Recaps

The East African colony built Tanga Port as a northern stronghold for trade and its planned expansion into Kenya, while establishing a sisal processing plant nearby. By the end of the chapter, Tanga had become a hub for exports and a landing point for immigrants destined for Kenya.

• The colony used native labor to construct Tanga Port, completing its pier, warehouses, and lighthouse and building roads toward Manda Town.
• Ernst imported artillery from the Austro-Hungarian Empire and had defensive gun batteries established north and south of the port.
• Ernst imported French decorticating machines and prepared the colony’s first factory, a sisal processing plant near Tanga Port.
• Immigrant workers processed sisal into rope, canvas, and other products for export through Tanga Port.
• The colony planned to use Tanga Port for supplies and immigrants bound for Kenya, while immigrants destined for Tanzania would continue to land at Dar es Salaam.

Ernst toured Trieste and planned to use the port as a center for East African ocean trade and a base for recruiting immigrants from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He left the story focused on his company’s effort to persuade unemployed peasants to move to East Africa.

• Ernst walked through Trieste and chose it as a base for East African trade, keeping shipyards in Venice while moving the fleet’s development to Trieste.
• Ernst saw the Austro-Hungarian Empire’s struggling economy and large population of uneducated peasants as a source of immigrants for East Africa.
• Ernst’s company recruited unemployed peasants in Austro-Hungarian cities, offering passage, wages, food, lodging, and education for their children.
• Ernst’s recruiters encouraged peasants to bring their families, presenting East African farming as a better prospect than landless labor at home.

Karatu, capital of the Northern Plateau Region, began clearing land and planting potatoes suited to its cool, dry plateau climate, with sisal as its cash crop. The East African colony left the Serengeti Plains undeveloped as a refuge for wildlife, assigning the area to the Great Lakes Region.

• Karatu’s immigrants burned dry vegetation, cleared roots, and turned the pale red soil to prepare farmland.
• The settlers chose potatoes because Karatu’s elevation, soil, and river water suited the crop despite low rainfall, and they planted sprouted tubers in ridged fields.
• Karatu selected sisal as its cash crop and used nearby forest resources to build wooden houses and farm equipment.
• The East African colony assigned the Serengeti Plains to the Great Lakes Region and chose to preserve its wildlife rather than develop the area.

Ernst asked Franz to support recruiting tens or even hundreds of thousands of workers from Austria for his East African colony. Franz agreed, hoping the migration would ease unemployment and reduce the Empire’s nationalist pressures, but forbade Ernst from recruiting Germans.

• Ernst told Franz that East Africa needed more white settlers and asked the Austrian government to vouch for a large recruitment drive.
• Franz questioned why Ernst wanted Austrian workers, and Ernst argued that Austria’s nationalities threatened the Empire’s stability.
• Franz described the government’s weak finances, local nobles’ power, and the difficulty of reforming Austria.
• Ernst proposed taking in unemployed farmers to reduce social unrest and ease pressure on the Austrian government.
• Franz allowed Ernst to recruit as many workers as he could from Austria’s other peoples, while warning him not to recruit Germans.

János recruited Hungarian villagers for the Meleide Company’s East African immigration scheme, persuading several dozen to leave for the colony. After an Austrian official reassured them that the company had powerful backing, they boarded ships bound for East Africa.

• János joined the Meleide Company after losing his left arm and began recruiting Hungarian emigrants for East Africa.
• János promoted the colony to villagers, promising land, work, food and lodging, and free education for their children.
• János persuaded several dozen villagers to travel with him to Trieste Port.
• An Austrian soldier reassured the immigrants that the Meleide Company was legitimate and urged them to trust the government.
• The immigrants boarded ships bound for East Africa.

Ernst’s East African colony received its first immigrants from the Austrian Empire, while its officials competed to recruit them and worried about the growing Chinese population. Ernst planned to build a German-speaking settler colony through agriculture and immigration, leaving large-scale European settlement for a later stage.

