Chapter 293: Establishment Of The West African Colony
At the same time as the Royal Mercedes-Benz Automobile Company entered the Portuguese market, Portugal was also carrying out its own colonial action.
As mentioned before, according to the agreement between the governments of Spain and Portugal, the two sides had reached a preliminary colonial exchange agreement 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 Cape Verde.
This agreement had been reached a year and a half ago, and the Portuguese had already made careful preparations, launching a massive colonial invasion against the indigenous nations in Southern Congo.
There were nearly ten indigenous nations of various sizes in Southern Congo, among which the more powerful indigenous nations were Ruanda Kingdom, Bunda Kingdom, Barotseland Kingdom, and Mwata Kazembe Kingdom.
After careful planning, the Portuguese government ultimately chose Ruanda Kingdom as the first nation for colonial invasion.
The reason the Portuguese chose this place as the first target was also very simple: it was located in the northern part of the Congo Basin, just right to separate it from Spain’s Congo Territory.
Obviously, the Portuguese government was also worried that Spain would not keep its word, fearing that the Spanish Government would forcibly take over the land colonized by Portugal after Portugal launched the colonial invasion.
Developing it themselves would be laborious, but seizing other countries’ colonies would not be so troublesome.
They only needed to use the army for military occupation, and in the face of the significant strength gap between the two countries, even if Spain occupied Portugal’s colonies, the Portuguese Government would probably not dare to say anything.
This once again confirmed that famous saying: “Weak countries have no diplomacy, small countries have no sovereignty.”
Although Ruanda Kingdom was one of the more powerful indigenous nations in Southern Congo, to Portugal, this so-called nation seemed somewhat ridiculous.
Unlike the Ashanti Federation that had troubled the British for a long time. Because it was located inside the African Continent in the Congo Basin, the indigenous nations and forces here had not come into contact with advanced technology and were still in the most primitive and backward era.
Portugal’s steel guns and cannons were a complete crush on these indigenous people; they were fundamentally unable to resist Portugal’s colonial invasion.
Portugal mobilized an army of about 5,000 troops, advancing eastward in a grand manner from the West African Colony, and it took nearly three months to completely occupy Ruanda Kingdom.
Why did it take three months? This had to start from the geographical location of Ruanda Kingdom.
Because this land was located on the edge of the Congo Basin, it was covered with primary forests full of various unimaginable dangerous terrains and pathogens.
The Portuguese army occupied several major tribes of Ruanda Kingdom in less than a week, and the remaining time was all spent traversing the primary forests and searching for traces of the indigenous people.
If it weren’t for traitors appearing among the Congolese from the West African Colony, with some Congolese leading the way for the Portuguese army, the Portuguese army probably wouldn’t even have the ability to cross this primary forest.
In any case, the Portuguese army did completely and intactly occupy Ruanda Kingdom and incorporated it into the West African Colony.
After occupying Ruanda Kingdom, the shortest distance between Portugal’s West African Colony and Mozambique Colony was already less than 600 kilometers.
This also excited the Portuguese endlessly; they confidently believed that the time for merging the two colonies had arrived, and Portugal would soon establish another super-large colony after Brazil.
Even within the Portuguese Government, they were already discussing the naming of this large colony. King Louis of Portugal planned to name this large colony Portuguese Africa and, like Carlo, extensively publicize his contributions before its establishment.
Carlo had thoroughly consolidated his throne through a Congo Territory, which made Louis, who was also a king, extremely envious.
Just the contribution from pioneering a Congo Territory was enough to ensure the continued rule of the House of Savoy in Spain.
Portugal’s current political situation was relatively chaotic, and Louis had such thoughts as well; he also wanted to stabilize Portugal’s political situation and smoothly pass his throne to his son.
However, before Portugal continued its colonial action, they had a promise to fulfill, which was to carry out the colonial exchange with Spain.
When reaching the colonial exchange agreement with Spain, both sides had already agreed: after Portugal completely occupied any indigenous nation or force in Southern Congo, Portugal needed to transfer all its land in the West African Colony except Cape Verde to Spain.
Only then would Spain permit Portugal to continue colonizing in Southern Congo.
Spain was not afraid of Portugal breaking its word either. If the Portuguese Government dared to tear up the previous agreement, Spain could launch a war at any time to reclaim the land in Southern Congo or even forcibly occupy Portugal’s colonies in West Africa.
Although the colonial exchange agreement between the two countries was secretly signed, there were documents and signatures from officials of both countries at the time as evidence.
If Portugal, as a small country, dared to unilaterally break the agreement, it would be equivalent to handing the Spanish Government an excuse to declare war.
The Portuguese Government naturally understood this point and had no intention of breaking the agreement.
First, the Portuguese Government did not have the strength to break the agreement; forcibly tearing it up would only make their preparations fall short.
