African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1248 Phuket

1916 9 Month 7 Day.

Lamu Port.

The East African Indian Ocean Fleet was officially preparing to take over the area ceded by Siam. The East African government named the area separated from Siam the Isthmus of Kra Territory.

Vice Admiral Colletz of the East African Navy said to a group of officers and soldiers: "Phuket Port should become the strategic fulcrum of our navy in the East Indian waters. We should build an overseas base for the Indian Ocean Fleet here, so that our navy's sphere of influence can truly affect the entire Indian Ocean."

Although East Africa's Indian Ocean Fleet is very famous and is known as the strongest navy in the entire Indian Ocean, East Africa's influence on the Indian Ocean is not so great.

The main reason for this is that East Africa lacks territory in the eastern Indian Ocean region.

In the past, East Africa also faced this situation in the North Indian Ocean, which is roughly the Gulf of Aden, the Arabian Sea and the Persian Gulf. However, with the establishment of the Beibu Gulf territory, East Africa has truly gained a foothold in the North Indian Ocean. In addition, the North Indian Ocean is not far from East Africa, so even if the environmental carrying capacity of the Beibu Gulf territory is poor, there will not be any major problems.

This is not the case in the Eastern Indian Ocean. East Africa did not have any territory or naval base in the Eastern Indian Ocean in the past, which made the East African Navy's influence in the region far less than that of Britain and France.

Now, the emergence of the Isthmus of Kra has greatly solved the problem of the Indian Ocean Fleet's lack of a strategic fulcrum in the eastern Indian Ocean region.

East Africa's division of the East Indian Ocean is also very simple, that is, the southernmost tip of India is the dividing line. The vast sea area east of India, the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra Island, Java Island and west of Australia is the approximate scope of the East Indian Ocean.

Important sea areas or maritime transportation routes such as the Bay of Bengal, Myanmar Sea, Strait of Malacca, Timor Sea, and Great Australian Bight all belong to this sea area.

Although East Africa has many overseas territories in the South China Sea, these overseas territories all belong to the Pacific Ocean, not the Indian Ocean region.

Therefore, Collets, an old general from the East African Navy, was very excited about East Africa's acquisition of the Isthmus of Kra territory.

He said: "The location of Phuket Port is right between the Strait of Malacca and the Burmese Sea. Building it into a naval port and stationing a fleet here can effectively deter the East-West trade routes."

In fact, the East African Navy originally wanted to obtain Langkawi Island southeast of Phuket Port, but this island had long been occupied by the British, so they had to settle for the second best and choose Phuket Port.

After all, for the navy, although the conditions in Phuket Port are superior, it is backed by the mainland part of the Indochina Peninsula, while Langkawi Island is a large island in the west of the Strait of Malacca.

The defensiveness of the island is generally easier to defend and more difficult to attack, and there is a strait between Langkawi Island and the Malay Peninsula, which makes it safer. The conditions on the island are also good, with abundant fresh water resources and a considerable land area that can accommodate a large population. At least it is relatively easy to station a squadron.

However, apart from the first point that Phuket Port is inferior to Langkawi Island, it has almost no shortcomings. The threats on land are nothing more than Myanmar and Siam. As long as East Africa does not decline, their threats can basically be ignored.

In fact, Phuket Island, where Phuket Port is located, is itself an island. It was the largest island in Siam in the past and a world-renowned tourist destination. However, because it is too close to the mainland, its island characteristics cannot be reflected on large-scale maps.

If you choose a more professional special map, you can see that there is also a strait between its north and Siam, but the narrowest part of the strait is only a few hundred meters, which is enough to slide a wooden board from the mainland.

"Phuket Port does not belong to the Isthmus of Kra territory. The government and the navy's top management have arranged for Phuket to be directly under the central government and mainly serve the navy."

"This action is probably similar to the central government's arrangements for the Lan Fang overseas province and the East Kalimantan colony."

