Chapter 106: Non-Aggression Treaty between East Africa and Mozambique
"Stop! Who are you?" The militia raised his gun and carefully aimed at the person coming.
Tulio Peni stepped forward, handed his gun to the team member behind him, raised his hands high, and said to the Mitomoni village militia in Portuguese: "I am Tulio Peni, an officer of the Portuguese colony in Mozambique. I want to speak to your superiors."
After a burst of Portuguese chatter, the militiamen of Mitomoni village became even more confused and held their guns even tighter.
At this time, the chief of Mitomoni village, Gilles Zioni, who heard the noise, walked to the front of the village.
Looking at Tulio Peni and his group, Gilles Zioni asked in German: "Who are you?"
Seeing Tullio Peni looking confused, Gilles Zioni, whose hometown is on the French-Prussian border, asked again in French.
At this time, someone in Tulio Peni's team finally understood. This person's mother was French, so he could understand French.
He walked over to Tullio Peni and repeated Gilles Zioni's words to him.
With a middleman acting as an interpreter, people on both sides could finally start communicating.
After understanding the purpose of Tulio Peni and others' visit, Gilles Zioni did not make things difficult for these Portuguese people.
At present, East Africa still mainly adopts the strategy of "I will not offend others unless they offend me" towards the Portuguese. East Africa is also relatively restrained regarding the land in the south and stopped its southward advance at the Ruvuma River.
Unlike the east, the western part of the two colonies actually had no clear borders, because there were no mountains or rivers as geographical boundaries, and the eastern shore of Lake Malawi was flat.
Gilles Zioni received the Portuguese, but only allowed a few people to enter the village of Mitomoni without weapons, while the others had to stay outside the village.
…
A month after Gilles Zioni sent Tulio Peni away, Portuguese senior officials in Maputo, the capital of the Portuguese East Africa (Mozambique) government, also received Tulio Peni's report.
The Portuguese were still surprised at the speed of expansion of the German East African colonies. You have to know that the Mozambique colony took hundreds of years to develop to its current size, and how many years had it only been since the Germans arrived?
Although surprised by the speed of the Germans, the Portuguese did not take any action. As long as the Germans did not have any bad intentions towards Mozambique, the Portuguese were too lazy to take the initiative to attack.
After all, the strength that can easily defeat the Sultanate of Zanzibar is a force that cannot be underestimated on the entire west coast of the Indian Ocean, and the East African colonies currently do not have the resources that the Portuguese desire.
But the Portuguese did not do nothing. In order to avoid conflict between the two colonies, the Mozambique government sent people to Dar es Salaam to negotiate with the East African colonies to determine the border between the two colonies and divide the sphere of influence in East Africa.
The East African colonial government accepted the Portuguese request. Currently, the East African colonies are still mainly focused on the north and west, and are not interested in Mozambique in the south for the time being.
Ernst's plan for colonizing East Africa also changed with the development of the East African colonies. If Ernst's earliest plan was to occupy the Tanganyika region, then the second stage was the entire Tanzania, and it is currently in the third stage, which is the land of the later East African Community.
In the past, the East African Community had six member states: Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda and South Sudan.
The current focus of the East African colonial strategy is Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda, and northern Kenya.
As for South Sudan, there is only Sudan at present, and it is under the sphere of influence of the Ottoman Empire, so South Sudan is not part of the current plan.
In conducting colonial activities in East Africa, Ernst always advocated a cautious approach and avoided conflicts with more powerful local forces before gaining a firm foothold.
They would stay there for a while, and when the population reached a certain size, they would look for targets for expansion. Of course, this was aimed at Arabs and other European colonists. The East African colonies had always been arrogant and domineering towards the indigenous tribes.
It seems like a simple truth, but it is actually very difficult in this era. With the development of the European Industrial Revolution, European and American countries are now rampant in the oceans and other continents.
As long as they see precious resources and products, they will grab them if they can. By planting a ship and a flag on a small island, they can gain a piece of overseas territory. Of course, this is usually a self-satisfaction behavior. If other countries do not recognize it, it is useless. If precious minerals are discovered on the island, the powers will smell the scent and come over.
The East African colonies were official colonies. Although Hechingen as a country existed in name only and became a part of Prussia, it was easier to get things done as long as the name was still there.
As the royal territory of Hechingen, the East African colonies were distinguished from Prussia in terms of ownership, but everyone tacitly accepted that they were Prussian colonies.
After all, Hechingen has become a part of Prussia. Who knows if it is a vest made up by Prussia? Prussia is not paying much attention to overseas for the time being, and there is no need to explain to other countries.
Therefore, the East African colonies were just relying on the power of the other side to bully others. Otherwise, if the Portuguese in Mozambique really understood the ins and outs of the matter, they would not be polite.
December 3, 1867.
The East African colony and the Mozambique colony signed an agreement - the East African and Mozambique Non-Aggression Treaty.
The treaty demarcated the border between the two sides, starting from the mouth of the Ruvuma River and ending at the village of Aidila on the east shore of the middle section of Lake Malawi, with a length of more than 700 kilometers.
The area north of the border was the East African colonial sphere of influence, and the area south of the border was the Mozambique colonial sphere of influence.
The two sides shall not enter each other's sphere of influence without the other side's permission, and shall respect each other's interests along the coast of the Western Indian Ocean and jointly maintain the smooth flow of traditional commercial trade routes in the Western Indian Ocean.
The treaty focused on the intersection of the two sides' forces, one was the land border and the other was the ocean trade route.
The limitation of the treaty was that the division of land power only detailed the demarcation of the border where the two colonies currently met, that is, the area between Lake Malawi and the Indian Ocean.
Many parts of East Africa and South Africa were not divided and judged, which laid the groundwork for future conflicts between the two colonies on the western shore of Lake Malawi.
However, the treaty is still quite good at present. East Africa currently has no intention of going deep into the west of Lake Malawi, and Mozambique has no plans to move inland.
The two sides will not meet in the West for the time being, and both sides currently need a stable situation in the East to ensure their respective interests.
As the end of the year approaches, East Africa's immigration mission for this year will be completed, and the immigration population in the East African colonies will reach a new level.
The war with the indigenous peoples of the Northwest Territories had already ended, and once the plague was over, the East African colonies would take over the Northwest Territories in one fell swoop.
Together with northern Kenya which is currently being explored, the main body of the former East African Community is basically in the hands of the East African colonies.
The signing of the East African and Mozambique Non-Aggression Treaty added a layer of insurance to the expansion of the northern part of East African colonies, avoiding excessive energy being put into guarding against the Portuguese.
(End of this chapter)
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