Chapter Summaries

In 1877, Ernst and Karina welcomed their first son at the Sveti Royal Palace, and the family named him Friedrich. Ernst also revealed plans to found a nation in East Africa in 1880, while the kingdom celebrated the prince’s birth.

• The Hohenzollern Conglomerate overtook Jewish capital in the Austro-Hungarian Empire by buying up assets during the economic crisis and gaining the favor of the Habsburgs and other nobles.
• Ernst held his newborn son and congratulated Karina, while Constantin and Ferdinand argued that the boy should be regarded as heir to the Hohenzollern family rather than as an African chief.
• Ernst said East Africa had kept itself isolated while it developed but could no longer remain hidden, and he planned to found the nation in 1880.
• Constantin chose the name Friedrich for the prince, hoping he would raise the House of Hohenzollern to new heights.
• East Africa celebrated Friedrich’s birth with seven days off, and Ernst ordered an Austro-Hungarian ironclad warship named after him.

In April 1876, Bismarck resisted Junker calls for Germany to seize colonies, arguing that overseas expansion would endanger Germany and its finances. With support from King Wilhelm I and Southern German delegates, he suppressed the radicals but agreed to let private German groups pursue colonial ventures, leaving Germany on the path to overseas expansion.

• A Prussian delegate blamed Germany’s economic crisis on its lack of colonies and demanded that Germany acquire them.
• Bismarck warned that reckless colonial ambitions could damage Germany’s international standing and argued that its weak navy and limited resources made overseas expansion risky.
• Junker nobles backed the colonial demand after Berlin Agricultural Company’s bankruptcy failed to give them control of grain sales, while the Hohenzollern Conglomerate shifted its business to Munich Agricultural Company.
• Bavarian and other Southern German delegates supported Bismarck’s position and opposed policies that might drag Germany into war.
• With King Wilhelm I and parliamentary support, Bismarck defeated the Junkers’ push for government-led expansion but allowed private German forces to pursue colonial ventures.

After German parliamentary discussions revealed colonial ambitions, Ernst decided East Africa should secure the Austro-Hungarian Empire’s protection. Archduke Ferdinand sought Franz’s support, arguing over East Africa’s population and the empire’s ethnic divisions, but the negotiations remained unresolved.

• Tom paid Representative Klein for information and sent an account of the German parliamentary session to East Africa.
• Ernst told Constantin and Ferdinand that East Africa should choose the Austro-Hungarian Empire as an ally and use its name to avert trouble.
• Ferdinand traveled to Austria in May and proposed an alliance between the Kingdom of Hechingen and the Austro-Hungarian Empire to Franz.
• Ferdinand explained East Africa’s population figures and assimilation policy as Franz questioned whether the kingdom could hold together.
• Ferdinand contrasted East Africa’s integration of immigrants with the Austro-Hungarian Empire’s growing ethnic and nationalist divisions.

Archduke Ferdinand persuaded Franz that East Africa could be a valuable naval and political partner for the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Franz acknowledged Ernst’s past support but postponed deciding whether to form an alliance.

• Franz initially rejected the idea of the Austro-Hungarian Empire protecting East Africa, but Ferdinand argued that their navies could jointly pressure the Suez Canal.
• Ferdinand explained that East Africa’s growing ironclad fleet could match the Austro-Hungarian Navy in cooperation, though its sailors and officers lacked experience.
• Franz confided that he had given up on European hegemony and did not know how to steer the declining Empire, and Ferdinand reassured him.
• Ferdinand said East Africa had been drawing Slavic migrants from Slovenia, Croatia, and the Czech regions to reduce separatist pressures within the Empire.
• Ferdinand credited Ernst with helping the Empire through the Italo-Austrian War and economic crisis, then said East Africa preferred Austria-Hungary over powerful Germany as a partner.
• Franz ordered Ferdinand to finish his tea and leave, but told him to wait for his decision on the alliance.

Franz and his advisers debated whether Austria should cooperate with East Africa, weighing economic benefits against the risk of being drawn into conflicts in Africa. In June 1876, Austria independently signed a quasi-alliance with East Africa, leaving Hungary dissatisfied but reassured that the treaty did not represent the Empire as a whole.

