African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1246 Territorial Details Dispute
As a student who once studied in the UK, Rama VI naturally knew a lot about East Africa, which "tied" with Britain in the South African War. After all, when it comes to the influence of countries around the world on the Southeast Asian countries, several traditional powers, including the already declining Netherlands and Portugal, have accumulated deep influence in Southeast Asia.

Currently, the country carrying the flag in the Nanyang region is Britain. There is no local country that is not afraid of Britain, of course, except for the uncivilized natives in the jungle who are not afraid of life and death.

In fact, the more uncivilized the indigenous people are, the more indifferent they are to life and death. After all, their living environment is too harsh, and death and injury are commonplace for them.

Siam, an ancient civilization in the Southeast Asian region, is obviously much more "smart", which also leads to the weakness of Siam's foreign diplomacy today.

This was the tragedy of backward countries in the early 20th century, Anglophobia, Francophobia, Germanophobia, Hispanophobia... and even the latest "Africanophobia". There is always a superpower or even multiple superpowers suitable for these small and weak countries.

This is the situation of Siam now. It is considered to be very "blessed" to be served in turn by the three imperialist countries of Britain, France and East Africa.

In recent years, with the deepening of East Africa's colonial activities in the South Pacific region, it can be said that East Africa has also firmly established the reputation of imperialism in the region.

In fact, in addition to East Africa, the three late-developing countries of the United States, Japan and Germany can also be considered new players in the South Sea colonization. However, Germany's colonial path has been cut off, the United States is still struggling in the Philippines, and Japan's strength is limited. At least for now, Japan is unable to intervene in the South Sea situation. Only East Africa is the most powerful.

It can be said that Rama VI surrendered decisively because he understood the powerful military strength of East Africa and the presence of East Africa in the South Seas region.

At least they can now negotiate with East Africa to avoid the division of core territories. If the East African Navy really attacks, not only will the Siamese Navy be at risk of destruction, but the final compensation and land will only be greater.

On September 1916, 9, Ande, a senior official of the Lan Fang Overseas Province in East Africa, led a team to Bangkok to conduct detailed negotiations with the Siamese government.

Senior official Ande told King Rama VI: "According to the verbal agreement between our two countries, this territorial division mainly involves Siam's territory on the Malay Peninsula, so we ask your country to hand over the entire country, including the territory south of Chumphon Province, and the islands to our country for management."

Siam's first-level administrative divisions are based on "provinces". The country is divided into nearly seventy provinces, which are roughly equivalent to the first-level administrative divisions of "provinces, states, and states" in other countries.

Of course, in the eyes of East Africans, the so-called provinces of Siam are only equivalent to the size of prefecture-level cities. After all, the national area of ​​Siam is only about hundreds of thousands of square kilometers, but it is divided into about seventy provinces, and the average area of ​​each province is just over 5,000 square kilometers.

Chumphon Province is such an administrative region. The province is located at the narrowest part of the Isthmus of Kra, but its west is the territory of Myanmar, not Siam.

However, Myanmar is mountainous, so the population is small, which is also the main reason why Myanmar was unable to compete with Siam on the Malay Peninsula.

On the other hand, Siam has many plains and hills with a well-developed water system, so it has a rich population. This is also the main reason why Siam can resist Myanmar in the west and the infiltration of Arab religious forces in the south.

King Rama VI watched Ande casually wave his hand on the map, and his heart tensed as he said, "Sir, this is impossible. According to your division model, we in Siam cannot afford it. Although the provinces and regions in the south are remote, they have a large population, fertile land, and transportation advantages."

"So we will not cede the provinces in the south that are close to the north. We Siam can only accept the provinces in the southeast to be under the jurisdiction of East Africa."

If you look at the map, you can find that Siam is a protrusion on the Malay Peninsula, and there is a bulge that extends deep into the territory of Malaysia in the past.

These areas are the southeastern provinces mentioned by Rama VI, including parts of Pattani.

The Pattani area was once the land of the Pattani Sultanate, which was established in the 15th century and was later destroyed by Siam in the mid-to-late 18th century.

From the name of the country, it can be seen that this country destroyed by Siam has the typical color of Arab countries along the Indian Ocean coast, such as the Zanzibar Sultanate on the coast of East Africa.

The Siamese conquest of the Pattani Sultanate was less than two hundred years old, and the beliefs of the local indigenous people were naturally different from those of Siam. In addition, the part of Pattani land taken away by the British. It can be said that Pattani had two layers of negative impact on Siam, one was religion and the other was the border. Under such circumstances, Pattani and its surrounding areas were naturally the most likely places for Siam to split.

Therefore, if East Africa takes over several provinces in the southeast, it will have both advantages and disadvantages for Siam. The disadvantages are self-evident, but the advantage is that the Siamese government can get rid of this "burden" while isolating East Africa from the British in the south, thereby allowing the two to check and balance each other.

And Ander naturally could not agree with Rama VI's plan. Although East Africa did not mind taking the Pattani region, the Pattani region alone was far from enough.

Ander said: "That's impossible. We must take Patani, and we must not lose any of the other areas either."

"After all, the several prefectures in the southeast have less than one-third of our plan. If this is the case, it is far from our expected goal."

"It would be better if we leave the Pattani area to you and leave the rest of the area including Chumphon to us, so that you can have an easier time."

Rama VI cursed Ande in his heart and thought very depressedly, what do you mean by taking it easy? He was not greedy for that little piece of land in Pattani.

Of course, it’s not that they are not greedy. After all, the more territory the better. But Siam has no choice now and can only cut its losses in time.

Therefore, the Pattani region was the bargaining chip in the hands of Rama VI. He hoped to avoid other regions being taken away by East Africa by handing this burdensome region to the East Africans. However, it was obvious that East Africa's ambitions were too great, and the Pattani region was far from satisfying their greed.

King Rama VI had no choice but to change his words: "The Pattani area plus Songkhla Province is our greatest sincerity."

Songkhla Province is quite large, at least for a country like Siam, and is adjacent to the Pattani region.

Ander responded calmly, "We must obtain the Tabi River Plain, so we will use Chumphon as the boundary. We can give up our claims to the southern Siam region, including Nakhon Si Thammarat. The land south of Krabi can continue to be controlled by your country."

Rama VI believed that East Africa's intentions could basically be seen from here. The area that East Africa was seeking was obviously the Bihe Plain.

The Tapi River is the most important river in southern Siam and is also the most densely populated area in southern Siam.

Obviously East Africa also saw this. After all, according to Rama VI's thinking, these Western powers generally like to colonize areas with high economic value.

However, this is precisely the only area that Siam cannot give up. After all, East Africans consider it valuable, and this is even more so for Siam. The Tabernacle can be said to be the essence of the entire southern Siam.

In the era when the Strait of Malacca had not risen, this place was a node for trade between the East and the West. Therefore, considering the fertility of the land, population density and strategic value, it was impossible for Rama VI to give up this area.

Although Siam's land is fertile, its land area is small, which makes the Tapeh River Plain, although small in area, extremely valuable to Siam.

After all, Siam is a backward agricultural country, and the national income mainly comes from agriculture, and the Tabernacle is one of the country's important financial and taxation areas.

As for the areas further south, they have not been effectively developed and the cost of governance is high, so they are far less important to Siam than the Thapi River Plain.

(End of this chapter)