African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 1152: Chapter 161: The Tricolor Flag Falls

Immigration also requires channels. In the past, East Africa established two major immigration recruitment systems respectively in the German and Far East Empires.

However, with the economic development of Germany and the Austria-Hungary Empire, the German region has now transformed from a population outflow area to a population inflow area, so after 1890, this system basically collapsed.

Meanwhile, the immigration system from the Far East to East Africa has maintained a certain scale. Of course, now the main purpose of East Africa’s immigration recruitment from the Far East is to supplement the population of the East African Colony, rather than the local population. Now, with East Africa suddenly gaining nearly one million square kilometers of land out of thin air, the demand for immigrants has correspondingly increased.

Herman: ”This is not a small project. Now most of our ships need to transport war materials to Europe, so wanting to immigrate millions to Togoland is not simple.”

East African ships not only need to facilitate the export of local goods to Europe but also need to balance trade with regions such as the Far East, South America, and the Middle East, putting tremendous pressure on them. It can be said that the current shipping industry is already in short supply of ships, which is not conducive to the so-called immigration plan of East Africa.

Herman’s words alerted Ernst. Indeed, now is not a good time for immigration, so it can only be temporarily shelved.

However, Ernst said: ”Since the immigration plan is difficult to carry out, let’s start with implementing and consolidating local governance order.”

”These colonies, though nominally belonging to the Empire, essentially have their ruling class as Germans. We still have a lot of preliminary work to do.”

”The army and officials must first be properly arranged, and they also need to handle some communication with the local Germans, after all, East Africa and Germany have fundamental differences.”

East Africa and Germany are ultimately two countries, so governance methods and corresponding policies are certainly different, which will surely lead to some dissatisfaction among German businessmen and colonial groups.

However, this matter is also easy to solve. Originally, German colonies had few troops, and now that they are all being withdrawn for World War I, once the East African Army is in place, it can seamlessly take over the local government, as the local Germans haven’t formed any real climate.

The main reason is their small number. Take German Central Africa for example; previously, there were only a few thousand Germans in total, including the German colonial army. Now that the colonial army is returning home, even fewer Germans can remain.

After discussing Germany’s colonies in Africa, the East African government finally began to shift the topic to the pile of islands Germany owned in the Pacific.

The East African government found the arrangement of this pile of islands quite troublesome, mainly because of the distance.

Ernst said: ”It is certainly not easy to govern these islands, but it is also a great opportunity for us to establish influence in the Pacific region, using this opportunity to exert a certain deterrent effect on Australia.”

This is actually complete nonsense; dealing with a colonial country like Australia requires deterrence? Frankly, if it weren’t a British colony, East Africa would’ve already taken action against Australia.

Of course, no one can deny the importance of Australia. Despite its harsh environment, it is still a continent with plenty of resources.

Sivert also nodded and said: ”If in the future we want to deal with Australia, we do need some bases, and given our homeland’s distance from Australia, these islands have rather good locations.”

This may be the only significant value the East African government could find in Germany’s pile of Pacific colonies; as for resources, except for Nauru, most are still of little interest to East Africa at the current stage.

The most important resource on the small island of Nauru is ”bird droppings,” which, over the years, have accumulated to form rich phosphate resources, and are very easy to extract.

Speaking of phosphate minerals, Ernst couldn’t help but think that Germans are really good at picking places; for instance, the most valuable mineral in the Togoland Colony is also phosphate.

Due to the importance of this pile of ”bird droppings” on Nauru, Ernst said: ”Send more troops to Nauru, just as a precaution against Australia, after all, Nauru’s phosphate resources are valuable.”

The reason why Ernst said this is mainly because in a past life, it was due to arrangements by the UK that Australia took Nauru from Germany, so sending troops to garrison Nauru is still necessary, even if Australia is highly unlikely to provoke East Africa.

Of course, when Ernst talked about sending more troops, it was at most a hundred people. Sending more than that would overwhelm this small island, as Nauru’s population is only a few thousand.

Besides Nauru, in Germany’s Pacific colonies, the next focus is New Guinea Island, which is a rather complex colony.

In the south of German New Guinea is a British colony, while in the west it borders the Dutch East Indies colony, forming a tripartite situation.

Although British and Dutch hold the majority, Germany still has more than 200,000 square kilometers to govern, and there should certainly be some symbolic garrison here.

Of course, don’t expect the East African government to develop these islands; at present, East Africa has neither the energy nor the ability to conduct development and construction on these Pacific islands.

...

Libreville.

”Toot, toot, toot...”

With the symphonic orchestra playing, the flag of the German Second Empire slowly descended, while the flag of the Rhein Empire with the lion emblem slowly rose to the top of the flagpole, fluttering in the sea breeze coming from the South Atlantic, declaring the arrival of a new owner in Libreville.

Several years ago, the flag of the French was still flying here, but because of the Moroccan Crisis, it was abandoned by France. However, its new owner, Germany, handed over its sovereignty to East Africa in less than a year.

Watching the German flag fall and eventually being put away, the Germans present were very sad. After all, this farewell not only marked the end of German rule here but also signaled the last peaceful moments before they embark for the European battlefields.

Among them, the Governor of German Central Africa, Xavier, also had complex feelings. A year ago, he still hoped to realize the grand blueprint for the development of German Central Africa with the help of East Africa. Now, the entire German overseas colony has directly turned into East Africa’s possession.

Of course, Governor Xavier also understood that the decision from the homeland was necessary. Now, Germany simply does not have the resources to manage these overseas colonies, so it’s better to throw this burden to East Africa.

Now, while the homeland is already at war, he, too, will embark on the journey back, taking the armed forces of no more than 1,600 people back to join the war. Although measly, Germany is facing a siege by three great powers, so even the small number of troops in overseas colonies must be fully recalled, to alleviate some pressure on manpower at least.

In this war, the combined population of the England, France, and Russia is nearly three times that of Germany. The mobilization potential of just the Three Kingdoms suffocates Germany.

”Mr. Andel, I hope you in East Africa will treat this land well. After all, it has left a deep impression on me, and if I survive after the war, I will definitely come back to see this place where I once lived and worked. I hope it will unleash its potential in your hands.”

For Xavier, German Central Africa has deep feelings, as it’s an area where even compared to the German homeland, there isn’t much of a size difference.

So, being in charge of such a vast land, Xavier previously experienced extraordinary joy, and calling it a small kingdom of his own wouldn’t be an exaggeration.

Andel, who was responsible for taking over German Central Africa, said: ”Rest assured, Governor Xavier! Since we in East Africa have taken over here, we will turn it into a home for us Germans. I also eagerly await your safe return from the European battlefield, to witness the new face of Libreville.”

At Andel’s words, Xavier merely gave a complex smile and then said: ”In that case, let’s say farewell here!”

He waved at the others, then boarded the ship with the original military from the German Central African colony and officially embarked on his return journey.