• Ernst returned to Hechingen from Austria and spent Christmas 1866 with Prince Constantin.
• On January 14, 1867, the first Austrian Empire immigrants arrived at Dar es Salaam and were taken to First Town after three days of travel.
• East African officials competed to recruit the new white immigrants, while German officials worried that Chinese immigrants were rapidly outnumbering them.
• Ernst viewed Chinese laborers as necessary for developing East Africa but sought European immigrants to balance their numbers and strengthen German cultural influence.
• Ernst planned to prioritize agriculture and reclaiming land before attracting Germans on a large scale, and he intended to end immigration from China once political upheaval began there.

Henriette led his expedition north from Namanga toward Ngong Hills, recording the terrain as the team surveyed the route into Kenya. After camping at the foot of the hills, the party set out again the next morning, preparing to cross into Kenyan territory.

• Henriette led several dozen men north from Namanga and urged them to continue until they reached Ngong Hills.
• The expedition reached the foot of Ngong Hills and set up camp as evening approached.
• Henriette reviewed his notes and marked the route’s terrain, vegetation, and rivers on his map.
• The team roasted an African wildcat, ate dinner by a bonfire, and took turns keeping watch overnight.
• After a peaceful night, Henriette’s team packed their supplies and resumed their journey toward Kenya.

Bargash bin Said organized his followers to abolish Zanzibar’s slave trade and overthrow Sultan Majid bin Said, while also planning to cut off the East African Colony’s slave shipments. The conspiracy against both Majid and the colony took shape.

• Bargash bin Said gathered his trusted followers in Dar es Salaam and argued that Zanzibar had to end the slave trade and modernize.
• His followers argued over whether to rebel and how to overcome the strength of the East African Colony.
• Bargash bin Said ordered them to prepare on two fronts: sever Majid bin Said’s slave supply and overthrow his rule.
• Bargash bin Said planned to use his followers’ army and conscripts against Majid’s supporters and the East African Colony.
• Bargash bin Said rejected executing Majid and decided he would exile him to the Sultanate of Osa if the rebellion succeeded.

Bargash bin Said staged a coup against Sultan Majid bin Said, seizing the palace and military camp with little resistance. East African representative Bazer noticed the unusual troop movements and sent Dürer to warn the colonial government and border troops.

• Bargash bin Said planned to capture Majid and take control of the army, assigning Abdullah to seize the military camp before dawn.
• Bargash bin Said’s men entered the palace, disarmed its guards, and confronted Majid in his bedchamber.
• Abdullah seized the military camp while Bargash bin Said took control of Majid and claimed the Sultan had entrusted him with governing.
• Majid’s ministers accepted Bargash bin Said’s authority after seeing his armed guards.
• Bazer spotted armed soldiers moving through Dar es Salaam and told Dürer to warn the East African Colonial Government and border troops.
• Dürer disguised himself as an Arab merchant and left the office through the back door.

Dürer brought Felix a warning that armed Zanzibar troops had entered Dar es Salaam and Sultan Majid’s Royal Guard was missing. Felix and Hans Zhang decided to move immediately to protect the port and incoming immigrants, and Felix led his two hundred soldiers toward Dar es Salaam Port.

• Dürer disguised himself as an Arab and rode from Dar es Salaam to the East African colony’s Kibaha camp with Basel’s letter.
• Dürer told Felix that armed Zanzibar soldiers were filling the city and that their movements suggested a grave crisis.
• Hans Zhang warned that waiting for orders from the Colonial Government could leave port staff and incoming immigrants in danger.
• Felix ordered one messenger to report the situation while directing his troops to march on Dar es Salaam Port.
• Felix and Hans Zhang led the two hundred soldiers east toward the port.

Bargash bin Said declared slavery and slave trading illegal in Zanzibar, then ordered the Germans expelled and appointed loyalists to carry out the plan. His men forced Mr. Basel to leave Dar es Salaam Port, while Felix's troops were still marching toward the port.

• Bargash bin Said declared that Zanzibar would abolish slavery and prohibit slave trading, despite the ministers' protests.
• Bargash bin Said ordered the Germans driven out of Zanzibar and appointed Abdullah and Katiubu to lead the operation.
• Katiubu ordered Mr. Basel to leave Dar es Salaam Port, and Mr. Basel arranged for an oceangoing ship to carry Austro-Hungarian immigrants toward Tanga Port.
• Mr. Basel and more than twenty armed men left Dar es Salaam under Zanzibari watch as Felix's troops continued marching toward the port.

