Chapter 304: Chapter 53: Strategic Immigration
 

In the midst of the economic crisis, probably the busiest had to be the Immigration Bureau under the Colonial Department. From the end of 1857 to the beginning of 1859, in just over a year, the achievements of the Immigration Bureau surpassed the total of the past few years.

Faced with survival, many people had no choice but to abandon their hometowns. The majority of immigrants went to the Balkan Peninsula, accounting for forty percent of the total number of immigrants.

This was still a result of deliberate government control; otherwise, more than eighty percent of the immigrants would have chosen to go to the Balkan Peninsula.

There were only two kinds of people who volunteered to go to the African Colonies: those ambitious to make a fortune and those poor as church mice, struggling to survive, who had to go out of necessity.

Immigrants to the African Continent could sign employment contracts with the government, plantation owners, or mine owners, assuring a stable income without worrying about providing for their families.

Many viewed going to the African Continent as working abroad. Since immigration wasn’t mandatory, they could choose to stay after their contracts expired, or they could still return home.

To those who lived hand to mouth, having an income to support their family was considered good enough, even if the place was far away.

After completing the personnel adjustments, Franz spoke again, “Colonial Department, discuss the development situation of the colonies.”

The Minister of Colonization, József Jellacic replied, “Your Majesty, currently we have opened colonies in the Gulf of Guinea, Nigeria, Congo, Cameroon, and the Libya region.

We have established 68 colonial outposts and have 18 cities, with over a million immigrants heading to the colonies, directly controlling a territorial area exceeding three million square kilometers.

Of these: The Gulf of Guinea owns 25 colonial outpoints, including 8 cities, controlling an actual territory of approximately 700,000 square kilometers. The total local population is about 1.848 million, with 284,000 immigrants, and the rest being natives.

The Congo Region possesses 14 colonial outposts, including 4 cities, controlling an actual territory of about 680,000 square kilometers. The governing area’s total population is approximately 3 million, with about 318,000 immigrants, and the rest being natives.

The Nigerian colonies have only been opened recently; we have only established 8 colonial outposts there, including 3 cities, occupying a territory of about 280,000 square kilometers. The governing area’s total population is about 2.18 million, with approximately 185,000 immigrants.

The development in the Cameroon region started even later; currently, there are only 5 colonial outposts, including 2 cities, controlling a territory of more than 100,000 square kilometers. The governed population is about 560,000, with only 58,000 immigrants.

Further moves are ongoing in the Libya region to implement the strategy of exchanging old inhabitants for new ones. Due to local resistance, the progress is much slower than expected, with about 150,000 people still lingering in the region, which might drag on until next year to complete the plan.

We have already taken control of all the cities in the area, transported 86,000 immigrants, and have taken full control of the coastal oases, while nominally controlling over a million square kilometers of desert.

The Sinai Peninsula has meager resources; we have not developed it but have only sent two thousand immigrants, nominally ruling over this peninsula of over 60,000 square kilometers.

The islands in the European Region are directly incorporated into the mainland’s governance and are not counted as part of the colonial territories.

In more remote overseas areas, the colonial outposts have been established spontaneously by private citizens and have not yet been integrated into government administration.

As of now, aside from the Gulf of Guinea which has achieved a break-even point and even a slight surplus due to the discovery of gold mines, other areas are running at a loss.

Overall, for the year 1858, our colonies had a total negative revenue of 9.85 million Divine Shields, with immigration expenses and military spending for foreign operations still taking up the majority.

We estimate that in the next two to three years, the earlier developed Congo Region might achieve a break-even point. The other colonies will still need more time, at least five years, before they can contribute to the finances.”

Franz nodded his head, clearly recognizing that Austria’s colonies still had substantial untapped potential. The colonial government only controlled a small part of it, with vast lands waiting to be occupied.

While Franz wasn’t so optimistic about using colonial revenue to supplement the Central Government’s finance, as long as the colonies could break even, it would be a net gain.

