats directly collected land rent and agricultural taxes from these farmers, and the church also had to collect an additional one-tenth tithe.

The consequence of doing this not only led to the Spanish government being unable to obtain sufficient fiscal revenue but also led to the Spanish public bearing several big mountains, with living conditions that were unbearable and living standards that were terrible.

Since the reform of Prime Minister Pulimo and the two Five-Year Plans, the status quo of Spain itself had been greatly improved, so the fiscal revenue of the Cuba colony was no longer that important.

Since the last proposal to exchange the Cuba colony, a period of time had passed; currently, judging from the reactions of government officials and the parliament, this matter was not impossible to facilitate.

As long as they could exchange the Cuba colony for some land that was still considered valuable, or land with strategic value, they could appease the public's emotions.

As for the opinions of government officials and members of parliament, in certain situations, they could be ignored. After all, in the situation where the opinions of Prime Minister Canovas and King Gao Da were completely consistent, other officials and members of parliament were not qualified to have other opinions.

With the popularization of electricity and the construction of trams, the Second Industrial Revolution was also proceeding in full swing. Emerging powers led by Germany and the United States would rapidly increase their comprehensive national strength in the Second Industrial Revolution, and the United States' ambition for Cuba would also constantly expand.

Although Spain's comprehensive national strength was also constantly growing, in the final analysis, its potential was still not as good as that of the United States, a country with an area of millions of square kilometers and a population of tens of millions.

Although Gao Da was also not afraid of the Americans' coveting of Cuba, as the saying goes, there is only the reason of being a thief for a thousand days, not the reason of guarding against a thief for a thousand days; for Cuba, this hot potato, it was time to let go when it was time to let go.

More importantly, at this time, it was in the early stage of European powers partitioning Africa, and there were also many colonies with extremely high value in the world whose value had not yet been discovered.

If they could exchange the Cuba colony at this time, Spain had hope of exchanging for some important colonies in Africa, and also had hope of exchanging for parts of land in the Middle East region.

Africa was closer to Spain itself; some colonies had hope of connecting with Spain's existing South Morocco colony, the Congo territory, and the Guinea colony, which could be considered a good choice for Spain.

And the land in the Middle East naturally did not need to be mentioned. As the land richest in oil in the whole world, as long as they could obtain a piece of land in the Middle East region, Spain would not have any trouble in terms of oil in the future.

Oil is the most important strategic material for the next 100 or even 200 years; the more oil one holds in one's hands, the more initiative Spain will occupy in the international situation in the future.

Of course, one must also have sufficient military strength to guard these lands that possess oil. After all, there is a saying in later generations that is also quite famous, which is that oil will breed the US military.

If a small country discovers an oil field, it is often not a good thing. Not only will the oil field be occupied by a strong country, but even the internal affairs of one's own country will be interfered with by other strong countries.

If they wanted to exchange the Cuba colony, then Gao Da's goal would only be these two regions: Africa and the Middle East.

There were not many countries that possessed colonies in the Africa and Middle East regions; those that could reach a deal with Spain were actually only the two colonial powers of Britain and France, plus Portugal, this colonial empire that had already declined.

Although Britain possessed a large area of colonies in Africa, the British would absolutely not let go of important colonial areas like the Cape Colony.

Although the Cuba colony possessed a certain economic value, it was obviously not worth the British attaching such importance to it. If they wanted to exchange colonies with the British, the areas they could exchange for would basically be concentrated in West Africa, including the British Gambia colony, the British Sierra Leone colony, and the British Gold Coast.

Of course, what the British could pay was not just these small colonies, but also the Middle East region, which also had very high economic value.

The Middle East region in theory was still controlled by the Ottoman Empire, but Britain's infiltration into the Middle East region had already taken initial shape.

As early as 1861, Britain had signed a treaty with Bahrain in the Middle East region, and Bahrain had thus become a British protectorate.

Relying on Bahrain as this transit station, Britain could exert greater influence on the Middle East region and had hope of fully receiving the Ottoman Empire's sphere of influence in the Middle East after the Ottoman Empire completely declined.

In the Middle East region, no country could compete with Britain in colonial terms; after all, this piece of land was not far from Britain's core colony, India.

The three countries of France, Germany, and Russia, which had the strength to compete with Britain, were obviously beyond reach; their hands could not reach here.

If one considered the benefits brought by the Middle East region, exchanging with the British was obviously the most beneficial. The conditions the British could provide were more, and could even include mining rights in Australia, etc.

Australia possessed extremely rich mineral resources, among which were coal mines, iron mines, and other metal mineral resources that industry needed.

Although Spain itself also had coal and iron mines, the overall scale was not much, and it could not support an industrial power with huge output.

