Chapter 158: Isolated East Africa
November 5, 1868.
First town.
To the northwest of the First Town is the Little Rhine River, which was originally the land of the Second Town. However, with the upgrading of the East African colony, the status of the First Town also rose. As the seat of the East African colonial government and the capital of the central district, it naturally had to expand. As a result, the Second Town, which was adjacent to the First Town, was annexed.
More than a month ago, the residents of the former Second Town saw a group of strangers coming here for the first time in a long time. This was really strange for the residents of the Second Town who had not seen new faces for nearly half a year.
Since the expansion of East Africa, each region has needed immigrants to fill the newly occupied land. However, many areas in the east have been developed earlier and have relatively large populations, so there are few new immigrants. The Second Town is one of them.
Except for the few port cities in East Africa and the first town where the East African colonial government is located, the plains near the coastal areas have basically no new immigrants. Most of the new immigrants tend to move to inland areas.
If they were just ordinary immigrants, the residents of the Second Town would naturally not be curious. However, the residents of the Second Town could tell at a glance that this group of people were different from ordinary immigrants. After all, the residents of the Second Town were immigrants.
So they still remember very clearly what it was like when they immigrated to East Africa. When they first came to East Africa, they were in a very miserable state and many people didn't even have decent clothes.
It was the uniform issued to the East African colonies when they first landed. Even now, most people in East Africa still wear clothes that are modified from the Prussian military uniform.
Even the immigrants from Europe did not dress very well, but their clothes were not confiscated by the East African colonies.
Instead, they were simply disinfected and returned to them, along with a set of Prussian military uniforms with East African characteristics.
After all, European immigrants live a more decent life than Chinese immigrants, and their clothes are also a little more exquisite.
If we talk about the clothes of European immigrants, at least they can be seen as clothes, but the size and other aspects may not fit well.
The clothes that the Chinese immigrants wore when they arrived in East Africa could be said to be a collection of all kinds of rags. Not a single piece was complete. Patching on patches was a small matter. There were countless unraveling threads and holes. Even in the same group of Chinese immigrants who arrived in East Africa, some wore single clothes, while others wore cotton jackets.
In order to facilitate the disinfection of bacteria and dust that the immigrants might carry, and to facilitate subsequent management, Ernst simply prepared new clothes for the immigrants, and the tattered clothes of the Chinese immigrants were directly confiscated from the East African colonies.
Of course, the clothes that East Africa confiscated from the Chinese from the Far East were also confiscated for assimilation purposes. Since they wanted to Germanize, they had to do it thoroughly, cut off the braids, and there was naturally no need to keep clothes with oriental colors.
The clothes of immigrants from Europe did not need to be confiscated. They were returned after a simple cleaning. Some European immigrants even brought a few ancestral clothes with them for replacement.
However, since East Africa has distributed a new set of clothes, although it is a military uniform, it is worth it for the poor of that era.
When it comes to clothing, European immigrants like to alternate between their original clothes and Prussian military uniforms.
If people from European countries visit East Africa, they will see a strange sight.
At first glance, the whole of East Africa was covered with Prussian military uniforms. If you didn't look carefully, you would think you had arrived at a Prussian military camp.
Anton Peruzzi was one of the victims. Anton Peruzzi was the professor hired by Ernst at the East African Institute of Tropical Agriculture.
When he first arrived in Dar es Salaam, Anton Peruzzi had not yet realized that the port was the only window for external communication for the East African colonies. In order not to scare friendly countries, the immigrants at the port were not issued military uniforms but ordinary European clothes.
It was impossible for Ernst to close the two traditional Indian Ocean coastal ports of Dar es Salaam and Mombasa, as merchant ships from various countries still had to dock and replenish supplies at these two ports.
If the port was blocked, the British, Portuguese, French and Dutch allied forces would attack the next day. Ernst's success in opening up the East African colony was due to the fact that Prussia had not yet unified Germany.
Especially Britain, the maritime hegemon, currently has a very good relationship with Prussia. In addition, East Africa is not a good place, so they turned a blind eye and allowed Ernst to establish the East African colony.
East Africa is not a good place relative to the current perception of European countries. Not to mention East Africa, there are not many places in Africa that can attract the attention of various countries.
West Africa is the Gold Coast, Ivory Coast, Slave Coast, Pepper Coast...so countries all scrambled for it.
Cape Town, British Somaliland, Gibraltar and the future Suez Canal respectively control Africa's most important maritime transport routes.
The North African coast has been an important region in Europe since ancient Roman times.
Only the Portuguese have been operating several colonies in Africa in a stable manner. However, the Portuguese came to Africa hundreds of years ago, when the slave trade was still prevalent. They had already made back their investment, but it is obvious that Portugal does not have the energy to continue such a long-term investment now.
The reason why Europeans flocked to Africa around 1880 was entirely due to the economic crisis of 1873.
Every economic crisis is fatal to capitalist countries. It also means that economic development has reached a bottleneck and needs to find new outlets.
The direct consequence of the economic crisis in 1873 was that capitalist countries transitioned from commodity export to capital export. In order to obtain raw material production sources and the world market, the great powers launched a frenzy of dividing the world.
Obviously, that time has not come yet. For the British, the years are peaceful and quiet. Britain is stirring up trouble in South America, and wars are breaking out one after another on the European continent. France, Russia, Austria and Prussia are too busy to stir up trouble. The United States is busy cleaning up the mess of the Civil War and developing the West. Portugal, Spain and the Netherlands have not made any progress in recent years and have not made any major moves overseas.
As long as Ernst can hold back and not expose East Africa's resources in advance, basically no one will target East Africa.
Back to Dar es Salaam and Mombasa, these two ports are the only windows for external exchanges in East Africa. In addition to their own use, they also have to take care of colonists from various countries drifting on the Indian Ocean.
After all, it is an important node on the traditional shipping route. If you take yourself seriously and close yourself off from the outside world, you will definitely suffer the consequences.
Of course, Ernst has always been the only one in East Africa, so he just continues to maintain the status quo of the two ports and continues to provide convenience to various countries.
There is no need to share Tanga, Bagamoyo and Mtwara with other countries. These are ports built by East Africa itself and are only used by the Hei Xingen Group.
But to be on the safe side, Ernst forced all immigrants except regular troops to wear ordinary clothes in all ports, so that East Africa would look a little more normal in the eyes of ships from various countries.
If other countries really saw a large number of Prussian military uniforms appearing in East Africa, I'm afraid everyone would think too much.
There is no need for inland areas. Except for immigrants and members of the Hexingen Consortium, no one from other countries can go deep into the interior of East Africa to investigate the situation.
Arab merchants and slave traders who used to operate in the interior of East Africa now wait directly for the East African colonies to deliver goods to their doorsteps at border markets.
And East Africa itself was isolated from other countries and colonies that had connections with the world by terrain and indigenous tribes.
(End of this chapter)
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