Empire Rising: Spain

To put it bluntly, Spain supports Italy’s colonization efforts in Tunisia in exchange for Italy’s support for Spain’s colonization in Morocco.

As for colonization conflicts outside North Africa, such as Spain’s colonial competition with France in West Africa, Italy does not need to adhere to this cooperation agreement.

This also provides flexibility for both governments. Although both Spain and Italy have competitive relationships with France in terms of colonization, currently Spain’s colonies in Africa far exceed those of Italy.

While Italy is willing to cooperate with Spain, it is clear that Italy does not want to completely offend the French over Spain’s West Africa colony.

The cooperation is limited to North Africa, ensuring that the gap in interests between Italy and Spain does not become too large. Although Morocco’s land area is more extensive, Tunisia has more arable land, so it’s roughly balanced.

Although a formal colonization cooperation agreement has been signed with Italy, Carlo did not intend to formulate a plan to invade Morocco.

The reason is simple: France is not the only country eyeing Morocco; there is also the United Kingdom, which seems to be outside of the European Continent but actually pays more attention to European affairs than the European Countries do.

Spain and Italy can unite to resist France because France’s navy cannot overwhelm the combined naval forces of Spain and Italy, and the army can hardly quickly resolve Spain and Italy.

But the British are different. The British navy can easily crush the combined navy of Spain and Italy, which means the British don’t need to deploy their army to block Spain and Italy on the coast.

Before Spain’s naval forces reach the point of threatening the British, or before the British are tied up with other wars, Spain can only temporarily give up its colonization of Morocco and temporarily bow to the British.

However, temporarily relinquishing the colonization of Morocco is not without benefits for Spain. At least Spain can concentrate its efforts on developing the West Africa Colony and expedite its colonial exchange with Portugal.

As mentioned before, there is an indigenous nation in the northern Gold Coast named the Ashanti Empire, which has been the main indigenous force the British Gold Coast previously contended with.

Since Spain has already received the Gold Coast Colony, it is necessary to conquer this indigenous tribe for the safety and stability of the Gold Coast.

The so-called Ashanti Empire is actually just a loosely structured indigenous federation, established around the early 18th century.

This indigenous federation is quite special, managed by an organization called the Chief Council, and the nominal supreme leader is the head of the Ashanti Tribe, who is also the political and spiritual leader of the entire nation.

But as the head of state, the Ashanti Tribe leader has no command authority over other tribes, as all indigenous tribes are equal members.

However, for the stability of the federation, all participants in the Chief Council jointly established a set of rules requiring all indigenous tribes to pledge loyalty to the Chief Council, pay certain taxes annually, comply with the trade rules set by the Chief Council, and surrender the command of a troop during wartime for external combat.

This regulation has allowed this seemingly loose federation to persist against the colonization of the British Empire until now.

The British possess formidable warships, but these indigenous people are very familiar with the local terrain, using it to cause significant casualties to the British army.

After engaging with these indigenous peoples, the British shifted from simple military conquest to a plan of sowing discord between the states and the powerful Ashanti Tribe.

The facts have proven this to be effective. Although on the surface the Ashanti leader has no command authority or other power over the other tribes.

Yet, the Ashanti leader remains the head of the entire federation, often finding opportunities to exert his authority.

Over time, the other tribes within the federation have had some degree of dissatisfaction with the dominant Ashanti Tribe, aiding the British in their strategy of sowing discord.

However, it is evident that after Spain took over the Gold Coast Colony, the groundwork previously laid by the British has become beneficial for Spain.

After understanding the situation of the tribes near the Gold Coast from the colonial affairs department, Carlo decided to emulate the British strategy of sowing discord among the states of the Ashanti Federation, undermining their unity when facing strong adversaries.

As much as possible, instigate internal disruption among them, and then Spain can swiftly annihilate the entire federation.

Compared to the British’s divide and rule approach, Carlo does not intend to incorporate these indigenous peoples into Spain’s colonial rule.

Extensive colonization in Africa brings a disadvantage: the risk of the country’s demographic shift. Historically, France transformed from a white nation to one where whites and blacks cohabitated, with a steady influx of Africans into France.

It’s well-known that children born to blacks and any other race are considered black, which also means France could likely become a European nation predominantly or even overwhelmingly black in the future.

Spain is highly vigilant against this outcome. In fact, every race has some shortcomings, whether currently considered noble whites or the oppressed yellow race, it’s just human nature.