Chapter 688 Patrolman
Angola's border with East Africa.
Brunzino, a soldier of the Angolan Colonial Army's border patrol, had been transferred from his homeland to Angola three months ago.
Brunzino was a rather passionate young man, and he joined the team to "defend his country" without hesitation, especially the kingdom's only two remaining large colonies, Angola and Mozambique, which were facing the threat of a rapidly rising barbaric country - East Africa.
Brunzino was assigned to the border area between the colony of Angola and the East African province of Letania with his troops.
The Portuguese are relatively familiar with the country of East Africa, and Bronzino is no exception, because the country most described in Portuguese newspapers in the past few years is East Africa, which is currently the biggest threat to Portugal.
In Portuguese newspaper propaganda, East Africa is naturally a barbaric country, an evil force ruled by the "tyrant" Constantine, who has endless greed.
As the monarch of East Africa, Constantine is often the target of criticism, but the construction achievements of East Africa will also fall on the head of Constantine, the nominal ruler of the country, especially the descriptions of the two cities of Mombasa and Dar es Salaam by businessmen from various countries.
As windows for East Africa's economic development, these cities are the most dazzling "pearls" in East Africa. They are known as the twin stars of the Indian Ocean and are as famous as the Indian metropolis of Mumbai.
In sub-Saharan Africa, the only city that can be compared with East African cities is Cape Town. Other places with small white populations are not included in this range.
Therefore, when the Portuguese go out in the morning, they always visit the families of the East Africans to express their "gratitude".
In the eyes of the Portuguese, the immense wealth of East Africa was achieved entirely through the plunder of Portugal's colonies of Mozambique and Angola.
Before this, Portugal was the most powerful force in the entire South African region (according to the current distribution of land in East Africa, it would be more appropriate to call East Africa South Africa, but due to the inherited history of East African expansion, most countries in the world are accustomed to calling it East Africa, and in fact the official name of the East African Kingdom is the "Kingdom of Hechingen"), with a sphere of influence covering an area of over one million square kilometers.
If Portugal had expanded into South Africa 20 years earlier, there would be no East African Kingdom! By then, Portugal could have established a large colony comparable to Brazil.
The Portuguese's imagination was not bold enough. East Africa is now twice the size of Brazil, both in terms of population and area.
If Portugal had really paid attention to Africa before, it would have been able to build a huge colony like East Africa that dominated the entire southern part of the African continent, because quinine had already appeared in the 1950s and 1960s, and the colonization of Africa was in a window period.
At that time, Portugal as a whole was in a period of decline. In fact, Portugal had been in decline for nearly a hundred years. It was just that the impact of Brazil's separation on Portugal was too great, and the whole of Portugal lost the spirit of a great power.
They were no longer as adventurous and conquest-oriented as their pirate predecessors, which was an important reason for the slow expansion of Portugal's colonies in Africa.
However, the Portuguese were in a state of continuous decline in national fortunes and had no time to consider these issues. The Portuguese government had not made much progress over the years, so all problems were difficult to solve, let alone the development of colonies.
In fact, it was not difficult to open up colonies in Africa, especially for Portugal in the past, because Portugal's two colonies were almost connected to each other, with caravans passing through them. However, this process was interrupted by the expansion of East Africa.
Before Ernst colonized Africa, the only competitive region in all of sub-Saharan Africa was the coast of the Gulf of Guinea.
Regions like Central and Southern Africa are basically ignored, and apart from the Portuguese, the only other place that comes to mind is Cape Town, the southernmost transportation hub.
Therefore, as long as the Portuguese government at that time was willing to spend money, it could obtain a huge colony in Africa with no competitors.
As for the African natives, they are not necessarily stronger than the Indians, so they are not a big threat. The only one that needs attention is Zanzibar, which belongs to the Arab civilization. However, in the 1950s and 1960s, the Sultanate of Zanzibar was in a period of decline, especially after the separation from the Omani Empire, its strength had already collapsed.
However, the Portuguese did not grasp this point. In the hundreds of years of competition between them and the Arab civilization along the East African coast, they did not gain the upper hand. As a result, they missed the opportunity in the 1960s and were overtaken by East Africa. Subsequently, East Africa defeated Zanzibar, the former overlord of the East African coastal region.
In any case, the better East Africa develops, the greater the stimulus to the Portuguese. After all, in the eyes of the Portuguese, any achievements made by East Africa should belong to the Portuguese.
As for how East Africa developed, in the eyes of the Portuguese, it was naturally the plunder of Africa's wealth. After all, a country with an area of tens of millions of square kilometers was developed enough by selling mines.
Bruno also thought so, so after arriving in Angola from his homeland, Bruno vowed to regain the lost land for his motherland.
However, after staying in Angola for a few months, Bronzino felt a little disappointed because the East Africa in front of him seemed to be somewhat different from what was advertised in Portuguese newspapers.
"This is the border area between us and East Africa. It doesn't look as exaggerated as they described before. It's still vast primeval forests and grasslands. There's no trace of modernization at all!" Brunzino said to his companions disappointedly.
"I've heard about the construction of the East African Kingdom before, but since I came to Angola, I haven't seen any decent buildings and agricultural facilities on the other side. But I heard that the population of East Africa is mainly concentrated in the east. Perhaps the rapid development mentioned in the country refers to the area bordering the Mozambique colony and East Africa, and we don't see this scene in Angola." Brenzino's comrade explained.
"So this is how our Kingdom of Portugal was defeated by a former German prince? The desolate scene across the way is completely different from East Africa, which has been described as a prosperous land in recent years!" Brunzino felt shamelessly deceived.
"Brenzino, the East Africans just haven't developed this place. If you go to the coast of the Indian Ocean or encounter an East African city, you won't say that. They are not the kind of barbarians who eat raw meat and drink blood. Instead, they are well-equipped and numerous.
An important reason why southern Angola was annexed before was that thousands of East African troops came from the east. I was one of those who witnessed it. I can say that the East African Army looked no different from regular professional soldiers in Europe.
At that time, the army of our Angolan colony looked no different from the militia. They didn't even have uniform clothing and lacked heavy weapons support.
The East Africans on the opposite side were equipped with machine guns and artillery, which was almost fatal to the Angolan colony at that time.
Because we don’t have the ability to face the attacks of the East Africans. After all, the natives that Portugal encountered before were armed with stone spears and bows and arrows. It seems that they have become more professional soldiers than us overnight.”
At that time, there was a generation gap between Angola and Mozambique and East Africa. East Africa was one era ahead of the Portuguese colonies. If it were not for the intervention of the British, Angola and Mozambique would have basically died in one battle.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
