African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 60: Chapter 56: Balance

Ernst returned from Austria to the Heixinggen family and spent Christmas of 1866 with Prince Constantine.

The East African colony was also developing step by step.

January 14, 1867.

The first group of immigrants from the Austrian Empire arrived at Dar es Salaam Port.

The immigrants who had just arrived in East Africa, having been tempered by the sea voyage, were now very happy to see land.

Still within the borders of the Sultanate of Zanzibar, the environment here seemed quite good in the eyes of the immigrants, after all, Zanzibar had been developed for many years, and its urban construction was barely passable.

In Zanzibar, you could see people of various colors: Germans, Arabs, Portuguese, Black people, Indians, and Chinese...

Immigrants who had lived deep within the Austrian Empire had never seen anything like this; the architectural style of Zanzibar was also different from Europe, filled with a strong Arabic flavor.

Combined with tropical beaches and coconut trees, everything was so novel to these immigrants.

...

After traveling for three days, these immigrants were taken to First Town, where officials from various regions of the East African colony, who had been prepared for a long time, came to draw immigrants.

The first immigrants to arrive today were surprisingly white people! The colonial officials, who were used to receiving Chinese immigrants, were somewhat surprised.

However, this group quickly started to fight over them. The colonial officials were currently all Germans, and Heixinggen Military Academy students generally served as translators and assistants or junior officers in the colonial army.

Actually, these Germans were also scared, after all, what if the Yellow people under them rebelled? It was fine earlier when the population was small, but at the end of last year, tens of thousands of Chinese immigrants suddenly appeared, while the Germans remained at their initial number of two thousand.

Two thousand people could still manage to suppress tens of thousands, but the number of Chinese immigrants was increasing too fast. This year, it’s tens of thousands; next year, it’ll be hundreds of thousands, and the year after that, it’ll be hundreds of thousands more.

This is still a conservative estimate; no one knows if Ernst will increase the number of ships to transport more people.

Although Chinese immigrants are relatively obedient and have strong labor power, the development in East Africa accelerated greatly after the Chinese immigration restrictions were lifted.

But for German officials, having their own people (white people) enabled them to feel more secure, because German officials couldn’t speak Chinese, and a lot of work needed to be completed by students from the Heixinggen Military Academy.

German officials, who had already tasted the sweetness of power, naturally felt uneasy, as these students from the Heixinggen Military Academy were loyal to Ernst and served as a monitoring force over the German colonial officials.

And the German officials believed that they themselves were Ernst’s real support, and Ernst’s over-reliance on Chinese people could lead to instability in the East African colonies.

Compared to hired Germans and students trained by himself, Ernst naturally trusted his own students more.

However, human nature is unpredictable, so Ernst dared not hand over the colonies to them, preferring to use Germans who were not very skilled (most of whom were retired veterans and overseas mercenaries, with only a few high-level members being management personnel of the Heixinggen Consortium).

This migration from within the Austrian Empire was also to prevent the Chinese immigrants from becoming too dominant.

Ernst is just a feudal noble with ambitions of territorial expansion, and some people always suspect Ernst of being a white-skinned, yellow-hearted person.

Actually, Ernst never thought this way. Aside from fulfilling the great ideals of his previous life, he aimed to establish a strong nation in East Africa so that the indigenous people wouldn’t waste Africa’s excellent land. Ernst has always placed the interests of the Hohenzollern family as the top priority.

In Ernst’s own view, Africa could at least support two world-class powers: one in West Africa and one in Southeast Africa.

West Africa is densely populated, with a mix of forces from various countries, and each colonial power has its sphere of influence on the Gold Coast, while East Africa only has the Portuguese as a prominent player.

South Africa’s Cape Town is already under British control, and the Boers are not to be trifled with, so it is not a good starting place either.

And in East Africa, there is basically only Portugal, a country already in decline, and Ernst doesn’t even consider the neighboring Sultanate of Zanzibar (the colonial military forces have already surpassed Zanzibar).

The development of East Africa requires pushing out all the indigenous people, and the best way to do this is like the Americans, who used immigrants to take over Native American lands.

For example, in the previous life’s German East Africa, the local officials wrote to the German government stating that large-scale settlement of white people in Tanganyika was impossible, and large-scale land cultivation had to be completed by local labor forces.

So it’s not that Ernst didn’t want to use Germans; it’s just that there were too few Germans, and the population in German regions was just enough. Previously, due to continuous wars, many chose to go abroad and immigrate overseas. Now, with the German regions stabilized under Prussian control, there is a fundamental basis for unity.

With no threat of war, Germans naturally choose to stay in Germany, and the rapidly developing Prussian industry is increasing the cake size, solving unemployment issues better.

Plus, the living standards in the German regions are first-class for this era, so Germans would rather wait a bit than go abroad easily.

Even Austrians of German descent prioritize choosing German regions for work and living.

So, to develop Africa, there must be a large surplus of labor, and the countries with the most abundant labor in the world today are the Russian Empire, India, and the Qing Country.

Russians are not a viable option because they have lived in temperate, subarctic, and arctic zones for years, and they can’t handle the African environment.

As for India, Ernst cannot possibly use them either. Not only did the Indians have a poor reputation in his previous life, but in the future, India will become one of East Africa’s few strong opponents in the Indian Ocean, and Ernst’s ambition is to dominate the Indian Ocean.

