East African territory was not as outrageously vast as the Russian Empire's now, but it still looked astonishing on a map, as if someone had sliced off nearly half of Africa with a single stroke.
Fortunately, countries around the equator tended to look smaller because of the map's visual distortion, making East Africa's more than ten million square kilometers appear roughly the same size as the United States, which covered about seven million square kilometers. Of course, this was also related to the inability to measure data too precisely in this era, especially in the interior of the African continent, where, apart from East Africa itself, hardly any non-Black people had set foot.
Many Europeans could only grope their way through guesses when it came to Africa's interior, and many adventure novels described Africa through a veil of mystery.
While the Transvaal people sought to restore their country, East Africa's garrison in the Southern Frontier Province had not spent these past few years idly.
Centered on Winburg along the Vaal River, the forward military positions had largely been completed, consisting mainly of bunker complexes.
East Africa's defensive strategy toward the Orange Free State was clearly different from its strategy toward Mozambique. The conflict between Mozambique and East Africa had been a conventional one. Although East Africa had emerged victorious, the Portuguese did not hate East Africa too deeply.
As a former colonial power, Portugal had a stronger heart than ordinary countries—or rather, like certain old empires, it had long since lost the drive to improve itself.
East Africa had acquired Mozambique's colonies through war, openly and aboveboard. Thus, the Portuguese adopted something of a lying-flat attitude toward East Africa. If Britain had not supported them from behind the scenes, some Portuguese would have wanted to sell off their only