Chapter 293: The Establishment of the West African Colony

At the same time the Mercedes-Benz car company was entering the Portuguese market, Portugal was also carrying out its own colonial operations.

As mentioned before, according to the agreement between the Spanish and Portuguese governments, both sides reached a preliminary exchange pact regarding their colonies in Africa.

As long as Portugal could take the southern Congo region with Spain's help, Portugal was willing to give up all its West African colonies except for Cape Verde.

A year and a half had passed since this agreement was reached, and the Portuguese had long since made careful preparations, launching a grand colonial campaign against the various indigenous states of the southern Congo.

There were nearly ten indigenous states of varying sizes in the southern Congo, among which the more powerful ones included the Lunda Kingdom, the Buunda Kingdom, the Barotseland Kingdom, and the Mwata Kazembe Kingdom.

After careful planning, the Portuguese government ultimately chose the Lunda Kingdom as the first country for colonial invasion.

The reason the Portuguese chose this place as their first target was simple: it was located in the northern part of the Congo Basin, which happened to allow for a separation from Spain's Congo territory.

It was clear that the Portuguese government was also worried that Spain would not keep its word, fearing that the Spanish government might forcibly take over the land colonized by Portugal after the Portuguese launched their colonial invasion.

Developing land oneself is laborious and exhausting, but seizing the colonies of other countries is far less troublesome.

One only needs to use the military for occupation; given the significant disparity in strength between the two countries, even if Spain occupied Portugal's colonies, the Portuguese government would likely not dare to say anything.

This once again confirmed the famous maxim: "Weak nations have no diplomacy, small nations have no sovereignty."

Although the Lunda Kingdom was a relatively powerful indigenous state in the southern Congo, to Portugal, this so-called country seemed somewhat laughable.

Unlike the Ashanti Confederacy that had troubled the British for so long, because they were located deep within the African continent in the Congo Basin, the indigenous states and forces here had never come into contact with advanced technology and were in the most primitive and backward era.

Portugal's steel guns and cannons were a complete crushing force to these indigenous people; they had no power to resist Portugal's colonial offensive.

Portugal mobilized an army of about 5, 00 men, marching grandly eastward from their West African colony, and took about three months to completely occupy the Lunda Kingdom.

Why did it take three months? This must be explained starting from the geographical location of the Lunda Kingdom.

Because this land was located on the edge of the Congo Basin, it was covered in dense primeval forests and filled with all kinds of unimaginable dangerous terrain and germs.

It took the Portuguese army less than a week to occupy the few large tribes of the Lunda Kingdom, and the remaining time was spent entirely on traversing the primeval forests and searching for the tracks of the indigenous people.

If it hadn't been for the appearance of traitors among the Congolese in the West African colony, with some Congolese leading the way for the Portuguese army, I fear the Portuguese army wouldn't even have had the ability to pass through this primeval forest.

In any case, the Portuguese army did indeed completely occupy the Lunda Kingdom and annexed it into their West African colony.

After occupying the Lunda Kingdom, the shortest distance between Portugal's West African colony and the Mozambique colony was less than 600 kilometers.

This made the Portuguese incredibly excited; they firmly believed that the time for the two colonies to merge had arrived, and that Portugal was about to establish another super-large colony after Brazil.

The Portuguese government was even already discussing the naming of this large colony. King Luis of Portugal intended to name this large colony Portuguese Africa and, like Hu An, boasted extensively about his contributions before the establishment of this large colony.

Hu An had completely consolidated his throne through a Congo territory, which made Luis, also a king, extremely envious.

The contribution of merely opening up a Congo territory was enough to ensure the continuation of the House of Savoy's rule in Spain.

Currently, the political situation in Portugal was relatively chaotic, and Luis had similar thoughts; he also wanted to stabilize Portugal's political situation and allow his throne to be smoothly passed to his son.

However, before Portugal could continue its colonial operations, they had a promise to fulfill: the colonial exchange with Spain.

When the colonial exchange agreement was reached with Spain, both sides had already agreed that once Portugal completely occupied any indigenous state or force in the southern Congo, Portugal would need to transfer all land in its West African colony, except for Cape Verde, to Spain.

Only then would Spain permit Portugal to continue colonizing the southern Congo.

Spain was not afraid of Portugal going back on its word. As long as the Portuguese government dared to tear up the previously agreed-upon treaty, Spain could launch a war at any time to retake the land in the southern Congo, or even forcibly occupy Portugal's colonies in West Africa.

Although the colonial exchange agreement between the two countries was signed in secret, there were documents and the signatures of officials from both countries at the time as evidence.

For Portugal, as a small country, to dare to unilaterally break the contract would be equivalent to handing the Spanish government a pretext for war.

The Portuguese government naturally understood this point, and they did not intend to break the contract.

Firstly, the Portuguese government did not have the strength to break the contract; forcibly tearing up the previous agreement would only cause Portugal's preparations to fall short of success.

Secondly, this colonial exchange was not a loss for Portugal. If they could obtain a consolidated, super-large colony, the harvest would be far greater than those few small colonies in West Africa.

