African Entrepreneurship Record-Chapter 484 - 162: Vulnerability
In the South African region, the British are showing increasingly strong ambitions for invasion, as are virtually all the notable powers surrounding East Africa.
The actions in Portugal’s two colonies are also accelerating, with the Mozambique colony intensifying its attacks on several indigenous kingdoms within its territory, and Angola increasing its invasion of the Congo Kingdom to the north.
The Belgians have already established a foothold on the coast and have incorporated the Ancuz Kingdom into their protectorate (the indigenous kingdom on the west bank of the Ubangi River).
Italy is also making relatively smooth progress; they have now severely threatened the safety of the Abyssinian Empire, forcing the various factions within the empire to stop their disputes and jointly address the threat from the Kingdom of Italy.
Even Egypt has launched a war against the Darfur Sultanate, attempting to bring this Ottoman Vassal State under its control.
In other parts of Africa, the French, Spanish, and Dutch are also actively expanding in the region, and as the colonial activities of these countries expand, they invariably encounter a presence that cannot be ignored—the East Africa.
At the defense conference, Defense Minister Arman summarized the recent defense and security situation of East Africa and its surroundings:
"In February 1876, a Dutch colonial ship attempted to land in Jason Bay to the east of Nongwadu in the coastal area of the new Württemberg province. Discovered by the residents of Nongwadu town, we expelled this group of Dutchmen trying to illegally enter East Africa."
"In August 1876, the West Azande province reported discovering a six-person French expedition in the west. They claimed to have been separated from the main force and unintentionally intruded into West Azande province."
"In November 1876, an expedition team from the British colony in Natal secretly crossed the Tugela River, which we discovered and expelled. There were also several British forces attempting to smuggle into our territory on the Orange River."
"In 1877, which is this year, we encountered British ships during our colonial activities in Southwest Africa."
"Also in May of this year, the Cape Town colony merged with the Orange Free State, resulting in the complete disappearance of the buffer zone between us and Cape Town."
"There are indications that the British troops in Djibouti are also showing signs of movement, possibly considering the Harar Emir Sultanate near British Somali." 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦
"Portugal is not being idle either; we have had several small-scale conflicts with civilian colonial groups from Angola in Southwest Africa."
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These are merely findings from East Africa over the past two years; there may be more undiscovered, which is quite frustrating because East African territory is too vast, coupled with the Congo rainforest zone directly surpassing 10 million square kilometers. Adding Southwest Africa brings the total to over 11 million square kilometers.
Moreover, many areas along the East African borders with other countries are deserts, rainforests, or river and mountain regions, not suitable for human habitation. Sparse population makes foreign infiltration difficult to detect.
Not to mention regions occupied by East Africa relatively late or those with poor natural conditions, the East African coastal areas also face similar challenges. For instance, the Dutch entered Jason Bay, and it was thirteen days before East Africa discovered it.
Jason Bay is quite a large bay for East Africa, located approximately fifty kilometers south of Soko Port.
The ports in East Africa are limited in development, focusing on a few critical ports, hence easily overlooking the importance of some less favorable bays.
This allowed the Dutch to seize the opportunity because, from the sea, Jason Bay indeed looks like a Land of No Master, with no development by East Africa, thus maintaining its most primitive state.
In fact, the first to discover the Dutch activities here were East African ships transporting rails south to New Hamburg Port, but it didn’t attract attention because the Heixinggen Ocean Trade Company and the East African government aren’t a single system.
In the eyes of the trade company sailors, Dutchmen in Jason Bay might even be "their own," after all, new ports planned by the government aren’t usually announced in advance.
Just like the ongoing construction at Soko Port, established purely because of the southern railway planned by East Africa, while a "wild" bay like Jason Bay doesn’t typically attract public curiosity for a closer look.
Ultimately, the Dutch were discovered in a rather dramatic fashion; had they stayed honestly along the coast, they might have remained undetected for a while. But what were the Dutch there to do? They’re here for colonization, so after landing, the Dutch colonial group moved inland, hoping to capture some Black Slaves to establish a foothold in Jason Bay.
As a result, after moving over ten kilometers inland, they finally encountered the presence of people, more than just people. Thanks to East African development, the appearance of vast cultivated fields and German-style villages made the Dutch immediately sense trouble.
East African farmers working the fields also noticed the abnormality of these "outsiders," dressed in shabby clothes and carrying weapons, unmistakably not regular folk.
Subsequently, Nongwadu town’s police department mobilized collectively, intercepting these illegal invaders. The East African police were primarily retired military personnel, while many villagers were militiamen, quickly reacted calmly and surrounded the hundred-odd Dutchmen.
After interrogation by Nongwadu police department, the Dutchman’s identity was revealed; they lacked backing from the Dutch government, merely a small colonial company registered in the Netherlands. Due to their short establishment, they were unfamiliar with African forces and inadvertently plunged into East African territory.
Ernst said in the defense security meeting: "The Jason Bay incident highlights our insufficient consideration for coastal safety, especially in some undeveloped natural harbors. Fortunately, this time it was merely a civilian colonial team. Had a nation exploited this loophole to launch an attack on East Africa, the consequences would be unimaginable. Therefore, we must inspect all coastal bays in East Africa, register those suitable for development and use, develop them promptly, and even if immediate development isn’t feasible, establish military facilities first, station military personnel, the navy must normalize coastal patrols, and telegraph lines should be laid along the coast to prevent such dramas from recurring."
In reality, there is a telegraph line along the East African coast, but this line just stops in Da City, with the north extending towards the northern provincial border. The south also has telegraph lines but doesn’t follow the coastal area because East Africa has few port cities on the coast of southern Tanganyika, with only Mtwara and Soko Port, the latter being newly constructed. The telegraph connecting Mtwara and Da City is completed via Ron Roda City, the former capital of the Marine District, which is inland, rendering the southern coastal line unnecessary.
East African mainland bay conditions, although not ideal (not including islands, lacking world-class natural harbors compared to nations of similar size), the number isn’t small, particularly small natural harbors.
These small harbors were previously in a free-range state, plus East Africa’s goal to "close off the country," resulting in minimal coastal investment, similar in status to the Far East Empire’s coast during this era.
Ernst’s previous coastal defense system didn’t consider these small natural bays, focusing instead on East Africa’s developed ports, as most of the time, the East African coast was indeed desolate. Now it seems these small harbors should also be utilized, as Jason Bay doesn’t exactly qualify as a small harbor; however, lacking population and economy, it remained abandoned. Ernst didn’t anticipate anyone would land there, even if considered, there wasn’t the capacity for management at that time.