This was also the reason Gao Da wanted to constantly develop colonies, because the existing scale and potential of Spain itself could not compete with super powers like Britain, France, and Germany.

The scale of colonies that France could exchange with Spain was not much different from that of Portugal, and the probability of France giving up its West African colonies was extremely low; basically, it was impossible to reach cooperation with Spain.

This actually also meant that Spain only had two choices: either reach cooperation with the British to get land in West Africa and the Middle East, or reach cooperation with the Portuguese to obtain the Congo Kingdom under the control of the Portuguese.

Although the Congo Kingdom could connect with Spain's Congo territory, the actual value was certainly not as high as the value of Britain's West African colonies combined with the land in the Middle East.

And Portugal's comprehensive strength was worse, which might prompt the United States to launch a war for the Cuba colony earlier.

If they let the United States rise too early, then it would be even more difficult to solve this trouble of the United States in the future. It was better to reach cooperation with the British, let the British obtain Cuba, and the United States would also have to weigh whether it possessed the confidence to challenge the British Empire.

In the situation where the United States could not obtain the Cuba colony, wanting to rise would become even more difficult. Gao Da was not afraid of the Americans eyeing the Philippines; although the Philippines was separated from Spain itself by ten thousand miles, the Philippines was also not close to the United States itself.

The Philippines colony was about 11,000 kilometers away from the US West Coast, and Kalimantan Island was also only about 11,000 kilometers away from Spain's East Coast.

This was not like Cuba at the doorstep of the Americans; if the United States wanted to cross the ocean to invade the Philippines colony, Gao Da would also not mind letting the Americans feel the changes in Spain since the Industrial Revolution.

Anyway, the current United States was still a soft persimmon and could not pose too much of a threat to European powers. One had to wait until after World War I, after the United States had obtained certain benefits, and then wanting to treat it as a soft persimmon would not be so easy.

After comprehensive consideration, Gao Da was more willing to reach cooperation with the British to complete the exchange of colonies.

From the development of Britain's colonies in history, it could also be seen that the British's development of African colonies was mainly for the purpose of completing the connection between Egypt and South African colonies.

In the end, the British did indeed complete the connection between the two African colonies in the north and south; this vast colony did not include West Africa, which also meant that in the eyes of the British, the colonies located in West Africa were not that important.

Although there was a high probability of being able to obtain the British colonies in the West Africa region, this did not mean there were no disadvantages.

Currently, there were three major powers conducting colonization in the West Africa region, which were Britain, France, and Spain.

If Spain fully took over Britain's West African colonies, this also meant that in the future, the only ones left conducting colonial competition in the West Africa region would be France and Spain.

Three legs standing might be relatively stable, but when two countries fight, one will inevitably be injured. If Spain wanted to complete the integration of West African colonies, it must face the pressure brought by the French.

The Britain in history did indeed complete the connection of colonies from Egypt to South Africa, but the French were not without achievements.

France obtained a large area of colonies in West Africa and North Africa; although the large area of land here was desert region, the total area of the colonies and the quantity of mineral resources, besides the colonies obtained by Britain, were also enough to compete for second place among the powers.

One must know that the German Empire, which was the world's second power during World War I, only obtained a small piece of worthless colony in the scramble for African colonies.

This was also enough to prove the intensity of African colonization; if one was not careful, it could brew a colonial war between Spain and France.

The good news was that before the Three Emperors' Alliance had broken, France did not dare to tear its face with Spain.

Once Spain was forced to lean towards the Three Emperors' Alliance, what France would face would be the complete blockade of France by the European continent.

And how long was the breaking time of the Three Emperors' Alliance? The breaking time of the Three Emperors' Alliance in history was 1887, but in this world, it might not be so.

The Russo-Turkish War greatly damaged the relationship between the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Russia, and the peace negotiations after the war greatly damaged the relationship between Germany and Russia.

With the signing of the alliance between Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Russia instead became an outsider in the Three Emperors' Alliance.

The French naturally also saw the possibility of the breaking of the Three Emperors' Alliance; the French government was constantly wooing Russia, trying to form a Franco-Russian Alliance to resist the German-Austrian Alliance.

However, the current Russian government obviously had not made plans; they were in contact with French capital on one hand, and on the other hand, they had not broken the treaties with Germany and Austria, which also allowed the so-called Three Emperors' Alliance to still exist, and the situation in Europe was also able to be peaceful.

Since they had already decided to exchange colonies with the British, then what they needed to do next was naturally some public opinion layout before exchanging colonies.

Spain could not directly find the British government to discuss the matter of colony exchange; this would certainly arouse the vigilance and suspicion of the British government.

