Empire Rising: Spain

After entering the Iberian Mountains, the route first passes through a valley, followed by the highest point of the Meseta Plateau—Central Mountain Range and Cuenca Mountain. Only after traversing these two great mountains does one arrive at the capital of Spain, Madrid.

From the map alone, the geographical limitations of Madrid are not apparent, but taking a train from Barcelona to Madrid makes the stark geographical differences between these two cities unmistakably clear.

The entire journey from Barcelona to Zaragoza is through relatively flat plains and hills, proceeding along the Ebro River, showcasing the development of European countries.

However, once entering the Iberian Mountains from Zaragoza, it is difficult to find such flat and prosperous areas. Before reaching Madrid, the path mostly crosses sparsely populated mountains and plateaus, without a single medium or large city to be seen.

This is no exaggeration; there exists a vast "no man’s land" between Zaragoza and Madrid. Calling it a no man’s land is somewhat exaggerated, as there are indeed some inhabitants in this mountainous area and plateau.

Nevertheless, compared with the southern region’s Madrid and the northern line from Zaragoza to Barcelona, these mountainous areas in between do reasonably equate to a no man’s land.

This no man’s land is not small; just in the stretch from Zaragoza to Madrid, there are tens of thousands of square kilometers of mountain land, and the land’s usability is extremely low. This is the reason why Spain’s development potential falls far behind the northern France.

Spain’s mainland area reaches up to 506,000 square kilometers, while France’s mainland area is only 549,000 square kilometers, the difference is not significant.

What truly manifests the difference between Spain and France is the type of land within their national territories.

Northwestern France boasts an extremely vast Western European Plain, with the capital Paris situated in the Paris Basin, which is exceptionally suitable for agricultural and livestock development.

Although the south has a central plateau, the west of the central plateau is the Aquitaine Basin. Most of France’s land consists of plains and hills, with mountains only occupying a small portion.

In contrast, nearly half of Spain’s land is covered by the Meseta Plateau, and the south also hosts the Penitico Mountain, Morena Mountain, and Toledo Mountain.

The plains and hills suitable for agricultural and livestock development occupy only a small part, which significantly sets Spain back compared to countries like the UK, France, and Germany in terms of potential.

Countries like the UK, France, and Germany, due to their large expanses of plains, can achieve self-sufficiency in food even with tens of millions of population.

But for Spain, if it were to have tens of millions of population, food self-sufficiency would be difficult to achieve.

Unless Spain can annex Portugal and turn Portugal’s vast plains into arable land, or comprehensively annex Morocco to expand its national territory, otherwise, achieving food self-sufficiency with tens of millions of population remains unlikely.

Whether food production can achieve self-sufficiency is extremely vital for a nation. Man is iron, food is steel, going hungry after missing a meal. Without food, no matter how well a nation is governed, it inevitably falls into chaos during food shortages.

Although during peaceful times, a country can rely on importing food to meet domestic needs, who can guarantee their nation remains peaceful perpetually?

When war breaks out, those counties that rely on food imports during peace will have to pay higher prices to purchase expensive food.

This also involves whether food-producing countries are willing to sell food to them. Therefore, achieving self-sufficiency is Carlo’s requirement for Spain’s development; at any time, Spain’s food production must keep pace with population growth.

Fortunately, for the current state of Spain, there is still plenty of arable land available. Spain’s mainland has vast expanses of land that can be cultivated, not reaching the population limit Spain can accommodate as it only has a population of over 18 million at this time.

Besides mainland Spain, Guinea, Congo Territory, and the Philippines can all grow food, allowing Spain to achieve food self-sufficiency.

In fact, not only is Spain self-sufficient, it is also one of Europe’s food exporters, exporting large quantities of food annually to earn foreign currency for purchasing other industrial equipment or technical production materials.

According to estimates from Spain’s agricultural department, Spain maintaining a state of food self-sufficiency is entirely feasible until its population reaches 25 million.

Once the population reaches 25 million, either find ways to increase food production or develop more arable land.

The good news is that Spain has a considerable distance to go to reach a population of 25 million. To genuinely speak of a population reaching 25 million, it would need to wait until the arrival of the 20th century at least.

This period is also when Spain can seek more arable land and develop more effective fertilizers, finding ways to increase food production.

Once the train exits the mountains and enters Madrid’s vicinity, Carlo’s perpetually furrowed brows ease a bit.

The Meseta Plateau has always been Spain’s pain and one of the critical factors affecting Spain’s development.

Had this area been transformed into a vast plain like the Western European Plain or Bod Plain, Spain’s development potential would have significantly enhanced, even offering a chance to aspire to world dominance.

But this remains merely a dream; the Meseta Plateau fully prevents Spain from becoming a world leader, at most, after the 19th century, Spain can only become a regional power, a moderately strong state.