Chapter 1950: The Imperial Long-Staple Cotton Production Area

"It's too difficult for me... Mr. Rugani, everything in Cuba was going well. Who would have thought that such a large-scale rebellion would suddenly break out? All the farmers under my command were captured by the rebels. The next season's sugarcane and Rice, who will plant it? Huh..." Tara held Rugani's hand and cried.

What Bishop Rugani could do, he could only pat him on the shoulder to comfort him:

"The Lord will bless you..." Well, it's almost like not saying...

Baron Mawson and other representatives of several hostile states gloated at their misfortune, and at the same time were extremely grateful to be able to leave this dangerous place at last...

Hearing that they might get malaria, they didn't dare to stay longer. Although they are not favored in the country, otherwise they would not have taken on this drudgery. But in any case, they are still members of the nobles, and they still live a very nourishing life. If he died of illness here for no apparent reason, it would be a blood loss! Therefore, it is better to leave as soon as possible.

With tears in her eyes, Tara reluctantly bid farewell to everyone in the investigation team on the pier. Then, after the ship left the pier, it kept waving.

But when the top sail of the ship disappeared on the sea level, Tara immediately turned into a smiling face and ordered:

"Pack it up, we're moving back to Havana!"

Then, he stretched himself and muttered:

"Finally finished this flicker show, it's so tiring!"

In fact, the defenders in the city were more tired than him. Because they had to go to the city every night to pretend to be fighting, they got very little sleep. Basically, they were no better than the representatives of the hostile states. Now, the investigation team is finally gone, and they can finally sleep well.

Therefore, the people in Guantanamo Castle did not leave immediately that day. Because the soldiers strongly demanded a day off. Tara also understood and let them catch up on sleep. Then, the next morning, a convoy of ships hidden in the nearby bay appeared at the docks and began to unload the city for the return trip to the real Havana.

However, it would be too wasteful for this newly built city to be abandoned. Maybe, I can continue to use it for acting in the future. Therefore, Tara eventually left 50 soldiers and 50 indigenous serfs to guard the castle and cultivate the surrounding fields. However, the nameplate on the gate of the city was changed from "Havana" to "Guantanamo".

Now that the city has been built and such a large cost has been spent, there is no need to waste it in vain. In the future, Tara plans to send more soldiers and serfs to develop here. After all, the thousands of acres of land excavated around the city cannot be wasted.

and,

Guantanamo has a very good location. Here is not far from Haiti Island. When the army captures healthy aborigines on Haiti Island, they can be transported to Guantanamo for centralized resettlement and screening for syphilis. After the health is confirmed, they will be transferred to the North American colonies.

In addition, the population for the future development of Guantanamo will also be selected from the Taino captured on Haiti Island. Haiti Island is currently a highly developed island with a population of one million, although hundreds of thousands of people have to be transported to the North American colonies as serfs. However, it is still possible to leave thousands of people to develop locally. A few thousand serfs are enough to develop the Guantanamo area into a relatively prosperous area.

However, Guantanamo is a bit of a place. Because, on Cuba, where the climate is generally humid, the Guantanamo area is actually a relatively dry area...

This is mainly because the mountains to the north of Guantanamo block the moisture from the north. On the other hand, Cuba Island is located in the northeast trade wind belt, and the Guantanamo area in the south of the mountain, which happens to be blocked by the northern mountains from water vapor, is relatively dry. In some areas, there are even cacti that are only found in desert areas.

But there is no shortage of water in the Guantanamo area, because the mountains in the north with abundant rainfall flow down several rivers, which bring sufficient water sources for irrigation. Only a few areas not covered by rivers will appear a little dry.

And this also brings convenience to the local development because of the lack of water vapor, the local virgin forest is not dense. When Tara brought people here to reclaim it, they didn't cut down too many trees. Because the local trees are not very lush, it is very convenient for development. If it is an area with too dense forests, not to mention development, just cutting down trees will exhaust a person to death.

Only the Guantanamo area, because the water vapor from the northeast ocean is blocked by the mountains, has become a rare arid area in the Caribbean, and the trees are scarce enough.

In other European countries, in places like Guantanamo where there is not much rainfall, it may be difficult to develop, and they can only engage in grazing. However, Marin's North Sea country does not have this problem.

As long as there are rivers, irrigation canals can be dug, and then large tracts of fertile land can be opened up. Whether it is growing sugar cane, rice, or tropical fruits, there is no problem. Moreover, the area is also very suitable for growing cotton. Because cotton is a crop that needs light very much.

The islands in the Caribbean have a special kind of long-staple cotton, which is a very good cotton variety. Marin had planned before to grow this long-staple cotton, also known as "sea island cotton", on the island of Cuba.

