Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 457 Land Reform and Currency

After the formation of the United Kingdom, Carlo could finally breathe a sigh of relief. By now, Carlo had essentially completed his original imperial plan, transforming Spain into a superpower comparable to Britain, France, and Germany.

If we only consider the territory of the Iberian Peninsula, the United Kingdom of Spain and Portugal together possesses 59.82 square kilometers of land, which surpasses the land area of ​​Germany and France, and is second only to the vast territory of Russia.

If we include Morocco, which is already undergoing localization across the sea, Spain's future land area will reach an astonishing 105.72 square kilometers, far exceeding the size of Germany and France, and its weakness of poor land will be completely eliminated.

This land of 1,057,200 square kilometers can accommodate a population of over 100 million, which is the population base that enabled it to become a true superpower after World War II.

To exaggerate a bit, the Iberian Peninsula alone, with its vast land area of ​​598,200 square kilometers, could accommodate a population of over 100 million.

After all, a certain country in later times, with an area of ​​only 100,000 square kilometers, had a staggering population of 50 million. Portugal, with an area of ​​92,200 square kilometers and vast plains, could easily support a population of 30 to 40 million under extreme conditions.

Spain, though mostly mountainous, is an enormous country. Its 506,000 square kilometers can easily support a population of 60 to 70 million.

If we calculate it this way, and add the land in Morocco, the future population capacity of Spain could reach at least 1.5 million.

Such a territorial size ensured that Portugal was qualified to maintain its status as a superpower for decades or even centuries.

That was all Carlo could do. Large-scale territorial expansion in Europe was no easy feat in this era, and the annexation of Morocco and Portugal was already an unexpected surprise for Spain.

After the formation of the United Kingdom of Spain and Portugal, Carlos's first order to the new kingdom was to instruct Spain and Portugal to conduct their own population censuses and calculate the total population of the United Kingdom.

Carlo was very interested in the population data of this new nation. According to current population estimates for Spain and Portugal, the United Kingdom's population would officially surpass that of Great Britain and France, meaning that Spain would no longer be in a population gap with the superpowers.

Of course, Russia is a definite exception. Russia's population is exceptionally large compared to other European countries; neither Spain, nor Britain, Germany, nor France can compare with Russia in terms of population.

Spain's annual population growth of several hundred thousand seems quite good, but it's still only a fraction of Russia's population growth.

Because of its massive population, Russia experiences a net population increase of over one million people each year, sometimes reaching two to three million.

Spain's population growth of over 23 million in 35 years seems like a remarkable achievement, but Russia could achieve the same number of people in just 15 years.

Portugal took Carlos's first order quite seriously. They mobilized a large number of people to conduct a very detailed survey of the population in Portugal's four administrative regions, corrected some population errors in the original Portuguese government records, and finally obtained a relatively accurate population figure of 530.7 million.

It's not that the Portuguese government didn't want to be precise to single digits after the decimal point; the main reason is that statistics in this era relied entirely on paper data, and even the most meticulous statistics would inevitably contain errors.

Being able to pinpoint the error to within a thousand individuals is quite an achievement for the Portuguese government. This level of population census accuracy is also considered relatively high; the Spanish government, to date, has only been able to achieve population counts accurate to within a thousand individuals.

The Spanish government took longer than Portugal to compile its population statistics, but it still reported the data to Carlo within a month.

As of May 1906, Spain had a population of 4068.7 million. The combined population of the United Kingdom of Spain and Portugal was 4599.4 million, second only to Russia and Germany in Europe, and slightly ahead of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

When Carlos received this population data, he was quite satisfied with the United Kingdom's population. More importantly, Spain's proportion of the entire United Kingdom's population reached an astonishing 88.46%, which actually proved Spain's control and influence over the United Kingdom.

After the United Kingdom was formed, the biggest changes did not occur in Spain, but in the more backward Portugal.

During this period, the Portuguese Parliament held several meetings, and Carlos also encouraged Portugal to follow Spain's example and carry out a number of reforms to save Portugal's fragile industry and economy.

Under Carlo's impetus, the Portuguese parliament formally began discussions on reforms and ultimately decided to completely emulate Spain's approach.

To be fair, the Portuguese people are quite hopeful about this reform. As Spain's neighbor, the Portuguese people are also well aware of how Spain gradually became powerful.

Spain was not much better off than Portugal at the time. It was only through thorough reforms that Spain was able to curb its decline and usher in a golden period of industrial and economic development.

The first reform implemented by the Portuguese government was related to land.