Felix led the East African Colony Army to Zanzibar City after Bargash bin Said seized power and drove the Germans from the port. Felix’s night assault overwhelmed the palace defenders, and Bargash’s fate remained unresolved as the battle continued.

• Bazer told Felix that Bargash bin Said had imprisoned Sultan Majid bin Said and taken control of Zanzibar, so Felix gathered Bazer’s group and advanced toward the city.
• After an intelligence officer reported that Zanzibar City had no martial law or visible street patrols, Felix planned a nighttime strike on the palace to capture Bargash.
• The East African Colony Army entered the city at night and attacked while Bargash was celebrating his first day in power at a victory banquet.
• Felix’s soldiers blasted open the palace gate with grenades and charged inside, forcing the defenders to flee or scatter through the building.
• Abdullah was captured before he could organize the defense, while the Zanzibar soldiers abandoned their resistance and tried to escape.

Felix’s forces defeated Bargash bin Said’s troops and took control of Dar es Salaam, while Zanzibar’s ministers detained Bargash and tried to curry favor with the invaders. The East African Colonial Government later approved a 1,500-man expedition under Yalman to support Majid bin Said and defeat Bargash.

• The East African Colony Army routed Zanzibar’s forces, captured General Abdullah, and entered the royal palace.
• Finance Minister Ali and the other ministers pinned down Bargash bin Said and denounced his coup.
• Ali welcomed Felix, but Bazer demanded accountability for Zanzibar’s actions, and Felix ordered the ministers to remain in the palace.
• Von der Leyen, Yalman, Svit, and other officials discussed the crisis in First Town and agreed that Bargash threatened the colony’s interests.
• The Colonial Government unanimously approved sending Yalman with 1,500 soldiers to join Felix’s men and conquer Bargash.

The East African Colonial Army restored Majid bin Said to Zanzibar’s throne and placed the sultanate under temporary colonial administration after defeating Bargash bin Said’s coup. Yalman arrived in Dar es Salaam, and the Colonial Government sent news to Ernst, who had not yet received it.

• Commander Yalman led 1,500 Colonial Army personnel into Zanzibar, restoring Majid bin Said and confining him and his ministers to the palace.
• The Colonial Army disbanded Zanzibar’s army, confiscated its weapons, and imprisoned Bargash bin Said, whom Majid bin Said demanded be punished.
• The coup ended within eleven hours, becoming known as “One-Day Politics,” with the East African colony reporting one soldier killed and eight wounded.
• On the third day, Yalman reached Dar es Salaam, praised Felix, and encouraged him not to let the casualties distort his judgment.
• Yalman’s arrival eased the manpower shortage, and the Colonial Government placed Zanzibar under temporary administration and sent word to Ernst in Europe.

Ernst’s Berlin Electric Company began commercializing its durable electric lamps, which were adopted in Berlin and Vienna and made the company famous. He then pursued Russia’s sale of Alaska and, after learning that Zanzibar had been taken, sent a plan to East Africa to secure the colony’s access to the sea.

• Ernst showed Prince Constantin electric lamps that had glowed for more than a dozen hours without failing, and they decided to present them to King Wilhelm I.
• King Wilhelm I approved electric lighting for Berlin after seeing the lamps illuminate the palace hall.
• Franz ordered Vienna to adopt electric lamps, and Berlin and Vienna became the first two cities to replace candle and gas lighting with electric lamps.
• Ernst learned that Tom had contacted Russian intermediaries to persuade the Tsar to sell Alaska, and he insisted they continue the effort.
• Tom delivered a report that the East African colony had taken Zanzibar, and Ernst wrote instructions for resolving the colony’s coastal security problem and sent them to East Africa.

Von der Leyen pressured Sultan Majid to accept a treaty that made Zanzibar a dependent state of the East African Colonial Government and ceded its mainland territories. Majid and his ministers signed the East-Zanzibar Treaty, giving the colony control of Zanzibar’s security and leaving Zanzibar with only limited autonomy.

