Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1205 Foreshadowing

On June 1659, 6, the official carriage of Mo San, the Executive Committee Member and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Eastern China Republic, drove into the Dongfang Hotel. He was going to have a conversation with Cornelis Bickel, the representative of the Dutch West India Company who was staying here. discuss.

The Dutch West India Company is also an old friend of the East Coast. In recent years, the degree of cooperation between the two parties has deepened. From textiles to hardware products, from arms to large machinery, from tropical commodities to slaves, the cooperation between the two parties has brought great benefits to the East Coast. A large number of economic benefits, of course, also greatly improved the financial situation of the Dutch West Indies - one of the important reasons why this company has persisted and has not yet gone bankrupt is the popularity of trade with the East Coast.

Of course, the financial situation of the West India Company at this time is not much better than in history, because there is still a huge bleeding wound on its body: Recife.

To be honest, the current Recife is really a bit tasteless for the Dutch West India Company, and it is a pity to discard it if it is tasteless.The Portuguese's unremitting harassment and war for many years caused the Dutch West India Company to spend a huge amount of money on local defense, so that the company's board of directors was a little overwhelmed. Many shareholders clamored for peace talks with Portugal and completely abandoned Recife. The Portuguese paid a huge ransom to improve the company's financial situation - they believed that the Portuguese were willing to do this, because what these people had been pursuing for many years was to monopolize the whole of Brazil.

As an important investor of the West India Company, Cornelis is actually not willing to see the loss of Recife, because he has invested a lot of sugar workshops in the local area, and has just spent a lot of money to update it in recent years. Equipment, bought many black slaves in West Africa, and did not want to stop the extremely profitable business of sugar.

"In recent years, the number of sugar workshops in General Pernambuco has declined rapidly. Many people are not optimistic about the investment environment here. Coupled with the harassment and interception of the Portuguese Navy, many people have suffered heavy losses. Some marine insurance groups in Amsterdam are not even They were willing to provide insurance services for them again, which made everyone very frustrated, and then they withdrew their capital and left.” In a luxuriously decorated suite of the state-run Oriental Hotel, Cornelis with a beautiful mustache was talking to Mo San And Tan: "The number of sugar workshops in Recife has been reduced to less than 50, and a considerable part of them was bought at a low price by me, otherwise there will be even fewer. This is really a sad story. The Portuguese offensive is really Too fierce, unless the native naval fleet can once again approach the mouth of the Tejo River and force them to submit."

"So, Cornelis, why did you come to our country this time? Did you bring any decision from your company?" Mo San asked with some expectation.People on the east coast have dealt with the Dutch West India Company too many times. From the early Captain Couette to the later Bicker family, the cooperation between the two parties is also comprehensive. There are some points, but overall the relationship between the two parties is still mostly positive.

"Yes, to be honest, the decision made by the company this time is exactly what you want to see. Ha, yes, the company's board of directors, the Zeeland Provincial Council, the Rotterdam City Council, and the Vlissingen City Council have unanimously approved it. Once The company intends to sell the New Netherland colony—note, including the new Sweden that was taken from the Swedes (that is, the Delaware area in later generations)—then your government will be the first consideration object, and the overall price is 300 million Dong (approximately 100 million yuan), which can be paid in three years without interest.” Cornelis Bickel said with a smile, “The board of directors of the company will submit this matter to the Hague three-level council for consideration within this year. There's a good chance it will pass."

"This is really good news." Mo San said in surprise and joy, of course he quickly came back to his senses, then looked at the smiling Cornelis, and said in a calm tone as much as possible: "Then, Cornelis, is it time to talk about the price our government will have to pay?"

Cornelis nodded when he heard the words, and said, "Don't worry, it's not difficult. The company's board of directors hopes to join the New Spain trade that your country dominates as a prerequisite for selling New Netherland's right of first refusal."

In fact, Yan Yanlan said that at this time, the trade in New Spain was not monopolized by the people on the east coast, because the current scale and strength of Gein Caribbean Shipping Company is not large enough, and the degree of control over the customs of the top ten open ports is not enough. Therefore, there are still a large number of smuggling ships from Britain, France, Portugal, Holland, Spain, Denmark, Switzerland, and even Germany in the Caribbean Sea. Knowing that their number of ships is still limited, it is not enough to completely block this sea area, so European smuggled goods continue to flow into the New Spain market.

