Empire Rising: Spain

For the Spanish Government, they might even hope that the Dutch would initiate an attack on Spain’s colonies. If Spain were to declare war on the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, the meddler, might interfere with this war.

However, if the Dutch were to declare war on Spain first, Spain would have sufficient reason to engage in a major war with the Netherlands.

Whether it be a homeland war or a colonial war, Spain is confident enough to crush the Netherlands. If the United Kingdom still wanted to interfere after the Dutch declared war, the treaties Spain had signed would not be for naught.

Not to mention, both France and Russia would gladly trip up the British.

If Austria-Hungary and Italy were willing to support Spain as well, even the United Kingdom, as the world’s strongest nation, would not be able to withstand such diplomatic pressure.

Aside from annexing the Brunei Sultanate on the island of Borneo, Spain also had colonial actions on the island of New Guinea.

The shape of New Guinea is quite peculiar, resembling more a standing dinosaur.

This island’s area is even larger than the island of Borneo; it is the world’s second-largest island, second only to Greenland, most of which is uninhabitable.

In other words, New Guinea is the largest inhabitable stretch of land on an island globally, and coupled with its abundant mineral and natural resources, it’s no wonder it’s eyed by other powers.

Currently, on this dinosaur-shaped island, there are colonial teams from multiple European countries, including the Netherlands, Spain, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and Portugal.

The Spanish, Dutch, and Portuguese colonial teams are generally concentrated on the upper half of the dinosaur, that is, the head and upper body.

Meanwhile, the British, French, and German colonial teams mainly cluster around the lower half of the dinosaur, that is, the tail and claws, and part of the lower body.

Additionally, several large islands surrounding New Guinea have also been trodden by these European countries, creating a trend for various European powers to partition the New Guinea Peninsula.

However, each country’s colonial teams have only simply established colonial posts, with none declaring a vast occupation of New Guinea.

This also represents that these European countries dispatching colonial teams all have hopes of occupying this island, or at least partitioning part of its lands to establish new colonies.

For this reason, even though the colonial competition on New Guinea is quite fierce, none of the participating colonizing countries have given up, but instead have incrementally intensified their colonial efforts.

To say which three countries find it most convenient to colonize New Guinea, perhaps it would be the United Kingdom, Spain, and the Netherlands.

The British Queensland Colony, that is, the protruding area at the northeastern corner of Australia, is very close to New Guinea, which gives the British a significant advantage in colonizing New Guinea.

The Dutch are no less capable. The Dutch East Indies is only about 200 kilometers from the nearest point to New Guinea; the East Indies’ military and indigenous population can swiftly reach New Guinea, establishing colonial posts at the fastest pace among these European nations.

Then there is Spain.

Spain’s Philippine Colony is about 1000 kilometers from the nearest point to New Guinea, which does not give them as much of an advantage compared to the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.

However, Carlo places significant importance on colonizing New Guinea. Under Carlo’s instructions, the Philippine colonial government also strengthened its colonial efforts on New Guinea, ensuring Spain’s colonial progress on New Guinea is not inferior to that of the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

Of course, this also includes support and cooperation from the Portuguese.

Portugal also has colonies in Southeast Asia, albeit smaller in scale, called Timor.

Yes, it’s the same East Timor from later centuries.

In fact, Portuguese colonizers were the first to colonize Timor; it was these colonizers who established the Portuguese colony in Timor.

But the Dutch came swiftly after, discovering and colonizing Timor, forcing the Portuguese to the island’s eastern side. As a result, Portugal’s Timor colony looks pathetically small.

Although the Timor colony is small in size, Portugal still has a garrison here, considering it a formal Portuguese colony.

It’s worth mentioning that Timor colony is only about 800 kilometers from the nearest point to New Guinea, closer than the distance between the Spanish Philippines Colony and New Guinea.

This is one of the reasons Portugal joined the colonial race for New Guinea, as they also saw an opportunity to share a piece of the pie in this colonial competition.

Additionally, when Carlo brought up the issue of colonial cooperation with King Luis of Portugal earlier, Spain and Portugal joined forces, and indeed they established many colonial posts on New Guinea.

Although both Spain and Portugal have undergone decline, when it comes to colonization, Spain and Portugal are still experts in this field.

The main reason lies in the overly glorious colonial histories of Spain and Portugal; the two countries together once dominated much of America.

Colonizing a small New Guinea island is absolutely straightforward for the Iberian Peninsula, which also allows Spain, despite being further, to not lag behind the Netherlands and the United Kingdom in terms of colonial progress.

Conflicts are inevitably going to occur between European countries’ immigrants, as relying solely on peaceful coexistence is impossible for gaining ownership of the colony.

Due to New Guinea’s western areas being solely occupied by the Netherlands, Spain, and Portugal, the Iberian Peninsula has a significant advantage in the colonial competition, pushing the Dutch back further and even squeezing their colonial posts further afield.

To ensure the security of Spain’s colonial posts on New Guinea, the Philippine Colonial Defense Corps dispatched an entire unit to New Guinea.

This also intensified the colonial conflicts on New Guinea, as the Dutch did not retreat at all and dispatched some troops to New Guinea, aiming precisely to guard against the Spaniards.