Chapter 242 Why Mayotte?
Mayotte Island is located in the Mozambique Channel and together with Grande Comore, Anjouan and Moheli, it forms the Comoros Islands. It covers an area of 374 square kilometers and its economy is mainly based on agriculture, mainly producing spices such as vanilla. In its former life, it was an overseas region of France with one province, Mayotte.
In 1870, France had six key colonies. The first was North Africa (French Algeria), whose importance was self-evident. It was the closest to mainland France and the region that France most wanted to localize.
The second is West Africa (French Seychelles - Gambia, Guinea, etc. Ivory Coast - Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, etc. Gabon, Equatorial Guinea - later developed into French Congo). In terms of quantity and quality, these can be regarded as the most economically valuable colonies of France. At the same time, the latter two are located in the Gulf of Guinea, and the French navy can easily support these areas.
The third is Madagascar, which, together with French Comoros (Mayotte Island) and French Reunion Island, constitutes its strategic fulcrum in the Indian Ocean.
The fourth is Southeast Asia (Cambodia, southern Vietnam) and the Far East.
The fifth is French Guiana, South America.
Finally, the Djibouti region that controls the Suez Canal is added. After all, the importance of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait is self-evident. Without the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the Suez Canal would be a dead end. Both Britain and France have deployed troops near this area.
These areas constitute the main body of French colonies, and together with the French mainland, they can radiate across the globe, so none of the above areas can be touched.
Moreover, Africa accounts for 4 of these 6 regions, which is enough to show the importance France attaches to Africa. After all, according to the European version of the world map, Africa is the real geographical center of the world, and the intersection of 0 degrees longitude and latitude is in the Gulf of Guinea.
Therefore, Ernst could only think of a solution from the islands controlled by France. Those that were too far away would definitely not work. Mayotte Island was the closest to East Africa and was located in the center of the Mozambique Channel. Its strategic position was very important to East Africa.
At the same time, the island had good agricultural conditions and could easily feed tens of thousands of people. Together with the entire Comoros Islands, it could easily feed hundreds of thousands of people (in fact, the population of the Comoros Islands was more than 800,000 in later generations). The other three islands were unowned land (there were actually two indigenous kingdoms, and the Grande Comore Island spoke Swahili like the East African indigenous people). However, Mayotte Island, which was occupied solely by France, was very conspicuous, so Ernst attached great importance to it.
The inhabitants of Mayotte are Malagasy people. The southern part of Madagascar is composed of Malagasy tribes, while the northern part is the French Madagascar colony and the Kingdom of Imerina.
It is certainly impossible to say that Ernst was not interested in Madagascar, but the French Madagascar colony could not be defeated, and the four ships of the East African Navy could not withstand the toss.
The Kingdom of Imerina is obviously not a rival to the current East Africans. Not only is it large in size, but it is also not a tribal group like the East African indigenous people who are ignorant, unarmed and disunited. Ernst's criteria for judging indigenous civilization are very simple: primitive, slave, semi-feudal and semi-slave, and feudal.
The expansion of East Africa in Africa also verified this statement. The easiest to attack were primitive tribes, followed by slave kingdoms, then semi-feudal kingdoms, and finally feudal kingdoms.
The higher the level, the higher the degree of centralization and the stronger the organizational ability. So far, the most difficult countries East Africa has ever fought are the semi-feudal and semi-slave kingdoms in the Great Lakes region and the Geredi Sultanate. As for the Zanzibar Sultanate, it was completely unexpected. After all, its top leaders were controlled by the unethical Felix. If East Africa had chosen to eliminate the top leaders of the Zanzibar Sultanate at that time, I am afraid there would be more fighting with the Zanzibar Sultanate in the future. Its main body was on Zanzibar Island, and East Africa did not even have its own ships at that time, so it was impossible for it to attack across the sea.
The Kingdom of Imerina was a very tough nut to crack. Among the indigenous Africans, it was on the same level as the Abyssinian Empire.
It can only be said that the Malagasy people, like the Abyssinians, are not pure African natives. One is deeply influenced by the Middle Eastern civilization, while the other is mostly brown people from the Far East. The two countries happen to be at the intersection of civilizations, so they are more civilized.
As early as 1817, Britain signed a treaty with the Kingdom of Madagascar, recognizing Radama I as the King of Madagascar and promising to provide weapons and advisers and ban the slave trade. The London Mission was allowed to join the missionary work in Madagascar.
Its ruler, Radama I, was also a great ruler who abolished the slave trade and implemented modernization reforms. His successors, Ranavalona II and Ranavalona III, clashed with France and were eventually overthrown by France. After the failure of the anti-French war in 1896, Imerina was destroyed and became a French colony.
Even so, there were constant uprisings in the Kingdom of Imerina, so it was impossible to take over Madagascar without sufficient population.
Judging from the time of its fall, it is clear that the Kingdom of Imerina is not a pushover. Belgium is a small country and it took only a few years for it to annex the entire Congo, while the Kingdom of Imerina fought with France for nearly a century.
So compared to the Kingdom of Imerina, Ernst was more interested in the tribes in southern Madagascar.
Now the focus of East Africa is on the mainland, so it is impossible to expand to Madagascar, but the fact that it is not possible now does not mean that it will not be possible in the future. The southern part of Madagascar is far away from East Africa, and the Comoros Islands in the middle can serve as a transit station.
The biggest problem in acquiring the Comoros Islands is the French-controlled Mayotte Island. Mayotte Island is very important, but it is not that important to France because it already has the Madagascar and Reunion colonies. The Madagascar colony is definitely a key area of concern for the French, as it is related to their global strategy (threatening the Cape of Good Hope and the Indian Ocean route).
The only colony that could be acquired through the Franco-Prussian War was Mayotte. Other French colonies were powerful, far away, and had strong autonomy. They might not necessarily listen to the central government. To be precise, they had a cooperative relationship with the French central government.
So forget about those colonies with large areas and large populations. Even if France agrees, a second war will still be fought in East Africa.
Mayotte does not have this concern. It has a sparse population, a small area, and low value, so there is no pain in ceding it to Hexingen.
As for the issue of competition, it is not East Africa's turn. The British in this region are the biggest concern of the French. For example, the Seychelles Islands were snatched by the British from the French. At the same time, the British naval strength is stronger than that of the French, which is also an important reason.
(End of this chapter)
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