However, the Dutch West India Company is not the kind of short-sighted company with shallow eyelids. Of course, they know that with the full assistance of the East Coast government and the growing strength of the Caribbean Shipping Company, the only fate of smuggled merchant ships from the Old World , probably being completely expelled from the New Spain market.This process may only take less than ten years, and it may take more. At that time, a large part of the business of the Dutch West India Company will be abandoned, and this is obviously why they agreed to sell Sini The reason why Deland’s right of first refusal was granted to the people on the east coast—you know, the people on the east coast have requested twice before, but the Dutch West India Company clearly refused once and did not give a clear answer once. What is their attitude? self-knowledge.

But now, once it is discovered that the people on the east coast are advancing into the Caribbean Sea and threatening their interests, the Dutch West India Company panics.For countries like the East Bank, they can’t fight—not to mention whether they can fight, and the political atmosphere in the Netherlands does not allow them to fight quasi-allies like the East Bank—then they can only find ways to cooperate. That is to join the trade system for the New Spain market dominated by the East Coasters. Anyway, the Air Canada company is now also ordering a lot of goods from the Old Continent. It is better to let the Germans, Italians and English earn this kind of money. Let the Dutch take a share too.

Therefore, based on such a consideration, the Dutch West India Company finally let go of its arrogance, and under the pressure of the deteriorating financial situation, it was determined to develop more in-depth cooperation with the East Coast government.Otherwise, is it waiting for the company to go bankrupt?

Mo San was surprised that the West India Company did not ask to help them fight in Recife. You must know that their recent situation is not good.It's all like this and I don't ask for help, and I don't know what the idea is.Forget it, Recife is not the focus of attention on the East Bank anyway, they can worry about it themselves, and it won’t hinder anything on the East Bank—probably the only thing to worry about is that the Dutch’s power in Recife is half-dead. It is probably a bit difficult for the people on the east coast to ask them to support and help.But this is not a big deal. Brazil, sooner or later, will be a dish in the basin on the east coast, and it will not escape!On the contrary, now that the Dutch have obtained the right of first refusal to the New Netherland, the people on the east coast have thus obtained a reason to intervene in the possible second Anglo-Dutch war in the future. Such a foreshadowing is for the East China Republic , is more valuable.

The desire expressed by Cornelis to join the New Spain trade was approved in principle by Mo San. As long as it is approved by the Executive Committee, the West India Company will probably be able to send people to the Mobile Trading Station to discuss some Old Continent products. The purchase list and quantity.

"By the way, in the past two years, more and more Catholics have immigrated to Marañon, Ceara, Pernambuco, Rio Grande do Norte and other general jurisdictions. I think the Portuguese government's policy may have changed. You guys Be careful." After talking about the most important thing, Cornelis said to Mo San seemingly unintentionally: "Most of these immigrants come from Portugal, Italy, France and even parts of Germany, and they are basically Catholics. But the number of Jews is also considerable, which has caused the population of the above areas to surge. We don’t know what happened to the other general districts, but I think there should be a lot of Old World immigrants as well.”

The information given by Cornelis immediately attracted Mo San's attention.In fact, the commercial station in San Vicente on the east coast also reported the same news last year, that is, the number of whites in General Sao Paulo’s jurisdiction has increased significantly, and only half of these immigrants are from Portugal, and the rest are mostly from other countries in the old continent. Catholics in the area.Now put this news together with the information provided by Cornelis, and the truth of the matter is ready to be revealed: the Portuguese have been immigrating to Brazil vigorously in recent years!

In fact, as a relatively feudal and conservative country, the Portuguese government has always restricted its nationals from emigrating overseas, except for the Jews who have been discriminated against and deported on the Iberian Peninsula.Therefore, this led to the slow growth of Portuguese Brazil's population - in 1580, there were only more than 3 whites (of which about 10-20% were Portuguese Jews).

Brazil's population really grew during the merger of Spain and Portugal. The Spanish government relaxed the restrictions on immigration to Brazil (only Portuguese immigrants were allowed to immigrate to Brazil before), so a large number of Spaniards, Italians, Germans, French and even Englishmen (of course It is also indispensable that a large number of Western Jews) influx into Brazil to settle down, making the local white population grow explosively.

However, after gaining independence in 1640, the Portuguese government once again closed the passage for non-Portuguese nationals to immigrate to Brazil, and restricted their nationals from immigrating to Brazil with their families (so most of the people who came to Brazil were Portuguese bachelors).This policy has been intermittent for many years since then, but in the impression of people on the east coast, there were indeed no non-Portuguese whites in Brazil for many years before 1659. Of course, this impression has been completely subverted now. Under tremendous pressure, the opening of non-Portuguese whites to immigrate to Brazil has been released again, and the meaning is indeed quite subtle.

People on the east coast are sharpening their knives, and the Portuguese are not stupid!

(End of this chapter)