Second, this colonial exchange was not a loss for Portugal. If they could obtain a super-large colony integrated together, the harvest would far exceed that of those small West African Colonies.
Although Portugal had many colonies in West Africa, they all shared a common characteristic: small land and sparse population.
The largest colony was the Portuguese Guinea Colony, with an area of just over 30,000 square kilometers and a population of less than a pitiful 100,
The economic value these colonies could provide to the Portuguese Government was really limited, far less than the harvest brought by the merger of Portugal’s East and West African colonies.
The only worry for Portugal was whether Spain would tear up the treaty, wanting both Portugal’s West African Colonies and the land in Southern Congo that Portugal had just occupied.
However, they did not have the courage to refuse the transfer of the colonies and could only try to delay the time for colonial sovereignty transfer.
Spain’s Government did not refuse the Portuguese Government’s proposal to transfer the colonies one by one.
Portugal’s colonies were scattered along the West African coast, and receiving them all at once would indeed be quite troublesome. Spain also understood the Portuguese Government’s concerns; Carlo had no intention of tearing up the treaty, so he naturally did not mind getting Portugal’s colonies a bit later.
Of course, since the Portuguese Government had the qualification to propose conditions, the Spanish Government naturally also had the qualification to propose conditions.
After the Portuguese Government proposed transferring its West African Colonies one by one, the Spanish Government put forward a new requirement: the Portuguese Guinea Colony must be the first to be 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 they could merge the two colonies and accelerate the agricultural development plan for the Gambia Colony.
Originally, the Gambia Colony had only over 30,000 square kilometers of area, and the scale of agricultural development always had an upper limit.
But if merged with Portugal’s Guinea Colony, the total area of the two colonies would be close to 70,000 square kilometers, which was not small at all.
Of course, the Ziguinchor Colony, which was adjacent to the Guinea Colony, would naturally also be transferred to Spain at the same time.
As for the remaining Whydah Colony and São Tomé and Príncipe Colony, they could be postponed for a while as proposed by the Portuguese Government before transferring sovereignty.
The remaining two colonies were not large in area, and when to transfer sovereignty would basically have no impact on Spain.
Facing the requirements of the Spanish Government, the Portuguese Government had no reason to refuse. In this situation, the two governments quickly began the action regarding the transfer of colonial sovereignty.
In July 1882, the Spanish Government formally obtained the Portuguese Ziguinchor Colony and Portuguese Guinea Colony, and immediately announced the merger of the two colonies with the Gambia Colony to establish the Spanish West African Colony.
Among Spain’s officials, the happiest might be the former Gambia Colony Governor Harrison.
Originally, the Gambia Colony had received much attention due to Spain’s West Africa Development Plan. After merging with Portugal’s two colonies to form the West African Colony, the new West African Colony became even more of a key colony for Spain’s development.
As the former Gambia Colony Governor, Harrison naturally became the governor of the new West African Colony as a matter of course.
Judging from the emphasis of the Spanish Government, the West African Colony could be said to be the third largest colony after the Congo Colony and Philippine Colony, and the position of colonial governor naturally had considerable value.
It must be known that the name West African Colony was not given randomly. In the future, Spain’s Sierra Leone Colony and Gold Coast Colony might merge with the West African Colony, and the main body after merger would of course be the West African Colony.
As the governor of the West African Colony, Harrison might in the future become an existence comparable to the Congo Territory Governor.
After serving a few years in the position of West African Colony Governor, Harrison had a good chance of being transferred back to Spain to serve as Minister of Colonial Affairs or Minister of Agriculture.
After all, his main tasks in the West African Colony were colonial and agricultural work, which corresponded exactly to the Minister of Colonial Affairs and Minister of Agriculture.
After taking over the Guinea Colony and Ziguinchor Colony from Portugal, the Spanish Government increased its support for Portugal’s colonization of Southern Congo.
For Carlo, the sooner the Portuguese Government occupied the land in Southern Congo, the sooner the British would intervene in Portugal’s colonial action.
As long as the British chose to intervene in Portugal’s colonial action and destroyed the Great African Colony expectation that the entire Portugal was eagerly anticipating, the relationship between Portugal and the United Kingdom would naturally develop cracks.
Although not enough to cause a complete break between Portugal and the British, it would greatly damage the relationship between the two countries and make Portugal more likely to lean towards Spain.
Don’t think that from King Louis of Portugal down to every official in the government and many of the public were expecting the merger of the East and West African colonies.
In fact, Carlo was well aware that Portugal had no possibility of merging these two colonies.
Unless the British lost Egypt or the Cape Colony, Portugal’s colonial plan and Britain’s colonial plan would have inherent conflicts.
For Portugal at this time, the greater the current expectations, the greater the disappointment after the British crushed those expectations in the future.
