Recaps

Ande oversaw Songkhla as East Africa prepared to take control of the Kra Isthmus Territory, using rumors to drive residents away ahead of the Pacific Fleet’s arrival. He met the fleet and reflected on its aging ships and the challenges of ruling the territory, while awaiting the central government’s new governor.

• Ande’s secretary reported that military rumors were prompting residents to leave the Kra Isthmus Territory, and Ande welcomed the migration as a way to reduce future resistance.
• Ande predicted that the incoming governor would face a difficult campaign because the territory had a large population and Arab religious leaders would distrust East African promises of amnesty.
• A subordinate told Ande that the Pacific Fleet had arrived at Wanka from Pontianak, and Ande went to meet the navy.
• Ande observed that the fleet’s battleship, cruisers, and other vessels could dominate Nanyang waters, though many were old ships inherited from other fleets.
• Ande considered how the Pacific Fleet’s scattered deployments and obsolete vessels left East Africa’s distant Pacific colonies vulnerable to the United States and Japan.

In Rhine City, Cristiano briefed Ernst and the other leaders on the military plans for occupying the Kra Isthmus Territory and the risks posed by its population, terrain, and possible British influence. East Africa planned to send veterans from East Kalimantan to train and guide new troops, while its exhausted main forces returned home to recuperate.

• Cristiano proposed selecting experienced officers and soldiers from the East Kalimantan garrison to guide forces sent to the Kra Isthmus Territory.
• Cristiano warned that the Kra Isthmus Territory would be harder to subdue than East Kalimantan because it was more densely populated, had difficult terrain, and contained diverse religious and ethnic groups.
• Cristiano and Ernst discussed the possibility that Britain might encourage resistance, particularly among Arab religious communities near the Pattani border.
• Cristiano said East Africa had designated southern Kra, especially Pattani, for close surveillance and would seal the border between the two Pattanis after population transfers.
• Cristiano estimated that at least one hundred thousand people might flee, while many others would stay and resist, and said East Kalimantan veterans would train the new troops as the main forces returned home to rest.

Cristiano explained how the Kra Isthmus Territory would secure East Africa’s links between the Indian Ocean and Nanyang, even without control of the Strait of Malacca. He proposed an Indo-Pacific Land Bridge of roads and railways across the isthmus to support the Pacific Fleet, leaving the plan focused on overland connections rather than a costly canal.

• The chapter contrasted East Africa’s policy of removing local populations with other powers’ reliance on local elites, which had made East African colonial warfare more costly.
• Cristiano argued that the Kra Isthmus Territory would complete East Africa’s colonial system in Nanyang and reduce the strategic importance of controlling the Strait of Malacca.
• Cristiano described the Sunda Strait and other East Indies passages as routes between East Africa and Nanyang, while warning that Dutch control of the Sunda Strait left supply lines exposed.
• Cristiano said the Kra Isthmus would give East Africa a secure foothold from which its Indian Ocean Fleet could support the Pacific Fleet and protect communications and supplies.
• Cristiano proposed an Indo-Pacific Land Bridge of roads and railways, supported by ports, shipyards, oil depots, and warehouses, to connect the two coasts of the Kra Isthmus.
• The chapter explained that East Africa would not build a Kra Canal because its territory lacked the Tapi River Plains and a canal would be too expensive.

Ernst and Fingel discussed plans for developing the Kra Isthmus Territory as a key part of East Africa’s Nanyang colonies, including its transport links, ports, plantations, and mineral surveys. The chapter ended with East Africa preparing to assess and centrally manage the region’s tin mines after securing control.

• Ernst described the strategic importance of East Africa’s resource-rich Nanyang colonies and their role in the colonial economy.
• Ernst asked Fingel to present the Kra Isthmus Territory’s economic and population development plans.
• Fingel outlined a railway linking Shadun and Songkhla, construction of Shadun Port, and renovation of Songkhla Port.
• Fingel said the territory would suit tropical plantations and that East Africa would survey its tin deposits, its chief known mineral resource.
• Fingel explained that tin was in growing demand for electronics and tinplate, then said East Africa would centrally manage the region’s tin mines and improve mining and smelting methods.

Fingel outlined plans to develop the Kra Isthmus Territory as a supplier of tin, rubber, oil, and timber for East Africa, while Ernst argued that colonial resources could reduce pressure on the homeland’s fragile ecosystems. The chapter left East Africa focused on development while acknowledging the need to protect regions threatened by erosion and desertification.

