Empire Rise: Spain

Chapter 208: Population Introduction Plan

November 11, 1876, Lanfang Republic, Borneo.

A long time has passed since the Lanfang Republic formally began cooperating with Spain, and the changes it brought to the Lanfang Republic are also very obvious.

In addition to the New Army with as many as 20,000 people who are currently undergoing training, a large Spanish language training school has also been established within the Lanfang Republic.

In addition to providing free Spanish language training to Lanfang citizens, this training school also offers higher-income job opportunities to those Lanfang people who have mastered Spanish.

Although the Lanfang Republic was formed due to gold mining as a gathering place for Han Chinese, there are still many commoners in this vast gathering place, and not everyone is a gold prospector.

For gold prospectors, they might look down on such high-paying jobs. But for the commoners of the Lanfang Republic, the jobs provided by the Spaniards are still quite attractive.

Although the number of members in the military advisory group dispatched by Spain is not large, there are already dozens of Lanfang people working for the Spaniards at present.

What is the content of their work? In addition to serving as translators, they also work in the Spanish language school, helping more people master Spanish.

Although the Lanfang population is not large, with the populous country to the north behind Lanfang, the population potential is still very great.

The purpose of Spain establishing a Spanish language school in Lanfang is precisely to attract a portion of Lanfang people to go to Spain and the Philippine Region. Of course, the main purpose is still the Philippine Region. If there were only Filipinos inside the Philippine Region, these Filipinos would not remain so obedient forever.

But if Filipinos and Lanfang people can form a mutual check and balance within the Philippine Region, or even mix with some other ethnic groups, it can guarantee the stability of the entire Philippine Region.

At that time, whether Filipinos or Lanfang people want to launch an armed rebellion for independence, it will be very difficult. Because what they face is not only Spanish colonizers, but also other ethnic groups within the colony.

In this situation, there is only one way to confront the colonizers, and that is for several ethnic groups to unite and confront together.

As long as the Spanish Government mediates in the middle, such a situation is very difficult to occur. After all, it is very difficult for different ethnic groups to unite, as everyone has their own interests and needs.

Achieving a situation where Filipinos and Southerners confront each other mutually is still impossible in the short term. After all, Filipinos have already formed a scale, and the Southern population is insufficient, so forming a scale within the Philippine Region would require a very long time.

Fortunately, Spain still has enough time to plan, and there is no need to worry about the safety of the Philippine Region for the time being.

Historically, Spain lost the Philippines more because the Cuban Rebellion aroused the covetousness of Americans, as the Spanish-American War broke out in Cuba, ultimately implicating the Spaniards in losing the Philippines.

In the situation where the Cuba problem is not serious, the Philippine Region is currently relatively stable. Based on historical experience, Spain has at least 20 years to handle the Philippine Region problem.

If Cuba can be considered for abandonment, then the Philippine Region can be considered for mid-to-long-term holding. Unless it can be exchanged for a colony with greater value or a longer holding period, it is still better to hold it in hand for now.

After all, possessing the Philippines can radiate to Southeast Asia, and Southeast Asia will become a region with extremely high economic value after the birth of the car.

The rubber industry alone is enough to make Carlo consider holding Southeast Asian colonies. Not to mention that the land in the Southeast Asian region also has other resources, and the numerous indigenous people are also excellent cannon fodder.

Give these indigenous people a certain development time, and when World War I breaks out in the future, the land of the Philippines and Borneo can provide Spain with at least a million troops.

This can well compensate for Spain’s population gap, allowing Spain to mobilize more troops in World War I. Whether participating in World War I in the future to compete military power and national heritage with these great power countries in Europe, or using the military as its last trump card, and using Spain’s unique geographical position as a condition to demand more interests, all are very good choices.

Up to now, Carlo is still quite vague about World War I and has not made plans for Spain.

If sufficient interests can be obtained without participating in the war, such as the British being willing to give up Gibraltar, or the British being willing to let Spain occupy the entire Morocco, etc.

If such interests can be obtained without participating in the war, then Spain naturally has no need to make pointless sacrifices, after all, war itself is launched for diplomacy, and all outcomes of war lead to diplomatic negotiations.

If war cannot ensure that Spain obtains sufficient interests, then Carlo does not mind considering the gains that war brings to Spain.

But whether maintaining neutrality or war, Carlo’s purpose is the same, that is, to let Spain obtain sufficient interests in the future war, whether income in terms of land or funds, or technology and some industrial equipment, technical data, etc., including technical talent and scientists in various industry sectors, these are all interests that Carlo sees as obtainable.

Because the introduction plan for the Southern population is only in the startup phase, the Southerners who currently obtain Spanish nationality are only individual cases.

But in South Morocco Colony, where the population introduction plan has been implemented for several years, the plan has already achieved quite good results.

Because Moroccans are white people, Spain has also relaxed the requirements for Moroccans to join Spanish nationality.

