Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 389 Trading Company
The first major event of 1897 was the cabinet election, and the second major event was naturally the wedding ceremony of Prince Juan Fernando of Spain.

The couple's wedding was scheduled for June 12, 1897. Spain invited royal families and government representatives from around the world to gather in Madrid for this grand wedding ceremony.

Because Spain is a powerful nation, royal families and high-ranking government officials from around the world showed great respect. Regardless of their power, European countries sent their diplomatic representatives to the wedding ceremony.

Royal families from across Europe also joined in, instantly multiplying the scale of what was supposed to be an ordinary wedding ceremony several times over.

Upon learning that diplomatic representatives from various European countries had attended the wedding ceremony, Carlo immediately ordered that the hospitality for the wedding be upgraded once again, and that no expense be spared in the cost of such an upgrade.

In any case, the Spanish royal family lacks everything except money.

Since it's a marriage between two parties, there should naturally be a bride price and a dowry.

Of course, the terms "bride price" and "dowry" are more Eastern expressions. Similar gift-giving occurred in marriages between European royal families, as such unions were essentially a combination of political alliance and economic exchange. Gift-giving not only demonstrated one's wealth and power but also effectively strengthened the relationship between oneself and one's in-laws.

Prince Juan Fernando is his eldest son, so Carlos was naturally generous with the dowry. He directly gifted nearly 200 million pesetas worth of property to the Danish royal family, including a large amount of precious gold and jewelry, 100 million pesetas in cash, and 20 of the latest cars from Royal Mercedes-Benz.

The gifts given to Princess Luisa, wife of Prince Juan Fernando, included: a custom-made car worth 3 pesetas, jewelry worth 20 pesetas, a jewelry company worth 30 pesetas, and cash worth 10 pesetas.

The dowry given to the Danish royal family and Princess Louise totaled more than 300 million pesetas.

Such a dowry is considered quite large even by European standards. Aside from weddings that directly grant land or other rights, this wedding's dowry was among the highest of the possible.

On the day of the wedding, Carlo also learned about the share of the Danish royal dowry.

The dowry from the Danish royal family also shows that the entire Danish royal family attaches great importance to this marriage.

Their dowry was also worth close to 100 million pesetas. In addition to various common precious jewels and gold and silver, the Danish royal family also directly granted Spain sovereignty over the Danish West Indies.

The Danish West Indies, which later became the U.S. Virgin Islands, were located in the eastern part of the Spanish colony of Puerto Rico in the Americas, with a total area of ​​344 square kilometers.

In 1917, Denmark sold this colony to the United States, which eventually became the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The colony was not particularly valuable to Denmark. It covered only 344 square kilometers and consisted of three large islands and dozens of smaller islands.

Whether it's the three large islands or the dozens of smaller islands, their development value is quite limited. More importantly, the straight-line distance from this place to mainland Denmark is over 7,000 kilometers, and the flight distance from mainland Denmark to this place is even more than 10,000 kilometers.

For Denmark, the West Indies are indeed a double-edged sword—something neither particularly valuable nor worth abandoning.

But for Spain, the Danish West Indies colonies were only a few dozen kilometers away from its own Puerto Rican colony.

The closest point between Puerto Rico and the West Indies is only a dozen kilometers away, which is practically like being on your doorstep.

This is probably why Denmark ceded sovereignty over the West Indies to Spain. Exchanging a piece of land of little value to Denmark for the unwavering support of a powerful ally like Spain seemed like a worthwhile deal for Denmark.

Even if Denmark were to relinquish sovereignty over the West Indies, it wouldn't be a significant loss. After all, Denmark's core territory is its own mainland, and Iceland and Greenland are not particularly important, let alone the West Indies, which are only 344 square kilometers in size.

Carlo was somewhat surprised when he learned that Denmark's dowry, in addition to the usual cash and gold jewelry, actually included the sovereignty of a colony.

But soon, Carlo understood the Danes' intentions.

This is similar to the situation where Carlos traded the sovereignty of São Tomé and Príncipe for Spain's recapture of Gibraltar, and received help from a superpower of equal strength.

Even if it were Carlo to make the decision, he would still think this deal was quite worthwhile.

Since Denmark has shown sufficient sincerity, Carlos naturally needs to demonstrate Spain's sincerity as well, and try to bring Denmark to his side.

The day after the wedding, Carlos summoned Crown Prince Frederick of Denmark to the Royal Palace in Madrid.

Although Crown Prince Frederick was eight years older than Carlo, he remained quite respectful in his conversation with him. This confidence stemmed from the strength of the nation; even when facing Queen Victoria, known as the grandmother of Europe, Carlo would not be inferior in status or position.

After several hours of friendly conversation, the two sides finalized a positive direction for cooperation between Denmark and Spain in the coming years.