They would not only become furious at the British who shattered their dreams, but also disappointed in the cowardly Portuguese Government and Royal Family.
Portuguese people disappointed in the government and Royal Family would naturally involuntarily compare with their neighboring country Spain, and at that time, the strong attitude shown by Carlo would yield returns.
Just the conflict between Italy’s and France’s Tunisia colonies was enough to let 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 it.
In contrast to the Portuguese Government’s behavior of abandoning colonies under British intervention, Spain’s performance of not fearing great powers became even more valuable.
With some public opinion propaganda added at that time, how the situation in Portugal would develop was unpredictable.
As long as Portugal’s public opinion could be guided to develop in a direction hostile to the United Kingdom, such planning would not be a loss for Carlo.
If it could make the Portuguese completely disappointed in the government and Royal Family, thereby overthrowing the revolution and reselecting a monarch like Spain, that would be the best.
If Carlo could not become King of Portugal through king selection, he would have to rely on war or other means to forcibly annex Portugal.
However, this was ultimately the worst plan. As long as he could annex Portugal through peaceful means, Carlo would absolutely not consider using force.
After all, using force to annex would only damage the relationship between the Portuguese and Spaniards, thereby increasing the difficulty of assimilating the Portuguese.
After annexing Ruanda Kingdom, Portugal did not choose Mwata Kazembe Kingdom, which was connected to Ruanda Kingdom and Mozambique Colony, but instead chose Bunda Kingdom to the south of Ruanda.
Although conquering Mwata Kazembe Kingdom could directly connect Portugal’s West African Colony and Mozambique Colony, such a connection would not be solid.
Mwata Kazembe Kingdom was located in the eastern part of the entire Congo Region, and around it, besides Portugal’s Mozambique Colony, there were many indigenous nations and forces of various sizes.
Occupying it would indeed forcibly connect Portugal’s East African and West African colonies, but it would also cause several surrounding indigenous nations to unite in resistance against Portugal’s colonial action.
Portugal was different from Spain. Spain had a population of over 20 million and could assemble an army of over a million from its homeland alone.
This also gave Spain the confidence to confront other great powers, at least not so afraid of tearing faces with other great powers.
But Portugal was different. Portugal’s homeland population had not exceeded 5 million even now, and the limit for mobilizing troops was around 200,000 to 300,
More importantly, Portugal’s colonies did not have much population either; the combined population of the West African and Mozambique colonies was not even as large as Portugal’s homeland population.
This also meant Portugal could not form large-scale colonial armies like Spain, and the local Congolese and Mozambicans were not so submissive to Portuguese rule.
If Portugal blindly formed large-scale colonial armies, it would only cause mutiny among these colonial armies composed of indigenous people, 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 its own people to conquer land.
But Portugal’s homeland population was not large, forming a vicious cycle. Although these indigenous people would not pose too great a threat to Portugal’s colonial plan, if the surrounding indigenous forces united, Portugal would definitely have to pay considerable casualties to take that land.
For a country with a population of less than 5 million, casualties that could be avoided must be avoided, which was sometimes more important than expanding territory.
Portugal itself had limited troops it could mobilize; if it lost tens of thousands more troops due to colonizing Southern Congo, how could it defend against the great powers’ coveting of Portugal’s homeland?
Although Portugal and Spain had achieved their respective goals through the colonial exchange, this did not mean the relationship between the two Iberian neighboring countries had become friendly and harmonious.
In Spain, the idea of re-annexing Portugal had never been abandoned, and in Portugal, they were always on guard against this powerful neighbor Spain’s coveting.
For present-day Portugal, how to conquer the land in Southern Congo without losing too much manpower was a problem that needed careful consideration.
Any military action that could cause massive losses needed to be avoided as much as possible; after all, there were no permanent good relations between countries, and one’s own military strength was also very important.
It was precisely because of all these reasons that Portugal ultimately abandoned its colonial plan for Mwata Kazembe Kingdom and chose the Bunda Kingdom, which was closer to the West African Colony.
When Carlo learned that the Portuguese’s colonial plan had chosen Bunda Kingdom, he shook his head with some regret.
Because if the Portuguese chose to conquer Mwata Kazembe Kingdom to connect their two colonies, the British would definitely forcibly intervene soon after.
But since the Portuguese chose Bunda Kingdom, even if it attracted the attention of the British Government, the British Government might not forcibly intervene at this time.
After all, between Bunda Kingdom and Mozambique Colony, there was still a large area of uncolonized land.
Before Portugal’s colonial plan and Britain’s colonial plan fully conflicted, the British would not forcibly intervene in Portugal’s colonization.
After all, such behavior damaging national interests would unintentionally push Portugal towards Spain.
If the Portuguese Government therefore leaned towards the Spanish Government and formed an Iberian Union, that would be a big joke.
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