• Franz summoned his advisers and asked whether an alliance with East Africa would damage Austria’s reputation or provoke other European powers.
• The Prime Minister warned that East Africa might be seeking protection from Britain, France, Portugal, or other foreign threats, while the Finance Minister argued that cooperation would benefit Austria’s economy.
• The Finance Minister proposed that Austria form a limited alliance with East Africa independently, without committing the Austro-Hungarian Empire as a whole.
• Franz approved the plan, and the Prime Minister agreed that Austria could negotiate on its own behalf.
• In June 1876, the Austrian government signed a Treaty of Friendship and Mutual Assistance with East Africa, making the two countries quasi-allies.
• Hungary objected to not being consulted, but the Austrian Prime Minister assured the Hungarian Prime Minister that the treaty applied only to Austria and did not represent the Empire.

European governments reacted to East Africa’s alliance with Austria, with Britain viewing it as a possible threat to its African ambitions while Germany and France saw little cause for alarm. Britain began planning to court the Orange Free State and gather intelligence on East Africa, while Russia and Portugal showed little response.

• Ferdinand complained that the negotiations had let Austria off too easily, but Ernst said Austria’s name alone could deter ordinary nations.
• Benjamin and his Foreign Minister interpreted Austria’s treaty with East Africa as a sign of Austrian designs in Africa and discussed Britain’s colonial priorities.
• Benjamin learned that five British exploration teams had been expelled from East Africa and another had disappeared, then ordered efforts to bring the Orange Free State into Cape Town and gather intelligence on East Africa.
• King Wilhelm I questioned Austria’s interest in Africa, while Bismarck defended East Africa’s choice of Austria as a nearby, suitable protector.
• France accepted East Africa’s alliance with Austria as potentially useful against Britain, while Russia dismissed East Africa as unimportant and Portugal offered no response.

British investigator Wilke and sailor Enlai surveyed New Hamburg Port and discussed East Africa’s rapid growth, population, and military potential. Wilke dismissed the threat because many East Africans were of East Asian descent, while East Africa had already worked to prevent Britain from isolating it through a trade embargo.

• Wilke and Enlai observed New Hamburg Port’s defenses and compared its expanding facilities with Port Durban.
• Enlai explained that East African investment, railway construction, and Zulu labor had transformed the harbor and its surrounding wetlands.
• Enlai estimated that East Africa’s coastal cities held a large population, but Wilke was reassured by the presence of many East Asians and voiced confidence in Britain’s colonial power.
• The narration noted that Chinese immigrants formed a significant part of East Africa’s army, though Wilke had not investigated their role in its wars.
• Ernst had sent Archduke Ferdinand to Austria to secure Austro-Hungarian support and reduce the risk of a British trade embargo isolating East Africa.

British investigations revealed East Africa’s growing prosperity and territorial reach, prompting Benjamin to consider containing it after resolving Indian affairs. Ernst then planned East African expansion into Southwest Africa, aiming to secure key coastal and river locations while avoiding large-scale occupation.

• British investigators reported on East Africa’s prosperous ports, expanding territory, and lack of a presence on the West Coast.
• Benjamin said Britain would put East Africa on its agenda after dealing with Indian affairs, while the Finance Minister urged caution because of European support for the kingdom.
• Ernst told military personnel that East Africa needed an Atlantic foothold and proposed targeting the Skeleton Coast.
• Ernst identified three areas for East African control: the Portuguese border, the Orange River mouth, and Walvis Bay.
• Ernst planned to advance overland along the Orange River and establish coastal strongholds by sea.

In March 1877, Captain Chris and East African sailors explored Walvis Bay and the nearby Swakop River region, finding water and deciding to establish strongholds at both locations. East Africa later built a fortress at Walvis Bay before the Cape Colony could claim it, frustrating the British officials who arrived to occupy the bay.

• Captain Chris sent the sailors into the desert around Walvis Bay to search for drinking water and nearby rivers.
• The explorers found an oasis and the Swakop River north of the bay, while the sailors discovered groundwater by digging a well at Walvis Bay.
• Chris decided to establish strongholds at both Walvis Bay and the Swakop River mouth.
• Two months later, Letania Province made contact with the sailors, and East Africa began developing both sites.
• The Cape Colony discovered the East African strongholds, and British officials who came to occupy Walvis Bay returned to Cape Town without taking it.

East Africa expanded its control over the Congo Basin and pressed its railway toward Angola while considering Namibia’s strategic value. In May 1877, the Orange Free State voted to dissolve and join the Cape Colony, leaving southern South Africa divided between British and East African power.