Last time, the two sides only cooperated on the import and export of agricultural products and the import of military products. This time, however, Carlos and Crown Prince Frederick directly represented their respective countries and signed an economic alliance treaty.

This economic alliance treaty stipulates that the two sides should achieve closer cooperation in the economic sphere. Denmark and Spain will each reduce their respective tariffs, promoting closer import and export cooperation between Denmark and Spain.

This economic cooperation included not only economic cooperation within their respective territories but also within their respective colonies.

Denmark's colonies on the Gold Coast had been annexed, but they still maintained many trading posts there. Carlo generously granted the Danes permission to engage in a wide range of economic activities in the Spanish colony of Guinea, including agriculture and mining exploration.

As long as Denmark complies with the local laws of the Spanish colony and pays taxes legally, all their economic activities are legal in the Spanish colony.

In any case, Spain's colonies were vast and rich in resources, including countless minerals. Under such circumstances, giving the Danes a small piece of the pie was perfectly acceptable to Spain.

If you can turn Denmark into a loyal ally by giving them a sip of soup, it would be an absolutely worthwhile deal.

Although Denmark's overall strength is not particularly high, it is one of Europe's most historically significant monarchies. More importantly, Denmark's geographical location is quite important.

Before the completion of the Kiel Canal in Germany, Denmark was the only outlet to the Baltic Sea, and was even able to contain Germany and Russia along the Baltic coast.

Although Germany built the Kiel Canal, which significantly reduced Denmark's influence on the Baltic Sea, this did not completely eliminate the importance of Denmark's geographical location.

Securing Denmark as a staunch ally would be a significant advantage for Spain. While Denmark's military strength is not formidable, it can offer Spain considerable diplomatic support.

You can never have too many allies, especially an ally like Denmark, which is very far from the Spanish mainland and with virtually no conflict of interest between the two countries.

After Spain took over Denmark's West Indies, Carlo was concerned about whether the United States would launch a war against Spain's American colonies, as it had done in history.

As it turns out, history did indeed change significantly at this point.

Spain had long since ceded Cuba to Britain, and its own power had become extremely strong. Even though Spain still held Puerto Rico and had acquired sovereignty over Denmark's West Indies, the United States did not target Spain.

Of course, the United States didn't have the guts to seize Britain's Cuban colony. While the United States did have ambitions to demonstrate its power, it needed to find the right opportunity to unleash those ambitions.

Even if the Americans were out of their minds, they would never be willing to make an enemy of the British at this moment.

Since it could not annex the West Indies, a territory right on its doorstep, the United States had no choice but to turn its attention to the more distant Central and South American regions.

Leaving aside South America, Central America is a region of considerable importance to the United States. Why? At that time, the Panama Canal had not yet been built. Although the United States possessed both an Atlantic and a Pacific coast, communication between the east and west coasts required circumventing the entirety of South America.

It's important to know that the straight-line distance between the east and west coasts of the United States is only a little over 4,000 kilometers. However, if shipped by sea, the distance between the east and west coasts is as high as 20,000 kilometers, and the distance between the Northeast and Northwest via sea exceeds 30,000 kilometers.

Such a long shipping route meant that, for the United States before the opening of the Panama Canal, land transport was more cost-effective than sea transport for exchanges between the east and west coasts.

The time cost of sea transport is immeasurable. The sea distance between the east and west coasts of the United States is farther than the sea distance between Spain and the Philippines, which is why the United States has always wanted to open the Panama Canal.

The good news is that because the Boer War broke out four years earlier, the United States could no longer exchange its support for Britain's war effort for support in building the Panama Canal.

Without British support, it would be very difficult for the United States to build the Panama Canal on its own. Even if it were able to build the Panama Canal, sovereignty over it would not belong to the United States.

At that time, the Panama region belonged to the Republic of Colombia, and it was the narrowest of all the regions suitable for building a canal, with the shortest canal length.

While some areas in Central America are suitable for canal construction, these areas are wider, meaning the canals would need to be longer.

For the United States, the prerequisite for building the canal was ensuring its control over it. And the prerequisite for gaining control was to incite Panama's independence as much as possible, transforming its enemy from a vast Colombia into a small Panama.

There are reasons why the United States was able to instigate Panama's independence in the past. Leaving aside Colombia's history, it was once a Spanish colony before eventually gaining independence and establishing its own nation.

Since Colombia's independence, the political situation in South America has been relatively chaotic. Initially, Gran Colombia ruled northern South America, and present-day Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador are all part of Gran Colombia.

However, due to the intense conflict between centralism and federalism, this vast centralized federal state only lasted for a short period of time.

Following Gran Colombia, the Republic of New Granada has emerged. The name itself reveals a strong Spanish influence; New Granada was once a Spanish colony, and now it is the name of the country.

