Chapter 271: Secondary Colonial Exchange

The Pink Map plan was not something the Portuguese suddenly proposed; rather, it was a Greater Africa colonization plan put forward 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 colony had been established for a long time, and the merger of these two colonies had always been a topic secretly planned by the Portuguese government and the royal family.

The Portuguese were also exploring the geography of the Congo Basin, but unfortunately, Spain had completely outpaced them, establishing the Congo Territory before Portugal.

This severely disrupted the Portuguese plans, leaving Portugal with no choice but to settle for second best, conducting colonial development in the south of the Congo Basin in an attempt to establish a Greater Africa colony for Portugal between the Spanish and British colonies.

The difficulty of doing this can be imagined. Spain's Congo Territory had been expanding southward, and Britain's Cape Colony had also been expanding northward.

Portugal's target lay between the Spanish and British colonies, which was, in fact, the most awkward position. A single misstep could offend both Spain and Britain simultaneously, which also caused Portugal's colonial progress to remain very slow, and the proposal regarding the merger of the West African colony and the Mozambique colony had almost come to a standstill.

Upon hearing Prime Minister Canovas's proposal, the Portuguese diplomatic ambassador was stunned for a moment, and then felt a sense of surprise and unexpectedness in his heart.

The Portuguese government had almost given up on the plan itself, and he had not expected the Spanish government to actually bring it up proactively, and even be willing to help Portugal complete the merger of the two colonies.

Although he was joyful inside, the Portuguese ambassador did not show it; instead, he displayed an attitude of refusal: "Please forgive me, Mr. Prime Minister. Matters concerning colonies are of great importance, and I must consult my home government."

Prime Minister Canovas was not in a hurry; he nodded and said, "That is only natural. This is just an idea of mine, and whether this idea can be realized or not will not affect the relationship between our two governments."

In order not to let the Portuguese discover that Spain's goal was to obtain Portugal's West African colonies, Prime Minister Canovas, after a short pause, immediately put forward another proposal: a customs union between Spain and Portugal.

So-called customs duties are, in fact, taxes on import and export trade between countries and regions. Because the Iberian Peninsula is relatively closed, Portugal, in addition to relying on supplies from its colonies, had to import from Spain most of the time to obtain material supplies, with only a small portion imported from other European countries.

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

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

Because Spain occupied an advantageous position in terms of industrial output and agricultural production, the benefits of a customs union for Spain far outweighed the disadvantages.

As for Portugal, establishing a customs union would also allow it to continuously import cheaper industrial and agricultural products from Spain.

The disadvantages were also obvious, namely that Portugal's industrial and agricultural development would be subject to corresponding restrictions. The lower the price of products imported from Spain, the more it would affect the market environment within Portugal.

Agriculture was fine; Portugal's grain output was not high, but its own population was also small, so it did not need to import too much grain.

What needed to be imported were vegetables and fruits, and in this regard, Portugal's output was not high, so it would basically not affect the income of farmers and related growers.

However, in terms of industry, the impact of a customs union would be relatively large. Once a large amount of cheap Spanish industrial products flooded the Portuguese market, there would be no possibility for Portugal's industry to rise.

More importantly, Portugal and Spain are neighboring countries, and such an economic shock would be even more fatal. Once Spanish industrial products completely saturated the Portuguese market, wouldn't Spain be controlling Portugal's economy in disguise?

It was precisely because of this that when Prime Minister Canovas mentioned a customs union between the two countries, the Portuguese diplomatic ambassador showed a more explicit attitude of refusal.

Although a customs union also had benefits for Portugal, Portugal did not want to be led by the nose 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 meant that the benefits of a customs union with Spain were limited, while the disadvantages were quite obvious and limitless.

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

The Portuguese diplomatic ambassador was expressionless when he left, but as soon as he sat back in his carriage, his mood immediately became agitated.

"Return to the embassy quickly; I have important news to report to the home government," the Portuguese diplomatic ambassador ordered hurriedly.

The attendant responsible for driving the carriage nodded respectfully, flicked the leather whip in his hand, and the entire carriage began to move.

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

If the Portuguese government was interested in exchanging colonies, they would naturally take the initiative to put forward relevant proposals. If the Portuguese side had no such thoughts for the time being, it would be useless for the Spanish government to be anxious.

As time reached 1881, the work of the Spanish government, in addition to carrying out the West African development plan, also included continuing large-scale construction on the Spanish mainland.

Since the last "Madrid City That Never Sleeps" event, European countries' emphasis on the power industry had significantly increased.

As the current leader in the power industry, Spain naturally could not fall behind in this regard.

A year has passed since the "Madrid City That Never Sleeps," so what achievements has Spain made in the power industry?

First is the popularization of electricity. As of now, the Madrid and Barcelona power companies have expanded to a considerable scale.

The cumulative number of users of the Madrid Power Company exceeded 7, 00, of which about 4, 00 were enterprise users and about 3, 00 were residential users.

Simply put, about 4, 00 factories and enterprises in Madrid were connected to electricity, and 3, 00 households were connected to electricity.

Looking at the numbers alone, the achievements made by the Madrid Power Company were quite good. But in reality, among the 3, 00 households connected to electricity, nobles, capitalists, and high-ranking officials occupied the majority; the number of commoners who truly took the initiative to connect to electricity was less than 300, which is one-tenth.

The situation in Barcelona was even worse. Although the Barcelona Power Company also had 6, 00 users, the vast majority of these users were enterprise users, namely factories and related enterprises in industrial zones.

