African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 951: Idea Bankruptcy
Of course, the so-called international morality is worthless in the eyes of all countries. Since the United States and Spain have declared war on each other, it would not have been a problem if they had not mentioned the Philippines earlier. Even if they had really attacked the Spanish mainland, there would have been no problem.

But now with the support of East Africa and France, Spain is really holding on to this point to negotiate with the United States on the issue of the Philippines, and it is naturally impossible for the United States to give up the Philippines again.

The final result of the compromise between the two sides was that the United States purchased the Philippines. The amount was the same as in history, still 20 million US dollars. However, compared with history, the United States suffered an absolute loss this time. On the one hand, the losses in this war were greater. On the other hand, the Philippines' Mindanao Island had been sold to East Africa. Therefore, the United States spent the same price and could only get two-thirds of the Philippines.

Spain felt even more aggrieved. If it had known this would happen, it would have sold the entire Philippines to Germany before the war. Twenty million US dollars was not a low price, but Germany definitely offered more. The most important thing was that its navy would not be completely wiped out.

Don't underestimate the Philippine Navy's weakness before. But now there is a gap in the Spanish Navy. Even if the Philippine Navy was placed in Spain today, it can at least maintain a decent navy in terms of total tonnage.

……

The first town.

"Regarding the outcome of the Spanish-American War, the two countries formally signed an agreement on the 19th of this month. The United States acquired colonies such as Cuba and the Philippines. As far as we know, Britain and Germany also benefited from this war, and some islands east of the Philippines fell into the hands of Germany."

In fact, this is not the first time that Germany has done this. For example, the Nauru Island in the Pacific that Ernst coveted was taken away by Germany from Spain in 1888.

In fact, Ernst already regretted it. If he had known that it would be so easy to buy land from Spain, he should have grabbed more islands in the Pacific.

However, this also gave Ernst a reminder that now that Spain's train was gone, there was still a Netherlands in Southeast Asia. The Netherlands had a lot of land, especially Kalimantan. Taking advantage of the aftermath of the war between the United States and Spain, perhaps a deal could be reached.

What does the Spanish-American War have to do with the purchase of territory from the Netherlands in East Africa? In fact, it has a lot to do with it. The Spanish-American War once again demonstrated the world's jungle law to those small countries. Even a powerful country like Spain would be beaten up by a more powerful country, let alone a "small" country like the Netherlands.

Of course, although the Netherlands is small, it is not a weak country. In all aspects, it is much stronger than the half-dead Portugal. Otherwise, it would not be possible for it to control a large territory of the Dutch East Indies.

The reason why Ernst paid special attention to the territory of Kalimantan in the hands of the Netherlands was naturally because of the resources on the island.

The Lan Fang overseas province in East Africa is actually a region with relatively scarce resources, while Sarawak, Brunei, North Borneo and other territories in the British sphere of influence in the north have rich oil and gas resources. Naturally, it is impossible for East Africa to take advantage of Britain.

The territory of Kalimantan controlled by the Netherlands not only has oil, but also a large amount of coal and other resources. The coal resources in southern Kalimantan alone account for 60% of Indonesia in the past. At the same time, the oil fields in eastern Kalimantan are also one of the three major oil and gas areas in Indonesia in the past (the other two are Java and Sumatra).

Moreover, Kalimantan has a low level of civilization and is far less important to the Netherlands than Java and Sumatra. In the Dutch East Indies, Java is the absolute core, and Sumatra is part of the Strait of Malacca.

Therefore, the island of Kalimantan, which borders East Africa and the United Kingdom, is like a hot potato for the Netherlands.

Thinking of this, Ernst immediately asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to negotiate with the Netherlands. With the previous experience of Mindanao, it would be best if the southern and eastern parts of Kalimantan could be obtained through peaceful means. If not, it would not be a big deal. Anyway, according to the national strength of the Netherlands, it would withdraw from the East Indies sooner or later.

Soon, East Africa's probing of the Dutch government was met with feedback, and the two sides did not reach a preliminary consensus. The main reason was that the Dutch were relatively wealthy and shrewd, so they asked for a high price. The Dutch had a strong commercial culture, so when the East African government proposed to buy Kalimantan, the Dutch immediately began to calculate East Africa's purpose.

This is easy to guess. East Africa already has the Lan Fang Overseas Province on the island of Kalimantan, so according to the Dutch speculation, East Africa wanted to expand the scope of the Lan Fang Overseas Province.

In recent years, East Africa's expansion in the Southeast Asian region has also been quite rapid, especially after it took over Mindanao, it has become one of the most powerful colonial powers in the Southeast Asian region.

Mindanao and Kalimantan are across the sea from each other. By controlling the eastern part of Kalimantan, the two colonies in East Africa can be connected into one.

Therefore, East Africa’s reasons for wanting to purchase Kalimantan are reasonable and sufficient. However, in the eyes of the Netherlands, Kalimantan is equally important to the country. It is the Netherlands’ second largest colony.

The first is also Sumatra Island. Sumatra Island has an area of ​​more than 400,000 square kilometers, while Dutch Kalimantan Island also has an area of ​​more than 400,000 square kilometers, only slightly smaller than Sumatra Island.

The area of ​​Kalimantan is more than 700,000 square kilometers. Because of the United Kingdom and East Africa, it is not entirely occupied by the Netherlands. Otherwise, Dutch Kalimantan would probably be the largest colony of the Netherlands.

In fact, Kalimantan is the largest island in Asia and ranks third in the world, after Greenland and New Guinea.

New Guinea also has a Dutch colony, but like Kalimantan, New Guinea is divided into three parts, belonging to the Netherlands, Britain and Germany.

The Dutch colonial area on the island of Kalimantan was more than 400,000 square kilometers, which was four times the size of Mindanao. In addition, in the eyes of the Dutch, Kalimantan was no less important than the Philippines, so they directly asked for 200 million Rhine guilders, which was almost twice the price the United States paid to "purchase" the Philippines. After all, in terms of area, Dutch Kalimantan was indeed twice the size of the Philippines (excluding Mindanao).

Of course, East Africa would not accept this offer. With so much money, it would be enough for East Africa to build its own navy and take over the entire Kalimantan Island.

The Netherlands is not in a hurry. In their view, East Africa needs the Netherlands, so it would be best if they could accept the offer. If not, the Netherlands can simply not sell it.

"If we really spend 200 million Rhine guilders to buy Kalimantan from the Dutch, it would be a real international joke. The climate conditions in Kalimantan are only slightly stronger than Alaska, and the population is not large. The Dutch really dare to ask for a high price." Ernst said to his subordinates.

Nowadays, money is spent everywhere in East Africa, so Ernst expected that a "bad place" like Kalimantan would only cost a few million dollars at best. If it exceeded 10 million dollars, Ernst would feel like a loss.

After all, buying it would not immediately increase East Africa's national strength. Ernst was only planning for East Africa's future, and it was not necessary to buy Kalimantan.

According to the historical process of the previous life, as long as East Africa seized the opportunity, Kalimantan Island would still fall into the hands of East Africa in a few decades at most. Even if there was no Japan, the troublemaker in the South Seas, the national strength of East Africa at that time would be enough to make the Dutch leave the South Seas in disgrace.

This attempt also discouraged Ernst's enthusiasm for messing around. The situation in Mindanao and Alaska cannot be easily replicated. It is more cost-effective to spend more money to enhance the strength of East Africa.

(End of this chapter)