African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1055 East Africa to the North
At present, there are only three powerful countries in the Indian Ocean region, namely Britain, East Africa and the half-dead Ottoman Empire. Although Britain occupies a dominant position in the Indian Ocean, the British mainland is after all very far away from the Indian Ocean.

Moreover, key points connected to the Indian Ocean, such as the Suez Canal or the Cape of Good Hope controlled by Britain, are not very solid and are vulnerable to various threats.

However, if Tsarist Russia had expanded its territory to the coast of the Indian Ocean, it would have been completely different. The territorial expansion of Tsarist Russia was different from that of Britain, because Tsarist Russia might really localize the newly occupied areas. Therefore, if Tsarist Russia became an Indian Ocean country, it would be extremely harmful to East Africa.

East Africa also does not want a country that can compete with it to emerge around the Indian Ocean. Although Britain has great influence in the Indian Ocean, they are all colonies and semi-colonies, and colonies can be dismantled through various means.

Take India for example. If East Africa wanted to, it could support anti-British forces within India and continue to torment Britain, but there is no need for East Africa to do so at this stage.

But Russia is different. Russia's colonial methods are different from those of Britain. This is reflected in Russia's Far East. Russia has the ability to establish a stable regime there, rather than in areas of indirect rule such as colonies.

Ernst went on to say: "Of course, our involvement in the Persian Gulf region will inevitably infringe upon British interests, but this is unavoidable, so we must be flexible in our competition with Britain."

If East Africa wants to intervene in the Middle East and Central Asia, it cannot avoid Britain. The main reason is that Britain is too greedy. While East Africa is expanding its territory on the African continent, Britain is also weaving a huge and complex network of power in the Middle East and Central Asia.

This network is mainly distributed along the coast of the Indian Ocean, starting from Egypt in the east, including British Somaliland, Yemen, Oman, the Pirate Coast (UAE), Qatar, Bahrain, and finally reaching India (including Pakistan).

Britain also had a great influence in the Ottoman Empire and Persia. As a result, almost the entire northern coast of the Indian Ocean was within the British radiation range. Therefore, if East Africa wanted to break through, it would have to snatch food from Britain.

"So we should start with Persia and the Ottoman Empire, at least giving them the courage to reject Britain and Tsarist Russia. By providing military assistance to Persia and the Ottoman Empire, we can make them the key to breaking the deadlock in the Middle East and Central Asia."

As long as Persia and the Ottoman Empire, the two traditional Arab powers, are not easily controlled by Britain and Russia, the strategies of Britain and Russia will never be realized. As for whether supporting the two countries will have an adverse impact on East Africa, it is not impossible.

For example, if the Ottoman Empire were to unexpectedly revive, it would indeed have a major impact on the world pattern, but East Africa does not care about this at this stage because East Africa is originally at a disadvantage in the competition in the Middle East and Central Asia.

If the Ottoman Empire were to revive, it would not be entirely a bad thing for East Africa. Instead, it would be Tsarist Russia and European countries that should be more worried.

Moreover, the probability of the Ottoman Empire's revival is extremely low, mainly due to resource limitations. Industrial development requires water and population. Most Arab countries that have not become rich from oil are extremely poor, and it is impossible for the population to increase. Food alone is a big problem. In the past, those Arab countries could achieve rapid population growth through oil trade, food imports, and seawater desalination, but this is unlikely at this stage.

Take Saudi Arabia in the past for example. Without the support of oil resources, Saudi Arabia should not have a population of nearly 40 million. In fact, when Saudi Arabia gained independence in the past, its population was only more than 4 million. In Ernst's view, without oil, this would have been the limit of Saudi Arabia.

After all, Saudi Arabia, which has developed desert agriculture by exchanging oil for advanced agricultural equipment, has only barely achieved a 20% food self-sufficiency rate. Without oil, Saudi Arabia would simply not be able to afford the cost of desert agriculture. It can be said that Saudi agriculture was built with real money.

……

December 1907. As East Africa decided to take action, the first to react was the diplomatic department of East Africa. East Africa had already established diplomatic relations with Arab countries, especially in the Middle East and Central Asia.

Among them, Persia, the Ottoman Empire, Oman, and Egypt all had frequent diplomatic and trade exchanges with East Africa.

East Africa sent three diplomatic missions to Oman, Persia and the Ottoman Empire, three relatively opposing countries. Apart from these three countries, other countries and regions basically obeyed the orders of Tsarist Russia or Britain and did not dare to disobey the two countries easily.

The arrival of the East African diplomatic mission was warmly welcomed by Persia and the Ottoman Empire. As for Oman, it was somewhat hesitant. The Omani government was relatively divided and the internal situation was complicated, especially the British were relatively strong. Of course, as a former powerful country in the Indian Ocean, the anti-British forces within Oman were also very strong, especially among traditional Arab religious people. It was this kind of disagreement that led to Oman's split into two countries around 1913 in the past.

Therefore, some forces in Oman are considered worthy of being won over in East Africa, and with the return of Zanzibar people, they have also formed relatively powerful political groups within Oman, and they are natural allies of East Africa.

This is quite ironic. East Africa was the culprit for the demise of the Zanzibar Sultanate, but the people of Zanzibar reached a reconciliation with East Africa and, with the support of East Africa, regained a certain voice in the Omani government.

In fact, the people of Zanzibar can be understood as compradors supported by East Africa. Zanzibar was originally Omani territory, so it is reasonable for the people of Zanzibar to return to Oman. Through cooperation with East Africa, the people of Zanzibar have accumulated a lot of wealth. Coupled with their connections in Oman, it is not surprising that they return to the political center of Oman.

Compared with the more divided Oman, Persia and the Ottoman Empire were much more enthusiastic about East Africa. In a word, the two countries have suffered from Britain and Russia for a long time.

Of course, the Ottoman Empire had more troubles than Persia. Many European countries had unfriendly relations with the Ottoman Empire. The stronger ones included Britain, France, Russia and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Although the Ottoman Empire needed Britain and France to balance Russia, it did not mean that the Ottoman Empire liked Britain and France.

Some weak countries also had a "blood feud" with the Ottoman Empire, especially the countries in the Balkan Peninsula, each of which had lofty ambitions and wanted to replace it and restore the glory of the Eastern Roman Empire, such as Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia and so on.

At the same time, the Ottoman Empire also had some religious competitors, such as Egypt, Persia, and other forces that were hypocritical and wanted to split away at any time.

In short, the Ottoman Empire was facing internal and external troubles and was in a very difficult situation. However, East Africa showed a relatively friendly attitude and strengthened relations with the Ottoman Empire, which was naturally very rare for the Ottoman Empire at that time.

As for Persia, it almost regarded East Africa as its savior. Although the Ottoman Empire was in a bad situation, its national strength could at least barely cope with foreign enemies. Persia was a complete punching bag, sandwiched between Britain and Russia. It was not an exaggeration to say that it was beaten twice in three days. Moreover, it could not afford to offend either country, so who could it go to for justice?

In fact, Persia was quite interested in East Africa. As a country on the coast of the Indian Ocean, Persia had long been familiar with East Africa, a world power that single-handedly challenged the British and Portuguese coalition forces in the South African War.

Persia once sent personnel to East Africa to find out the reason why East Africa was so powerful, but unfortunately East Africa had little interest in Persia at that time.

The situation is completely different now. East Africa's intervention in the Middle East and Central Asia is seen as a very favorable opportunity by Arab countries. After all, only when there are more external forces can they be sold at a high price and show their value to be won over.

(End of this chapter)