There were less than 1, 00 households connected to electricity, and those true commoners who enjoyed electricity were less than one-tenth.

The good news is that the power development situation in other European countries was not much different from Spain's, and some countries were even worse than Spain.

Although this era is the era of Europe, for most European commoners, this era could be considered very terrible.

The Industrial Revolution drove the development of capital, and the development of capital intensified the exploitation of commoners. While the industries of various countries were developing rapidly, workers and farmers were being exploited more and more severely.

This also led to a common phenomenon in European countries: ordinary people could not afford electricity. The only ones who could afford electricity were factories and enterprises, or the capitalists behind the factories.

But not all capitalists were willing to use electricity on a large scale; after all, the cost of electricity at this time was not small, not to mention the full popularization of electricity within factories.

If one were to talk about the fastest speed of electricity popularization, besides Spain, perhaps only Germany, which had a keen sense of smell for electricity, could compare.

As early as the middle of last year, Germany built a large number of street lamps in Berlin and announced that Berlin had entered the era of the "City That Never Sleeps."

On the night of the news report, street lamp after street lamp lit up in the urban area of Berlin, reflecting the faces of the proud Germans under the street lamps.

Germany's power development progressed at an incredibly fast speed; if Spain had not been prepared, perhaps Germany could have surpassed Spain in just one year.

Regarding the development of electricity, Gao Da was extremely serious.

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

Currently, the main research direction of the Spanish Power Laboratory is higher-power generators and electric motors; if this can be realized, perhaps electric machinery can replace some steam machinery, thereby allowing Spain to officially enter the era of the power industry.

After a year of development, Spain's rail transit system could be considered to have taken shape.

Currently, both Madrid and Barcelona have built two tram tracks; it is worth mentioning that the first track built in both cities was the road responsible for connecting the city and the industrial zone.

From this, one can also see the importance both cities attached to industry. In this era, the stronger a country's industry, the stronger its comprehensive strength.

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

The only exception is the United States, the main reason being that the United States does not attach importance to the development of the military.

In the end, it is because the geographical location of the United States is too superior; in the absence of strong enemies, it would naturally neglect the development of the military.

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 abandoned the development of the military, it would be equivalent to abandoning 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 breathe a sigh of relief. The Spanish side was almost about to give up the idea of exchanging colonies with Portugal; if the Portuguese side had not taken the initiative to contact Spain, Spain might have continued to colonize the land in the south of the Congo Territory.

Although Spain already possessed enough land, one can never have too many colonies.

If Spain did not colonize it, this land would sooner or later be colonized by other countries. Even if Spain did not need this land, holding it in its hands would allow for interest exchanges.

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

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

If this plan could be established, the total area of the new African colony would reach millions of square kilometers; the Brazil colony that Portugal once controlled had such an area.

As a declining colonial empire, Portugal was very eager for a new large colony and was willing to make great efforts for it.

At the moment, Spain's proposal was a good opportunity; even knowing that the Spanish would not be so kind, the Portuguese government and King Luis of Portugal were unwilling to give up such a good opportunity.

One could also see Portugal's emphasis from the diplomatic representative sent by Portugal.

This diplomatic representative was not a diplomatic ambassador, but a cabinet minister in charge of colonial affairs. As a former colonial empire, Portugal also had cabinet ministers similar to Spain's Minister of Colonial Affairs.

Moreover, the status and power of such a cabinet minister were not low; in Portugal, they could even rank in the top three of the cabinet.

The Portuguese diplomatic mission was led by the Minister of Colonial Affairs, plus the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the diplomatic ambassador, and a group 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 previous colonial exchange negotiation was a "white-glove" proposal put forward by the British, which was to use the condition of allowing Spain to conquer the Oman region, while Britain itself did not pay anything for this condition.

And now, it was the Spanish side that put forward a similar proposal. Spain allowed Portugal to colonize the land south of the Congo Territory, and the Spanish side did not pay anything, except for not being able to colonize the land south of the Congo.

Considering that Spain had already established a territory of millions of square kilometers in the Congo, giving up the land south of the Congo Territory was not a loss.

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

The main topic of discussion between the Portuguese government and the Spanish government was the respective conditions for the two countries to carry out the relevant exchange.

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

After all, on the surface, Portugal still possessed the Portuguese Guinea colony, Portuguese Bissau, Portuguese Cape Verde, Portuguese Ouidah, and Portuguese Sao Tome and Principe in West Africa.

Never mind the area, population, and economic value of these colonies; just from the perspective of quantity, possessing these colonies could also bolster 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 fully colonized these lands, the Portuguese government would then deliver the sovereignty of the West African colonies.

But Spain would certainly not accept such conditions. This would be equivalent to the Spanish government having no gains over a long period of time.

Although Spain allowed Portugal to colonize the land south of the Congo, both Gao Da and the Spanish government were clear that it would be very difficult for Portugal to fully colonize the land south of the Congo.

From Britain's actions in South Africa, one could also see that the British had no small ambition for the land north of South Africa.

The British would certainly not be willing to let Portugal stand in front of them, blocking the northward expansion of the South African colony.

If the British blocked Portugal's colonial expansion, wouldn't that mean that it would be impossible for Portugal to ever fully colonize the land south of the Congo?

By then, Portugal would have obtained part of the land south of the Congo, Britain would have obtained the remaining land, and Spain would have had no gains at all; who would one go to for justice then?

The attitude of the Spanish side was also very clear: they could 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 support to Portugal, including weapons, equipment, and grain supplies, to help Portugal colonize the land south of the Congo faster.

(End of this chapter)