Chapter Summaries

Mayor Roan urged East Africa’s Ministry of Industry to support a textile mill in Bulawayo, citing the city’s transport links, industrial base, and successful cotton test fields. The ministry agreed to pass on his proposal, while Roan planned to expand cotton planting even if factory approval was uncertain.

• The chapter described Bulawayo’s industrial potential, mineral resources, and inherited wealth after East Africa occupied the city.
• Ernst noted that Bulawayo’s coal, iron ore, and chromite made it a strong base for steelmaking, while stainless steel research remained limited to the Metal Research Institute.
• Mayor Roan asked the Ministry of Industry to consider establishing a textile mill in Bulawayo, arguing that its terrain and climate suited cotton cultivation and that Nairobi could not meet East Africa’s growing demand.
• The Ministry of Industry representative said the proposal would be sent to higher authorities and warned that Bulawayo needed to secure raw materials and workers.
• Roan said Bulawayo would expand cotton planting if the test crop met quality standards and explained that trading companies could buy the cotton even if no mill was approved.

A delayed rainy season brought drought to eastern East Africa, prompting the government to manage water supplies and restart the census as it assessed the country’s growing strength. Ernst compared East Africa with Japan and other nations, concluding that East Africa stood just below Spain, the gatekeeper to the great powers.

• The delayed rains caused drought across five eastern provinces, and East African officials ordered careful water allocation and timely reservoir releases.
• Ernst’s government restarted the census in September to assess East Africa’s population and national conditions before 1880.
• Ernst compared East Africa’s railways, industries, agriculture, and military with Japan’s, judging East Africa ahead in nearly every field.
• Ernst surveyed the world’s major powers and concluded that East Africa ranked below Spain, which served as the gatekeeper to the great powers.

Ernst reviewed East Africa’s incomplete population census and drought response with Von der Leyen, stressing accurate records and continued water-conservancy work. The census was expected to finish by March, when the drought was also expected to ease.

• Von der Leyen reported that records listed more than 14.6 million immigrants and over 13 million registered black laborers, while warning that the figures were incomplete.
• Ernst told Von der Leyen to complete the census carefully and prevent officials from concealing residents, especially unregistered black laborers.
• Von der Leyen said drought conditions remained manageable on the eastern coastal plains, but highland grain regions faced greater strain from disrupted water use.
• Ernst ordered Water Conservancy Construction to proceed steadily despite short-term drawbacks, emphasizing its long-term importance to East African agriculture.

At National Defense Army 101 General Hospital, Ernst and Karina waited for their son Friedrich’s medical examination report and shared an affectionate conversation about family and East Africa. The chapter left them embracing as they looked toward having more children to secure the Hechingen line’s future.

• Ernst and Karina waited at National Defense Army 101 General Hospital while Friedrich underwent a medical examination.
• Ernst teased Karina and praised her lively manner, and she playfully questioned whether he had said similar things to other women.
• Karina worried that Ernst was exhausting himself with East Africa’s water conservancy projects, and he reassured her that his involvement would ease once the work was established.
• Ernst suggested that they have more children, explaining that he wanted East Africa to pass to their descendants.
• Karina agreed to Ernst’s wish, and he embraced her while reflecting on their family’s happiness.

Ernst inspected the East African Snake Venom Research Institute after its Mamba antivenom showed excellent results, then promised support for refrigeration and broader venom research. He also announced plans for a medical award, leaving the researchers encouraged and likely to receive its first prize.

• Doctors at National Defense Army 101 General Hospital confirmed that the patient bitten by a Mamba snake had stabilized and that the antivenom worked well.
• Ernst and Karina inspected the antivenom and heard that it required refrigeration and was most effective against Mamba bites.
• Ernst promised the researchers refrigerators and urged them to study other venomous snakes, including species from Lanfang Overseas Province and the Zhuhai Trade Zone.
• Ernst announced plans to establish an East African award for contributions to world medicine and told the researchers they could win it.

Ernst and Constantin discussed building an East African landmark that would showcase world civilization while incorporating symbols unique to Africa. Ernst proposed a “Civilization Lighthouse” in Dar es Salaam, and Constantin approved the idea.