After some hesitation, Franz said, “The population ratio in the colonies is a major issue. The large number of natives is not conducive to our long-term rule.

Going forward, the Colonial Department should focus on immigration, trying to send as many of these natives as possible to the American countries to mitigate our governance risks.

If progress doesn’t go well, then expel them; you will have to gauge that yourselves.”

“Anyway, I don’t care what methods you use, within five years the native population must decrease by two-thirds, and within ten years the number of our immigrants must surpass the natives.”

Under normal circumstances, this would be a nearly impossible task. However, in this era, achieving this was not difficult since the moral compass of the colonists needn’t be questioned.

Even if they didn’t know how to do it, they could always learn from the British compatriots, especially the British, who had the most experience in this area.

“Yes, Your Majesty!” Colonial Minister József Jellacic responded gravely.

Knowing full well how difficult the task was, József Jellacic would not refuse since the Emperor had given the order. After all, difficult did not mean impossible, and how could he know whether it could be accomplished without trying?

What Franz found both amusing and frustrating was that after the economic crisis, the Nobility’s enthusiasm for investing in plantations had surged.

Compared to the unfamiliar industries of industrial and financial investment, everyone was more willing to invest in the familiar industries. After all, plantations offered more stable returns and lower risks.

Now, with so many immigrants on the African Continent, it wasn’t just because of the government’s efforts; a lot were recruited by these Plantation Owners.

The Royal family was among the best of them, as one of the earliest investors in the colonies, they had now developed tens of thousands of hectares of plantations.

Everyone was keen on planting wheat, cotton, cocoa, coffee—all industries that could yield returns in the short term.

In contrast, Franz, with his focus on investing in rubber plantations, became a bit of an outlier. Rubber was not as widely used as it would be in later times and the investment cycle was long, naturally making it unpopular.

If he had enough workers, Franz would also like to plant faster-yielding crops like cotton and coffee. Unfortunately, there was a genuine shortage of workers and, in desperation, he had to start with rubber trees.

At present, the Royal Plantation had recruited over thirty thousand workers, yet it was still a drop in the bucket, and they had to resort to using some local native labor.

The recruitment of high-quality overseas labor was still ongoing. A trip to Asia in this era took half a year; wanting more speed was easier said than done.

Franz was very worried that if not properly controlled, the Plantation and Mine Owners would soon become enamored with the use of cheap local labor, and he didn’t want to see a revival of slavery in the colonies.

Now, it was only because of the lack of experience and the natives not being subdued, with frequent violent uprisings and escapes, that farm owners and Plantation Owners harbored doubts about employing native labor in large numbers.

The mine owners had already started to use local labor on a large scale, suppressing rebellion with their formidable armed forces.

Franz didn’t believe that people would maintain their integrity when faced with profit. Those concerned about appearances were simply following the example of the Royal Plantation, hiring workers from Native Tribes with goods like salt and fabric.

Those more ruthless, went straight to capturing slaves. The African Continent was so chaotic, many places were beyond the reach of the Colonial Government. It was common for mine owners to double as slave owners and slave traders.

In the short term, this was indeed a good thing as it lowered production costs and yielded more profits.

In the long term, however, the widespread use of slave labor would take jobs away from immigrants, severely hampering colonial economic development and exacerbating social conflicts.

There was another unspoken reason: Franz wanted to take advantage of his biggest competitors and weaken their development potential.

Historically, during this period, nearly half of the immigrants to the United States came from Germany, Italy, Southern Europe—all of whom were now largely diverted by Franz.

The labor shortage in the United States was even more severe than in history. Against this backdrop, the conflict between the industrialists in the North and the Plantation Owners in the South grew even greater.

The helpful Franz, naturally wanted to lend them a hand. If there weren’t enough white immigrants, they would make do with black ones; if the quality was poor, they would compensate with quantity.

Just think, if half of the immigrants to America each year were black, the future would certainly be very interesting. For this, what’s a little sacrifice?