• Von der Leyen presented Sultan Majid with treaty terms that transferred Zanzibar’s mainland lands, disbanded most of its military, and gave the East African Colonial Government the right to station troops on Zanzibar Island.
• Von der Leyen offered to relocate Dar es Salaam’s slave market to Zanzibar Island and let Zanzibar continue operating it.
• Sultan Majid consulted his ministers, who urged him to sign so they could regain their freedom and preserve their businesses.
• Sultan Majid and his ministers signed the East-Zanzibar Treaty, ceding all mainland territory and limiting the Royal Guard to two hundred men.
• The East African Colonial Government gained Zanzibar’s mainland territories and assumed responsibility for the sultanate’s security while largely leaving its internal affairs alone.

Kross negotiated with Count Sergei to have Russia sell Alaska to the Hohenzollern Conglomerate, while disguising Ernst’s willingness to buy the territory as the whim of an eccentric boss. The chapter left Sergei eager to secure the sale after Kross offered him a large bribe tied to the purchase price.

• Kross confirmed with Count Sergei that Russian ministers wanted to sell Alaska because it cost money to maintain and Russia was focused on reforms and Central Asia.
• Kross offered Sergei a 20,000-ruble meeting gift and asked about buying Alaska for several million rubles, but Sergei demanded ten million US dollars.
• Kross argued that Alaska was a nearly worthless wilderness and hinted that his boss had an eccentric interest in acquiring distant lands.
• Sergei threatened that Russia would sell Alaska to the Americans, and Kross offered him 300,000 rubles if he secured a sale for no more than 15 million rubles, plus bonuses for lowering the price.
• Sergei accepted the offer and promised to handle the negotiations.

Sergei persuaded Tsar Alexander II to sell the northern part of Alaska to the Hohenzollern Conglomerate for five million rubles while retaining the more habitable land south of 56 degrees North Latitude. Alexander II accepted the proposal, seeing it as a way to ease Russia’s burden while preserving a foothold in North America.

• Sergei explained to his accomplices that they would profit by convincing the Empire to sell Alaska cheaply to the Hohenzollern Conglomerate.
• Sergei and the ministers proposed the sale to Alexander II, who questioned how the Conglomerate had learned of Russia’s plans.
• Sergei offered five million rubles for only the territory north of 56 degrees North Latitude, leaving the warmer southern region under Russian control.
• Sergei argued that Russia could abandon its harsh northern lands, relocate settlers south, and retain a base for future expansion while avoiding British pressure.
• Alexander II agreed with Sergei’s reasoning after the ministers supported the proposal.

The Hohenzollern Conglomerate bought Alaska from Russia, making it an overseas territory under Prince Constantin, and Ernst planned to keep the region closed while removing Russian settlers and foreign merchants. He consolidated Alaska and Zanzibar under the House of Hohenzollern's Hechingen Royal Territory and decided to send an East African Colony Army unit to Alaska.

• On March 13, 1867, the Hohenzollern Conglomerate and the Russian government signed the Alaska transfer agreement for 7 million rubles, placing the colony under Prince Constantin's name.
• Ernst arranged installment payments and terms requiring Russians in Greater Alaska to move to Lesser Alaska, and he planned to bar foreign merchants and explorers from Greater Alaska.
• Ernst and Prince Constantin named their territories in Alaska and Zanzibar the House of Hohenzollern's Hechingen Royal Territory, covering roughly 2.8 million square kilometers.
• Ernst chose to keep East Africa focused on plantation agriculture and population growth rather than mining, to limit foreign attention and strengthen the colony before the scramble for Africa.
• Ernst decided to send an East African Colony Army unit to Alaska to help the new Alaska Colonial Government remove Russians and foreign merchants.

On March 11, 1867, the East African Colonial Government renovated Mombasa’s port using Chinese and Austrian Empire workers alongside temporarily requisitioned slaves. The improvements boosted the port’s capacity as the colony prepared for increased trade and transport.

• The East African Colonial Government began repairing Mombasa’s harbor and port infrastructure after gaining control of the city through the East-Zanzibar Treaty.
• Mitrovic directed Chinese workers as they cleared damaged foundations and rebuilt wharf structures with cement.
• The colony employed only immigrants who knew some German as workers or soldiers, giving them higher status and wages than farmers.
• By dusk, workers had renovated more than half the port, widening roads and reinforcing the docks with crushed stone and construction waste.
• The renovations increased Mombasa’s transport capacity by about half, positioning it to become East Africa’s leading port after the Suez Canal opened.

