African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 318: Chapter 1 The Birth of Germany

While taking over Mayotte Island, East Africa also eyed the nearby islands of Grande Comore, Anjouan, and Mohéli. Among them, the Sultan of Anjouan was the nominal ruler of the Comoros Islands. The Kingdom of East Africa planned to have a heart-to-heart with the Sultan of Anjouan, sending some of its citizens to the Sultanate of Zanzibar. The future Comoros Islands would become East Africa’s Comoros Islands.

Right now, it’s not possible, as immigration hasn’t been settled yet, so the East African Navy was first responsible for stabilizing the Sultan of Anjouan.

After stabilizing Mayotte Island, the East African Navy immediately headed towards Anjouan. With the cordial visit of Grand Duke Ferdinand and the East African Navy, the Sultan of Anjouan soon signed a treaty with East Africa, making the Comoros Islands a protectorate of East Africa.

At this time, Anjouan had actually already lost control over the other three islands, but East Africa merely obtained the pretext of legitimacy, suppressing the indigenous people on the remaining two islands, Grande Comore and Mohéli, in the name of the Sultan of Anjouan.

The Comoros Islands were a mix of powers. Apart from Mayotte Island, which was completely controlled by East Africa, the other three islands were composed of African black people, Arabs, and Malays, with Arabs in the ruling position. The islands were prevalent with Arab culture.

Fortunately, the tropical rainforest climate meant the population of the Comoros Islands was not large, making it not difficult for East Africa to control.

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On January 18, 1871, William I declared himself Emperor of the German Empire in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles in Paris.

Just at the end of last year, taking advantage of the momentum of the Franco-Prussian War, the four Southern German states formally joined the German Confederation, and the unification of German regions was completed.

The Southern German region has always been one of the most economically developed areas in Germany, so after annexing the Southern German region, Germany’s strength, the effect achieved, was greater than the sum of its parts. Just the Kingdom of Bavaria alone had strength that most countries in Europe could not underestimate.

With William I announcing the formation of the German Empire at Versailles, Germany as a whole appeared in human history for the first time.

The newly formed German Empire had a population of over 40 million (historically 41 million) and a territory of 610,000 square kilometers, surpassing France to become the most powerful country on the European continent in a single bound.

Germany possessed the most powerful recognized land force in Europe at the time, and its extensive territory, with strength far beyond what Prussia or Austria could compare to before.

Emperor Franz of Austria-Hungary felt a mix of emotions upon hearing the news of the formation of the German Empire, as this also meant Austria completely lost its influence over German regions. The Austria-Hungary Empire had to transition, while on the contrary, the Hungarian side was very pleased that with Germany’s unification, Austria could no longer use the German regions to suppress Hungary.

When the German Empire was formed, the Kingdom of East Africa expressed congratulations, but that was the extent of it. If Germany had announced its formation in Berlin, Ernst might have joined the excitement, but in Paris, there was no need to attract hatred for East Africa.

By the time Germany was unified, the population of East Africa also reached 4.7 million, including over 1.8 million Germans immigrated from Germany and the Austria-Hungary Empire (including new births). Along with the Germanized Slavic people (Croatians, Slovenians) and inter-ethnic marriages (Paraguayans, Chinese, Germans, etc.), the Pan-German population was 4.45 million, with the remaining over 200,000 immigrants including newly introduced Italians, Russians, Chinese, etc.

As a whole, East Africa was undoubtedly a German state, the third largest after Germany and the Austria-Hungary Empire. The rest, Luxembourg and Liechtenstein, were insignificant in size.

At the same time, the Kingdom of East Africa’s territory (including the royal lands in Alaska) was the fifth largest in the world, only following Britain (including Canada, Australia, and other colonies), Tsarist Russia, the Far East, and the United States.

East Africa has never publicly disclosed the specific land area of East Africa to the international community, although there have been contacts with other colonists in many regions. However, in this era, territory and colonies cannot be equated, so in the impression of most countries, East Africa is still confined to the eastern coast of East Africa, the mainland part of the former Sultanate of Zanzibar. These countries and regions do not include Mozambique and parts of the Austrians.

Mozambique truly felt the oppression from East Africa, while the Austrians at least knew that East Africa had completed the conquest of Kenya and Tanganyika areas. Otherwise, how could East Africa open up investments in the Kenya area?

With vast land and millions of people, the Kingdom of East Africa now urgently needed to develop quietly. Only by fully controlling Zimbabwe and Zambia could the Kingdom of East Africa step into the international arena.

Therefore, starting from 1871, East Africa began to shift from its previous aggressively expansionist path, with no further expansion plans except for Mayotte Island.

Along the borders, the Kingdom of East Africa also began to act modestly, actively developing trade relations with the Boers and the Portuguese to avoid military conflict.

Meanwhile, Ernst began to prepare to transfer part of the Heixinggen conglomerate’s industries to the East African homeland. The Heixinggen conglomerate had developed into one of the world’s top conglomerates today, owning the entire Kingdom of East Africa as its backyard. It had a voice in Germany and the Austria-Hungary Empire and industry distribution in other parts of Europe, so the Heixinggen conglomerate had developed to a nationally competitive extent. Even a small spillover could keep East Africa digesting for a long time.

The core of the Heixinggen conglomerate was the Heixinggen Bank. Besides the enterprises under the Heixinggen conglomerate, under Ernst’s command, Heixinggen Bank held shares in many new German and Austria-Hungary Empire enterprises, mainly concentrated in electricity, military, food, machinery, and other fields.

Typical examples included the Skoda Factory (1869) founded in Czech by Count Skoda of Austria. Heixinggen Bank held 17% shares, and at this time, the Skoda Factory was merely a machinery factory, and Count Skoda could not figure out Heixinggen Bank’s investment.

In Europe, the new electric power companies mostly had investments from Heixinggen Bank, and the food industry was completed through monopolization. The tropical economic crops produced in East Africa were mainly sold to Central and Eastern Europe, so many newly established food factories in Central and Eastern Europe had the shadow of the Heixinggen conglomerate. There was no choice; the distance of Africa compared to its counterparts in Southeast Asia and the Americas was a huge advantage. Once East Africa’s industries such as coffee, tea, and rubber matured, they would further squeeze the original markets.

At the same time, Heixinggen Bank had invested in the oil industry in the eastern Austria-Hungary Empire and Romania, especially Romania. Carol I opened the door wide, allowing Heixinggen Bank almost to dominate the Romanian oil field.

Both East Africa and the Heixinggen conglomerate, as Heixinggen’s royal industry, developed very rapidly, while the state of East Africa implemented an export strategy typical of small profits and quick turnover, concentrated in agriculture.

The Heixinggen conglomerate concentrated in finance, light industry, and high-tech fields, with high-profit margins and relatively large scale.

Currently, the greatest shortage in East Africa was heavy industry; both entities had little experience in this area, requiring further exploration. Without heavy industry, there was no way to provide basic industrial production materials. The Heixinggen conglomerate could not detach from Europe, and East Africa and the Heixinggen conglomerate could not form a unified super political-economic entity, so developing heavy industry was the primary goal of the Kingdom of East Africa.