The Lanfang Overseas Province and East Kalimantan can actually be considered as a whole, but the East African government did not intend to merge the two places after acquiring East Kalimantan. After all, generally speaking, many countries like to merge several colonies when they colonize overseas to save colonial administration and management costs.

For example, Britain's Indian colonies even covered several countries in the previous life. The same was true for the Dutch East Indies colonies. In fact, without the forced unification of the two colonists, it would have been impossible for the two regional giant countries of unified India and Indonesia to emerge in the previous life.

The most typical example of this is the French Indochina colony in the previous life. After Vietnam defeated France in the previous life, it wanted to inherit other areas of the French Indochina colony, such as Laos and Cambodia, which caused Vietnam to stir up trouble in Southeast Asia in the previous life.

From this we can see the profound impact of colonial activities on world politics in the previous life. After all, according to the normal logic of development, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and other regions should have been divided into many small countries, but the colonists integrated them together, thus forming a group of large unified countries.

The East African government and navy's separation of Phuket from the Isthmus of Kra territory also had this influence.

In Ernst’s opinion, it is impossible for East Africa to localize the Isthmus of Kra territory in the future. After all, East Africa was not created for poverty alleviation in the past, just like the United States was unwilling to absorb Mexico, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico.

Therefore, with the exception of the Lan Fang overseas province, the colonial activities in East Africa in recent decades have not designated areas far away from the mainland as provinces.

East Africa's objectives in plotting to seize the Isthmus of Kra are quite diverse, including supporting a pro-East African country in the Isthmus of Kra in the future, building a new "Rhine" homeland, expanding East Africa's influence in the region, and so on.

Since there is no plan to incorporate the Kra Isthmus Territory into the East African governance system, East Africa also has no plans to invest in the comprehensive development of the Kra Isthmus region.

After all, the area of ​​the Kra Isthmus territory is as large as 50,000 square kilometers, which is almost equivalent to the area of ​​half a province of the Far East Empire in the previous life.

However, it would be completely different if Phuket were to be separated. The area of ​​Phuket is only over 500 square kilometers, and East Africa’s demands on the area are more military and strategic.

This will become the regional center of the East African Indian Ocean Fleet in the East Indian Waters and will be built into a large-scale comprehensive multi-purpose military fortress for sea, land and air.

Build military ports, airports, military camps and other facilities, thereby posing a huge deterrent to the South Sea countries, India, Myanmar and other countries in the region.

On land, it can directly threaten Siam and Myanmar; on the ocean, it can threaten the Strait of Malacca and surrounding waters; and in the sky, the range is even greater, of course, the prerequisite is to wait until the air force officially rises.

After controlling Phuket and completing the construction of the Phuket military fortress, East Africa's voice in the Indian Ocean will be unprecedentedly strengthened, and the security of East Africa's territory in the South Pacific region can be ensured.

For example, the Strait of Malacca was once an important tool used by Britain to clamp down on the two major fleets of East Africa, the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. However, once the construction of the Phuket military fortress was completed, East Africa could encircle the British colonies in the Strait of Malacca from both sides.

The importance of Phuket goes far beyond that. Although it is not as important as the Strait of Malacca, especially the Strait of Singapore, it can ensure that East Africa screens and strikes all ships passing through the Strait of Malacca and maintain the safety of passage of East African merchant ships.

This is similar to the city of Dire Dawa in East Africa. As long as the city of Dire Dawa is in the hands of East Africa, East Africa can threaten the security of British Somaliland, French Djibouti, and even Italy's Red Sea colonies.

This is a common strategic balancing method used in East Africa. After all, the history of East African countries is too short, so in the post-colonial era they can only choose those "unowned lands" as their strategic fulcrums.

In fact, this method was often used by the Far Eastern Empire in the past. For example, when important waterways such as the Strait of Malacca and the Suez Canal were controlled by Western forces, the Far Eastern Empire had to choose some secondary strategic locations as a second choice to set up its layout.

(End of this chapter)