Like Spain before it, Portugal's land was controlled by the nobility and the church. The good news was that after the Portuguese revolution overthrew the monarchy, the nobility was also overthrown along with the monarchy.

Although Spain has now restored the monarchy, Carlos does not have much affection for the former Portuguese nobility.

Although these Portuguese nobles had contacted Carlo multiple times, hoping to gain his support and reappear in the upper echelons of the Portuguese government.

However, Carlos made it clear that he refused, stating that Portugal would undergo long-term reforms in the future and that he would not interfere too much with the Portuguese government for the time being.

These Portuguese nobles originally thought that Carlo simply did not want to interfere in Portugal's internal affairs immediately, but they did not expect that Carlo would directly turn the knife on them.

On May 7, 1906, the Portuguese government promulgated the Land Reform Act, which announced the confiscation of all church lands and the sale of these lands to all Portuguese people at market prices.

Anyone with Portuguese citizenship can purchase these lands. Of course, there is a limit to the amount of land each person can buy, which is to prevent those who genuinely need land from being unable to purchase it.

Although the land reform bill did not mention the land of the old nobles, the Portuguese government implicitly assumed that the land of the old nobles was also confiscated.

Moreover, it was not the current Portuguese government that confiscated the lands of the old nobles, but the Portuguese Republic government that overthrew the monarchy during the revolution.

What? The Portuguese nobles say these lands originally belonged to them?

I'm sorry, the current Portuguese government is unaware of this. The Portuguese government only understands that these lands were seized from the Portuguese Republic. I'm taking land that belongs to the Portuguese Republic; what business is it of yours, you monarchical nobles?

When the Portuguese nobles learned of this reply from the Portuguese government, they immediately realized that something was terribly wrong.

Although Portugal has now restored its monarchy, it has no intention of recognizing the privileges of its nobility. In fact, if Carlos hadn't been unwilling to offend the European aristocracy, he wouldn't have even recognized the Portuguese nobility.

After all, the Portuguese nobility had no relation to Carlos. Over a long historical process, these nobles had become a cancer in Portugal.

Like the Spanish aristocratic groups, Carlo wouldn't have let them go if it weren't for the numerous reforms that caused them significant financial losses.

Fortunately, these nobles were quite reasonable. After being dealt with by Carlo, they wisely began to support Carlo's policies.

Carlo was willing to accept these nobles who were honestly loyal to him. After all, a king still needs some capable and influential nobles under his command. Although the new-style nobles were desirable, the fact that they did not own any land meant that they did not have much influence among the European nobility.

Neither the Portuguese nobility nor the church were able to resist the impending land reform.

With the United Kingdom integrating the military forces of Spain and Portugal, Spanish troops were also stationed in Portugal in large numbers, constructing a complete Iberian defense system. Under these circumstances, when the Portuguese nobles and the church wanted to resist the land reform laws promulgated by the government, they had to face the formidable fighting power of the Spanish army.

The British army had already proven that going against the Spanish army was not a wise thing to do, and these nobles naturally did not dare to cause any trouble for the government's newly promulgated land reform bill.

After all, the Portuguese government at this time had powerful backers. The United Kingdom, backed by Spain, was not to be trifled with, and no foreign power was willing to support the Portuguese nobility.

While the Portuguese nobility harbored resentment towards this land reform law, the vast majority of Portuguese people felt only excitement and agitation.

The Portuguese anticipated that Portugal would undergo reforms after forming a personal union with Spain, but they did not expect the reforms to be so rapid and intense.

The first reform is extremely powerful. If land reform can be completed throughout Portugal, the income of Portuguese farmers will increase significantly, which will effectively improve the living standards of the Portuguese people. Isn't this what the Portuguese people have wanted for a long time?
After the first group of Portuguese successfully purchased land from the government at market price, the land reform bill enacted by the government was immediately supported by all Portuguese people.

There's no way around it; this land reform law is genuinely creating benefits for the Portuguese. Even those who want to buy land but don't have the money can choose to rent some land from the government to cultivate.

The land leased by the government to the people at low prices has neither excessively high rents nor a series of other complicated requirements. The government only collects a portion of the rent and taxes each year; all other income belongs to the farmers.

This would have been completely unimaginable during the original Portuguese Kingdom and Republic eras. The Old Kingdom period goes without saying, as most of the land was controlled by the nobility and the church, leaving peasants as serfs.

Most of the grain harvested each year is subject to taxes and rent, with only a small portion belonging to the farmers as income.

This amount of grain is barely enough to feed a family, let alone sell. This is also why Portugal has a low birth rate; most Portuguese people simply cannot survive, so they naturally don't think about having children.

