African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 461: Chapter 139 Administrative Divisions in 1874

In 1874, East Africa was not particularly active in agricultural investment, with no other policies implemented except for the expansion of inland planting areas.

By April of this year, the immigrant population in the Zambia region had exceeded 500,000, distributed throughout the area in the form of villages and towns, with the total population, including the southern highlands of the Congo, at around 800,000.

During the same period, the population of Zimbabwe had just exceeded 150,000. Although the population size was not large, the growth rate was the fastest.

Besides these three areas, the total population growth in other regions was approximately 300,000, including South Africa, the eastern highlands of Angola, the White Nile basin, the Azande Plateau, and the Okavango River Delta. Among these, the need to consolidate borders primarily drove immigration to South Africa and the eastern highlands of Angola, whereas areas without such needs, like the Okavango River Delta, saw an increase of just over 3,000 people.

”From the ports of Dar es Salaam and Mtwara to Mbeya, a complete immigration route has been formed. It is through Southern Salzburg Province that immigrants are diverted via land or Lake Malawi, which is a crucial reason for the rapid population growth in the Zambezi and southern Congo River basins.”

”During the same period, the level of agricultural development on both the north and south banks of the Zambezi River improved significantly. Beyond the stable increase in the planting area of staple crops such as rice and wheat, tobacco has become an important economic crop, and the development rate of sisal and others is also quite prominent.”

”Population growth in the inland regions has added considerable trouble to our work, primarily reflected in administrative efficiency. First, on the north bank of the Zambezi, including the provincial administrative divisions of the Congo River basin, the population density is too low, leading to a serious waste. Second, on the south of the Zambezi, administrative management is relatively chaotic, with too many military administrative zones, each centered around towns, making coordination and scheduling difficult.”

This is mainly because the Zimbabwe region does not have provincial administrative divisions and is still managed according to the previous military zones, while Harare and Bulawayo have each formed municipally characterized administrative units.

”Moreover, our eastern part now faces this issue too. Formerly, there were too many provincial administrative units, but now it seems that the development disparities among many provinces are too large to support their independent development; the levels of industry and agriculture are relatively low.”

It was time again for the changes in the administrative map of the Kingdom of East Africa. Since East Africa occupied South Africa, the administrative divisions have become completely outdated.

This mainly manifests in the African inland areas, where East Africa exercises broad rule over the west, southwest, and south three directions in the form of military districts.

At first, military control was implemented because the East African interior had little population. Besides the military, the population was mainly indigenous people, so treating the natives with high-pressure military rule was indispensable.

Now it is different. Previously, in some areas, the population proportion had already tilted toward immigrants. For instance, in Zimbabwe, with East Africa’s population intake and output, the immigrant population accounted for nearly 19%.

And some provinces in East Africa’s east have overlapping functions, or there’s no need to set up provinces, such as the Marine Province and Kilimanjaro Province.

After government research and discussion, it was finally decided by Ernst that the new administrative divisions in East Africa in 1874 would be officially released.

The new administrative divisions would divide East Africa into twenty-six provinces, the same as before, but this time the administrative changes would involve the entire territory of East Africa, with many provinces being merged again, for instance, the six provinces of the Zambia region being merged into two provinces.

(Original administrative map):

The changed East African provinces are as follows:

The northern four provinces remain unchanged (including the Northern Province, Turkana Province, Juba Province, and North Lake Province).

In the northwest, the Nile Province (Southern Sudan), New Bavaria Province (eastern Azande Plateau), and West Azande Province (western Azande Plateau) were added, creating three new provinces.

The West Great Lake Province remains unchanged.

The former Kenya region, Eastern Great Lake Province, was abolished and merged into the South Prussia Province, with its capital in Nairobi.

In Tanzania, the Kilimanjaro Province and Marine Province were abolished, respectively merging into the Central Province, Eastern Province, and Highland Province, with the Marine Province capital, Tanga, merging into the Central Province.

