Chapter 1022: Southern German Kingdom
To be honest, it was not easy for East Africa to not forget to give some soup to Lan Fang's overseas provinces during the First Five-Year Plan. After all, the local development level is still not high, and being able to help overseas territories to a certain extent is also a tightening of the belt.
Not to mention Lan Fang's overseas provinces, the two provinces on Madagascar Island closest to East Africa, Mahajanga Province and Toliara Province, are currently underdeveloped, and the population is even lower than that of Lan Fang's overseas provinces, which means they are closer to the East African continent, otherwise they would have become a meal on the French plate.
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Rhine Palace.
"Your Highness, the Kingdom of South Germany seeks help from our country. This is a letter from King Leopold to you!"
The Kingdom of South Germany, that is, the former Sigmaringen Chad Colony, after the Rhine Empire was informally established in the East, the Sigmaringen royal family believed that the Chad Colony also had the foundation to be upgraded to an independent country, so in 1901, the Sigmaringen Chad Colony with the Shali River Basin and Lake Chad Basin as the core was officially upgraded to the Kingdom of South Germany.
As for the name of the Kingdom of South Germany, it is quite appropriate. After East Africa has chosen the Rhine Empire as its name, one of the options for the new citizens of East Africa at this level was chosen by the Sigmaringen royal family. The Chad region is located in the southern hemisphere. In the eyes of the Sigmaringen royal family, the Kingdom of South Germany is the most suitable as their second kingdom (the first is Romania).
The monarch of the Kingdom of South Germany is the former Prince Leopold of Sigmaringen, now Leopold I.
As of 1900, the population of the entire Kingdom of South Germany has exceeded 1.3 million, and most of the residents are Chinese immigrants, occupying a territory of about 1.4 million square kilometers with Lake Chad as the core.
However, most of the territory is the desert area of Chad and western Sudan in the previous life, and it has no practical value at present.
According to climate classification, the territory of the Kingdom of South Germany can currently be divided into three parts: the desert area in the north, the Sahel area in the middle, and the Sudan grassland area at the southernmost end. Lake Chad is located in the Sahel area, which is generally relatively dry.
Ernst opened the letter and took a quick look. It turned out that Leopold was preparing to use force to expand the territory of the Kingdom of South Germany to the west, so he was now seeking help from East Africa to provide a batch of weapons and ammunition support.
"The Kingdom of South Germany is seeking support from us for war materials such as rifles and ammunition. They plan to expand westward along the Komadugu Yobe River Basin."
The Komadugu Yobe River is the second largest river flowing into Lake Chad. As for the largest river, it is the Shari River, which originates in East Africa in the south.
The Shari River can be called the mother river of the Kingdom of South Germany. More than 70% of the water in Lake Chad comes from the Shari River.
The Shari River Basin and the surrounding areas of Lake Chad are also the most densely populated areas in the Kingdom of South Germany, mainly planting cotton and grain.
Although the Shari River is good, it is not completely controlled by the Kingdom of South Germany because the upper reaches are East African territory.
According to the brotherly friendship between East Africa and the Kingdom of South Germany, East Africa naturally cannot cut off the water of the Shari River, but as a European, Leopold naturally understands the fragility of his own ecology. Therefore, for the future development of the Kingdom of South Germany, expansion to the west is the current national policy of the Kingdom of South Germany. Therefore, expansion along the Komadugu Yobe River Basin has become the first step of Leopold's ambition.
"Leopold probably not only wants to obtain more land and water, we all know that the Kingdom of South Germany is very eager to go to the sea, so finally reaching the sea is Leopold's real purpose." Ernst said to his subordinates.
Siwei Te: "Then this road is probably not easy to go. There are a lot of indigenous kingdoms in the west of the Kingdom of South Germany, and the level of civilization is not low. The coast is basically the sphere of influence of the Germans and the British. If you want to achieve this goal, you must support us or Germany behind the scenes."
On the one hand, in West Africa, especially in the Nigerian region in the west of the Kingdom of South Germany, the black forces here are very different from the original East African natives, and the level of civilization is more than one level higher. Because of the geographical location, it is deeply influenced by the Ottoman civilization.
On the other hand, these indigenous countries have British intervention behind them, so the expansion of the Kingdom of South Germany to the Yobe River Basin in Komadugu is bound to cause friction with the British.
Merke: "These are not to be worried about. The Kingdom of South Germany is far from comparable to those tribes or kingdoms in Nigeria in terms of population and civilization. As for the British, as long as they do not threaten the so-called Southern Nigeria Protectorate of the United Kingdom, the British will not directly intervene in the expansion of the Kingdom of South Germany at this stage."
The Southern Nigeria Protectorate is the coastal area of Nigeria controlled by the United Kingdom. Correspondingly, there is also the British Northern Nigeria Protectorate in the Northern Nigeria region, but the Northern Nigeria Protectorate is ruled by a puppet regime supported by the United Kingdom, not directly ruled by the British like the Southern Nigeria Protectorate.
Ernst also agrees with this view: "When it does not touch the core interests of the British, the expansion activities of the Kingdom of South Germany will hardly be forcibly blocked by the British, not to mention those indigenous forces that are not British protectorates."
Even if the United Kingdom established the so-called Southern Nigeria Protectorate and the Northern Nigeria Protectorate, the areas bordering the Kingdom of South Germany are mostly some independent armed forces in West Africa.
So in the eyes of the East African government, Leopold's westward expedition is feasible. The only thing that can hinder the Kingdom of South Germany is the local indigenous forces. Although these indigenous forces are much stronger than the East African indigenous forces, they are also limited in the face of the Kingdom of South Germany.
East Africa is not worried about the expansion of the Kingdom of South Germany. Take the current territory of the Kingdom of South Germany as an example. On the surface, it is also a large country with an area of one million.
However, the land quality is too poor and the agricultural foundation is very weak. Even if the Shari River and Lake Chad Basin are fully developed, the population that can be supported is ultimately limited.
To change this outcome, unless the entire Nigeria region is annexed, not only a large amount of high-quality arable land, mineral resources and seaports can be obtained.
But this situation is basically impossible to happen. First of all, the population of Nigeria is very large. As the most populous country in Africa in the past, even in the early 20th century, the population base of Nigeria could not be too small. According to the East African government's estimate, the population of the entire Nigeria region is at least more than 10 million, or even more than 20 million, which is impossible to be less than the Abyssinian Empire or Egypt.
After all, the level of civilization here is relatively high, there is a lot of arable land, and it is near the Gulf of Guinea, and has been in contact with Europeans for a long time.
This means that the Nigerian natives have frequent trade with Europe. They have hot weapons in their hands. Although they are not advanced, at least they are not like the East African natives who fight East African soldiers with cold weapons.
Therefore, the westward expedition of the South German Kingdom is destined not to be too smooth, at least not as smooth as the past East Africa, especially after the British have insight into this emerging force that can threaten its Nigerian colony.
After all, at least the losses suffered by the British in East Africa are difficult to repeat in West Africa. The British are likely to consume the South German Kingdom by arming the indigenous forces in the northwest of Nigeria, thereby avoiding the birth of a monster similar to East Africa in West Africa.
Moreover, the religious power in Nigeria cannot be ignored. Although Nigeria is divided, these green religious countries are likely to unite to fight against the invader of the South German Kingdom.
The British were only engaged in colonization and would also win over the local sultans and emirs, while the South German Kingdom was simply going for land and water, which was extremely threatening to their rule.
Due to various restrictions, the East African government believed that it was easy for the South German Kingdom to expand its territory, but it was almost impossible to annex the entire Nigeria.
