Empire Rising: Spain

After concluding talks with the French Government, Spain also turned its attention to the consolidation of the Guinea Colony.

At this time, the Gold Coast had already been incorporated into the Guinea Colony, and what the Spanish Government needed to do was link these two non-adjacent colonies to establish a massive colony spanning over a million square kilometers.

The good news is that Spain had already cleared most of the indigenous peoples from this region, with only the most powerful Sokoto Caliphate yet to be conquered by Spanish military force.

The Sokoto Caliphate was indeed powerful. Compared to other indigenous states in the Guinea Bay with populations of just over one million or even under one million, the Sokoto Caliphate had over ten million people at its peak and currently had nearly ten million people across the country, along with two to three million slaves.

This meant that the Sokoto Caliphate could arm hundreds of thousands or even a million troops, posing the greatest challenge to Spain, which could not muster even a hundred thousand troops from the Guinea Colony and the Congo Territory combined.

Of course, Spain’s greatest advantage was its technological superiority, which was enough to determine the outcome of a war.

Moreover, the Sokoto Caliphate was not monolithic internally. This country, spanning over a million square kilometers and with nearly ten million people, was internally divided into dozens of large and small states.

These states had their own rulers, called Emirs, and each state possessed considerable autonomy. Besides paying tribute to the supreme ruler, Sokoto Caliphate, these dozens of states had little difference from independent countries.

Each state had its own army, with the Emir of the state holding leadership over these forces.

This led to a seemingly unified Sokoto Caliphate being internally highly fragmented. Not all states were willing to unconditionally submit to Sokoto’s rule; where there were those who complied, there naturally were also those who opposed the rule.

It becomes clear here that Spain’s strategy to deal with the Sokoto Caliphate bore some resemblance to the Asante Federation.

Although one was an alliance composed of states and the other a truly unified nation, due to the increasing power of the states within the Sokoto Caliphate, the two had essentially become indistinguishable.

Particularly in the southern Emirs closer to the coast, opposition to Sokoto Caliphate’s rule was stronger.

The economy in most countries of the Guinea Bay shared a common pillar: income through local agricultural crops and slave trade.

Whether local agricultural products or slave trade, transportation required ports. This led to a common phenomenon in the Guinea Bay where countries closer to the coast were wealthier.

This explains why the southern Emirs opposed Sokoto Caliphate’s rule. Although all Emirs needed to pay tribute to Sokoto Caliphate, the problem was how much tax could the poor inland countries pay?

The larger share of the tribute was borne by these southern Emirs, leading to significant dissatisfaction with Sokoto Caliphate’s rule by these states.

There is also a point to mention: the trade relationship between the Sokoto Caliphate and the British.

As early as 1853, the British Government signed a trade treaty with the Sokoto Caliphate. With the British Government withdrawing from the scramble for West Africa Colony, the trade relationship with the Sokoto Caliphate naturally passed to Spain.

Spain’s African Fleet stationed in the Guinea Colony was there to protect local trade ships from pirate harassment.

This trade relationship was beneficial to both parties. Spain acquired large quantities of agricultural and mineral products from the Sokoto Caliphate, while the Sokoto Caliphate received industrial products and other necessary supplies from Spain, even including firearms.

However, it could not be denied that as this trade relationship grew closer, Spain’s economic influence on the Sokoto Caliphate would also increase.

Especially for these southern states of the Sokoto Caliphate since they were located along the coast, their trade ties with Spain were the closest.

It was not an exaggeration to say that the reason these countries explicitly opposed Sokoto Caliphate’s rule was due to Spain’s support.

Particularly in recent years, Spain provided a substantial number of firearms to states like Oyo, Ivo, Ijebu in the south of the Sokoto Caliphate, significantly boosting their confidence in resisting Sokoto Caliphate.

Indeed, resisting the Sokoto Caliphate, their resistance being so intense that the amount of tribute paid each year was decreasing, not even matching the amount paid by the relatively poor inland states.

And yet, Sokoto Caliphate had no recourse. Although any single state among these could not resist the central government of the Sokoto Caliphate, if several states united, Sokoto Caliphate could not quickly eliminate these rebels.

Especially with the support of Spain, it became quite challenging to make an example of any state to ensure domestic stability.

According to Spain’s original plan, dealing with the Sokoto Caliphate should proceed slowly through economic infiltration and supporting opposition factions.