A unified India can potentially interfere with nations surrounding the Indian Ocean. In later generations, Indians relied on the Indian diaspora left in Africa during the British colonial era to influence African politics.

The Qing Country doesn’t have the capacity like India. At most, it can influence the Strait of Malacca. The issue is that in his previous life, Ernst never saw the imperial navy break through the first island chain, let alone Malacca.

To be honest, as long as India controls Malacca, it could cripple half of the empire’s economy. Firstly, the main oil energy passage would be cut off. Secondly, the European market would need to go through America as a transit, which is why Pakistan’s position is so important. Even though everyone knows the two countries are only surface-level brothers, a common threat pushes both sides to stand together. If anyone harbors true feelings, that’s foolish.

Weakening India in the future is a long-term strategy for East Africa, as there can only be one overlord in the Indian Ocean, and East Africa’s future goal is the hegemony of the Indian Ocean.

Channels like the Strait of Malacca are also future targets for East African colonies.

If neither of the first two options works, the only choice is to select Chinese immigrants. Ernst was Chinese in his previous life and naturally has some fondness for Chinese, and the Chinese are indeed useful.

Now Ernst is a bona fide German. In terms of identity, of course, German comes first. After all, his identity as a German in this life cannot be changed, so prioritizing Germans is prioritizing himself.

But for developing the East African colonies, which German would willingly come if there’s no development? It’s impossible to lure them over with high salaries; Ernst’s money didn’t fall from the sky. Just hiring two thousand Germans initially took up a large part of Ernst’s investment in East Africa.

Even the immigrants coaxed over from within Austria are only hereditary farmers like Hungarians and Slavs.

The population of the Austrian Empire can only be considered second tier, and it is complex in composition. Ernst doesn’t mind because even in later generations, America was dominated by Saxons ruling over immigrants from all over the world, with Germans being the largest immigrant group, followed by the rise of Latinos in America. This couldn’t change the fact that Saxons were the ruling class in the U.S., with English as the foundation holding together American rule.

And the country Ernst wants to establish is naturally a German-speaking nation, with all culture aligning toward German. After Tanzania’s independence in later times, it still adopted English as its official language, so race is secondary; language and cultural identity are the foundation of governance.

Otherwise, countries like Brazil wouldn’t even have a reason to exist. What unites Brazil as a country is precisely the identification with the Portuguese language and culture.

Moreover, even if Ernst wanted to recruit people from Germany on a large scale, it’s not possible currently. Learning from America, bringing in scammers and robbers, won’t work.

America can coast by on being vast and wealthy, with the best comprehensive conditions globally. Otherwise, its crime rate would be no different from South America’s, with the only difference being that Americans are genuinely wealthy, while South Americans are truly poor.

Not being able to recruit Germans now doesn’t mean it won’t be possible in the future. Once the East African colonies are developed, naturally, people will be willing to come and develop. Plus, with two world wars and economic crises to come later, these are good opportunities for Ernst to act in Europe. There’s no need to rush.

Conversely, if East Africa cannot be developed, even if you go to Europe begging them to immigrate, they won’t come.

So, the current East African colonies focus on developing wasteland and improving agricultural construction. Once that’s established, there will be a future.

After the agricultural conditions are ripe, and the industrialization stage begins, that’s the time to truly bring in large-scale European immigration.

As for the issue of too many Chinese immigrants, before the East African indigenous are cleared out, it’s not a threat. Besides, Ernst has already started seeking European immigrants to balance the Chinese numbers.

European colonists and Chinese immigrants are both newcomers invading East Africa, just like masterminds and accomplices. Once the indigenous are cleared, the two races can’t take things for granted. That’s the effect Ernst wants; with everyone feeling guilty, they won’t bring up racial conflicts easily, much like most Americans tacitly ignore Native Americans.

And Ernst does not adopt America or South Africa’s racial segregation approach. The current East African colonies follow Brazil and Cuba’s model, ultimately prioritizing cultural identity first.

Cultural identity should naturally be instilled from a young age. Though it may seem that the colonial immigrants have no culture, they are actually quite shrewd internally! They haven’t had formal cultural education, but they have inherited social experience.

Trying to change the mindset of the first-generation immigrants through education is basically thankless work. Ernst just needs to ensure they can have a full meal, and they’ll be grateful.

After all, the current Chinese have no political notions in their minds, unlike European troublemakers who still harbor political desires. Before the Republic period, Chinese people would only revolt if they couldn’t eat, even if there was barely any food, they would hold on desperately.

But if it were the Republic period, Ernst would avoid recruiting immigrants from the Far East. It wouldn’t be recruiting immigrants but rather troublesome people participating in daily revolts. Europeans nostalgically remember my Great Qing; truly, it makes me weep.

Ernst thought.

...

The sinful business of colonization cannot be washed clean. Ernst chose to involve the Chinese, so as accomplices, when modern times arrive, descendants of East African Chinese won’t speak confidently.

Learning from Americans, everyone tacitly agrees to pretend East Africa never had indigenous people; the integration of the German-Chinese ethnicity is the true path.

Ernst avoided treating the indigenous people like Americans treated Native Americans, which, compared to that, is an act of great mercy. None of the current world colonizers are nobler than Ernst.