Chapter 183 Colonization Experiment
Walachia's taxes were much less than those of other countries, but they were still more for farmers because a fixed annual tax replaced a large number of temporary taxes. Each farmer paid 80 banis, citizens paid 1 lei and 20 banis, and nobles paid taxes at a fixed rate according to their income and output.
In addition to these taxes, there were salt monopoly, mineral taxes, beekeeping taxes, hotel taxes, tariffs, etc., which together formed the tax system of Wallachia.
Peter also paid taxes to the government every year. His income was as follows: 30,000 gold coins from the annual salt trade, 330,000 ducats from the Hanseatic League's purchase of maltose, 170,000 gold coins from the Chamber of Commerce and Ross Company, and banks also earned a lot of fees and interest every year, plus the income from the Dobruja fiefdom. All in all, Peter's small treasury has more than 1 million gold coins in recent years.
Such income has exceeded any country, and even Mircea has to admit that Peter's ability to make money is unmatched in Europe. Moreover, after obtaining access to the Mediterranean Sea, Peter immediately organized several Jews and Vlachs to form the South Sea Chamber of Commerce, which was responsible for competing with Italian city-states such as Venice and Genoa for trade volume.
In addition, they had another mission, which was to explore North Africa and Iberia, preferably to establish a permanent settlement.
Yes, although Peter was not interested in the New World on the surface, he actually wanted to have a share of it. Who made the resources of the New World so rich that you could never use them up even if you spent ten lifetimes. So after obtaining access to the Adriatic Sea, Peter sent a team composed of the Chamber of Commerce and the Order to head west.
They used Sicily as a springboard and came to the city of Tunisia. This city destroyed by Rome prospered again because of its geographical location. After investigation, it was found that it was suitable for establishing a permanent settlement, but the local religious situation might not be so optimistic.
Continuing westward, they came to Sardinia and Algiers, and finally arrived at what they thought was the farthest place - the port of Ceuta.
Since the Carthaginian rule in the fifth century BC, Ceuta's geographical location has made it an important town on the trade route and a military stronghold. But after the Roman Empire occupied Ceuta in 42 AD, this poor city only had a military role. About 400 years later, the Vandals drove out the Romans, and then the Visigoths in Spain and the Eastern Roman Empire successively occupied this place.
In 710, a Muslim army approached Ceuta, but under the persuasion of Julian, the ruler of the Visigothic Kingdom of Ceuta, the army turned to attack Spain. Therefore, Ceuta became the base for the Berber army to attack the Iberian Peninsula.
After 1249, Ceuta has been in an unstable state. Then it was occupied by the Marin Dynasty and later became the most important port city in North Africa and a base for Muslim pirates.
The team arrived here and found that it was connected to gold and salt mines south of the Sahara on one end and had extensive connections with Egypt and Mecca on the other. It was a rare good place, and they learned from local merchants that there was an old and busy trade route that could cross the Sahara Desert, and after 20 days, they could reach the "green country" with lush trees and fertile land, from which they could obtain African pepper, gold and ivory. So they decided to colonize here.
Peter approved a budget of 120,000 gold coins for them, and they established trading stations in Sicily, Tunisia and Sardinia. In Ceuta, they finally spent 10,000 gold coins to convince the local governor to grant them 35 acres of land for business. This was the beginning of Wallachia in North Africa.
For Wallachia's immature shipbuilding industry, Peter tried every means to support it. The newly established shipyard was tax-free for five years, and high prices attracted shipbuilders from various countries. He founded a navigation academy in Varna to train local sailors to improve their navigation skills; set up an observatory to recruit geologists, cartographers, mathematicians and astronomers from various countries to jointly study and formulate plans and programs; widely collected various literature and materials on geography, meteorology, trade winds, ocean currents, shipbuilding, navigation, etc., analyzed and sorted them for his own use; established a travel library, including "The Travels of Marco Polo", and collected many maps and drew new maps.
In addition, Peter also funded mathematicians and craftsmen to improve and make new navigation instruments. For example, compasses, quadrants, and cross-markers introduced from the East. As a land-sea composite country, Wallachia's current mainstay is still on land, and Peter supports the navy, shipbuilding and colonization.
In order to support the communities and colonies expanded overseas by churches and chambers of commerce, Peter had to find new sources of income. He encouraged the development of the colonies' industries, exempted taxes for three years, including textiles, printing and dyeing, fishing and other industries, and actively developed the tenant farming system to reduce the cost of colonization.
In addition to the New World, Peter also knew that there was a trade across the Sahara Desert, where a large amount of gold was transported from here to Egypt and then to Europe. He didn't know if he could participate in this trade route that lasted for hundreds of years. Before the discovery of the New World, a large amount of gold was transported from here to Europe.
In addition, a bank would be opened wherever the trading post went, because financially powerful countries would colonize faster and more. The reason why the industrially powerful German Empire could not grab colonies from France was because its financial strength was inferior to that of the other side. France was also given the title of usurious imperialism for this.
The banks in Wallachia were mainly run by Jews and some Vlachs. With their help, the Wallachia Bank accumulated a lot of wealth. Most of their loans were given to merchants, so there was no need to worry about not paying them back. Unless Peter approved, they would not lend money to a monarch.
Among Sicily, Anatolia and Rus, Wallachia expanded the fastest. Expansion activities supported by the government were the easiest, and the population also flowed to Wallachia, because the quality of life here was better than other places. A steady stream of population was the basis for the growth of a country's strength.
Now, Peter and Wallachia spent a lot of money to encourage expansion, but the combination of the Order and the Chamber of Commerce for colonization could make Wallachia more firmly controlled. They were not expanding colonies, but expanding territories. Even the colonies funded by Peter would be directly under the jurisdiction of the province after he ascended the throne. He had to keep the colonies from losing money so that he could squeeze out more funds to invest in the army and other aspects.