South Lake Province and Hohenzollern Province were merged into Highland Province. The original Highland Province and southern part of the Hohenzollern Province were merged into South Salzburg Province, with the eastern part of the original Highland Province (mainly river source areas) merging into Central Province. The southern Sea Lake Province of Tanzania was renamed New Württemberg Province.

Apart from these provincial changes, the Serengeti Nature Reserve area was expanded, incorporating parts of the former Kilimanjaro Province and South Lake Province (equivalent to a no-man’s land).

In the Mitumba Mountains, Mitomba Province was abolished and merged into Hessen Province to facilitate unified management and coordination of the rubber plantation area; this area is also a crucial mineral region in East Africa (including copper and tungsten mines, etc.).

The western provinces in the Zambia and southern Congo Plateau regions, Southern Border Province, East Katanga Province, West Katanga Province, West Plateau Province, and Valonga Province, these six provinces were integrated into the northern Swabia Province and the southern Hohenzollern Province.

Note that the original Hohenzollern Province east of Soron Lake was abolished, but Ernst established a new province of the same name in Zambia, as did the (new) Southern Border Province, though this will be discussed later.

In the west, the Congo River basin established a Congo Province, and in the western part of the Congo Province, the Kongou Plateau established a Danube Province, setting a Zambezi Province at the source in the Longda Plateau, and the Okavango River middle and upper reaches area established Letania Province (named after Austria-Hungary).

In the south, the Kalahari Basin, centered on the Okavango River inland delta, established Lorraine Province.

The Zimbabwe region established Matebele Province, formerly British Bechuanaland established New Baden Province (primarily British Bechuanaland).

The former Transvaal Republic and Swaziland Kingdom established Heixinggen Province.

The former Zulu Kingdom, part of the Kingdom of Lesotho, and the Orange Free State border established the new Southern Border Province.

Ernst also kindly temporarily designated the arid grassland area south of Pretoria as the Limpopo River Nature Reserve to cover the gold mining area.

This time, the administrative division also abolished the independent administrative division status of Bemba Island, Zanzibar, and Mafia Island, with Bemba Island and Mafia Island changing to parts of the Central Province from provincial administrative units, and Zanzibar being further included in the Central Province as an affiliated country.

Primarily because these three islands are now too small compared to East Africa’s territory, yet their location cannot be ignored, so they were simply included in the Central Province for convenient military defense construction.

Meanwhile, the Comoros Islands were upgraded to a city-level administrative unit, mainly to provide a dock and supply replenishments for the East African Navy, serving as a naval base.

(New administrative map)

In the new administrative division, East Africa seemed to not care much about planning the west, not because East Africa was indifferent, but rather, it indicated how much East Africa valued the region. The East African government was well aware that East Africa was merely halting expansion; the final shape of the territory was not yet completed, so changes in the western territory could occur at any time.

In this administrative division, the Highland Province was strengthened overall, mainly because the previous development in the area was unsatisfactory, except for the relatively good development in the original South Lake Province. The original Hohenzollern Province and Highland Province did not have much development.

The Southern Border Province and New Baden Province in South Africa were primarily used to guard against the threat from the Cape Colony, with the Southern Border Province distributed in a narrow east-west pattern, while New Baden Province was designed to control the northern bank of the Orange River more strongly, with the significance of converting the Transvaal Republic into Heixinggen Province being self-evident.

Similarly, the provinces related to the Heixinggen Royal Family were the newly established (new) Hohenzollern Province and Swabia Province in the southern Congo Plateau region and Zambia.

Because the Principality of Heixinggen was once part of the Duchy of Swabia, the Swabia region holds extraordinary significance for the Germans, including nobles from Württemberg, the Principality of Heixinggen, the Principality of Sigmaringen, and the Swabian administrative district of Bavaria, all belonging to the Swabian nobility line.

The Habsburg and Hohenzollern families, originating from the Swabia region, have further impacted and dominated the entire history of the German nation.