v3 Chapter 170： African Conference without Africans

May 20, 1864, when everyone in Europe was staring at London.

In the Netherlands, the Privy Council meetings are being held normally.

When asked about the immigrant population of William IV, the Home Office Secretary Jonrell surprised William IV with an answer of 2.1 million.

When William IV listened to the summary report from the Far East over the past few years, he sighed at the earth-shaking changes!

Beginning in January 1862, scenes of wonders appeared in the Netherlands. There were groups of immigrants ready to leave Europe for the Far East. At first, they were poor people. Most of them went to get their own land to cultivate.

Then came the small businessmen. In addition to getting the land for cultivation, they also felt that there were huge business opportunities.

Beginning in the second half of July 1862, even the capitalists began to emigrate to the Far East on a large scale, because with the increasing number of immigrants, whether it was business or investment, opportunities were everywhere. .

Then, when New Guinea, Australia, Madagascar, etc. fell into the hands of the Netherlands, the investment area in the Netherlands was too wide compared to the Netherlands itself.

Especially in Australia, where immigrants account for more than 70% of the population, because in the southeast, the atmosphere is warm and the temperature in the Netherlands is not much different. Compared with other places, it is more suitable for immigrants to live in the Netherlands.

As a result, more than 2.6 million Dutch natives lived in the Far East as of May 20, 1864, following the immigration wave initiated by the Dutch government in February 1862.

Among them were the 300,000 Dutch descendants who had lived in the East Indies for centuries.

Jakarta in East India is the second largest city in the Netherlands in the Far East. More than 300,000 Dutch people live there. It is indeed the Far East city where the Dutch have been operating for the longest time, accounting for exactly 50% of the 600,000 people in Jakarta.

The largest city inhabited by the Dutch is the deputy capital, Melbourne, with a population of over 400,000, of which the Dutch population exceeds 350,000.

Sydney is worthy of being the largest international city in the Far East. Sydney has a population of more than 250,000 Dutch people, 30,000 indigenous people, and the rest are from other places in Europe, America, Asia and Africa, more than 20,000 people.

The Dutch in Brisbane is mainly concentrated in the Dutch population of 220,000, the Australian aborigines occupy 50,000, and the other East Indian aborigines and African aborigines exceed 30,000.

Adelaide also has a Dutch population of 180,000, although the ratio is higher, with only 20,000 other ethnic groups.

Perth also has a population of more than 150,000, but 110,000 are Dutch, 10,000 are of African descent, 20,000 are Aboriginal Australians, and the rest are people of Asian and American descent.

Darwin has a population of only 100,000 Dutch, more than 50,000 indigenous people, and 50,000 other ethnic groups. It is indeed a concentration of indigenous peoples.

According to William IV, with Jonrell, these Australian cities currently have more than 100,000 people in the five largest cities.

More than 300,000 people in Jakarta, Indonesia, also accounted for 50%. Surabaya has fewer Dutch people, accounting for 20% of the total population of 500,000 people, but also 100,000 people.

Other places are basically below 20%.

However, the island of New Guinea is an accident, with a small base of indigenous people, so the population of 200,000 people in the area near Bliss Island in the east and the 150,000 people in Port Moresby in the east almost account for more than 80% of the population.

William IV could understand why the population was so concentrated.

Safety is their top priority. Humans are always the dominant animals, not to mention those who have just immigrated to the past.

After listening to the ministers talking about the development of their respective departments, William IV was generally very satisfied.

Every week in the Privy Council he would ask about developments in the Far East, something that all the ministers in attendance knew, so everyone was well prepared.

The Dutch population is now more than 8.5 million, up from 8.3 million last year.

There are more than 2.6 million in the Far East and more than 6 million in the mainland. The continuously high birth rate is the national policy of the Netherlands.

According to the annual immigration rate of more than 500,000, more than 8 million will arrive in the Far East in ten years, mainly in Australasia. The goal is that Australia's population will reach about 5 million in ten years.

William IV thought of his own country, which almost maintained an annual birth rate of more than 3% from the 1960s to the 1980s. Combined with the current high fertility rate in Europe, especially the lack of contraceptive measures, this is not difficult to achieve. .

Only human beings can be productive, and many of the industrial technologies planned by William IV that require manpower can be carried out.

It is believed that the population of Australia will be enough to go further on the road of industrialization.

Thinking of this, William IV couldn't help but guess that London must be very lively today.

He thought sneeringly: "This meeting is devoted to Africa, but there is no country or even a single person in Africa."

In fact, London is really very lively right now.

The number of participating countries this time has actually increased. They are the 17 most powerful countries in the world today. They were the British Empire as the host, and the French Empire, the Tsarist Russia Empire, the Austrian Empire, and the Ottoman Empire. In addition to the five major empires, there are also Kingdom of Prussia, Kingdom of Spain, Kingdom of Netherlands, Kingdom of Portugal, Kingdom of Italy, Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of Belgium, Kingdom of Denmark, Commonwealth of Millikin (North), Confederate State of America (South), Empire of Brazil, Kingdom of Greece, etc.