As long as they convert to Catholicism and proficiently master Spanish, they are eligible to apply for Spanish nationality.

Of course, after applying for Spanish nationality, they will go through a period of assessment. As long as they are clean and honest farmers, they will generally obtain Spanish nationality after the assessment period and gain the opportunity to go to Spain.

But if the background and identity are somewhat complex, or there is a risk of extreme nationalists, then sorry, all people including family members are rejected from becoming Spaniards.

The assessment period is generally 3 to 6 months, with the longest being one year. In general, it can be shortened through good performance, but the shortest must not be less than 3 months.

Spain has established mines in South Morocco Colony, as well as some construction teams and plantations. As long as Moroccans perform well in the mines, construction teams, or plantations, they can shorten the assessment period, or even ignore the condition of proficiently mastering Spanish, and obtain Spanish nationality as long as they know a few words.

Anyway, there will still be opportunities to train in Spanish after going to Spain, so relaxing some restrictions in this aspect is acceptable.

But no matter what, to join Spanish nationality, one must convert to Catholicism. Spain accepts all religions within Christianity for European immigrants, but for immigrants outside Europe, the immigration condition must be Catholicism.

After Spain established the South Morocco Colony, the population introduction policy has still had a certain effect.

Currently, the number of Moroccans who have joined Spanish nationality has exceeded 2,500, and it is still increasing at a speed of more than 500 people per year.

If Spain were not too strict in terms of identity background assessment, the speed of Moroccan immigration could probably double several times more.

Although there are only 2,500 Moroccans who have joined Spanish nationality, this does not mean that only so few people are willing to join Spanish nationality.

Spain’s governance attitude toward Moroccans is polarized, and it is openly double standards. For those more extreme Muslims and extreme Moroccan nationalists, Spain’s attitude is quite cruel.

Their treatment is only laboring in mines and other places until death, with no possibility of leaving the mines and other labor sites in this lifetime.

But for those non-extreme Moroccans, Spain is still willing to give them an opportunity. As long as they perform well in the work process, or have certain technical abilities, and are willing to enter marriage alliances with Spanish soldiers, etc., they can have the opportunity to obtain Spanish nationality.

Currently, the number of Moroccan girls who have entered marriage alliances with Spanish soldiers alone has reached hundreds, which also proves that for Moroccans, there is still a considerable portion of Moroccans who are not opposed to becoming Spaniards.

After all, in terms of appearance, Moroccans and Spaniards are still very similar. The real difference between the two is religion and language, but these can all be changed acquiredly.

There are indeed quite extreme believers in Muslim religion, but there are also some who are not extreme, or believers whose recognition of religion is not deep.

When it comes to their own interests, religion and such are not unchangeable.

In the South Morocco Colony, those who speak Spanish and those who do not, and those who believe in Islam and those who believe in Catholicism, have huge differences in wages.

Moroccans who speak Spanish and believe in Catholicism, although they also need to labor in plantations and mines, will not be dispatched to relatively dangerous places, the work content is not so tiring, they can also obtain sufficient food, and even see meat, vegetables, and fruits at intervals.

Those who meet only one of Spanish or Catholicism can also receive certain preferential treatment, such as work not being dangerous, or the work content not too tiring, etc.

Those who neither speak Spanish nor believe in Catholicism receive no preferential treatment. They will be prioritized for relatively dangerous work, and even if not dangerous, it is quite laborious work.

The daily food is also black bread made from various coarse grains or even mixed with rice bran and chaff. If lucky, they can eat sand, bark, and grass roots, etc.

Even so, they can only eat one full meal a day. The remaining two meals are quite thin clear porridge and rotten vegetable leaf soup, just enough to ensure they do not starve to death.

The reason for such a huge gap in treatment, in addition to giving preferential treatment to those Moroccans willing to obey and attracting more Moroccans to “defect,” is also to save colonial expenditure as much as possible.

Compared to northern Morocco, the South Morocco Colony has a very backward economy, and the land is more desert and mountainous area.

The purpose of Spain occupying this land is to localize South Morocco or even the entire Morocco, so there is no need to cherish Moroccans too much.

If Moroccans are willing to obey Spain’s rule, then Spain can naturally assimilate these Moroccans mildly.

But if Moroccans are quite resistant or even full of hatred toward Spain’s colonial rule, then the Spanish Government can only consider completely expelling Moroccans and immigrating Spaniards to occupy this region.

As long as the land of Morocco is all Spaniards, then this land has been Spain’s land since ancient times.

Using this method can also ensure the localization of the Moroccan region, with no worries at all. That is, Spain’s population is too small. Under the premise of being able to assimilate Moroccans, Carlo still wants to obtain these millions of population from Morocco.

Otherwise, there will be even more cruel means waiting for the Moroccans. Before the end of World War II, Spain still has enough time to carry out various assimilation experiments in the Moroccan region.

In fact, Carlo really underestimated the attractiveness of Spanish nationality, or free citizen identity, to Moroccans.