• East Africa established the Ubangi River inland force to patrol the Congo and Ubangi rivers and advanced its Central Railway toward Angola.
• The Orange Free State voted 1,308 to 230, with 415 abstentions, to dissolve and join the Cape Colony.
• President Brandt dissolved the Orange Free State, fearing that resisting the merger would provoke civil war.
• British envoy Leint welcomed the Boers and promised shared diamond revenues, debt relief, and equal rights under British rule.
• Transvaal immigrants and anti-East African sentiment helped Britain draw the Orange Free State into its sphere of influence.

At a national defense conference, East African leaders reviewed growing colonial threats and the country’s vulnerability to foreign incursions. After Dutch colonists were caught near Jason Bay, Ernst ordered stronger coastal surveillance and defenses.

• Yalman reported recent incursions and suspicious movements by Dutch, French, British, and Portuguese groups, as well as the Cape Colony’s annexation of the Orange Free State.
• East African farmers spotted about a hundred Dutch colonists who had landed at Jason Bay and moved inland seeking slaves and a foothold.
• The Nawadu Town Police Department and local militiamen surrounded the Dutch group and discovered that they belonged to a private colonial company, not the Dutch government.
• Ernst ordered East Africa to inspect and register its bays, develop suitable harbors, install military facilities at other vulnerable sites, and make naval patrols and coastal telegraph lines routine.

Ernst prepared East Africa for a possible war with Britain by strengthening its forces and defenses in southern Africa, while planning to keep any conflict limited and prolonged. He argued that East Africa should use a war to defend its territory and test its army, though peaceful development remained preferable.

• Ernst ordered East Africa to expand its southern African forces to around fifty thousand troops and build more than two hundred forts.
• Ernst instructed senior officers to stock military outposts with supplies, survey terrain, and maintain communication between units.
• Ernst explained that Cape Town might threaten East Africa because of its strategic interests, even if Britain itself hesitated to fight.
• Ernst said East Africa should stabilize the front and turn any conflict into a war of attrition rather than launch an overwhelming invasion.
• Ernst planned to use a possible war to test the East African Army and military industry, while insisting that East Africa preferred peace.

East Africa displayed its growing naval power in exercises off Mozambique, alarming Portugal's newly appointed Governor Leiford. Learning how little money and manpower Portugal could commit and how formidable East Africa had become, Leiford realized his governorship would be far more difficult than he expected.

• East Africa held large naval exercises near Mozambique and New Hamburg Port with twenty-five combat vessels, including five ironclads and five domestically built gunboats.
• Leiford watched the exercises and worried that Portugal's navy could not defeat East Africa's fleet.
• A subordinate explained that East Africa's navy and colonial expansion were backed by the Hohenzollern Conglomerate, while Portugal's colonial revenues were siphoned away and resistance hindered development.
• Leiford learned that East Africa had more than a million immigrants, including Germans and Far Easterners, and that it produced quinine and had few reported malaria outbreaks.
• Leiford understood that Portugal's homeland had sent him to Mozambique to extract colonial wealth despite East Africa's overwhelming regional advantages.

The British government assessed East Africa’s territory, naval strength, and possible ties to Germany and Austria-Hungary, while dismissing its land and economic potential. Benjamin concluded that East Africa might be independent of both German and Austrian control, leaving its true alignment uncertain.

• Leiford judged that Mozambique could neither raise revenue nor cut costs enough to fund local development.
• The governor of Natal dismissed East Africa’s naval exercises as insignificant, while East Africa used them to signal that colonization would be difficult.
• Benjamin’s investigation estimated East Africa’s territory at around seven million square kilometers, though officials argued that much of it was desert or otherwise difficult to develop.
• Benjamin and Maldos debated whether East Africa could develop Africa with its population and whether it was backed by Germany or Austria-Hungary.
• Benjamin noted East Africa’s treaty and trade ties to Austria-Hungary but concluded that it might be neither German nor Austrian property.

Benjamin and the British ministers debated how to contain East Africa, which they viewed as a growing threat but knew little about. They decided to use Portugal and French support to test East Africa before Britain risked direct action.

• Benjamin warned that East Africa’s size and German ties threatened Britain’s position and urged the ministers to stop its expansion.
• The Finance Minister argued that East Africa’s land might not make it powerful, while stressing that Russia posed a more immediate danger to British interests.
• The Foreign Minister questioned why the Hechingen Royal Family kept East Africa closed to foreign trade and diplomacy.
• Benjamin proposed forcing East Africa open if necessary, but rejected declaring war without knowing the strength of its army.
• Benjamin proposed that Portugal test East Africa, with Britain and France supporting and arming Portugal’s colonies.