• Constantin asked Ernst to build a landmark that would give East Africa a distinctive presence.
• Constantin set requirements for the landmark: artistic value, cultural significance, practical use, and reasonable cost.
• Ernst rejected emphasizing East Africa’s national history because its slave-state past could invite criticism, and he suggested using world civilization as the main theme.
• Ernst proposed building a lighthouse, and he and Constantin settled on Dar es Salaam as the site.
• Ernst named the project the “Civilization Lighthouse,” and Constantin liked the name.

Ernst approved a design for East Africa’s Civilization Lighthouse as trade with Cape Town and India continued despite British sanctions. East African merchants and Indian colonial officials profited from exchanging Indian raw materials for East African industrial goods, leaving Britain’s restrictions ineffective.

• Ernst approved a hundred-meter Civilization Lighthouse design featuring a Goddess of Peace statue, lions, and a globe.
• East African border guards Hans and Charlie noticed fewer British troops near Cape Town and mocked the British soldier Laita.
• Dugin and the British merchant Max completed a profitable border trade deal despite Britain’s ban on commerce with East Africa.
• East Africa’s trade with Cape Town expanded after the Central Railway opened, bringing pounds into East African reserves.
• East African merchants and Indian colonial officials expanded trade in Indian raw materials and East African industrial goods, bypassing British sanctions.

Li Ge and Wei Jin discussed modernizing Chinese medicine in East Africa through scientific study, improved preparations, and access to Ernst’s collection of medical texts. East Africa’s medical research continued to expand, with Western medicine relying on clinical trials using its large Black population.

• Li Ge and Wei Jin discussed how microscopes and Western anatomy had challenged their understanding and showed the need for Chinese medicine to learn from modern science.
• Li Ge explained that East African Chinese medicine was reforming herbal remedies into tablets and plasters while testing which preparations preserved their efficacy.
• Li Ge told Wei Jin that Ernst had opened his collection of ancient Chinese medical books to copying, including texts stored in two warehouses.
• East African Chinese medicine developed along both Li Ge’s innovative path and a conservative path, while the government supported doctors’ free clinics.
• East African Western medicine advanced through clinical trials, using the large Black population as a ready source of human test subjects.

The Romanian Oil Development Company trained East African apprentices in oil extraction and refining while East Africa delayed developing its own oil resources. The apprentices received permission to visit home in rotating groups, but were reminded that they would eventually return to East Africa.

• Ernst kept East Africa’s oil reserves undeveloped and used Romania’s oil industry to train future East African workers.
• The East African apprentices asked the company manager to return home together to visit their families.
• The manager approved their leave in three batches so some apprentices would remain at work in Romania.
• An apprentice asked whether the government planned to keep them in Romania permanently, and the manager said they would eventually return to East Africa.
• The manager told the apprentices they could marry local women but should explain that they would later have to leave Romania.

East Africa built the Juba Comprehensive Training Base after the 311th Division arrived in Nile Province, using its varied tropical terrain to prepare troops for jungle, mountain, and land-water combat. The base was intended to support East Africa’s military readiness, especially for future operations in the Nanyang region.

• The 311th Division moved into Juba, where construction crews and Black slaves were also arriving in large numbers.
• Ernst considered Nile Province’s climate and terrain, noting that its northern Gezira Plain was better suited to development than the hot, swampy south.
• East Africa restricted access to areas around Juba as it began building a super-large military training ground.
• The Juba Comprehensive Training Base incorporated the province’s highlands, mountains, plains, rivers, swamps, deserts, jungles, and grasslands.
• East Africa made tropical jungle warfare, land-water coordinated operations, and mountain training its main priorities, with the Nanyang region in mind.

The 311th Division oversaw the Juba Comprehensive Training Base, whose unusual Soldier City was a completed urban-warfare simulation field rather than a settlement. Lieutenant General Roid explained that the division would likely remain there as the base expanded into a major training center.

