Why didn't Spain and Portugal root their cultures in Asia?

Spain, in the Philippines, has succeeded in almost completely Catholicizing the local area, which also determines that the future values and national trend of this Southeast Asian country are completely westernized. This should be regarded as the most important colonial achievement of western European colonists in the old continent. Relatively speaking, the later British colonists were in South Asia and the Dutch colonists were in Indonesia, and they did not assimilate the religion and values of this Asian resident at all.

/kloc-Spain in the 0 th/6 th century, in fact, its combat effectiveness is still good, especially the navy. However, due to the constraints of Britain and France, Philip II's dream of "taking the Philippines and Taiwan Province Province as the stronghold and uniting with Japan to conquer China" could not be realized, because the Spanish colonial advantage was obviously weakened in the late16th century. /kloc-At the beginning of the 7th century, the war with the Netherlands for the island of Taiwan Province Province also ended in failure. In this way, Spain's colonial expansion in Southeast Asia also stopped.

As for Portugal, even when the colonial cause was strong, the navy of this country has always been strong. 1578, Morocco's war against Moors in northwest Africa was at Portugal's doorstep. Portugal was defeated in this war, and King Sebastian disappeared. Shortly thereafter, Portugal suffered a de facto annexation by Spain. So Portugal has no chance to "let go and occupy the land of Asia". Not only that, Portugal also has some strongholds in the Indonesian islands in Southeast Asia. Portugal successfully Catholicized those places, but it was also in the years when Spain annexed them that the spice islands were seized by the Netherlands. Of course, Goa, Portugal's main stronghold in the Indian Peninsula, can still be preserved. After the restoration of Portugal, Britain, as a traditional ally of the country, took full care of Portugal's interests in this region during the long process of conquering India. Goa was occupied by India only in the late 1960s and the 1950s. This area still maintains the "credit" of Portuguese colonization-most people in Goa believe in Catholicism, and the development parameters such as per capita income and education popularization have reached the level of China, which is obviously better than other places in India. In Africa, Angola and Mozambique, two major Portuguese African colonies, were colonial strongholds in the 16- 17 century, and expanded continuously in the following hundreds of years. These two areas did become more Catholic later.

Generally speaking, the colonists in southern Europe, as long as they are colonies of Catholic countries in Southeast Asia and South Asia, have been well assimilated by western culture because Catholicism emphasizes so-called "universal values", including France, the most secular Catholic country in the late19th century, and the colonies of Vietnam, Laos and Khmer, all of which have formed a high proportion of Catholic population.

Landlord, large-scale colonization in Africa took place in the middle and late19th century. Before the industrial revolution, Europeans did not have the ability to colonize Africa on a large scale, but only established a few limited strongholds in the coastal areas of Africa. Like most parts of Asia except the Philippines, the African continent has basically maintained its original values and religious beliefs, except for a few areas in the south where there are more white immigrants (13-14th century, when Muslims flourished, most parts of Central and North Africa were converted to Muslims, and the population in most parts of southern Africa believed in primitive fetishism). Many parts of Africa are actually the territory of the Ottoman Empire, the great enemy of Europeans. 16-17th century, Western Europeans did not have the ability and necessity to destroy the Ottoman Empire.

As for the situation in the United States, it is a bit special. Because Indians have been locked in such a rich continent for a long time, their military is backward and their information is blocked, especially in the face of European military attacks. The warm and humid environment in America (especially in South America) and the rivers suitable for ships also doomed the southern Europeans and western Europeans who came by boat to go inland more easily to destroy Indians. This is also in sharp contrast with Africa, which is hot and dry, and the mountainous plateau lacks rivers suitable for navigation. Most parts of Southeast Asia and South Asia became European colonies much earlier than Africa, and Africa is closest to Europe in visual distance. This is also a factor. In addition, the fertile land and rich resources of the United States naturally attract people from western Europe, northern Europe and southern Europe, especially adventurers from mountainous countries like Spain, where a large number of immigrants come here to slaughter and drive away Indians.