In 1877, East Africa opened its first higher-education institutions as Constantin promoted agricultural and teacher training in Soga City and Ernst planned a medical college in First Town. The kingdom relied heavily on sending students abroad, while domestic university education remained limited.

• Constantin attended the openings of the National Agricultural College and Soga Normal School in Soga City and praised Angros for supporting agricultural education.
• Angros presented the National Agricultural College’s facilities, faculty, majors, library, and enrollment of more than seven hundred students.
• Constantin described East Africa’s top students and its selection, preparation, and overseas placement programs, which sent two thousand mainland students abroad that year.
• Ernst arranged for East Africa’s first medical college to be established in First Town.
• East Africa enrolled just over eighteen hundred students across its three higher-education institutions and planned to add universities gradually before expanding on a large scale.

Ernst explained to Li Ji why East Africa's National Higher Medical College excluded traditional medicine and challenged Chinese medicine to prove itself through scientific methods. Li Ji accepted the task of combining Chinese medicine with science, beginning a long effort to build a new medical system.

• At the National Higher Medical College, Li Ji questioned Ernst about why the school did not include Far East medicine.
• Ernst explained the rise of modern medicine and said traditional medical theories needed to be tested and supported by evidence.
• Li Ji argued that Chinese medicine also relied on observation, conjecture, and clinical practice, prompting Ernst to propose combining it with modern medicine.
• Ernst offered to establish a school for Chinese medicine if its theories could be rebuilt through experiments and evidence.
• Li Ji accepted the challenge, and Chinese medicine in East Africa began pursuing a scientific path that would require generations of scholars.

Ernst and Constantin discussed reports of French officials arriving in Mozambique aboard British ships and suspected Britain was preparing to use Portugal to test East Africa. Ernst planned a limited war against Portugal that could draw Britain into a larger conflict, leaving East Africa poised to either spare or annex the Portuguese colonies depending on Britain's actions.

• East African intelligence in Maputo reported that French officers had arrived aboard British ships and met with officials at the Governor's Mansion through an English contact.
• Ernst told Constantin that Britain was likely using Portugal to probe East Africa's military strength and that Portugal would resist because it feared losing its colonies.
• Ernst proposed taking territory from Mozambique and Angola while allowing Portugal to retain part of its colonies if Britain stayed out of the war.
• Ernst planned to annex both Portuguese colonies if Britain entered the conflict, using the war's progress as bait to draw the British into a decisive confrontation.
• Constantin questioned whether Portugal or Britain would follow Ernst's plan, and Ernst said East Africa could seize the colonies whenever it chose but still needed a major victory to strengthen its national identity and international standing.

In early 1878, Kidatu Village chief Lois announced that draft oxen would replace farming slaves as East Africa began phasing out slavery. The chapter explained the policy’s broader economic and international consequences, including the Ottoman Empire’s use of East African slaves and Romania’s break from Ottoman control during the Russo-Turkish War.

• Lois told Kidatu’s villagers that the Kingdom planned to resolve the slave issue within thirty years and had allocated the village 236 draft oxen.
• Laimi questioned replacing slaves with livestock, but Lois argued that slavery was internationally unacceptable, risky, and unsustainable.
• Lois explained that the cooperative would raise the oxen with specialists and lend them to farmers upon application.
• Lois said livestock replacement would spread from Central Province to East African crop-growing regions, while plantations would continue using some slaves.
• East Africa subsidized Arab merchants transporting slaves, and the Ottoman Empire used black slaves as laborers and soldiers in its war against Russia.
• Romania, already controlled by Sigmaringen, took advantage of the war to break away completely from the Ottoman Empire.

French instructor Dreyse urged Mozambique Governor Leiford to build an army capable of challenging East Africa, while Britain and France offered weapons and training. Leiford remained concerned about arming Black recruits and the gap between Mozambique and the German-backed East African forces.

• Dreyse criticized Mozambique’s small, poorly equipped army, and Leiford blamed Portugal’s neglect of colonial military investment.
• Dreyse proposed recruiting Black soldiers, but Leiford feared they might turn against Portuguese rule once armed.
• Dreyse said Britain and France would supply rifles and ammunition for 50,000 men, while Mozambique would provide food.
• Leiford questioned whether Black soldiers could fight and whether Mozambique could match East Africa’s weapons, but Dreyse promised French training and claimed the forces could compete.
• France supported the plan partly to weaken German influence in East Africa and potentially expand its own regional influence.