This time, Santos had made a grave misjudgment. He had never imagined that the Germans would move against the Kingdom of Kazembe so quickly—or rather, that they would dare to make a move within the Kingdom of Kazembe at all.
As a result, he had mistaken East Africa's operation for an operation by the Portuguese colony. His underlings' failure to gather clear intelligence only reinforced that judgment.
However, there was one thing he had analyzed correctly: the Portuguese in the Kingdom of Kazembe truly did not consider him one of their own. After all, Santos had brought a pack of "dogs driven from their homes" and expected to carve out a share of this place for himself. That was simply unreasonable.
When East Africa sent an envoy to Kazembe to demand the "criminals" and the land, the Portuguese Kazembe Chamber of Commerce did indeed receive the news. They simply did not inform Santos and his group.
In truth, the Portuguese Kazembe Chamber of Commerce was also stunned by the East Africans' efficiency. Following the Portuguese style of colonization, they would generally do their utmost to avoid clashing with local powers.
The Portuguese had always preferred to combine gentleness and force, using deception first and resorting to hard measures only when deception failed. This could be seen from the two colonies of Mozambique and Angola.
The Kingdom of Portugal encouraged Portuguese people to intermarry with indigenous elites, believing that indigenous upper classes with Portuguese blood could strengthen Portugal's control over its colonies.
When Portugal had first begun colonial activities in Africa, it had actually cooperated with indigenous chiefs. That had still been the age when the slave trade flourished.
The chiefs had been equivalent to Portuguese "suppliers." Later, after the Portuguese grew powerful locally, they turned those chiefdoms, tribes, and kingdoms