Administrative Divisions

The increase in immigrants undoubtedly gave the East African colony greater development potential. However, population growth also increased the difficulty of managing the colony, especially with the current chaotic administrative planning in the East African colony, which further complicated management.

This situation forced Ernst to systematically reorganize the administrative bodies of the East African colony and establish a new administrative governance system. Under the new administrative divisions, colony data could be better collected and plans implemented according to specific circumstances.

For example, the Binhai District was established as the highest-level administrative unit in the East African colony at the time, a spur-of-the-moment decision by Ernst after the land and population reached a certain scale.

The Lake Tanganyika region and the Great Lake region were established with reference to the Binhai District, but their scale at the time of establishment was only equivalent to that of a single town in the Binhai District.

In the early days, the number of colonial outposts and immigrants was very small, making statistics and management easy.

Now, the population has reached a certain scale, and some areas have developed. The Binhai District alone, as one administrative unit, is equivalent to the sum of other colonies in East Africa.

Within the vast Binhai District, there are already three levels of administrative divisions: the Binhai District itself, with its capital in First Town, which is also the seat of the highest ruling body of the colony.

Below that are First Town, Second Town, and other small towns where the population is relatively dense.

Beneath these small towns like First Town and Second Town are newly established villages, distributed around the six small towns.

In other areas, besides the ill-fitting Lake Tanganyika region and Great Lake region, there are also scattered outposts like Karonga and Mbeya, but they are essentially at the same level as the first three.

In summary, the current administration of the East African colony is quite chaotic, and the naming conventions are also quite arbitrary.

After Ernst spent a long time drawing on the map with a pencil and ruler, a preliminary administrative division of the East African colony was born.

First, the highest administrative hub of the East African colony, the East African Colonial Government, was re-established in First Town. First Town was designated as a separate administrative unit from the Binhai District, and Second Town was also incorporated into First Town.

Secondly, the provincial-level administrative regions of the East African colony, also known as Great Regions, were divided into ten parts.

The original Binhai District was renamed the Upper Coastal Region, with Third Town (Kitonga) as its administrative seat.

Below the Upper Coastal Region, there will naturally be two new districts to be planned: the Middle Coastal Province, with the Rusen Belt region along the Rufiji River as its capital, and the Lower Coastal Region, with Roenroda as its capital.

These three coastal regions are arranged from north to south, adjacent to the Sultanate of Zanzibar. The northernmost reaches into Kenya, while the south borders Portuguese territories.

To the west of the Upper Coastal Region, the Northern Plateau Region was established, with Karatu as its capital.

To the west of the Middle Coastal Region, the Central Plateau Region was established, with Dodoma as its capital.

To the west of the Lower Coastal Region, the East Lake Malawi Region was established, with Songea as its capital.

To the north of Lake Malawi, the Upper Lake Malawi Region was established, with Mbeya as its capital.

Then, the East African colony established the Great Lake Region around the Great Lake (Lake Victoria), with Mwanza as its capital.

To the east of Lake Tanganyika, the Sigmaringen Region was established, with Kigoma as its capital.

And between the Sigmaringen Region and the Central Plateau Region, the Great Plains Region was established, with Tabora as its capital.

Thus, the ten Great Region-level administrative divisions of the East African colony were completed.

They are: Upper Coastal Region (Third Town), Middle Coastal Province (Rusen Belt), Lower Coastal Region (Roenroda), East Lake Malawi Region (Songea), Upper Lake Malawi Region (Mbeya), Central Plateau Region (Dodoma), Northern Plateau Region (Karatu), Great Plains Region (Tabora), Great Lake Region (Mwanza), and Sigmaringen Region (Kigoma).

Next are the urban administrative divisions. In addition to the capitals of each Great Region, some areas suitable for population concentration were designated as cities. For example, Karonga, located on the shores of Lake Malawi, was designated as a city because Mbeya already served as the capital of the Upper Lake Malawi Region.

Finally, there are the most basic units, the villages, which are natural villages generally managed by a nearby town acting as a center.

The current East African colony does not have counties as administrative units. Instead, it has towns similar to those in German regions, while the Great Regions of the East African colony are modeled after the states of the future German Federation.

This set of administrative divisions is designed to be used as a transitional administrative plan. The East African colony will change in the future as it expands beyond Tanganyika.