It was discovered on the island of Barbados, and Malinte sent people to find it. Historically, the long-staple cotton on Barbados was not discovered until the 18th century, and then it was imported into plantations in the southern United States and became an important cotton variety. However, because of the Civil War and cotton bollworm disease, the long-staple cotton planting in the old southern United States was basically destroyed, but the lower-quality upland cotton was retained because of its stronger vitality.

Later, the island long-staple cotton planting areas were mainly in Barbados, Jamaica and Antigua on the islands in the Caribbean Sea, and became a rare variety in the world.

In later generations, sea island cotton is a very precious textile raw material. Its main purpose is to make expensive high-end suits. Because of scarcity, its price is more expensive than silk and cashmere.

The reason why sea-island cotton is difficult to promote on a large scale in later generations is mainly due to the poor environmental adaptability of its varieties. Mainly, it is not cold-resistant and can only grow in tropical and subtropical regions, and has high requirements for light and temperature.

As for the fact that Egypt can become the world's most famous long-staple cotton producer in later generations, it is because of Egypt's natural environment that it is very suitable for the growth of long-staple cotton.

First of all, Egypt is a tropical desert climate area with abundant sunlight. Second, the Nile brought abundant water for irrigation, and the land in the floodplains of the lower Nile was also fertile. The arid climate, coupled with fertile land and sufficient irrigation water, makes Egypt a world-renowned long-staple cotton producer.

However, in this day and age, Egypt is not a source of long-staple cotton. Because the world's cotton spinning industry has not yet emerged. The planting of long-staple cotton in Egypt probably dates back to the failure of the French invasion of Egypt at the end of the 18th century. The Pasha of Egypt (equivalent to the princes of the Ottoman separatist regime) introduced the planting of long-staple cotton on islands in order to open up financial resources. Later, because the Civil War destroyed the long-staple cotton planting in the United States, Egyptian long-staple cotton began to outshine and became an important supplier of the British cotton spinning industry... In later generations, it became an important source of raw materials for the high-end clothing industry...

Of course, that was a historical event. When Marin crossed over, everything changed. The long-staple cotton that was originally discovered by the British colonists in the 18th century, Marin had already sent people to find it.

Barbados is just to the northeast of Grenada. After receiving the order from Marin, the governor of Grenada, Old George, directly sent several Indian untouchable serfs to search for it on Barbados, and soon found the long-staple cotton.

Indians are good at growing cotton. After the Indian serfs brought back long-staple cotton, they began to cultivate it on the island of Grenada. Today, it has a scale of several hundred mu.

However, the climate of Grenada is relatively humid, and it is rainy all the year round. In fact, it is not an ideal place for producing long-staple cotton. It was the Guantanamo area, after starting to build the fort, and recorded the local arid climate and hydrological conditions, which made Marin realize that this is an excellent long-staple cotton producing area!

As long as a good cotton plantation is developed locally, high-quality cotton can be supplied for weaving high-quality cotton cloth in the future. Marin, who came from later generations of China, is actually not used to the current mainstream linen and woolen fabrics in Europe, and prefers cotton clothes. Of course, it is underwear of the cotton. As for his coat, he wore silk, as was customary. Otherwise, the status will not be revealed.

However, for the clothes inside, Marin definitely prefers soft and odorless cotton cloth. And the cultivation of island long-staple cotton in Guantanamo is actually for the purpose of supplying high-quality cotton cloth in the future.

Although the area of ​​Guantanamo is small, Marin does not have much demand for long-staple cotton cloth, as long as the noble class has enough. As for the common people, cotton cloth woven from Mexican upland cotton will do.

However, the planting of long-staple cotton was not carried out because of the inspection by the Holy See investigation team. But now that the investigation team is gone, cotton can be grown locally.

It just so happens that thousands of troops from Havana, Cuba, are about to go to Haiti to arrest people. At that time, thousands of honest serfs will be planted here to grow sea-island long-staple cotton to supply the needs of local nobles.

No, as soon as Tara returned to Havana, he received an order from Marin to immediately send a ship to inform Old George to send a group of Indian serfs with long-staple cotton seeds to Guantanamo to start planting long-staple cotton...

In any case, Indians have a very long history of growing cotton, and they are the first country in the world to grow cotton and use cotton to weave cloth. Some of the Indian untouchable slaves introduced by Marin have rich experience in growing cotton, and some women are also good at weaving cotton cloth.

Therefore, it is a good choice to let some Indian untouchable slaves go to Guantanamo to dominate the initial cotton planting and cotton weaving. As for the capture of people from Haiti, those later Taino people could have Indian serfs teach them how to grow cotton and use cotton to spin and weave cloth.

It is believed that in the near future, Guantanamo, a rare arid region in the Caribbean, will become an important producer of high-end cotton underwear in the North Sea.