African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 918: Eastern France Territorial Confirmation Agreement

The French government's choice was very rational, and the East African side was no less capable. Lieutenant Marsels reported the news to his superiors. East Africa is close to Madagascar, so the East African government received news of the border friction between the two countries earlier than the French government.

"We have foreseen this day. After all, the Madagascar issue was planted as early as the last century. It's just that no one thought that East Africa and France would eventually have differences in the region," said Hermann, East African Foreign Minister.

This is nonsense. East Africa only came onto the historical stage in the mid-to-late 19th century, and France had already started colonizing Madagascar in the late 18th century. East Africa did not originally play a role, but the sudden emergence of East Africa disrupted the original game between Britain and France. Now the British do not even attach as much importance to Madagascar as in the past.

This is easy to understand. The South African War actually replaced the previous Boer War and represented the beginning of the decline of Britain's global hegemony. Therefore, Britain did not want to happen again on the island of Madagascar at this time.

Of course, France has never fought with East Africa, so East Africa has no idea. But this does not mean that East Africa has no confidence in defeating France on its own soil. In the eyes of East Africa, the East African territory on Madagascar Island is also part of its homeland.

"If we can talk, we will talk. If we can't talk, we will fight. There is no fundamental conflict of interest between us and France, so we should start with negotiations on this matter and show appropriate goodwill to the French government," said Ernst.

Ernst was not very interested in the Kingdom of Imerina, just like he was in the Abyssinian Empire. After all, these two countries were the few countries in Africa with their own independent ideologies, and France would not be able to occupy this place in the future.

As a result, both the French government and the East African government tended to resolve the territorial sovereignty issue of Madagascar through negotiations, which laid the foundation for the two countries to divide Madagascar.

In June 1896, the East African government took the initiative to propose, and the French government responded positively. The governments of East Africa and France held negotiations in Paris. After some discussion, the two countries finally decided to draw up the border between the two countries based on the actual occupied areas.

After all, the historical and geographical boundaries of the border areas between the two countries are originally vague. After all, how everyone's territory and colonies came about is a mess, and it is impossible to really follow the standards of the original indigenous people.

Therefore, it is in the best interests of both sides to directly use the actual occupied areas of the two countries as a reference. Of course, on some minor details, both governments have shown a certain degree of "tolerance".

So in harmony, in August 1896, the governments of East Timor and France formally signed the "Agreement on the Confirmation of the Territory between East Timor and France". The agreement clarified the fixed border lines between the two countries' bordering areas, namely Madagascar, Gabon, French Somaliland and East Africa, and peacefully resolved the territorial dispute between the two countries. Everyone believed that this agreement was public and equal.

This also disappointed certain extraterritorial powers that had hoped for a conflict between East Africa and France, including Britain, Portugal and Germany.

Britain and Portugal suffered great losses last time, while Germany does not want France to have it too easy, and at the same time does not want East Africa to get too close to France.

Of course, East Africa and France will not be disturbed by the attitude of third countries. Both countries are big countries. Although France is a level stronger than East Africa, its influence in East Africa is unparalleled, and France also has a lot of interests in Africa, so the two countries respect each other and have a basis for cooperation.

The signing of the "East-France Territorial Confirmation Agreement" is also a historical event of great significance for East Africa.

"After the signing of the agreement, the borders between East Africa and neighboring countries, regions, and forces, including the Abyssinian Empire, Egypt, Sigmaringen, Germany (Cameroon Colony), and Belgium, were basically confirmed and implemented."

In fact, there is also the United Kingdom, but the United Kingdom is the only one that has confirmed its sphere of influence with East Africa through war, and the two countries do not have any formal agreements or treaties. This is actually a trick played by the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom likes to stir up some historical issues to ensure conflicts between regions.

Fortunately, East Africa signed relevant treaties with the Egyptian government long before Britain completely colonized Egypt, otherwise Egypt might have a reason to bring up the "South Sudan" issue to cause trouble in the future.

Moreover, given the size of East Africa, unless Egypt is the "Wakanda" hidden in Africa, it would dare to provoke a hegemonic country like East Africa.

"Before the adoption of this agreement, the scope of our land in East Africa was basically determined and we were able to conduct a census of the national area in response to this incident," said Gers, director of the National Bureau of Statistics.

In the past, the specific value of East Africa's land area was unstable. After all, East Africa has been expanding continuously. After the South African War, the estimated land area of ​​East Africa in 1890 was about 1300 million square kilometers. This time it is just right to re-measure the national area more accurately.

"In addition, my country's administrative divisions should also be readjusted. With the stabilization of the land area and the industrial transformation and population migration caused by the construction of the 'three regions' in East Africa, Angola, Mozambique and Orange have accelerated their development. In order to facilitate regional governance, administrative divisions should also be adjusted for those regions that do not have clear administrative divisions."

Prior to this, East Africa had already ruled over Mozambique, Angola and other places for five years. Through the three-part construction, the three places should be able to reach the national average by 1900.

Ernst also agreed with this. He said to everyone, "In this case, let's start a new round of compilation of the national divisions. My requirement is to implement this division adjustment based on comprehensive factors such as the local economy, population, environmental carrying capacity, geographical location, topography, climate, etc."

"Of course, we should not only focus on the current population and economic levels of various regions, but also look to the future. For example, the West, Southwest Africa and Angola are definitely different. As an important external channel on the west coast of East Africa, Angola's potential is not inferior to that of the eastern coastal areas. As time goes by, it can even surpass some areas of the eastern coastal areas. Therefore, in this round of regional adjustments, we should take a long-term view."

"Secondly, some of the original unreasonable regional divisions should also be adjusted according to local conditions. For example, Bujumbura, the capital of Western Great Lakes Province, is too remote and has difficulty communicating with other areas in the province due to its topography. This should also be taken seriously."

The city of Bujumbura is located in the southeast corner of Western Great Lakes Province, and Western Great Lakes Province as a whole tends to be in the Great Lakes (Lake Victoria) basin, while the provincial capital of Bujumbura belongs to the Lake Soron (Lake Tanganyika) basin and is the most developed city in the Lake Soron basin. This is indeed a bit awkward.

So according to Ernst's idea, Bujumbura will no longer be the capital of Western Great Lakes Province in this regional adjustment, and the new provincial capital will be directly selected from the eastern cities of Western Great Lakes Province.

Bujumbura became the capital of the new province. As we all know, among the three major lakes in East Africa, the Great Lake (Lake Victoria) and Lake Malawi were too favored, while Lake Solon (Lake Tanganyika) had been neglected for a long time. Therefore, in order to effectively manage and develop Lake Tanganyika, Ernst intended to set up a new province around the lake area.

This new province also has another purpose, which is to weaken Plateau Province. After all, Plateau Province is relatively large in area in the eastern region.

As the East African government decided to remeasure the land area and wanted to carry out a new round of administrative division adjustments, the East African government conducted a new round of surveys and investigations across the country from 1896 to 1897.

The focus is on border areas, as well as areas such as Angola, Mozambique, Madagascar Island, Orange, etc. that have not been incorporated into East Africa for a long time and have no relevant administrative divisions.

(End of this chapter)