Chapter 105 Portuguese

October 5, 1867.

East Malawi Lake District.

Mitomoni Village is located more than 100 kilometers south of Songea City.

The forests in the Lake District of East Malawi are relatively dense, and the tall groups of trees are completely different from the endless grassland scene in the northern parts of the East African colonies.

In the previous life, even in the 21st century, Tanzania's forest coverage rate remained at about 50%. In this era, the entire forest coverage rate in Tanzania is only much higher.

Unlike tropical rainforests and subtropical forests, the forests in East Africa are not densely populated. There are large gaps between the trees. The spaces between the trees are mainly grassland, with few shrubs, etc., so it is easy to pass through. It’s easy to get lost without a compass or map.

Therefore, the East Malawi Lake District is also the least developed land in East Africa. After all, a grassland fire can burn out a large wasteland, and it is still very difficult for the East African colonies with a small population to cut down these trees.

Everything has two sides. The forests are lush and the timber resources are abundant. Due to limitations in transportation capacity, these trees cannot be exported at present, but they greatly meet the needs of the East African colonies themselves.

These abundant resources can be used to build houses, use them as fuel, and make tools. According to the current population size of the East African colonies, these timbers are truly inexhaustible.

As one of the southernmost villages in the East Malawi Lake District, Mitomoni Village is also a small military stronghold.

In addition to the low walls made of mud and stones, there are also simple sentries made of wood, and there are wooden barriers in the direction of the exit. This configuration is a bit luxurious for the indigenous people in the south.

Strictly speaking, East Africa has no border with the Portuguese colony of Mozambique. After all, although Mozambique has a large population, there are not many Portuguese people, and most of them are located along the coast.

Naturally, it is impossible for the Portuguese to fully control Mozambique, so there are a large number of indigenous tribes in Mozambique, and its relationship with the Portuguese is more like a vassal state.

As long as they surrender to the rule of the Kingdom of Portugal, they are considered as one of their own. Of course, this situation is more obvious in the inland. In the coastal areas controlled by the Portuguese themselves, the natives can only work for the Portuguese and bully them at will.

Before the end of the slave trade, Mozambique was an important source of goods for the Kingdom of Portugal.

The Portuguese's colonization of Mozambique followed the rules. They first occupied ports on the coast and then gradually expanded inland along the rivers.

Of course, the Portuguese initially had an additional goal, which was to destroy the power of the Arabs as much as possible, so this was also a religious war.

In Mozambique, the Portuguese succeeded. The Arabs along the coast were indeed weak and found it difficult to resist the Portuguese invasion.

But when the Portuguese tried to go north and replicate this action, they encountered the Sultanate of Zanzibar, which was in its prime. The two sides had a draw, so the Portuguese switched from confrontation to cooperation with the Sultanate of Zanzibar. , both parties jointly develop interests along the western Indian Ocean coast.

At one time, the Portuguese influence reached as far as parts of Zimbabwe and Zambia. However, due to the plague in the two places, the Portuguese were forced to withdraw to Mozambique. This was also the first failed attempt by Western colonists to develop the interior of Africa. .

Until now, the Portuguese have not successfully expanded into the interior of Africa. At most, they are an important extraterritorial force that affects the indigenous kingdoms and tribes in the interior.

…

A Portuguese patrol, heavily armed, explored northward, led by Tulio Penili, a Portuguese colonial officer in Mozambique.

As a Portuguese who has been in the Mozambique colony for many years, Tulio Penili is relatively familiar with the local area.

The small team, forty-seven people in total, patrolled the indigenous tribes under colonial Mozambique along traditional roads.

Gradually, Tulio Penili came to the border area between the East African colony and the Mozambique colony.

In fact, the Portuguese did not know much about the expansion of the East African colonies. They only knew that the Germans defeated the Sultanate of Zanzibar, but the Sultanate of Zanzibar still existed, but retreated to Zanzibar Island.

According to the Portuguese's thinking, the Germans should be on the same path as themselves, mainly concentrated in the coastal areas, and at most affect the tribes in the interior.

After all, the Portuguese had been developing their own power in Africa for hundreds of years, and had failed to penetrate deep into the interior. The Germans had just arrived and most developed the coastal plains.

Mitomoni Village is not far from Lake Malawi and can be considered inland, so Tulio Penili and his party set out nonchalantly towards the north.

Soon after arriving at the last tribe in northern Mozambique, its chief began to report the latest news to Tulio Penili.

"There are many people who fled from the north and were captured by us. They are all northern tribesmen. I heard that they were recently driven away by a group of white-faced people. Many resisters were killed or fled westward. They were also resisters. Unwilling to flee west, they used the forest to escape to our territory,” the translator told Tulio Penilli.

"White face?" Tulio Penilli whispered: "Could it be German!"

Tulio Penili couldn't make up his mind and said to the chief: "Please tell me in detail their appearance and clothing, as well as their weapons."

"Our people went to the north to check, and a castle (Mitomoni Village) has been built there. Their skin color is very similar to yours (actually most of them are Chinese), they have the same weapons (guns) as you, and they are also dressed in the same style. Similar, but more uniform, not as good-looking as your clothes (Westerners wear flashy clothes, while East African colonies mainly wear military uniforms), the people from the northern tribes we captured said that the other party is a tribe with the lion as its totem," the chief replied.

"It seems that they are indeed Germans!" Tulio Penilli said to the team members, "In that case, we will go to visit and follow my orders not to conflict with the Germans."

Soon, Tulio Penili and his party, led by the chief, rushed to the vicinity of Mitomoni Village. Looking from a distance, they saw the lion totem that the chief said was erected in front of the simple fortifications.

Tulio Penilli naturally recognized that it was not the tribal totem mentioned by the local indigenous people. It was a flag, the family emblem (heraldry) of the Hechingen family, and it was also the flag of the East African colonies.

In fact, Tulio Penilli only knew that it was the flag of a European noble family. As for Hechingen and so on, there were so many nobles in Europe, especially in Germany. How did Tulio Penilli, a commoner from the Kingdom of Portugal, know him? come over.

The reason why we can know that it is the flag of a European noble family is mainly because of the lion on that flag. It is very common in Europe. Many noble families and royal families have this symbol on their coat of arms. Generally, eagles and lions can be used as family emblems (patterns). Chapter)’s background is not small.

But this did not prevent Tulio Penili from knowing that it was the flag of the Germans, because on the eastern coast, Portuguese merchants could still obtain a lot of information from East Africa, especially the mouth of the Rufuma River (the Rufuma River was a colony of East Africa and the Mozambique colony), there are many such flags on the other side.

What Tulio Penili didn't expect was that the Germans had penetrated into the interior of East Africa and established a large stronghold here.