Furthermore, the Middle Coastal Province, the Lower Coastal Region, and the East Lake Malawi Region are not yet under actual control, and these will serve as expansion targets for the East African colony going forward.

Two kilometers north of Manda Town in the new Upper Coastal Region is the newly established Longka Village, which falls under the jurisdiction of Manda Town.

This village is the northernmost village in the current Upper Coastal Region, with about 400 villagers, including a five-person colonial security team formed by Chinese immigrants to guard against incursions from northern native tribes.

Although the East African colony had conducted a displacement operation in the Upper Coastal Region, the nearby tribes were not completely wiped out due to manpower shortages, so the possibility of tribal incursions still exists.

After all, although the East African colony drove them to the surrounding areas, they also lost the land and environment they relied on for survival.

If they cannot find new resources to sustain themselves, some natives might resort to desperate measures and enter the Upper Coastal Region.

For the safety of these immigrants, the East African colony has arranged village-level security teams of five to six people in each village. Their leader is a German, who also serves as the village chief, responsible for arranging the village's daily production activities and ensuring its safety.

Liu Damao was an honest farmer from North China. He used to have two to three mu of land in his village, and in good years, he could make ends meet.

This year, a drought occurred, and the wheat crop was almost a complete failure. Forced by circumstances, Liu Damao had to borrow some grain from the landlord. Although this met his temporary basic living needs, he couldn't repay the grain, and his meager two to three mu of land were confiscated by Landlord Zhou's family.

Coincidentally, Zhang Gensheng from the same village returned from the East African colony to recruit people for land reclamation. With no other options, Liu Damao signed up.

Thus, Liu Damao had to choose to come to the East African colony to make a living. Upon his arrival in the East African colony, Liu Damao first went to First Town.

After registration, he was assigned to Longka Village. After several days of travel, he and his fellow travelers, led by the colonial security team, arrived at Manda Town, where they received basic living supplies and production tools.

Upon arriving at Longka Village, Liu Damao felt the environment was quite good. The terrain was relatively open, and the vegetation was dense. However, such good land was left to lie waste.

Longka Village belongs to the Tangga District of present-day Tanzania. The natural conditions here are excellent and suitable for agricultural development.

Under the leadership of the German village chief, Liu Damao and other villagers developed the land around Longka Village.

They built irrigation canals along the river, set up waterwheels to divert river water ashore, and tilled the land along these canals, creating fields one by one.

The soil here had accumulated over thousands of years, and no one had ever developed this land before, so the soil was very fertile, and the crops grew very well.

Liu Damao and the others' food, clothing, housing, and transportation were all provided by the East African colony, so they had no worries about the future. However, they had to work on time every day and complete the planned production workload.

For example, there was a minimum requirement for how much land each person had to develop per day. Failure to complete this work would result in reduced food rations, and those who fell behind would be punished. The Germans were responsible for supervision, and the Chinese security forces under them would patrol the immigrants' work.

The Chinese security forces in the village received their weapons and ammunition from Manda Town. They were responsible for the village's security, and if enemies were discovered, the German village chief would temporarily issue them ammunition.

There were over 100 small villages like Longka Village scattered throughout the entire new Upper Coastal Region, each managed by one of four towns.

Manda Town, on the other hand, had a slightly denser population due to its more advantageous geographical location, with most of its residents living near abundant water sources. This made its production conditions better than those of the small villages.

In the East African colony, some towns and cities were also important because they were located on major transportation routes, connecting the entire East African colony's transportation network, and thus were less affected by natural environmental factors.

While the Upper Coastal Region was undergoing vigorous agricultural development, an exploration team from the East African colony had already begun heading south. Their destination was the Middle Coastal Region and the Lower Coastal Region, as planned on the map.

Initially, the expansion direction of the East African colony was mainly towards the western interior, which led to the neglect of the southern regions near the Sultanate of Zanzibar. The focus was placed on later-day important cities and regions such as Lake Victoria, Lake Tanganyika, and Lake Malawi, as well as the future capital of Tanzania, Dodoma.

With the colony's energy dispersed, the southern part of the original coastal region was overlooked. Now, Ernst's newly planned administrative divisions for the East African colony have brought renewed attention to the southern regions of Tanzania, prompting the colony to advance southward.