Empire Rising: Spain

Yes, currently Spain’s grain production is no longer sufficient to meet the demands of over 20 million people nationwide.

This is inevitable for a country where most of the land is mountainous, making it extremely difficult to meet the entire population’s food needs.

Unless the nation has a small population, but Spain’s population has grown over the past decade to reach a scale of 20 million, which is definitely not small across the whole of Europe.

Although there are still many gaps compared to the great powers, across Europe, there are not many countries with populations over 20 million, apart from a few major powers, only the Ottoman Empire has a population exceeding 20 million.

However, the Ottoman is not considered a European country. The Ottoman Empire also has a derogatory nickname, which is the sick man of West Asia.

This also shows that Europeans do not regard the Ottoman Empire as a European country. This means that in the eyes of Europeans, only the great powers have populations exceeding 20 million.

Although the Gambia Colony is quite suitable for agricultural cultivation, due to its currently small scale, Spain’s goal is merely to provide a portion of the grain supply for the mainland.

A large influx of grain would also affect Spain’s grain prices, reducing the income of the large farming population in Spain. Therefore, Gambia’s grain production must also be controlled.

Or to say, apart from a small portion supplied to Spain domestically, most of Gambia Colony’s grain production must be exported or further processed for export or domestic sales.

For the development of the Gambia Colony, the Spanish Government’s initial goal is to increase the grain production of the Gambia Colony to approximately 200,000 tons, which is one-twentieth of Spain’s mainland grain production.

Although the grain production is only 200,000 tons, it is still sufficient to support a population of around 1 million. The grain produced in the Gambia Colony will be fully supplied to the South Morocco Colony, Sierra Leone Colony, as well as the Gold Coast and Guinea.

It is worth mentioning that because the Gambia Colony is closer to Africa, theoretically the land yield per acre in the Gambia Colony should be higher than in mainland Spain.

Especially in terms of rice cultivation, because of the more adequate sunlight, the land in Gambia can achieve two to even three harvests a year.

Whereas Spain can only achieve one rice harvest a year, and only a few areas with more sufficient sunlight can achieve two harvests a year.

Two to three harvests compared to one is at least twice the difference in grain yield. This is also the reason Carlo is optimistic about the Gambia Colony becoming an important grain-producing area for Spain; this land could be said to have all the right conditions except for a large immigrant population to complete the human factor.

As the West Africa development plan progresses, the time finally transitions from 1880 to 1881.

For the Spanish Government, 1881 is about to present new challenges. Spain’s goal for the new year is to acquire Portuguese Guinea, Portuguese Jijinshao’er, Portuguese Vida, and Portuguese São Tomé and Principe.

The area of these colonies is not large, but they are all located around the colonies already controlled by Spain. Especially Portuguese Guinea and Portuguese Jijinshao’er, if Spain’s Gambia Colony wants to expand, the Portuguese colonies are almost the only choice.

After all, the north of the Gambia Colony is France’s Senegal Colony, and if conflict with the French is to be avoided, attention must be turned to the Portuguese.

Of course, the Gambia Colony can also expand inland. But the problem is, the British Gambia Colony is built along the river, the entire colony is more like a rectangle.

If the colony continues to expand inland, it would infinitely lengthen it from east to west, while the north-south distance is only a few dozen kilometers.

Avoiding conflict with France is one thing, but if a conflict does occur, the French Army at any time could move south from the Senegal Colony and sever the east-west connections at any point in the Gambia Colony.

This aspect still requires precautionary measures, although the French are unlikely to take the initiative, one must still be prepared.

If it could merge with Portuguese Guinea, the Gambia Colony would become more of a square shape, eliminating the risk of being split.

As for the previously unmentioned Portuguese São Tomé and Principe, these two colonies are not on the African Continent, but in Guinea Bay, facing the Spanish Guinea Colony across the sea.

Though both are called Guinea Colonies, Portuguese Guinea is located at the most western protrusion of Africa, while the Spanish Guinea Colony is at the inner curve of Africa’s 7-shaped bend, with a distance of over 2,000 kilometers between them.

If Spain could seize São Tomé and Principe, it could also strengthen its influence in Guinea Bay, while protecting the coastlines of the various colonies in Guinea Bay.

Although the size of these colonies is not large, attempting to obtain them from the Portuguese is undoubtedly very challenging.

As a former colonial empire, Portugal also has its pride. Spain can only acquire these colonies through exchanges of interests; trying to seize them by force would only damage relations with the Portuguese.

Carlo’s initial plan is to acquire these Portuguese colonies through a method similar to colonial swaps.

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