After the establishment of the Republic of New Granada, Santander, as its first president, implemented a dictatorship, which eventually led to a power struggle between the Conservative and Liberal parties, causing long-term internal strife and political turmoil.

In 1861, the Republic of New Granada was renamed the United States of Colombia. This name only lasted for a little over 20 years before being changed back to the Republic of Colombia.

The reason it was renamed the Republic of Colombia was because the conservative government drafted a constitution in 1886 to consolidate the dictatorship of Colombian landowners and restore the legitimate power of the Catholic Church.

The constitution not only declared Catholicism as the state religion of Colombia, but also significantly strengthened the president's power, which aroused strong public dissatisfaction.

Since the establishment of the Republic of Colombia, the conservative government has brutally persecuted dissidents and suppressed uprisings by the Colombian people.

It is precisely for this reason that the United States was able to instigate the re-independence of the Panama region in history and successfully control Panama, thereby indirectly controlling the Panama Canal.

Spain was naturally aware of the US actions in South America.

Although these South American countries went to war with Spain in their struggle for independence, this does not mean that Spain and they are still hostile to each other.

On the contrary, because the political situations in South American countries are relatively chaotic and turbulent, they actually need a strong external ally to help them stabilize order.

During this period of Spain's gradual recovery, Spain and South American countries have established close economic cooperation.

Many South American residents have immigrated to Spain, and many Spanish people have also traveled to South America to conduct their economic activities.

One of the economic activities involves the development of Argentina's black soil. Argentina boasts one of the world's four largest black soil regions, a natural breadbasket and grazing land.

And that is indeed the case. Argentina did enjoy a period of prosperity in history, which was largely due to the export of agricultural and livestock products.

Even in later generations, agricultural exports remained a significant source of income for Argentina. Spanish agricultural import and export companies have established a presence in South America, particularly in Argentina, where they control nearly one-third of Argentina's grain and meat import and export trade.

A significant portion of the meat supplied to the Spanish army and schools came from Argentina. It is precisely because of this trade relationship that Argentina has one of the best relations with Spain among all the South American countries.

Spain's economic activities in South America are actually somewhat similar to those of the famous United Fruit Company in the United States.

United Fruit Company was arguably the most powerful force in South America in history, capable of easily manipulating the political situation in various South American countries.

The rise of United Fruit Company was quite simple: it first acquired exclusive rights to build and operate the railway and then bought up large amounts of cheap land in the surrounding area.

After turning all this cheap land into banana plantations, they would then generate substantial revenue through fruit exports, and repeat the process of laying railways, purchasing land, and building banana plantations.

Due to the rapid accumulation of capital, United Fruit Company quickly monopolized banana plantations in South America.

When a business achieves a monopoly, even the smallest business can generate substantial revenue.

Historically, after achieving a monopoly in the banana trade, United Fruit Company in the United States quickly transformed from a simple banana company into a giant conglomerate integrating production, processing, transportation, and sales.

Because there was no restraint on the early development of United Fruit Company, by the time the governments of South American countries realized that the company had an extremely strong financial background, it was too late to regulate it.

United Fruit Company has colluded with opposition forces in various countries, and with the large number of employees in its banana plantations and other industries, it could easily trigger strikes and demonstrations involving tens or even hundreds of thousands of people.

This is also why United Fruit Company, a single enterprise, is able to control the governments of various South American countries. It is no longer just a simple capitalist entity, but a vast power that connects political parties, the military, and the people.

Of course, this was only in 1897, and the United Fruit Company had not yet been established. Its predecessor, a banana company founded by an American capitalist, was still only operating in Central America.

This banana company does have some influence in Central America, but compared to Spain's presence in South America, its influence is significantly less.

Spanish trading companies have already established a comprehensive presence, at least in the southern part of South America. They also have a presence in Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador.

Even if United Fruit Company of the United States were established at this time, they would not be able to win in the competition on their own.

In terms of assets, Carlo's wealth at this point was immeasurable; even American conglomerates could not match the riches he possessed.

In terms of political acumen, Carlo's trading company is second to none. The Spanish trading company operates under Carlo's name; the word "Royal" alone speaks volumes about its background.

Under such circumstances, unless the United States can provide national-level support to the United Fruit Company, even if it is established, it is unlikely to be able to compete with Spanish trading companies.

After confirming that the United States was focusing its attention on Central and South America, Carlo immediately ordered trading companies to establish a presence in Colombia.

If the United States can control the situation in South America through the United Fruit Company, then Spain can also influence various countries in South America through trading companies.

Even if we don't control the political situation in these countries, we should at least be able to influence their choices and prevent the Americans from achieving their goals.

(End of this chapter)