Although Moroccans are white people, this is a backward African region. Morocco still has slavery, and Morocco is a very feudal monarchy country.

Although Morocco has millions of population, a considerable portion of them are slaves of nobles.

As long as they obey Spain’s rule and join Spanish nationality, they can obtain free citizen identity, which is a huge attraction for those Moroccan slaves.

As for the enslavement of all Moroccans by Spaniards, what does it count for Moroccan slaves?

Before the arrival of Spaniards, Morocco’s nobles and other landlords also enslaved them in this way. The difference is nothing more than changing a group of people, which makes no difference to the slaves.

Those who truly hate Spain, or more extreme Moroccan nationalists, and extreme Muslim believers, have long been enslaved to death in the first few years after the establishment of the South Morocco Colony.

The establishment process of the South Morocco Colony was quite bloody, which is also the standard process for European countries to establish colonies.

Most of the manpower used in it was local indigenous people, and the life and death of these indigenous people is not a big deal for European colonizers, and there is no need to worry at all.

This may also be good news, after all, after the more extreme Moroccans die, the remaining ones are relatively obedient.

According to the news from the South Morocco Colony, the number of Moroccans who have mastered Spanish has exceeded 10,000, and the number of Moroccans who have openly converted to Catholicism is even as high as over 100,

This also truly confirms that sentence: if Spain were not relatively strict in the review of population introduction, the number of people with Spanish nationality in the South Morocco Colony would have long broken through 10,

No matter whether these Moroccans who converted to Catholicism are sincere or not, in any case, the attractiveness of Spanish nationality to Moroccans can be seen in this aspect.

This also means that such a plan can similarly apply to the entire Moroccan region. Morocco has millions of population, which will be an excellent supplement for Spain.

Even if only half or even less than one-third of the population can be absorbed, it will still be a scale of over a million.

Of course, whether Moroccan immigrants or foreign immigrants, Spain is quite cautious in handling them.

These immigrants will be dispersed and resettled, mainly filling the Catalan region and Basque Country where nationalism is prevalent.

Only by continuously diluting the population of Catalonia and the Basque Country can the stability of these two regions be ensured.

Currently, Spain’s handling of Catalonia is still quite effective. Through the construction of the Barcelona Industrial Base, Catalonia has attracted more than 100,000 immigrants.

This has also led to an effective reduction in the proportion of Catalans in the Catalan region, and it is still continuously decreasing.

With the development of the Barcelona Industrial Base, in the future, the proportion of Catalans even has hope of decreasing below 60%.

And among these 60% Catalans, how many truly think they are pure-blooded Catalans?

The Basque Country is also handled in the same way. Although the population of the Basque Country is smaller, it is still relatively difficult to immigrate to the Basque Country on a large scale.

Compared to Catalans, Basques are more radical, and their national consciousness is clearer.

If a considerable portion of Catalans are not very clear about whether they are Spaniards or Catalans, then almost all Basques know clearly that they are of Basque descent.

The Basque Country has a sparse population, with only a few hundred thousand people in the two regions combined. This also leads to the majority of the population in these two regions being Basques, with ethnic cultures and personalities vastly different from Spain.

The handling of the Basque Country has always been a difficult problem, even more tricky than the Catalan region. The Barcelona Industrial Base already has hope of solving the Catalonia problem, but the Basque Country currently has no effective solution.

Fortunately, Basques are indeed few, and cannot cause too much impact on Spain’s rule.

Perhaps only when Spain welcomes a large influx of immigrants, and seizes the opportunity to immigrate over 100,000 or even hundreds of thousands to the Basque Country, can the Basque Country problem be solved.

Otherwise, when nationalism in the Basque Country becomes more radical and prosperous, and when Basques feel they should enjoy autonomy or even independence, Spain will eventually face a civil war.

Carlo also often asks himself, why are Spain’s problems always so bad?

Indeed, Spain’s problems are quite bad.

Compared to Spain, a country that has been unified for hundreds of years, the German Empire and the Kingdom of Italy, which have only been unified for a few years, surprisingly do not have so many problems.

Germans and Italians still quite recognize the concept of the nation-state. Even if there are national independence problems, they are not so radical.

And Spain, as a country unified for hundreds of years, has Catalans and Basques radically demanding autonomy or even independence, which is simply incomprehensible.

Fortunately, although Spain has many problems, they are not unsolvable. As long as the Catalonia problem is solved, the Basque Country is nothing more than a small trouble.

Whether through massive immigration or victory through civil war, the final victor will surely be the Spanish Government.

The population of the Basques also limits that the Basques cannot defeat the Spanish Government, unless they have support from other great powers.

But having said that, the great powers also have their own troubles. The British, who love stirring trouble the most, will also have fires in their own backyard. Indians also want autonomy and independence, and the later Boer War made the British disheveled.

Anyway, everyone is a makeshift team; it just depends on whose problems and troubles are smaller, and who can achieve the final victory.

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