• Fingel proposed integrating local tin ore production with smelters, tinplate factories, and power plants, while expanding rubber plantations and tropical cash crops.
• Fingel described plans for an oil pipeline and two refineries in Songkhla to secure fuel transport and supply the Pacific Fleet if the Strait of Malacca were cut off.
• Fingel advocated developing Kra’s forests to supply timber to East Africa’s eastern regions, where local production and transport were limited.
• Ernst warned that excessive logging and grazing had contributed to soil erosion and desertification in several central and eastern provinces, and called for ecological protections.
• Ernst said importing timber and minerals from colonies could help protect the homeland, though East Africa’s priority remained development.

Ernst set population policies for the Kra Isthmus Territory, while East Africa shifted its trade and expansion focus southward after Britain disrupted routes to Europe. Freer traveled to The Hague to pursue further advantages in the Dutch East Indies, despite the risks of naval conflict and Dutch resentment.

• Ernst said East Africa would bring at least two hundred thousand immigrants to the Kra Isthmus Territory and screen Siamese residents willing to accept East African rule and Germanization.
• Freer and Rogers sailed to The Hague as Freer worried that Britain might threaten their safety amid Anglo-German naval clashes.
• Freer explained that East Africa had become Germany's largest trading partner and kept supplies moving through the Baghdad Railway and Indian Ocean routes.
• East African trade shifted toward South America, the Far East, Nanyang, the Middle East, and West Africa after Britain cut off routes through Suez and the North Atlantic.
• Freer said he had returned to the Netherlands to expand East Africa's position in Nanyang and target Dutch East Indies territories.

Freer negotiated with Dutch Prime Minister Kaper to acquire strategically located islands in the Dutch East Indies, presenting East Africa’s demands as limited and necessary for protecting trade routes. Kaper resisted but recognized that East Africa had targeted islands of strategic value, and the negotiations remained unresolved.

• Freer arrived in The Hague and instructed the East African ambassador to arrange a meeting with the Dutch prime minister about territorial issues in the Nanyang region.
• Kaper protested that East Africa was seeking more Dutch territory shortly after buying East Kalimantan, while Freer defended the earlier deal as beneficial to the Netherlands.
• Freer explained that British control of the Strait of Malacca and Dutch control of alternative routes threatened East African trade and security.
• Kaper rejected the idea that the Netherlands should sacrifice its interests and suspected East Africa wanted control of the Sunda Strait.
• Freer named more than a dozen islands East Africa sought, including Sangiang, Panaitan, and Billiton, while Kaper noted their strategic locations and the omission of Bangka Island.

Prime Minister Kepel considered East Africa’s offer to buy a group of Dutch East Indies islands and reported its strategic aims to Queen Wilhelmina. He left the matter awaiting a Dutch decision, with Freer giving the government five days to respond.

• Freer offered ten million Rheinland Shields for ownership of the islands, and Kepel said he needed time to consult the government.
• Kepel privately judged the sale preferable to risking East Africa seizing the Dutch East Indies, then agreed to answer within five days.
• Kepel reported East Africa’s demands to Queen Wilhelmina and explained that the islands lay along important shipping routes.
• Kepel described East Africa’s growing colonial presence in the Nanyang region and its plans to bypass the British-controlled Strait of Malacca.
• Kepel explained how East Africa’s control of East Kalimantan and its requested islands would strengthen its access through the Makassar, Sunda, and Lombok Straits.

Keppel persuaded Queen Wilhelmina that the Netherlands should sell East Africa the strategic islands rather than risk its East Indies colonies. The Dutch Parliament accepted the sale, leaving the government to manage public opinion while safeguarding its core colonial interests.

• Keppel argued that the islands were expendable and that East Africa could threaten Dutch maritime trade and colonial connections if the Netherlands resisted.
• Keppel warned Wilhelmina that relying on the United States against East Africa could endanger the entire East Indies, while East Africa sought only a handful of islands.
• Wilhelmina agreed that the Netherlands should accommodate East Africa on minor matters and told Keppel to secure Parliament's approval and manage public opinion.
• Keppel said the European War would keep the Dutch public focused elsewhere, and a day later the Parliament approved the territorial sale after being persuaded by his arguments and East Africa's implied threat.

Freer and Keppel finalized a territorial deal between East Africa and the Netherlands, then discussed jointly developing the Sunda Strait into a shipping route to the Far East Empire. Freer sought Dutch cooperation and a ban on foreign troops or military facilities in Dutch-controlled East Indies territory, leaving Keppel to consider East Africa’s regional plans.

