Chapter 17 Dar es Salaam
February 1, 1865, Dar es Salaam.
Dar es Salaam means "harbor of peace" in Swahili. It is the largest city and port in Tanzania, the national economic and cultural center, an important port in East Africa, and the capital of Dar es Salaam. The city is green all year round, with a beautiful environment and scattered Western and Arabic ancient buildings that are relatively well preserved. It is a city along the "Maritime Silk Road". Zheng He, an ancient East Asian country in the Ming Dynasty, once visited the coastal areas here during his voyages to the West.
Currently, the Suez Canal is not open, and Dar es Salaam is a must-pass place for European ships heading to Asia. Many merchant ships dock here to rest, replenish fresh water and supplies.
There were also some Portuguese and Dutch merchants trading here. The Sultanate of Zanzibar encouraged Arabs to go to the interior of Tanzania to hunt slaves and capture ivory. Local specialty products such as cloves were also grown. When European merchants returned from Asia, they would purchase goods here and bring ivory, cloves and other products back to Europe to earn higher profits.
The temperature today is around 30 degrees. The salty and humid sea breeze blows in from the Indian Ocean. Coconut trees sway in the wind. The tide gently hits the white sandy beach. Standing on the coast and looking out, a large fleet is gradually approaching from the sea level.
The ship was flying the Dutch flag and slowly sailed into the port of Dar es Salaam under the command of the pilot.
A team of more than 2,000 armed men got off the ship and landed on the port's dock. This team was the German colonial team hired by the Hechingen Bank.
The team was led by an old Prussian officer who had just retired. Many of them were veterans who had retired from the Prussian army and had just participated in the Second Schleswig War.
The deputy in the team is an old mercenary who has been active in Asian waters for many years and has worked in the Dutch Far East colonies.
Of course, most of them were unemployed people recruited from all over Germany. After being equipped with second-hand weapons retired from the Prussian Army, they were sent to Africa to carry out colonial activities.
This large colonial group, which landed with "advanced" weapons and equipment, brought panic to the local Sultanate of Zanzibar. A colonial team of this size was enough to fight a war of annihilation in this era.
The Sultanate of Zanzibar is a genuine Arab country. It is the African part of the Omani Empire, which was once a powerful Indian Ocean country. During its heyday, the Omani Empire occupied the East African land with Zanzibar Island as its core, and also controlled part of the coastal areas of East Africa. Opposite Zanzibar Island is the Port of Dar es Salaam, which is also the core ruling area of the Kingdom of Zanzibar.
As the former overlord of the Indian Ocean, Zanzibar has dealt with many Western colonists. These people are all tough guys. Zanzibar has fought with the Portuguese. So after seeing the colonial group sent by Hexingen landing at the dock, the Sultan of Zanzibar did not dare to act rashly and sent people to negotiate.
Europeans of this era naturally looked down on small countries like Zanzibar. Apart from Europe, other regions were considered barbaric and uncivilized in the eyes of Europeans. But thinking of the task assigned by the boss, it was better not to cause trouble.
The representatives of the colonial team accompanied the representatives of Zanzibar to the palace of the Sultan of Zanzibar. The Sultan prepared a banquet to receive the representatives of the colonial team and began to hint at the purpose of the colonial team at the meeting.
"May I know what your Excellency's name is?" asked the Sultan of Zanzibar.
The leader of the colonial team replied: "Your Excellency the Sultan can call me Alman."
"Sir Alman, are you Dutch? Your attire seems a little different from those of the Dutch." The Sultan of Zanzibar said curiously, "But you came here on a Dutch ship, so I don't know where you are from."
"Your Excellency the Sultan, we are from the Kingdom of Prussia in the great German region. This time we came to your place on a ship from the Netherlands."
Prussia! The Sultan of Zanzibar frowned. He had heard of the German Sultan of Zanzibar, but not so much about Prussia. He turned to look at his foreign minister.
The Foreign Minister saw the Sultan's instructions and whispered in his ear, "Your Majesty, Prussia is one of the powerful countries in Europe. I heard that they have a strong army in Europe, but I have never heard that Prussia has a navy like Portugal and England. Usually, only a very small number of Prussian merchants can be seen here."