As mentioned above, 1. The land in the New World is fertile and the climate is suitable for Europeans to live in (plains and low hills in South America and North America account for more than half of the total area, and the climate is mostly warm temperate and subtropical, with fewer mountains and deserts). Iberians naturally prefer to settle in South America or the southern United States, rather than the hot and dry African continent or the hot and humid South Asian islands; 2. The New World is mostly suitable for rivers and lakes where sailboats and later steamboats can sail, but there are not as many rapids and waterfalls as the Nile and Congo rivers in Africa, which is convenient for Europeans who come by boat to go deep into the interior of America for investigation and development. American Indians are the weakest in military technology, information is also used as a cover, and the population density is very low, which makes them vulnerable to large-scale genocide by Europeans. On the other hand, ethnic groups in Asia and Africa, including the Philippines before the colonial era and the Gulf of Guinea in Africa, all became Muslims on a large scale. They have obtained a great deal of information and technology from the core areas of the Islamic world (Turkey and Arabia, etc.). ) and ancient China, their population density is relatively high. It is difficult for the Spanish to expel or destroy them on a large scale. We can only adopt the way we did in the Philippines-Catholicizing the local people, adapting to the Spanish system, and cracking down and killing those forces that are unwilling to be Catholicized. 4. Whether in North America or South America, the whole European colonization of America was not completed in the era of great navigation (15th century-18th century), but after the completion of the industrial revolution at the end of19th century. Only the Indians in a few places, such as La Plata and the Caribbean Islands, were extinct and ended earlier by the Spanish.

Landlord, throughout most modern times, Spain's national strength is much stronger than Portugal's.

Because 1494, the "papal meridian" set by the Vatican Pope as an arbitrator delineated the colonial scope of South America in Brazil and other parts of South America; 1529 The Treaty of Zaragoza is bounded by the Maluku Islands (a series of islands in eastern Indonesia today), including the Philippine Islands in Spain to the east and Portugal to the west. These are all clauses proposed by Portugal in favor of the weak Iberian Peninsula, so as to maintain the balance of power between Spain and Portugal outside Europe. The Pope is also looking forward to the balance of power in Europe that he has always hoped for, and Spain, a Catholic country, has never been able to gain a bigger territory. Spain has a wide range of traditional interests in Europe (such as the alliance with the Holy Roman Empire and the suppression of France), and it also needs the support of the Pope. As a result, Spain almost gave up the entire Indian Ocean coast, and there were few strongholds along the Atlantic coast of Africa. Therefore, the colonial model of the Philippines (that is, a completely Catholic and westernized Spanish colony with long-term stability) is relatively rare. At the beginning of the Great Navigation Era (15-16th century), most parts of Asia and Africa were "potential" colonies of Portugal, which was limited by its weak national strength and could not carry out missionary and military operations in a wider area as quickly as the Spanish did in the Philippines. It is more reflected in the business activities relying on strongholds and commercial stations.

At the same time, it should be noted that by 1640, even in Brazil in South America, Portuguese colonial activities were mainly concentrated in the coastal areas of southeast Brazil (for example, Manaus was built in 1669, and the big camp was built in 1697, the main city in the interior of Brazil), and the proportion of Indians in Brazil was actually very low. Brazil has a high proportion of non-Portuguese whites, such as British Brazilians, German Brazilians, and there is little difference between them. This is also because after the restoration of the country with Portugal (in essence, Portugal succeeded with the strong support of England after transferring many colonial trade benefits), its colonial cause has been deeply "internationalized". 17th century and18th century, after Brazil became independent, a large number of non-Portuguese Brazilians flowed in for development because of their business ideals, which led to the vastness of Brazil and completed what the landlord called "face colonization".

To tell the truth, the proportion of deserts in Australia is too large to be considered very fertile. And because of the Great Barrier Reef, before the17th century, according to the known information, no European country had discovered Australia from the Pacific Islands and New Guinea that they had already discovered. More interestingly, Europeans discovered New Zealand (discovered by the Dutch in the late17th century) even before the Australian mainland. Australia was discovered by Captain Cook in Scotland, England in the late18th century (1770). The Spanish did have the potential to discover Australia in the16th century, but unfortunately, the Spanish fleet seems to have no interest in the southern hemisphere except the South American continent. Due to the lack of supply points in Africa and South Asia, Spain's control over the Philippines has always relied on the "Philippines-Mexico-Spain" link, instead of paying attention to the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea like Portugal.

In the battle for the throne that really caused Spain's overall decline at the beginning of the18th century, in fact, Spain did not want to go against Britain, or Spain as a whole country could not be said to be completely on the anti-British side. In fact, the main reason is France. At first, charles ii, an orphan of the Habsburg family in Spain, was encouraged by the French side to pass the throne to his nephew, the French Bourbon family (formerly known as the grandson of Louis XIV, the French sun king), which aroused Aragon's rebound and, more importantly, aroused the dissatisfaction of the Austrian Empire belonging to the Habsburg family, hoping that they would regain the throne. If Austria hits France alone, it is doomed to failure, but Britain and the Netherlands, as well as Portugal, which has always been pro-British, have long known France's advantages and ambitions, and they support Austria; Habsburg, Austria promised to upgrade the Principality of Prussia to a kingdom, and Prussia also supported Austria. Many principalities and free cities in western Germany and northern Italy are divided into two factions, among which the more powerful Bavarian principality supports France.

