Map

As the end of the year approached, the vanguard of the East African colonies had already charted a relatively intuitive map of the East African interior.

Transported by merchant fleets, a copy of this map now lay on Ernst's desk.

The map was about a meter long and seventy centimeters wide, detailing the general mountains, rivers, and lakes.

Starting from the port of Dar es Salaam on the easternmost side, a road led directly to First Town. Second Town and Third Town were marked as two points on the map, with the Little Rhine River flowing through them.

The depiction was quite clear, including grasslands, woodlands, and farmlands. Dotted lines indicated the borders of the Sultanate of Zanzibar, stretching from north to south to the Portuguese colonies, both of which essentially monopolized the East African coastline.

The map detailed the eastern rivers, showing a dense network of waterways, which also made exploration easier. After all, the Sultanate of Zanzibar had been active in the area for years, and local guides could be hired to find geographical features.

To the north of the map, a triangle indicated a mountain range, likely the Kilimanjaro Mountains. West of these mountains lay Lake Victoria. Lake Victoria was vast, as depicted on the map with shaded areas representing water.

As the largest lake in Africa, Lake Victoria was first discovered and named by British explorers seeking the source of the Nile River.

The discovery occurred just one year after Ernst awakened his past-life memories. West of Lake Victoria lay two more large lakes: Lake Albert and Lake Edward.

Of course, Lake Edward was not yet called Lake Edward; in the original history, it wouldn't be named by the British explorer Stanley until 1889.

Including Lake George downstream, the British royal family claimed naming rights to these lakes. However, with Ernst arriving in this era and considering East Africa his own territory, these British names would naturally not be recognized, even if the British had already named them.

In fact, the names of these lakes discovered by the British had not yet been finalized, or more accurately, had not been updated on European maps. The East African colonial survey team had arrived only a few months after the British explorers.

Therefore, with a sweep of his pen, Ernst named Lake Victoria "Great Lake," a fitting name given its characteristics. After all, in his previous life, the area around Lake Victoria was known as the Great Lakes region.

Ernst renamed Lake Albert to Lake Frederick, in honor of his grandfather.

Lake Edward was renamed Lake Constantin, the reason for which was self-evident. Lake George downstream was renamed Lake Hechingen.

Lake Frederick (Lake Albert) and Lake Constantin (Lake Edward) were both part of the East African Rift Valley, while the Great Lake lay between them, a lake formed by water accumulating in a basin.

The entire Great Lake (Lake Victoria) covered an area of 69,400 square kilometers, making it the largest freshwater lake in Africa and the second largest in the world. Its drainage basin spanned over 200,000 square kilometers. It was commonly referred to as the Great Lakes region. In his previous life, the area around Taihu Lake, with a population of over 30 million, was one of the most densely populated regions in all of Africa.

For comparison, China's largest saltwater lake in his previous life, Qinghai Lake, was only 4,625 square kilometers, and the maximum flood season area of Poyang Lake, the largest freshwater lake, was just over 3,000 square kilometers. The freshwater lakes that could rival Taihu Lake (Lake Victoria) were the North American Great Lakes, Russia's Lake Baikal, and also Lake Tanganyika and Lake Malawi on the East African Plateau.

Therefore, Ernst was determined to secure the Great Lake (Lake Victoria), not only for its rich fishery resources but also for its higher rainfall and flat terrain, which provided excellent conditions for agricultural development.

Continuing westward was Lake Kivu... well, it was better to keep calling it Lake Kivu, as it was infamously known as the "killer" lake in his previous life, which was unlucky.

Further west on the map was Lake Tanganyika, which Ernst named Lake Solon. The importance of Lake Tanganyika to Tanzania was self-evident; in his previous life, Tanzania was formed by the merger of mainland Tanganyika and Zanzibar to the east.

"Nya" had no special meaning in Africa; it was primarily an English suffix. Thus, many African countries bore this suffix, such as Kenya and Nigeria... Tanzania was a combined name for Tanganyika and Zanzibar.

Lake Tanganyika was the largest lake in the East African Rift Valley and the second deepest lake in the world, after Lake Baikal.

Lake Tanganyika was winding and sinuous, with steep terrain on both shores and narrow coastal plains. Compared to the open land around Lake Victoria, its economic value was not as high, though its geographical location was good, being about 679 kilometers long from north to south. In his previous life, it served as a transportation artery for inland countries in Central Africa, with prominent water transport.

South of it was Lake Rukwa, an inland saltwater lake with relatively abundant fishery resources and many salt pans at its southwestern end.

At the southernmost point was another large lake, Lake Nyasa. For ease of remembrance, Ernst renamed it Lake Malawi.

In addition, there were Lake Serengu near Dodoma, Lake Eyasi and Lake Manyara in the north, and Lake Balangida...

This illustrated the abundance of water resources on the East African Plateau. The area of these large lakes alone exceeded tens of thousands of square kilometers, larger than many countries. If all the lakes on the East African Plateau were combined, it would not be an exaggeration to call it the "water tower of Africa."

In terms of mountain ranges, besides Kilimanjaro, the highest peak in Africa, there were the Mitumba Mountains in the eastern Congo Basin.

To the southwest, beyond the area between Lake Tanganyika and Lake Malawi, lay the Katanga Plateau, and to the south was the coastal plain of Mozambique.

Ernst decided to take control of the area between Lake Victoria, Lake Tanganyika, and Lake Malawi in one go.

He would first establish three important lakeside strongholds, one on each of the three large lakes: Mwanza in a southern bay of Lake Victoria, Kigoma on the eastern shore of Lake Tanganyika, and Karonga in the northwestern corner of Lake Malawi.

Inland strongholds would be directly established in Dodoma, Tabora, and Mbeya near Lake Rukwa.

As the red ink of his pen traced the map, several red circles appeared, encompassing most of what is now Tanzania within their scope.

"Tom, make a copy of this document and send it to the East African colonies!" Ernst intended to implement this ambitious plan in the East African colonies.

"Also, the weapons produced by our arsenal can now be sent to East Africa. First, we'll form a musket unit of six hundred Chinese immigrants."

Ernst continued, "These six hundred people will be divided into six groups, each led by a high-ranking official of the colony, to clear and maintain the management of the six new planned strongholds. Subsequent immigrants should be channeled more towards these six strongholds. In the future, these six strongholds, along with the three towns along the coast, will serve as radiation centers, allowing us to bring the entire Tanganyika region under our control."

Ernst said with great enthusiasm, "Also, for the first musket unit, use mostly those initial immigrants. Each stronghold will receive five hundred people first, and the ammunition for the weapons must be managed by our own people (Germans)."

Ernst pondered if there were any other oversights.

"Ah, yes, select a few trustworthy people from the company, preferably Berlin locals with families, to take over some of the colonial management responsibilities. We can't let that mercenary group handle everything. Their primary duty is maintaining public order. Alright, that's all for now, you can go ahead and handle it!"

"Yes, young master," Tom replied respectfully, holding the documents. He turned and left the office, closing the door behind him.