Empire Rising: Spain

Chapter 103: Chapter 94: Christmas Arrives

The exchange of interests between Carlo and Prime Minister Prim was quickly completed, and Antonio Canovas del Castillo was also successfully appointed as the Minister of Agriculture of Spain, becoming a member of the cabinet.

The candidate for the Governor of the South Morocco Colony has also been determined, and after receiving Carlo’s appointment, the framework of the colonial government was basically established.

The good news is that the entire population of the South Morocco Colony is not large, totaling less than a million, making management relatively simple.

After this war, northern Morocco will also realize that Spain is not to be trifled with, at least not for a while.

In such a situation, the South Morocco Colony will go through a relatively stable period. In his report to Carlo, Prime Minister Prim also mentioned the next task of the South Morocco Colonial Government, which is the Catholicization of Southern Morocco.

In the history of European colonization, missionary work and colonization are inseparable. A large number of European missionaries roamed the world, spreading the ideas of Christianity to distant foreign lands.

It has been mentioned before that Moroccans are white and believe in Islam. What Prime Minister Prim needs to do is to convert Moroccans to Catholicism, so they can be assimilated into the family of Spaniards.

Of course, if they do not wish to join the ranks of Catholic Spaniards, they can only continue to be the indigenous people of the colony, enduring the oppression of the colonial government and the indifference of Europeans.

In addition to spreading the Catholic faith, the South Morocco Colony must also work on the unification of language within the colony so that these Moroccan natives all learn Spanish.

Although Spain has lost a large number of colonies in South America, Spanish colonial rule has actually been successful.

Countries like Argentina basically all speak Spanish; they are mixed-race descendants of Spaniards and local natives and have a natural affinity for Spain.

Although Spain’s population now lags far behind the great powers, Spain can assimilate the population that originally belonged to the Spanish American colonies at low cost.

Even the population of the Portuguese colonies can be quickly assimilated, as the difference between Spanish and Portuguese is not significant, more like dialectal variations evolved in different regions.

Of course, the promotion of Spanish should not only focus on the colonies but also be vigorously pursued at home.

Especially in regions like Catalonia and the Basque Region that are eager for independence, they should first be made to generally use Spanish, and then slowly accept the broader concept of being Spanish, to effectively resolve the threat of independence.

In the nascent stage of nationalism, trying to suppress it forcefully is completely ineffective. Only by making Catalans and Basque people genuinely accept the concept of being Spanish, like Jose Echegaray, who has Basque heritage, can these regions be thoroughly stabilized.

Trying to promote Spanish through coercion is also not feasible.

However, in this respect, it is relatively straightforward, just need to allow Spanish capital to flood into Catalonia and the Basque Region, creating more jobs in these areas.

Since factories and enterprises are set up by Spaniards, it is only natural for factories and enterprises to hire people who speak Spanish, right?

Local Catalans and Basques wanting to work in these factories will naturally have to learn Spanish.

Of course, there will definitely be some more extreme people who have certain opinions about the entry of Spanish capital into the area and only hiring those who speak Spanish.

Carlo would be eager for these people to emerge. After dealing with these relatively radical people, the remaining people will naturally not be so radical.

After all, a large number of peasants and ordinary people still acknowledge the Spanish government’s ruling position, and now the more radical nationalists are still in the minority.

At this moment, Spain still has hope of resolving the independence movements in Catalonia and the Basque Region.

Once nationalists in both regions have grown substantially in number, it would be almost impossible to eradicate them.

Unless another large-scale civil war breaks out to completely eliminate those opposing the Spanish government, which might restore stability within Spain.

But after the civil war, Spain would also be greatly weakened, and the rift between Catalans, Basques, and Spaniards would only widen.

Ultimately, it is because the overall number of Spaniards is not substantial. If Spain had a population of thirty to forty million, Carlo wouldn’t have to care so much about Catalans and Basques.

Prime Minister Prim’s concentration of power allows Carlo to feel the ease of being King. Besides the weekly cabinet routine meeting, Carlo rarely appears in government and does not inquire much about government affairs.

Apart from occasionally caring about the development of the Royal Family’s properties, Carlo seems to have nothing else to do. He can only enjoy the massages and attentive service of the maids while inspecting the construction and laboratory areas of the Royal Physical Chemistry College.

Time progresses rapidly, and before you know it, it’s Christmas of 1870.

From the time Carlo arrived in Spain until now, it has been about a year and a half.

This also signifies that Spain’s reforms have also been underway for a year and a half, and Carlo is looking forward to the results of Prime Minister Prim’s reforms and can feel the changes these reforms have brought to Spain over the past year and a half.

However, expectations aside, the Christmas holiday should be properly observed.

For Carlo’s second Christmas in Spain, his mood is completely different from the first.

During the last Christmas, because he had been in Spain for less than half a year, and the internal rebellion had not yet been quelled, Christmas was celebrated very simply.

Now that the internal rebellion has been settled, Carlo naturally doesn’t mind enjoying life a little, such as hosting a celebration banquet.

The only ones qualified to attend Carlo’s banquet, aside from the top government officials, are the nobles.

Of course, because the scale of the Royal Palace’s banquet hall is not large, not all nobles can receive an invitation from Carlo.

Due to the vast size of the Spanish nobility, totaling thousands if not tens of thousands, gathering them all together would definitely cause chaos.

Even when narrowed down to nobles above Marquis, those who are invited already number dozens.

Counting their companions, the number of banquet attendees already exceeds a hundred.

Along with Prime Minister Prim and the cabinet members, there are just over a hundred participants for this banquet.

Those attending the banquet are the upper echelons of Spain, and this is also one of Carlo’s means of wooing the noble class.