Empire Rising: Spain

Although Carlo officially did not participate at all in the negotiations between the two governments, in secret, Prime Minister Canovas still had to report the progress of the negotiations to Carlo every day.

In the first few days of negotiations, the progress of both parties was quite slow, even to the point of being stagnant.

The British Government is no fool; they would never engage in a losing deal. For the British Government, even a small profit in colonial exchange is as good as a loss.

The Spanish Government proposed dividing Australia into two parts: Spain would trade the Cuban Colony for the Western Australian Colony and the United Kingdom’s Strait Colony, and Spain and the United Kingdom would establish a buffer zone nearly 50 kilometers wide between the Western Australian and South Australian colonies.

This proposal was outright rejected by the British Government. Although the Western Australian Colony had a small population and little value beyond mineral resources,

the area’s vast size and abundant mineral resources were reasons enough for the British not to give up Western Australia for a small place like Cuba.

The Strait Colony needs no further elaboration. The only route for East Asian countries to Europe is to head south through the Malacca Strait, travel along the Indian coastline across the Indian Ocean, and then reach the Mediterranean via the Suez Canal.

While bypassing the Malacca Strait is possible, it adds at least a thousand kilometers to the journey, taking at least one to two more weeks roundtrip.

The strategic geographical position of the Malacca Strait ensures that the British could not possibly give up that land, regardless of Cuba’s economic value.

After rejecting the proposal from the Spanish Government, Prime Minister Gladstone offered his own, which involved the Gold Coast and Spain’s colonial rights in the Brunei Empire, plus 5 million Pounds to purchase Spain’s Cuban Colony.

If the Spanish Government’s proposal still considered the value of the colonies, the British Government’s proposal entirely ignored it, imposing quite stringent conditions.

The British Gold Coast contains abundant gold mines, which is where its name originates. But the issue is, this land was discovered by the Portuguese as early as 1471, and the first European colonial settlement, Elmina Castle, was established in 1482, almost 400 years ago.

During these 400 years, the Portuguese, British, Dutch, Danish, Prussians, and Swedes conducted trade in slaves, gold, ironware, necklaces, glass mirrors, rum, and guns in this region, amassing vast wealth and taking control of many gold mines.

The two most famous products of the Gold Coast are the gold mined from its grand gold mines and the local African natives, also known as black people.

For a long period, the Gold Coast was not controlled by any single country but was managed by various European countries as colonies.

However, with the rise of the British Empire, the British Gold Coast was established and gradually annexed the nearby Danish and Dutch Gold Coasts, evolving into one of the large colonies under British control.

Due to its plentiful gold mines, the Gold Coast is the largest British colony in West Africa and holds the largest population.

Unfortunately, the majority of the people hail from different European countries, with Portuguese and Dutch populations being the largest, not the British.

Even though the Gold Coast was rich in gold mines, its value had significantly decreased due to 400 years of exploitation by European countries.

The wealth that could be squeezed out had long been transported back to their homes, leaving only a few large gold mines still standing.

However, these gold mines did not produce as much as one might imagine, and relations between the British colony and the northern Ashanti Empire remained poor, even resulting in several wars.

The main conditions proposed by the British were the Gold Coast, with Spain allowed to conduct colonial penetration in Brunei. Although 5 million Pounds was not a small sum, compared to the Cuban Colony, it was insignificant.

These conditions seem slightly inadequate in comparison to the Cuban Colony, highlighting the British greed. They were unwilling to make significant concessions and aimed to gain Cuba at a marginal cost.

Fortunately, at this time, Spain had sufficient strength, and the British dared not directly break ties with Spain. Both sides could only sit at the negotiating table for talks, which was beneficial to Spain.

Because Spain had many options, if it were to make a loss sale anyway, why not sell to a more accommodating country?

Carlo had full confidence in this regard. If the British Government truly was unwilling to cooperate, Spain still had fallback options.

One option was to sell the Cuban Colony to France, allowing France to tacitly approve of Spain annexing Morocco. Alternatively, they could sell Cuba to Germany or the United States; Germany could provide the industrial technology and skilled personnel Spain needed, while the Americans could provide ample funds, which Spain also required.

As the negotiations reached a stalemate, even before the British Government could act, the news from Spain caught them off guard. The report was that the Spanish Government was planning a diplomatic visit to Berlin and was considering the matter.