Chapter 457: Planting Flags and Occupying Land
After dealing with the Dongwanlu government, the next group to enter the Lan Fang Republic was the Heixingen Group. After leaving more than 300 armed forces in the Lan Fang Republic, Archduke Ferdinand led his fleet eastward.
The 300 armed men did not stay in Dongwanlu, but continued to head south to the city of Pontianak in the Lan Fang Republic.
East Banlu is built on the west bank of Banlu River, a tributary of the right bank of the Kunjiang River (Kapuas River), while Pontianak is located at the mouth of the Kunjiang River. It is an excellent port and the largest city in Kalimantan. Its residents are mainly Chinese.
The straight-line distance between Dongwanlu and Pontianak is about 20 to 30 kilometers, so there are still differences between the two cities. Dongwanlu became the capital because of the gold mine. This is where the Lan Fang Kingdom (Company) made its fortune.
Relying on convenient transportation conditions, Pontianak has developed into the most economically advanced city in the entire Kalimantan Island. It is here that the East African armed forces and the Zanzibar Chamber of Commerce established contact.
…
"Is Balabac Island ahead? It looks like another uninhabited area, similar to Sumatra! Let's find a place to dock." Archduke Ferdinand looked at the environment of Balabac Island with a telescope.
Logically, Balabac Island should belong to the Spanish Philippine colony, controlling the Balabac Strait, with Kalimantan Island to the west and the Philippine Islands to the east.
However, East Africa does not recognize this default territory, because Balabac Island is really an uninhabited area as Ferdinand said.
In the 21st century, the total population of Balabac Island was only more than 15,000 people, and the main products were shells and coconuts. Now, except for a small number of indigenous tribes, there are really no people on Balabac Island.
This island has no economic value and its strategic position is not fully reflected. After all, Kalimantan and the Philippine Islands are both relatively backward regions.
The strategic value of Balabac Island was not revealed until the Americans established a military base here in later generations. In fact, the purpose of the United States establishing a military base was to cause trouble for the Far Eastern powers in the South China Sea. Of course, it was also due to the good economic development of Southeast Asia in later generations, which gave Southeast Asia a certain position in the world economic map, at least stronger than Africa.
Archduke Ferdinand led his fleet to find a place to land and planned to spend the night there. He also planted the East African flag on the beach.
"From today on, this is the territory of our East African Kingdom!"
In this way, the East African Kingdom had its first colony in the South Seas. Actually, it is not right to call it a colony, as there were not even a few people on Balabac Island. To colonize, there must be people to colonize.
In the following days, Archduke Ferdinand led the navy to build a simple military fortress at the landing site, leaving behind twenty or thirty people and some supplies to prepare to move north.
We have to leave no supplies behind, as Balabac Island has no economic foundation at all and the entire island is covered with tropical rainforest. We can't let the people left behind just eat coconuts to fill their stomachs.
The occupation of Balabac Island was so simple and unpretentious. There were many unowned lands like this in the Pacific Ocean. In the past, Germany had planted flags on uninhabited islands in the Pacific Ocean like East Africa and acquired a large number of overseas colonies, such as Nauru Island in the German Marshall Islands protectorate in the past.
Ernst knew that Nauru had rich guano resources, but this was the first time the East African Navy was sailing, and their destination was not there. The East African Navy had a lot of lessons to learn, so they would first practice on Balabac Island.
As the saying goes, one can't bite off more than one bites off. East Africa does not have the ability to carve out large islands in the Pacific Ocean. Take Balabac Island for example, it is part of the Palawan Islands in the Philippine Islands.
In later times, this place should belong to the Philippines, which is now the Spanish East Indies. However, it is useless to just claim it. It would take a long time for the Spaniards to discover the Germans on Balabac Island, because the population of these islands is too sparse. Finding the Germans on Balabac Island would be as difficult as finding a needle in a haystack. Moreover, the Spaniards would not care even if they found them, because Balabac Island has nothing but rainforest.