• Juba City residents mistook the unfinished-looking structures southwest of the city for a wasteful, uninhabitable development.
• The 311th Division described the site as an urban simulation field with mock neighborhoods, a railway station, and a port for training in urban warfare.
• Lieutenant General Roid ordered the 311th Division to supervise construction and closely monitor the male black laborers.
• The division commander asked whether his unit would stay after construction, and Roid said it would probably remain to maintain the base and relocate from its former garrison.
• Roid explained that the base’s harsh Nile Province climate would help prepare East African soldiers for future fighting in hot, humid regions.

Far Eastern officials visited East Africa to assess its prosperity and growing power after its defeat of Portugal. Ernst considered the Far East’s diplomatic position and planned to use next year’s upheaval around the Ryukyu Islands to secure Pacific island bases for East African trade routes.

• Far Eastern officials arrived in Dar es Salaam and compared East Africa with Jiaozhou while local residents discussed their clothing and status.
• The Far Eastern delegation sought closer engagement with East Africa after its victory over Portugal raised its international standing.
• Ernst assessed the diplomatic strengths and weaknesses of Britain, Germany, Austria, and the Far East Empire, noting the Far East’s vulnerability among rival powers.
• Ernst anticipated that the Ryukyu Islands would be lost next year and saw an opportunity for the East African Navy to gain benefits without directly intervening.
• East Africa planned to seek Pacific islands in 1880, including islands in the southern Ryukyu Islands, as bases for routes linking East Africa, the Far East, and Alaska.

Dehr explained to the Far East delegation why East Africa’s colonial origins, slavery, and dependence on German territories made it a poor model for their reforms. The chapter left Ernst focused on shielding East Africa’s fragile system and securing decades of stability for the Hechingen Royal Family.

• Ernst considered East Africa’s unusual ties to the Principality of Hechingen and its special standing within Prussia.
• Dehr told the Far East delegation that East Africa remained an evolving colony-like state with slavery and German territories serving as intermediaries for external exchange.
• A Far East delegate praised East Africa’s rapid development, but Dehr argued that its circumstances differed too greatly from those of the Far East to provide a useful model.
• Dehr contrasted East Africa’s undeveloped land and limited entrenched interests with the Far East Empire’s deeply rooted domestic forces and resistance to reform.
• Ernst recognized that East Africa’s political system was fragile and needed protection from outside influence and at least fifty years of stability to develop.

East Africa assessed Britain’s plan to develop Maputo and Natal ports and concluded that its established ports and inland trade links would keep them competitive. Ernst decided to respond by opening Soko Port to foreign vessels while keeping East Africa’s gradual opening under its own control.

• Britain backed investment in Maputo and Natal to compete with East Africa’s ports, while France declined to join Britain’s effort.
• East African officials argued that Dar es Salaam and Mombasa had advantages in experience, infrastructure, hinterlands, and access to inland resources.
• Officials judged that Maputo and Natal would not threaten East Africa’s ports in the short term, despite Britain’s plans.
• Ernst decided to open Soko Port to foreign vessels, adding it to East Africa’s ports and railway links.
• East Africa maintained its gradual approach to opening trade, seeking to prevent foreign powers from forcing open its markets.

At the start of 1880, East African officials assessed the country’s population, health, labor, and economy, describing a fast-growing nation still dominated by agriculture and reliant on Black labor for large construction projects. East Africa had reached the scale of a major country but faced the challenge of transforming into an industrial nation while continuing its infrastructure expansion.

• Health Minister Berleide reported that East Africa’s population had reached about 54 million, average life expectancy was roughly 35 years, and disease and scarce medical resources remained major problems.
• Berleide said the Black population had fallen by more than four million in recent years, but East Africa’s growing demand for labor meant many Black workers would be used on projects and die on East African soil.
• Berleide reported that more than 85 percent of East Africans worked in agriculture and that agricultural taxes supplied about 80 percent of government revenue.
• The economic statistics showed that cash crops drove exports, while heavy industry—especially steel and railways—dominated East Africa’s industrial sector.
• The government concluded that East Africa had become a normal country after fifteen years of development but now needed to shift from an agricultural economy toward an industrial one.
• Ernst planned to use cheap Black labor to build infrastructure, including transportation projects in mountainous Hesse Province, before labor costs rose.

Prince Karl Anton arrived in First Town and saw the scale and prosperity of East Africa, especially Central Province. The chapter also described East Africa’s population, slaveholding society, and efforts to contain foreign espionage in its open zones.