To many people's surprise, it is the latter. The original United States was actually divided into two, and each sent its own representatives. This is a tacit understanding of everyone who sees it.

America's big country, the United States, is finally divided.

This makes all European countries feel a lot more comfortable, and I think I am the happiest when I come to the UK.

This meeting was nominally to resolve the war between the Netherlands and Portugal over the Congo region, and later expanded to the issue of the war between the two countries in Africa, but in fact, the discussion was more about the general principles of the division of Africa by major powers.

This conference was devoted to African affairs, but as William IV thought, it was a conference to discuss the future of Africa without African participation.

In this meeting, the issue of the Netherlands and Portugal always occupies an important position, but this issue is actually resolved outside the venue.

Barreto took advantage of the fact that all major countries are afraid of the Netherlands, so the idea of ​​holding them hostage was at a standstill with Tolbek, who was at the venue. He intended to use this venue to conduct diplomatic means to force the London conference to finally agree to Portugal's request for the Netherlands to withdraw from Angola and Mozambique. , and deliberately brought the Congo to the front of the countries, so that the countries with the heart of the Congo to stand up against the Netherlands.

This can be described as killing two birds with one stone.

Even for this reason, Portugal secretly communicated with Italy and Austria about the division of the Congo.

According to this secret agreement, Austria even got the North Congo, Italy got the South Congo, and Portugal was in the upper Congo River hinterland.

Unfortunately, the Dutch counterattack is sharp.

It makes many plans of the Three Kingdoms difficult to implement.

The Netherlands even took out the signatures of the King of the Congo and hundreds of thousands of people in Congo to recognize the rule of the Netherlands.

This surprised countries such as Portugal.

They did not expect that the Netherlands would silently get such a "Book of the People" to declare the legitimacy of the Netherlands.

So the countries have no objection to Congo's sovereignty.

With this settled, Portugal has truly become the identity of the invaders and settled down.

As a result, the war reparations between the two countries were obviously divided. The Kingdom of Sweden, the Kingdom of Denmark and other countries joined the Netherlands and asked Portugal to pay compensation for the aftermath of the war, which amounted to more than 10 million pounds. And the colonies occupied by the Netherlands should belong to the Netherlands.

The Kingdom of Prussia also believed that this should be the case, and the Commonwealth of Millikin also agreed (north), but the Union of Millicians (south) followed the Kingdom of Italy and opposed it together with the Kingdom of Portugal.

Portugal, naturally strongly opposed to the Netherlands, made the request.

Portugal is willing to compensate, but only within 100 pounds, and also asks the Netherlands to withdraw from Portugal's African colonies.

As the two countries refused to give in to each other, the London meeting was a headache for all countries, so other issues were launched.

In this way, European and American powers, for the first time in London, far away from Africa, delineated their respective geographical boundaries in tropical Africa on the map.

In order to prevent countries from confronting each other in Africa in the future, the London Conference also focused on the issue of "effective occupation" of various countries

After intense discussions between countries and the British Empire, the French Empire, and the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which have the most comrades-in-arms in Africa, a very vague resolution was finally passed.

If the participating countries occupy a piece of coastal land in Africa in the future, they must notify other countries separately.

When annexing the occupied African coastal areas, it is the responsibility to ensure the establishment of a ruling power sufficient to overrule existing interests.

In the final discussion of the Dutch-Portuguese war disputes, the London Conference internationalized the disputes between the Netherlands and Portugal.

Although Portugal was supported by the Austrian Empire and Italy, the

However, the Netherlands was supported by the Russian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia, the Kingdom of Sweden, the Kingdom of Denmark, the Kingdom of Greece, the Kingdom of Belgium, and the Commonwealth of America (North), under the silence of the British Empire, the French Empire, and the Kingdom of Spain. .

Especially in the face of the support of the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire.

Even the British Empire and the French Empire were under great pressure.

Not to mention the Prime Minister of Portugal, Barreto.

In the end, after Portugal asked Louis I for instructions, Italy and other countries insisted on supporting it again and again, and Britain, France and other countries did not want the Netherlands to eat too much.

Portugal and the Netherlands finally reached a reconciliation agreement successfully resolved the disputes in Africa. As for Portugal's inner dissatisfaction, who cares.

Portugal swallowed the bitter fruit of this self-initiated.

A symbolic compensation of more than £500,000 will be paid to the Netherlands, recognizing Dutch sovereignty over the Congo.

Angola direction.

Portugal also recognizes the territory of the Netherlands north of the Kwanza-Longkuimgu river as Dutch.

That is to say, including Luanda, Mbanza Congo, Uige, Ndaratando, Malange, Lucapa, Saurimu, Luena will be included in the Dutch rule.

In general, the two countries are bounded by the Zambezi River and govern separately, as required by the Netherlands. Portugal originally disagreed, and the UK and other countries also felt that the Netherlands was too much. After all, Angola has already taken advantage of the Netherlands. Although it is true that Portugal started the war, Mozambique did not. It was the Netherlands that did it first. Now This one mouth, took half of Mozambique, seems to be too much.

As for Mozambique?