Just like Nauru Island, it was the British who discovered Nauru Island, but it was not until 1888 that Germany designated Nauru Island as its own colony among a pile of scraps. At that time, no one knew the value of the guano (phosphate) on the island. Without guano, Nauru Island would probably have remained unknown.
Balabac Island doesn't even have guano, so what's the point of East Africa occupying Balabac Island? In addition to giving the navy training, the most important thing is to use it as a springboard. To the east is Mindanao Island in the Philippines, to the north is Palawan Island, to the west is Kalimantan Island, and to the northwest is the South China Sea. To the northwest of Balabac Island is a bunch of islands of the Far Eastern Empire in the South China Sea.
"The supplies left behind are enough for you to stay here for three months. We will send a message to China after we arrive in Zhuhai. Use the ammunition sparingly so that you can be prepared in case you encounter wild people."
Savages are real savages. They are also distributed in the Congo rainforest in East Africa. They are different from ordinary indigenous people. No matter how backward the indigenous people are, they have tribal civilization. Savages can't even join the tribe.
"At this location, if you want to explore the interior of the island, it's best to go together. But don't go too deep unless there's a big problem. Rainforest areas usually have swamps or dangerous creatures. I don't know if there are any on Balabala Island, but it's better to be careful."
Before boarding the ship, Archduke Ferdinand carefully instructed the soldiers who were left behind that this was indeed a difficult task.
The difficulty of survival in the tropical rainforest is probably only slightly higher than that in northern Siberia. Fortunately, Balabac Island is not large, otherwise the transportation problem alone would be enough to make one's scalp numb.
The difference between a rainforest and an ordinary forest is that the water in the rainforest is deep, which is also an important reason why the rainforest is difficult to develop. After all, it is rainy season all year round and it may rain at any time, so even setting fire to the mountain will not work.
The situation on Balabac Island is better because it is smaller in area and it is easier for rainwater to drain into the sea. If it were a large island like Papua New Guinea, large-scale wetland swamps would be produced.
In fact, this can be seen from the neighboring island of Kalimantan, but the population of Kalimantan is relatively large and the level of civilization is also higher.
…
It took eight days for Archduke Ferdinand to finally arrive at the Zhuhai port area of the Far Eastern Empire with his fleet. Archduke Ferdinand finally had the opportunity to personally see the world's largest existing ancient civilization.
"The Far East has developed agriculture and its urban population is comparable to that of Europe. If we consider its area and population, the country's potential is indeed huge."
Archduke Ferdinand gave a relatively high evaluation when he first arrived in the Far East, but there was one thing that made him uncomfortable, and that was the strange hair accessories of the Far Eastern Empire.
"Your Excellency, don't be surprised. The Far Eastern Empire has a long history, but our understanding of the Far Eastern Empire is limited to the stereotype of the Qing Dynasty. In fact, from ancient paintings in the Far East, we can see that they did not have this kind of hairstyle more than 200 years ago."
"I know this, as Ernst's collection includes many Far Eastern paintings, but one can only feel them when one is deeply immersed in the environment. I have seen their images in books before, but after coming to the Far East, I found that this experience can only be understood but not described."
Archduke Ferdinand felt that the only word he could describe was "weird", without any derogatory meaning. The most popular hairstyle for East African men was the buzz cut, so apart from skin color, Ferdinand felt that the native East Asian immigrants in East Africa were not much different from those in Europe, and they looked very energetic. However, the Far Eastern Empire gave him the impression that they were malnourished, sallow and thin, and not even as energetic as the black people in East Africa.
This is certain. Before the German colonization, black people relied on abundant natural resources to make a living. They had no worries. When they were hungry, they hunted or picked wild fruits. They could also participate in activities such as dancing and getting tattoos.
With a rich meat diet, good food, good sleep, and no worries, how could their mental state be bad? On the contrary, after the Germans came, their mental state declined rapidly.
(End of this chapter)
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