If they wanted to exchange colonies, they must have a reason that looked quite reasonable. This could not only let the British rest assured to discuss with the Spanish government but also appease the Spanish public, ensuring that the loss of the Cuba colony would not cause public anger.

The best reason to prompt the Spanish government to give up the Cuba colony was that the rebellion in the Cuba colony was constant, making the Spanish government overwhelmed, and they actively chose to give up.

This was a very good reason, but when spreading the news, one also needed to grasp a degree.

Originally, Spain was actively giving up the Cuba colony; if the spread news was too serious, it would inevitably make the British government sit on the ground and raise the price, leading to Spain obtaining fewer benefits.

In order to ensure the smooth exchange of colonies, Gao Da even actively convened a cabinet meeting, requiring the diplomatic department and the colonial affairs department to cooperate closely to promote the exchange of the Cuba colony.

Of course, before exchanging the Cuba colony, what Spain had to do was to absorb as much population as possible that supported Spain from the Cuba colony.

Although most people in the Cuba colony wanted to be independent, there were still a small number of Spanish immigrants willing to continue to submit to Spain's rule.

Under Spain's rule, Cuba's safety could still be guaranteed. But if they were independent, Cuba, with a population of just over a million, would have no power to resist in front of other powers.

Spain's colonial rule was indeed cruel, but this did not mean that the colonial rule of other European countries was kind.

If they could not guarantee Cuba's complete independence, a considerable number of Spanish-descended immigrants would rather continue to stay in Spain's embrace; at least they could become first-class citizens in Spain's colonial system, and their interests could also be sufficiently guaranteed.

Although they were all European immigrants, in different countries, different immigrants also had different treatments.

Take the United States as an example. In peacetime, whether it was immigrants from Britain, Germany, France, Russia, or Italy, everyone was white, and naturally, they would be treated equally.

But when it came to wartime, immigrants from countries at war with the United States would also be subjected to certain discrimination and targeting within the United States.

Germans who immigrated to the United States during World War I and World War II were subjected to such treatment, and their situation could be considered miserable compared to other white immigrants.

Of course, regardless of the period, the treatment of white people was always better than that of people of other races.

The reason some white people chose to immigrate abroad was precisely that they could enjoy the treatment of high-class citizens in foreign countries. This era was quite cruel to black people, and even the laws of various colonies and immigrant countries basically would not protect the interests of black people.

Even black slaves who had obtained the status of free people would not have their interests protected.

This point could also be seen from later generations. Even in the 21st century, white police could still shoot at black people unscrupulously.

As long as the incident was not fermented by public opinion, white police would not only not receive any punishment but instead had hope of obtaining a few days of paid leave.

And black police were completely different. As long as an incident of a black policeman shooting a white person broke out, it would soon evolve into a political incident sweeping the whole United States.

It was like this in later generations, let alone in this chaotic era. In 1880, it was very common for white people in the United States to shoot black people, especially those white families with power; killing a few black people would not be punished.

As for black people killing white people in return, that was absolutely impossible. Because in the United States at this time, the government from top to bottom practiced a racial segregation policy.

Black people could only live in remote countryside and chaotic slums; it was rare to see black people in prosperous cities.

Even if one could see black people in prosperous New York, these black people were absolutely the batch with the lowest status. Compared to those with the highest status among the black group, it was easier for slaves who worked like cattle and horses for white people to enter big cities.

In the situation where members of parliament, capitalists, and government officials in the United States were basically white, the treatment and situation of black people in the United States could be imagined.

When Gao Da and Prime Minister Canovas determined the policy of exchanging the Cuba colony, not a single cabinet official stood up to oppose it.

They were not stupid; they knew who gave them the power in their hands. It would be fine if such a proposal was put forward by a cabinet member; at least it proved that they were qualified to refute and debate.

But such a proposal was put forward by the Prime Minister and the King himself; even if other members of the cabinet did not support such an idea, they were unable to prevent such a situation from happening.

What's more, as early as the last discussion, the Spanish cabinet government had maintained a quite ambiguous attitude towards exchanging the Cuba colony.

There were indeed cabinet members who clearly opposed it, but not many. More cabinet ministers maintained an ambiguous attitude; as long as they did not have to be responsible for this matter, they did not mind going with the flow and echoing the decision of the Prime Minister and the King.

After the Spanish government made the decision, various public opinion institutions also took action.

First was the Cuba government side, which needed to let some Spanish opponents plan resistance activities.

Of course, such resistance activities needed to be kept at a certain scale, at least not affecting the Cuba colony.

If a large-scale resistance broke out in Cuba during this period, even if the colony could be successfully exchanged in the end, the value of the Cuba colony would certainly be greatly discounted.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 265 =====