Even during the Portuguese Republic, the living standards of many ordinary Portuguese citizens did not improve effectively.

The Portuguese Republic did indeed reclaim a large amount of land from the old aristocracy, but this land then became the private property of the Portuguese Republic.

Farmers still had to pay large amounts of taxes and rents to the Portuguese Republic. Although they were doing better than during the Old Kingdom period, their situation was still about the same, and far from being able to live a good life.

The land reform bill, which offered land at market prices and with low rents, did indeed give the Portuguese people hope for a better life.

This alone was enough for the Portuguese to be certain that forming a personal union with Spain was indeed a smart move. Whether monarchy or republic is superior is still debated, but having a good ruler is definitely more important than anything else.

Although Carlos only reigned as King of Portugal for a few short months, the changes he brought to the Portuguese people were greater than those of more than a dozen rulers from the Old Kingdom and the Republic combined.

Just days after the land reform bill was enacted, the Portuguese government also enacted a worker protection law.

Similar to Spain's labor law, Portugal's worker protection law mainly stipulates the minimum income for all workers in Portugal, with the aim of raising the real income level of Portuguese people.

Although this labor protection law will increase the cost of hiring for Portuguese factory owners, the good news is that most of the factories currently being built in Portugal are owned by Spanish capitalists.

For Spanish capitalists, such a price is perfectly acceptable. After all, Spain also has similar labor laws, and compared to Spain's average annual income, Portugal's average annual income is much lower.

This also means that the labor costs of building a factory in Portugal are much lower than those of building a factory in Spain.

It is worth mentioning that after the formation of the United Kingdom and the full opening of the border between Spain and Portugal, a large number of tourists flocked to Spain and Portugal, effectively stimulating the economic growth of both countries.

Many Portuguese people, curious about the legendary, bustling Madrid, chose to travel to Madrid by train to find out for themselves.

Many Spaniards, curious about their neighbor Portugal, also travel by train to Portugal to experience its slightly different culture.

The period around the formation of the United Kingdom coincided with the most exciting phase of bullfighting in Spain, which led to a large number of Portuguese tourists choosing to travel to various Spanish cities to watch bullfights.

The company responsible for organizing the bullfights also announced that the 1907 bullfights would be held throughout the United Kingdom, including in four administrative regions of Portugal.

This news excited the Portuguese for a long time; they could finally watch bullfights at home and even have the opportunity to experience it firsthand.

After the United Kingdom was formed, the government faced another troublesome issue: the different currencies used by Spain and Portugal.

Portugal also has its own currency, and its exchange rate differs significantly from the peseta. The Portuguese currency circulates only within Portugal and its colonies, limiting its reach and value in other parts of Europe.

In contrast, the Spanish peseta, the official currency of Spain, was only circulated in Spain and its colonies. However, because its exchange rate was the same as that of other European powers such as the franc and lira, and because Spain itself was quite powerful, the value of the peseta was also recognized by other European powers.

When you take a Spanish peseta to other European countries, you can exchange it for local currency at banks in those countries.

After lengthy discussions in the House of Commons, it was finally decided that a single currency, the Spanish peseta, would be used throughout the United Kingdom.

The Spanish peseta was renamed the United Kingdom peseta, and the exchange rate remained the same: 1 pound was equal to 25 pesetas.

As for the Portuguese riel, its original official currency, it was officially abolished on January 1, 1907, and became a thing of the past.

The exchange rate of the riel also reveals the reason for its discontinuation. One pound sterling could be exchanged for 25 pesetas, francs, or lira, or 4532 riel.

Yes, it's that exaggerated. If the British pound is the most valuable currency in Europe, then the Portuguese riel is one of the least valuable.

The average annual income per person in Spain is as high as 400 pesetas, which, if converted to Portuguese riel, would reach an astonishing 7.25 riel.

This is also why Portugal's official per capita annual income data doesn't look so bad; the riel is simply too worthless.

在1907年1月1日之前，葡萄牙瑞尔仍然可以在联合王国的各个地区流通。在1907年1月1日之后，瑞尔将会被正式取缔，联合王国内只允许比塞塔这一种货币流通。

Of course, to facilitate the exchange of Portuguese riel for the new currency peseta, the United Kingdom government specifically stipulated that before January 1, 1907, the exchange rate between the peseta and the riel would be fixed at 1 peseta to 181.28 riel, and Portuguese citizens could exchange pesetas without time or quantity restrictions.

After January 1, 1907, all riel in the market would be abolished, which was to urge the Portuguese to exchange their currency for pesetas as soon as possible to avoid their paper money losing value in the new year.

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(End of this chapter)