Back to Ming Dynasty with Industrial Revolution System

Chapter 1132 The Portuguese Plantation

The fleet temporarily stayed in Sao Tome Island. This is the first time they have set foot on the ground since sailing along the coast of West Africa.

"The relationship between our two countries is not so harmonious. You have also brought strange Chinese people. It is better to be quiet. Recently, a batch of 'goods' is going to be shipped to Rio City. We don't want any troubles." Sao Tome The governor of the island reminded the Britons again and asked them to tell Li Jinde them.

The goal of Li Jinde, Sun Xu and others was not Sao Tome Island, but the British Isles and the European continent. They just regarded this place as a temporary foothold with an exotic flavor, and they were quite curious about it.

"My darling, they actually let so many natives work for them. The crops they plant seem to be sugarcane, right? This kind of yield can be said to be terrible." The Chinese merchants who settled temporarily couldn't take a break and ignored Sao Tome In response to the warnings of the governor of the island, observations were made on the Portuguese plantations, trying to figure out what the Portuguese were doing on the island.

"It's somewhat similar to Manila ruled by the Spanish. There are also many plantations in Manila." Sun Xu, who once served in the Nanyang Fleet, is no stranger to the plantation economy of European colonists.

There are tropical plantations set up by European colonists in the Spice Islands, which also drove the local aborigines to plant cash crops for them, and they were able to extract a large amount of returns at almost no cost.

"You guessed right. This used to be the largest sugar supplier in Europe, providing the Portuguese with massive wealth. At its peak, they had [-] slaves planting sugar here, and it was the Portuguese base in West Africa." Kang Earl Puton came over, also observing the huge Portuguese plantation with the entire island as the main body.

In an era when productivity is so dispersed, centrally managed plantations can be said to be a special case, regardless of morality.

"Could it be that this is not the largest supplier of sucrose now?" Li Jinde could hear what Earl Compton meant.

"Later, after the West Indies and South America were developed, there were more extensive plantations there, and the Portuguese and Sao Tome were no longer able to monopolize the sugar trade. Thanks to competition, the price of sugar fell. And the Portuguese will The base in West Africa moved to the Congo River, plundering gold and population directly on the mainland... Nevertheless, Sao Tome Island is still an important sugar production place for them." Earl Compton said.

"It turns out that there is such a story behind it. Is it against morality to enslave these people at will?" Li Jinde said.

"Mr. Li, before the arrival of our civilization, these people were still a stone tool society that drank blood. For our advanced civilization, they are not much different from animals. Only our east and west can be regarded as civilization, and other places are not civilized. They are barbarians. Don't think that the Portuguese are the only ones here to capture slaves. There are also Spaniards, Britons, French, Ottomans, and Egyptians. Ottomans are even more hateful. They also set up pirate governors to attack our European ships and capture The sailors who arrived were sold as slaves."

"And don't think that their native kingdoms will be any better. Wars will break out among the native kingdoms on the African continent, and captives will be killed as sacrifices or used as slaves. Some native kingdoms will sell captives to us." Kang Pu Earl Dun explained the cruel rules of the game to Li Jinde and others, which surprised Li Jinde and others who had been educated in Confucianism since childhood.They had seen slaves who were sold as slaves, and they knew that captives captured in wars in the East would also become slaves, but they were shocked by such a large-scale trade specifically for the purpose of capturing slaves.

Listening to Earl Compton's theory, Li Jinde felt that something was wrong, and he didn't know how to refute it, as it was a common thing for Westerners.

When they were wandering around the Portuguese plantation, a group of slaves were driven onto a sailboat by the colonists.These slaves were chained and there were a large number of them, but they did not dare to resist the Portuguese soldiers who were urging them to board the ship with matchlock guns.

Li Jinde counted the number of people boarding the ship silently in his mind, and found that a sailing ship weighing no more than 100 tons actually carried more than 400 slaves!
You must know that the Victory with a load capacity of more than 2000 tons has only a crew of more than 800 people, and a 100-ton sailboat can carry dozens of people to have enough space and food, while 400 slaves seem very crowded.It is conceivable how many people will die during the voyage on such a crowded ship.

"These people are going to be transported to plantations in America to serve as labor." Earl Compton didn't say anything more.

It is not a glorious thing for them. If it is not for the fact that Li Jinde and the others may also be involved in the slave trade here after they are partners, he may not explain it patiently. After all, the slave trade is like running across the sea. Like the tacit consent of privateers, it is the dark side of the conventions of European countries.

"It's really disturbing for our businessmen to make this kind of conscience wealth. I think this kind of trade can last for a while, but it is not a good strategy after all. We should go on the right path." Several Chinese businessmen who came to Sao Tome Island secretly whispered Whisper, not very interested in the slave trade.

Maybe at this time European countries are not strong enough to need bloody capital accumulation to profit from slave trade, but it seems that it is not so necessary for China, which is strong and has no shortage of population. The steam engine has begun to spread and even endangers the local handicraftsmen of China. And employment for farmers... Tropical plantations if necessary.

What's more, in the division of traditional society, engaging in this kind of business would make face-conscious big Chinese merchants feel ashamed, and they could engage in such decent trade as silk, tea and spice industrial products.

The people stayed in Sao Tome Island for two days. They only went ashore to stop and supply supplies. On the third day, they left Sao Tome Island where the Portuguese were entrenched, and then continued to sail north along the coast of the West African continent.Along the way, they saw several strongholds set up by Westerners, all of whom were generally engaged in the same activities as those on Sao Tome Island.

The vicinity of West Africa is almost all in the sphere of influence of European colonists, and when the fleet passes through the North African waters, it enters the sphere of influence of Barbary pirates.However, when the ships of the Barbary pirates encountered such a huge fleet, they also took a detour.They were pirates who plundered merchant ships and coastal villages, and they didn't want to fight a decisive battle with a fleet of more than 60 galleons, not to mention the flag of the British Navy and the mysterious Oriental Dragon Flag! More than 20 warships, unless the Barbary pirates and the Ottoman Navy formed a joint fleet in the Mediterranean, they dared to gnaw such a hard bone.

(End of this chapter)