Start 1861: I Just Inherited the Dutch Throne

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

In the Netherlands, the Privy Council meeting is going on normally.

When William IV was asked about the immigrant population, Minister of the Interior Jonler surprised William IV by giving an answer of 2.6 million.

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

Starting from January 1862, strange scenes appeared in the Netherlands. There were groups of immigrants preparing to leave Europe for the Far East. The first were poor people, most of whom left in order to get their own land to cultivate.

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

Beginning in the second half of July 1862, even capitalists began to immigrate to the Far East on a large scale with their families. Because as the number of immigrants increased, there were opportunities everywhere, whether for business or investment. .

Immediately afterwards, when New Guinea, Australia, Madagascar, etc. fell into the hands of the Netherlands, the area in which the Netherlands could invest was too wide compared to the Netherlands itself.

Especially in Australia, more than 70% of the population is made up of immigrants. Because in the southeastern region, the atmosphere is warm and the temperature is not much different from that of the Netherlands. Compared with other places, it is more suitable for immigrants from the Netherlands to live.

Therefore, after the immigration wave initiated by the Dutch government in February 1862, as of May 20, 1864, more than 2.6 million Dutch people in the Netherlands lived in the Far East.

Among them are 300,000 Dutch people who have lived in East India for hundreds of years.

Jakarta in East India is the second largest Dutch city in the Far East. More than 300,000 Dutch people live there. It is indeed the Far East city that has been run by the Dutch for the longest time. It accounts for exactly 50% of the 600,000 people in Jakarta.

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

Sydney is the most cosmopolitan city in the Far East. The Dutch population in Sydney exceeds 250,000, the indigenous population is 30,000, and the rest is the population from other places in Europe, America, Asia, and Africa, which exceeds 20,000.

The Brosbane Dutch mainly have a population of 220,000 Dutch, with 50,000 Australian Aboriginals and more than 30,000 other East Indian Aboriginals and African Aboriginals.

Adelaide's Dutch population has also reached 180,000, but the ratio is higher, and other ethnic groups only have 20,000.

Perth's population also exceeds 150,000, but the Dutch account for 110,000, its Africans account for 10,000, Australian Aboriginals account for 20,000, and the remainder are from Asia and America.

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 place with a concentration of indigenous people.

William IV followed what Jonler said, and these Australian cities currently have more than 100,000 people in the five largest cities.

Jakarta, Indonesia has more than 300,000, accounting for 50%. There are fewer Dutch people in Surabaya, accounting for 20% of the total population of 500,000, or 100,000.

In other places it is basically below 20%.

However, the island of New Guinea is a surprise, with a small indigenous base. Therefore, the area near Paradise Island in the east has a population of 200,000, and the city of Port Moresby in the east has a population of 150,000, accounting for almost 80% of the population.

William IV could understand why the population was so concentrated.

Safety is their top priority. Humans have always been the dominant animals in the group, let alone those who have just immigrated there.

As he listened to each minister talk about the development of their respective departments, William IV was generally very satisfied.

Every week at the Privy Council meeting, he would ask about the development of the Far East. This was something that all the ministers attending the meeting knew, so everyone was well prepared.

The current population of Dutch people has reached more than 8.5 million from 8.3 million last year.

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

Based on an 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. .

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

I believe that by then Australia’s population will be enough to carry out industrialization further.

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

He thought sarcastically: "This meeting is specifically about Africa, but not a single country or even a single person from Africa participated."

In fact, London is indeed very lively now.

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

What surprised many people was that it was the latter. The original United States was divided into two and each sent its own representative. This was tacitly understood by everyone watching.

The United States, a large American country, has finally split.

This makes all European countries feel very comfortable. I think coming to the UK is the happiest thing.

This meeting was nominally to resolve the war between the Netherlands and Portugal over the Congo region, and later expanded to include the war between the two countries in Africa. However, in fact, the discussion was more about the general principles of carving up Africa among the major powers.

This conference was dedicated to discussing African affairs, but as William IV thought, this was a conference to discuss the future destiny of Africa without African participation.

At this meeting, the issue between the Netherlands and Portugal always occupied an important position, but this issue was actually resolved outside the venue.

Barreto took advantage of the fact that all major countries were afraid of the Netherlands, so he held their ideas hostage and was at loggerheads with Tolbeck, who was present at the venue. He intended to use this venue to use diplomacy to force the London Conference to finally agree to Portugal's request for the Netherlands to withdraw from Angola and Mozambique. claims, and intends to bring Congo to all countries, so that countries interested in Congo can 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 dividing the Congo.

According to this secret agreement, Austria even got the northern Congo, Italy got the southern Congo, and Portugal got the hinterland of the upper reaches of the Congo River.

Unfortunately, the Dutch counterattack was sharp.

This made it difficult to implement many of the plans of the Three Kingdoms.

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

This surprised Portugal and other countries.

None of them expected that the Netherlands would quietly obtain such a "Book of All Peoples" to declare the legitimacy of the Netherlands.

As a result, countries no longer have any objection to Congo's sovereignty.

With this settled, Portugal truly became the invader and settled down.

Therefore, when it comes to war compensation between the two countries, the countries are obviously divided into factions. The Kingdom of Sweden, the Kingdom of Denmark and other countries have joined the Netherlands in requesting Portugal to pay compensation for the aftermath, amounting to more than 10 million pounds. and that 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 Confederate States of America (North) also agreed, but the Confederate States of America (South) followed the Kingdom of Italy and opposed it together with the Kingdom of Portugal.

Portugal naturally strongly opposed the Dutch demands.

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

As the two countries refused to give in to each other, all countries in the London Conference were very troubled, and other issues were launched.

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

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

After intense discussions between various countries and the British Empire, the French Empire, and the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which had the largest number of comrades-in-arms in Africa, a resolution with extremely vague wording was finally adopted.

Any participating countries that occupy a piece of coastal land in Africa in the future must notify other countries separately.

When annexing the African coastal areas it also occupies, it has the responsibility to ensure the establishment of ruling power sufficient to dominate existing interests.

In its final discussion of the Dutch-Portuguese War dispute, the London Conference internationalized the dispute between the Netherlands and Portugal.

Although Portugal had the support of the Austrian Empire and Italy,

However, the Netherlands received support from the Tsarist Russia, 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), and with 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 Prime Minister Barreto of all countries in Portugal.

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

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

Portugal swallowed the bitter pill of this self-initiated war.

Symbolic compensation of more than 500,000 pounds will be paid to the Netherlands, recognizing the Dutch right to rule Congo.

Direction to Angola.

Portugal also recognized the territory of the Netherlands from the Kwanza-Lonquamugu River to the north.

In other words, Luanda, Mbanza Congo, Uige, Ndaratando, Malanje, Lukapa, Saurimu and Luena will all be included in the Dutch rule.

What about Mozambique?