Ernst arranged for Siemens Company and Berlin Electric Company to lay a submarine telegraph cable connecting East Africa to Europe so he could strengthen communication and control over the colony. Three months later, the line was complete, allowing messages between the colony and Berlin to arrive the same day.

• After the East Sang War exposed how slowly messages traveled between East Africa and Europe, Ernst decided to build a telegraph connection to the colony.
• Ernst partnered Berlin Electric Company with Siemens Company to lay a route from East Africa through Egypt and Trieste, then connect it to existing European telegraph lines.
• A German-flagged cable ship began laying the difficult sea section from East Africa toward Egypt, while workers carefully lowered the cable into the Indian Ocean.
• The cable-laying work proceeded without major accidents, and the full line was completed three months later.
• Messages between Berlin and the East African Colonial Government could then be sent the same day, strengthening Ernst's ability to direct the colony.

Masharoo Town grew from a small settlement into a thriving agricultural village, where Anthony and immigrants from Germany, the Austrian Empire, and China established a tobacco plantation. The East African Colonial Government planned a much larger plantation to supply the Hohenzollern Tobacco Company and encourage settlement in Kenya.

• Anthony led the first group of immigrants to Masharoo Town, where they built temporary homes and began developing the area.
• After a month, Masharoo Town had more than four hundred residents and a thousand-mu tobacco plantation along the river.
• The East African Colonial Government planned to establish a fifty-thousand-mu tobacco plantation near Masharoo Town to supply the Hohenzollern Tobacco Company and attract more immigrants.
• Anthony took pride in becoming Masharoo Town’s mayor and led residents in working the fields.
• Residents from Germany, the Austrian Empire, and the Far East shared farming knowledge and learned one another’s languages as they worked together.
• The East African Colonial Government reinforced negative impressions of the region’s native people among the immigrants.

Ernst assessed the East African colony’s population problems and planned ways to reshape its population and secure its territory. The Colonial Government’s immediate priority became expelling local Black natives west of the Great Lakes while continuing to attract immigrants.

• The East African colony’s population reached around 200,000 immigrants, while two to three million indigenous natives remained across the territory.
• Ernst identified gender imbalance, an excessive proportion of Chinese immigrants, and the large native population as the colony’s three main problems.
• Ernst planned to fund a wedding company to bring women, especially Armenians from the Ottoman Empire, to East Africa under the guise of matchmaking.
• Ernst decided to keep recruiting immigrants from Europe and the Americas, though he saw no immediate solution to the colony’s ethnic imbalance.
• Ernst made gathering and deporting Black natives to Burundi, Rwanda, and Uganda the colony’s main task for the coming year, hoping conflict with local states would weaken them.
• The East African Colonial Government shifted its priority from expansion to securing its existing territory and filling it with immigrants.

The East African Colonial Government launched a year-long purge campaign against native communities, ordering settlements to arrest, encircle, and destroy tribes in their regions. Kagongo Town mobilized more than a thousand temporary soldiers, and the campaign spread into widespread fighting across the Lake Tanganyika region and the colony.

• The East African Colonial Government assigned immigrant settlements regional tasks for its purge campaign against native communities.
• Kagongo Town staff posted the government order, and townspeople gathered after a soldier sounded the assembly call.
• Mayor Go announced the purge order while Military Commander Carson translated it for the crowd.
• Kagongo Town and its villages recruited over a thousand temporary soldiers and armed them.
• Kagongo Town joined Kigoma authorities in the campaign, and gunfire spread across the Lake Tanganyika region and the colony.

A. Thor’s colonial soldiers chased and captured a group of native East Africans after crocodiles blocked their escape across a river. The chapter then explained how the colony planned to drive many tribes westward and leave them to destabilize inland states, while Ernst considered using Leopold as a worse comparison for his own colonial rule.

• A. Thor and his men pursued fleeing natives across the grasslands after destroying their tribe.
• The fleeing natives reached a river, where crocodiles dragged several swimmers underwater.
• The remaining natives surrendered, and A. Thor ordered his soldiers to bind them and take them back.
• The East African colony drove other resisting tribes toward inland regions, hoping they would fight local states and weaken them.
• Ernst considered helping Leopold gain a worse reputation so that Ernst’s own actions would seem less abhorrent by comparison.