As a result of this war (see Treaty of Utrecht), the Habsburg dynasty in Austria gained a lot of territory, and the salted fish turned over, which basically reversed the turbulent situation in the decades after the 30-year war and entered a relatively stable and powerful stage in the later period.

In France, although the result of the war made the situation that Britain was stronger than France was weaker, and it was stipulated that the king of France and Spain should not be "the same person", France kept the established fact that Philip V, the grandson of Louis XIV, continued to be the king of Spain, making France and Spain more allies than enemies in the18th century.

Britain, establish a hegemonic position.

Spain, the result is very tragic, the west belongs to the Netherlands (now Belgium), Milan and Italy, and the two Sicilies in southern Italy belong to Austria; Sardinia was transferred to Austria's ally, the Principality of Savoi in northern Italy (the predecessor of Sardinia, which later unified Italy), while Gibraltar in southern China was ceded to Britain, and the British slave trade was granted exclusive rights.

But in fact, in the whole18th century after the battle for the throne, under the protection of France, which is also a bourbon royal family, Spain entered a stage of reform and recovery, which was similar to that of Austria at the same time. /kloc-in the 0/8th century, Spain had obvious growth in trade and manufacturing, which benefited from 1. In the early days of Spanish colonization, the Jesuits, a branch of Catholicism, had a great influence on the American colonial cause. They pay attention to religious exchanges, not commercial trade. In the18th century, due to the pro-French situation, the relationship between Spain and the Pope was actually alienated and replaced by nobles who paid attention to commerce and trade, so the colonial operation was more efficient. At the same time, Catalonia (the northeastern region that has been rebelling during the Habsburg dynasty, and the residents in this area are traditionally pro-French) has made great progress in manufacturing industry and sporadic signs of industrialization due to the country's pro-French policy.

Until Napoleon launched a revolution in France, the western "liberals" forced King Charles IV of Spain to abdicate in 1808, and made Joseph Bonaparte, the younger brother of Napoléon Bonaparte of France, king of Spain, which caused many problems, and Spain's recovery in18th century also came to an end.

It is worth mentioning that in the16-17th century, Spain's conquest of the American continent was aimed at the more developed areas in America, such as Maya (Central America), Aztec (Mexico) and Inca Kingdom (Peru), and a considerable proportion of Indian population was accompanied by slaughter and conquest after the war. The missionary activities in Spain were accompanied by the deputy king. Therefore, it can be said that these places were included in the territory that Spain can firmly control in the prosperous period shortly after Spain conquered South America, but they have been relatively backward in economy. As for Caracas (coastal area of Venezuela), La Blatas (northern Argentina), Santiago (central Chile) and some Caribbean islands, these places are mainly concentrated cities that attract a large number of white immigrants, so on the eve of independence year (65438+11920s), these places were mainly urbanized governors' areas with advanced economy and concepts, but in fact, white citizens controlled fewer sites on a large scale, Argentina and Argentina. The industrial revolution took place in the United States after the independence of those South American countries, among which Argentina and Chile did well. These two countries were relatively rich at the end of 19 and the beginning of 20th century, and Argentina was one of the largest economies in the world 10 before 1970s. )

It is also worth mentioning that the Madrid Treaty signed in 1750 is a case of dividing the border first and then exploring it (the situation is somewhat similar to that of Britain, France and Portugal on the African continent at the end of 19). Originally, Spain and Portugal were very dissatisfied with this border, but it happened to be under the mediation of the Holy See. The establishment of the expedition organized by the two sides dealt a very powerful blow to the Indian residents who had previously belonged to the virgin land of the "Indian Reservation". Finally, this border area was basically consolidated before European immigration control.

Islam is in Africa, and many people in China don't know it. In fact, it is far more southerly than everyone thinks. The southern borders of Muslim-dominated African countries are further south. . . . . .

In Cameroon near the equator, Central Africa and the coastal areas of Kenya and Tanzania in East Africa, all Muslims have a population advantage in those countries. Nigeria, Senegal and Sudan are naturally included.