Well, the Sultan understood that the people who came were not ordinary people and could not be offended easily. After all, the Portuguese were already very powerful, and this so-called Prussia was actually a powerful country in Europe, so its strength should not be much worse than that of the Portuguese.
"Then I wonder what your purpose is in coming to Zanzibar? Zanzibar is just a small country without any outstanding resources to be developed." asked the Sultan of Zanzibar.
"Your Majesty the Sultan, we Prussians come here with sincerity. We are mainly here to engage in agricultural production in Tanganyika and will not threaten your rule in Zanzibar," said Captain Alman.
The Sultan of Zanzibar did not believe the Europeans' lies and asked carefully: "The land in Tanganyika is not as good as imagined, especially in the inland. Lions and wild beasts are everywhere, and their number is greater than that of people. Even our country cannot develop the inland. I am afraid it will be difficult for you to complete it after coming all the way here."
Head of the delegation, Yarman, explained: "Don't worry, Your Excellency the Sultan. To be honest, we are planning to develop farms inland to grow tobacco and some tropical plants. These are rare in Europe, so we chose this place."
The Sultan of Zanzibar still asked worriedly: "Although I am not interested in whether your country develops the inland, our country also has many interests in the inland, such as the wild people and ivory there, which are impossible for our country to give up. How can you ensure that the interests of the people of Zanzibar are not harmed?"
"Your Majesty, I can guarantee that I will not interfere with your country's interests in the inland. At the same time, we can cooperate and sign an agreement, because we are developing the land to drive out the wild beasts and savages in the inland. Although these things have a certain value, our team still does not value them and can be sold to your country. We are only the first batch this time, and more people will come later. Therefore, confrontation is a dead end, and both parties will have a harmonious future through cooperation." Alman persuaded with a hint of threat.
Thinking of the two thousand "elites" at the port, the Sultan of Zanzibar was alarmed and said unobtrusively: "Sir Yarman, peaceful development of both sides is also what we Zanzibar people pursue. However, I think any king of any country would not be able to sleep well if an army is placed under his nose!"
Seeing the Sultan of Zanzibar who had already surrendered, Yarman smiled contemptuously in his heart and said to him in a comforting tone: "Don't worry, Your Excellency the Sultan. To show our sincerity, we can leave in two weeks and will not stay in Dar es Salaam for a long time. Of course, with your country's support, we can leave even faster."
The Sultan of Zanzibar immediately understood this obvious hint and said generously: "You are too polite. We will do our best to help our 'friend'." However, he felt a pain in his heart.
Yarman explained: "Your Excellency the Sultan, don't worry. We just need to build some tools for camping in the wild. After all, we can't live outdoors in the wilderness, right?"
When Zanzibar heard what Alman said, he felt relieved and responded quickly: "You are too polite, Sir Alman. We can still provide some additional support."
Unexpectedly, Alman received the reply without hesitation: "There are indeed other things that require your country's help."
"Damn... why didn't you say it earlier!" The Sultan of Zanzibar thought to himself, preparing himself to be blackmailed.
"We will also need your country's ports to help transfer our subsequent supplies and personnel. We hope your country can provide us with convenience."
So that's what happened. The Sultan of Zanzibar had expected this. Such a large group of people were not moving, so they would definitely need a transportation channel to connect with Europe. However, for the sake of caution, the Sultan of Zanzibar still mentioned: "It's okay to borrow the port. We can set aside a piece of land for your country to use, but your country cannot station troops in the port and Zanzibar, and your country's staff at the port cannot carry weapons."
Hearing this, Alman knew that the matter was almost settled, but he still bargained: "No problem, but the safety of the staff stationed in Hong Kong still needs to be guaranteed, so we will leave a 20-member armed group to protect the safety of the staff."
Upon hearing that there were only twenty people, the Sultan of Zanzibar agreed. Although the Sultanate of Zanzibar was a small country, it still had some strength. It was just afraid that it would end up in a lose-lose situation with this group of Prussians, and the Portuguese next door would become restless.
The conditions proposed by the Prussians were barely acceptable as long as they did not threaten Zanzibar's rule. After all, the other side's guns were pointed at their heads. What else could they do? Fighting or not, Zanzibar would suffer. Fortunately, these Prussians knew what was going on, otherwise the Sultan of Zanzibar would never let these Prussians enter the inland through Zanzibar at all costs.
(End of this chapter)
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