Although Portugal had many colonies in West Africa, these colonies all shared a common characteristic: they were small in land and sparse in population.

The largest colony was the Portuguese Guinea colony, with an area of only just over 30, 00 square kilometers and a pathetic population of less than 100, 00.

The economic value these colonies could provide to the Portuguese government was truly limited, far inferior to the harvest brought about by the merger of Portugal's East and West African colonies.

The only thing Portugal worried about was whether Spain would tear up the treaty, wanting both Portugal's West African colonies and the southern Congo land that Portugal had just occupied.

However, they did not have the courage to refuse the transfer of the colonies and could only try their best to delay the time of the colonial sovereignty transfer.

The Spanish government did not refuse the Portuguese government's proposal to transfer the colonies sequentially.

Portugal's colonies were scattered along the West African coast, and receiving them all at once was indeed quite troublesome. Spain also knew the Portuguese government's misgivings; Hu An had no intention of tearing up the treaty, so he naturally didn't mind getting the Portuguese colonies a little later.

Of course, if the Portuguese government had the right to propose conditions, the Spanish government naturally had the right to propose conditions as well.

After the Portuguese government proposed transferring its West African colonies sequentially, the Spanish government put forward a new requirement: the Portuguese Guinea colony must be the first colony transferred.

The Guinea colony was Portugal's largest colony in West Africa, and more importantly, this land was connected to Spain's Gambia colony.

The sooner they took the Guinea colony, the sooner the two colonies could be merged, accelerating the agricultural development plan for the Gambia colony.

Originally, the Gambia colony only had an area of over 30, 00 square kilometers, and the scale of agricultural development always had an upper limit.

But if it were merged with Portugal's Guinea colony, the total area of the two colonies combined would be close to 70, 00 square kilometers, which was not a small area at all.

Of course, the Ziguinchor colony, which was right next to the Guinea colony, naturally had to be transferred to Spain at the same time.

As for the remaining Ouidah colony and the São Tomé and Príncipe colony, they could be delayed for a period of time before transferring sovereignty as proposed by the Portuguese government.

The remaining two colonies were not large in area, and when sovereignty was transferred would basically have no impact on Spain.

Faced with the Spanish government's requirements, the Portuguese government had no reason to refuse. Under these circumstances, the two governments' actions regarding the transfer of colonial sovereignty soon began.

In July 1882, the Spanish government officially acquired the Portuguese Ziguinchor colony and the Portuguese Guinea colony, and immediately announced the merger of the two colonies with the Gambia colony to establish the Spanish West Africa colony.

If one were to ask which Spanish official was the happiest, it might be the former Governor of the Gambia colony, Harrison.

The Gambia colony had already been in the spotlight due to Spain's West Africa development plan. After merging with Portugal's two colonies to establish the West Africa colony, the new West Africa colony became a key colony for Spain's development.

As the former Governor of the Gambia colony, Harrison naturally became the Governor of the new West Africa colony in a logical progression.

Judging by the importance the Spanish government placed on it, the West Africa colony could be said to be the third-largest colony, second only to the Congo colony and the Philippines colony, so the position of colonial governor naturally carried significant weight.

One must know that the name "West Africa colony" was not chosen at random. In the future, Spain's Sierra Leone colony and Gold Coast colony might both be merged with the West Africa colony, and the main body after the merger would, of course, be the West Africa colony.

As the Governor of the West Africa colony, Harrison had the potential to become an existence comparable to the Governor of the Congo territory in the future.

After serving in the governor's seat of the West Africa colony for a few years, Harrison had a high hope of being transferred back to Spain to serve as the Minister of Colonial Affairs or the Minister of Agriculture.

After all, his main tasks in the West Africa colony were colonial and agricultural work, which corresponded exactly to the Minister of Colonial Affairs and the Minister of Agriculture.

After taking over the Guinea colony and the Ziguinchor colony from Portugal, the Spanish government increased its efforts to support Portugal's colonization of the southern Congo.

For Hu An, the sooner the Portuguese government occupied the land in the southern Congo, the sooner the British would interfere with Portugal's colonial operations.

As long as the British chose to interfere with Portugal's colonial operations, destroying the expectations for a "Greater Africa" colony that the entire nation of Portugal was looking forward to, cracks would naturally appear in the relationship between Portugal and Britain.

Although it would not be enough to cause a complete break between Portugal and the British, it would greatly damage the relationship between the two countries, making it more likely for Portugal to lean toward Spain.

Don't look at how everyone in Portugal, from King Luis down to every government official and many citizens, was looking forward to the merger of the East and West African colonies.

In reality, Hu An was quite clear that there was no possibility for Portugal to merge these two colonies.

Unless the British lost Egypt or the Cape Colony, Portugal's colonial plans and Britain's colonial plans had an inherent conflict.

For Portugal at this time, the greater the current expectations, the greater the disappointment would be after the British shattered those expectations in the future.

They would not only be furious at the British who shattered their dreams, but also disappointed in the cowardly Portuguese government and royal family.