• East African officials and the military band welcomed Prince Karl Anton at First Town Railway Station.
• Prince Karl Anton reflected on East Africa’s size and wealth after seeing Dar es Salaam and Central Province’s highly developed countryside.
• East Africa’s population had exceeded thirty million, and its agricultural prosperity depended in part on slavery and emigration from Europe.
• British and Portuguese agents tried to buy information from East African civilians and officials in ports and other open zones.
• East African police had uncovered four espionage cases in Dar es Salaam city and Mombasa, while strict controls made further spying difficult.

Constantin and Ernst welcomed Prince Karl to East Africa, where he visited First Town and questioned them about the colony’s population and development. Ernst gave him a heavily understated estimate of East Africa’s immigrants, leaving Prince Karl astonished as the chapter described how the economic crisis had fueled East Africa’s rapid growth.

• Constantin and Ernst greeted Prince Karl, who had traveled to East Africa to discuss Sigmaringen’s plans for African colonization.
• Constantin brought Prince Karl to Sveti Royal Palace, where Ernst told him First Town had about 150,000 people and Dar es Salaam about 300,000.
• Prince Karl asked about East Africa’s population, and Ernst claimed that several million, perhaps seven or eight million, had immigrated there.
• Prince Karl marveled that Ernst’s figure exceeded Bavaria’s population, while Ernst credited immigration to Europe’s economic crisis and favorable conditions.
• The chapter described how East Africa used the crisis to attract people, equipment, and talent and build up its industries, railway network, infrastructure, and navy.

Ernst offered Prince Karl a vast Central African colonial sphere centered on Chad, with East Africa providing transport, supplies, and Chinese immigrants. The plan left Sigmaringen and Romania to divide the colonization work while Ernst aimed to create a buffer separating East Africa from West Africa.

• Ernst showed Prince Karl Lake Chad and described the region’s agricultural potential and surrounding territories.
• Ernst offered Sigmaringen more than two million square kilometers, including a foothold in the former Wadai Empire, and promised access to East African railways.
• Prince Karl worried that Chad’s distance from the sea would make it difficult to govern, and Ernst offered inland transport and logistical support at cost.
• Ernst advised Sigmaringen and Romania to colonize separately, with Romania handling Darfur and Sigmaringen securing southern Chad.
• Ernst offered Far Eastern Chinese immigrants while explaining that Sigmaringen would need to recruit its own European settlers.
• Ernst planned to use Sigmaringen’s expansion to fill the gap between East Africa and West Africa with a colonial buffer zone.

Ernst advised Prince Karl to establish Sigmaringen’s colony in Chad quickly, using East Africa’s experience and support to build a populous, stable state. Karl agreed to claim territory and consolidate Sigmaringen’s position over the next few years.

• Ernst urged Prince Karl to remain in First Town and warned that developing Chad required caution and experienced support.
• Ernst explained that East African experts and troops could help Sigmaringen overcome colonial and practical challenges.
• Ernst told Karl that Sigmaringen should follow East Africa’s model, build a large settler population, and secure territory before European rivals advanced inland.
• Ernst described Chad’s size and resources, including fertile southern land and oil and mineral deposits in the north.
• Karl confirmed that he should first claim land and then spend several years consolidating control, and Ernst said immigrants could come from Europe or the Far East.

The Bureau of Cultural and Religious Affairs coordinated with Nairobi police and the Education Bureau to suppress unauthorized Italian-language schools and religious groups. Oscar was spared punishment for running an illegal school but was transferred from Nairobi to Kisumu, and the crackdown continued for three months.

• Nairobi officials agreed to crack down on illegal cultural dissemination and keep the Italian Cultural and Educational School under surveillance.
• Hans and the police arrested Oscar and found Italian lessons and handwritten teaching materials being taught to children in his home.
• Hans told the children their classes were over and arranged for them to get home safely.
• Interrogators questioned Oscar, then released him without punishment and transferred his job to Kisumu city.
• The Bureau of Cultural and Religious Affairs stayed in Nairobi for three months, closing three illegal schools and dismantling twelve cult organizations.