The Portuguese, disappointed in their government and royal family, would naturally be unable to help but compare them with their neighbor, Spain, and at this time, the strong attitude shown by Hu An would pay off.

The conflict between Italy and France over the Tunisia colony alone was enough to make the Portuguese feel the difference in diplomatic attitudes between Spain and Portugal.

The reason Italy was able to snatch two pieces of land from France's mouth was inseparable from Spain's support behind the scenes.

Compared with the Portuguese government's act of abandoning colonies under British interference, Spain's performance of not fearing great powers was even more precious.

When the power of some public opinion and propaganda was added to that, it was hard to say how the situation in Portugal would develop.

As long as public opinion in Portugal could be guided toward hostility against Britain, such planning was not a loss for Hu An.

If the Portuguese could be made completely disappointed in their government and royal family, and thus overthrow the revolution and re-elect a monarch like Spain, that would be even better.

If Hu An could not become the King of Portugal through the election of a king, then he would have to rely on war or other means to forcibly annex Portugal.

However, this was ultimately the worst-case scenario. As long as Portugal could be annexed through peaceful means, Hu An would absolutely not consider using force.

After all, using force to annex would only damage the relationship between the Portuguese and the Spanish, thereby increasing the difficulty of assimilating the Portuguese.

After occupying the Lunda Kingdom, Portugal did not choose the Mwata Kazembe Kingdom, which connected the Lunda Kingdom and the Mozambique colony, but instead chose the Buunda Kingdom south of Lunda.

Although conquering the Mwata Kazembe Kingdom could directly connect Portugal's West African colony and Mozambique colony, such a connection was not secure.

The Mwata Kazembe Kingdom was located in the eastern part of the entire Congo region, and besides Portugal's Mozambique colony, there were many indigenous states and forces of various sizes around it.

Occupying this place would indeed allow Portugal to forcibly connect its East and West African colonies, but it would also cause several surrounding indigenous states to unite to resist Portugal's colonial operations.

Portugal and Spain were not the same. Spain had a population of over 20 million, and the mainland alone could form an army of over a million.

This gave Spain the confidence to confront other great powers, at least not being so afraid of falling out with other great powers.

But Portugal was different. Portugal's mainland population had not yet exceeded 5 million, and the limit for mobilizing an army was probably around 200, 00 to 300, 00.

More importantly, these colonies of Portugal did not have much population either; the combined population of the West African and Mozambique colonies was not even as much as Portugal's mainland population.

This also led to Portugal being unable to form large-scale colonial armies like Spain, and the local Congolese and Mozambicans were not that submissive to Portuguese rule.

If Portugal blindly formed large-scale colonial armies, it would only cause mutinies among these colonial armies composed of indigenous people, thereby making Portugal's colonies even more dangerous.

Since they could not make extensive use of indigenous manpower, Portugal could only rely on armies formed by their own people to conquer the land.

But Portugal's mainland population was not large, which formed a vicious cycle. Although these indigenous people would not pose a major threat to Portugal's colonial plans, if the surrounding indigenous forces united, Portugal would certainly have to pay a significant price in casualties to take these lands.

For a country with a population of less than 5 million, casualties that could be avoided must be avoided; in some cases, this was even more important than expanding territory.

The army that Portugal itself could mobilize was limited; if they lost tens of thousands of troops because of colonizing the southern Congo land, how could they defend against the covetousness of great powers toward the Portuguese mainland?

Although Portugal and Spain achieved their respective goals through the colonial exchange, this did not mean that the relationship between the two Iberian neighbors had become friendly and harmonious.

The idea of re-annexing Portugal had never faded in Spain, and Portugal was also constantly guarding against the covetousness of its powerful neighbor, Spain.

For Portugal now, how to conquer the land in the southern Congo without losing too much manpower was a question that needed careful consideration.

Any military action that could potentially cause heavy losses needed to be avoided as much as possible; after all, there was no permanent good relationship between countries, and one's own military strength was also very important.

It was precisely because of these various reasons that Portugal ultimately gave up its colonial plan for the Mwata Kazembe Kingdom and chose the Buunda Kingdom, which was closer to the West African colony.

When Hu An learned that the Portuguese colonial plan had chosen the Buunda Kingdom, he shook his head with some regret.

Because if the Portuguese chose to conquer the Muwataka Ceng Bei Kingdom to connect their two colonies, the British would certainly forcibly intervene before long.

But the Portuguese chose the Buwenda Kingdom; even if this could attract the attention of the Yingguozheng Prefecture, the Yingguozheng Prefecture would not necessarily forcibly intervene at this time.

After all, between the Buwenda Kingdom and the Mo San colony, there were still vast stretches of land that had not been colonized.

Before the Portuguese colonial plan and the British colonial plan fully conflicted, the British would not forcibly intervene in Portuguese colonization.

After all, this kind of behavior that harms national interests would inadvertently push Portugal in the direction of Spain.

If the Putaoyazheng Prefecture were to lean toward the Xibanyazheng Prefecture because of this and form an Iberian Alliance, that would be a massive joke.

5, 00-word two-in-one chapter, seeking support!

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(End of chapter)