• Keppel visited Freer and said the Netherlands had sold the islands cheaply, asking East Africa to safeguard Dutch interests in the Nanyang region.
• Freer reassured Keppel that East Africa had no designs on the East Indies and explained that its actions there served regional security needs.
• Freer proposed that East Africa and the Netherlands jointly develop the Sunda Strait route to connect the Indian Ocean with the Far East Empire.
• Keppel questioned whether East Africa intended to develop the route alone, and Freer said Dutch participation was essential because the Netherlands controlled the Sunda Strait.
• Freer required that no third-party troops or military facilities be present in Dutch-controlled East Indies areas and promised East African support for Dutch interests in the region.

Freer urged Prime Minister Keppel to partner with East Africa to develop the Sunda Strait as an alternative trade route, offering infrastructure support in exchange for keeping foreign militaries out. He also proposed separating the strait’s shores from the Dutch East Indies, leaving Keppel to weigh the benefits against the risks of future colonial unrest.

• Freer explained that East Africa’s trade and geography could make the Sunda Strait a prosperous route linking East Africa with Nanyang and the Far East.
• Keppel agreed that the Netherlands would cooperate economically and asked what East Africa required.
• Freer demanded that no third-country military forces use ports or bases along the route, and Keppel accepted the condition.
• Freer offered East African materials, workers, and technical personnel to help build and renovate infrastructure in the Dutch East Indies.
• Freer urged the Netherlands to separate the shores on both sides of the Sunda Strait from the Dutch East Indies, warning Keppel that colonial resistance and a growing local elite could threaten Dutch rule.
• Keppel considered whether separating the strait’s shores would strengthen Dutch control over the East Indies.

Freer urged Prime Minister Keppel to reorganize the Dutch East Indies and split off a special zone on both shores of the Sunda Strait, arguing that a unified Indonesia could threaten East Africa and Dutch interests. Keppel took the proposal seriously and said the two governments could discuss it later.

• Freer proposed that the Netherlands establish a Sunda Strait special zone and introduce settlers from outside the East Indies.
• Freer warned Keppel that national consciousness was growing and that Dutch policies had helped unite the East Indies under a shared identity.
• Keppel challenged Freer over East Africa’s own brutal colonial policies, including its killings in East Kalimantan, Lanfang, and Mindanao.
• Freer defended East Africa’s approach and advised the Netherlands to suppress local forces or divide the East Indies to preserve Dutch interests after independence.
• Keppel considered Freer’s proposal and said the two governments could discuss it in detail later.

Freer concluded a treaty transferring fourteen Dutch-controlled Nanyang islands to East Africa and establishing joint shipping and security cooperation in the Sunda Strait. East African naval leaders then debated the islands’ strategic value and planned how to divide them between the Indian Ocean and Pacific Fleets.

• Freer urged Prime Minister Keppel to conclude negotiations quickly and assured him that East Africa had no ambitions toward the East Indies.
• On December 7, 1916, East Africa and the Netherlands signed a treaty transferring fourteen islands, including Billiton and Sangiang, and agreeing to cooperate on the Sunda Strait route and define their regional interests.
• Bruce criticized Sangiang and Panaitan Islands as small and difficult to develop, while Kuinman argued that Sangiang’s position could support an airfield that deterred threats to the strait.
• Bruce and Kuinman agreed that Sangiang and Panaitan would fall under the Indian Ocean Fleet, while Billiton and other islands would strengthen the Pacific Fleet.
• Bruce identified Billiton Island as a potential secondary base that could ease pressure on Pontianak Port as the government considered relocating the Pacific Fleet’s home port.

In 1917, Prince Maxim guided Maria, Anastasia, and Alexei through Rhine City and explained East Africa’s climate and growing ties with Russia. Maria shared her worries about Russia’s reverses in the war, while Maxim encouraged the young royals to enjoy their visit and see more of East Africa.

• Prince Maxim showed Maria, Anastasia, and Alexei around Rhine City and compared its mild highland climate with Saint Petersburg’s.
• Maria said she preferred Rhine City’s weather and explained that her parents and elder sisters could not travel because of the war.
• Maria told Maxim that Russia’s army was retreating and that Nicholas II was anxious about the worsening situation.
• Maxim expressed hope that the war would end soon, though East Africa had profited from the conflict and wished it to continue.
• Maxim offered to guide the three visitors around East Africa, while Anastasia continued caring for the hemophiliac Alexei.

Prince Maxim showed Princess Maria, Prince Alexei, and Princess Anastasia around Rhine City and explained how East African architecture reflected electrification, cleaner energy, and a preference for keeping heavy industry away from the capital. Alexei left the conversation impressed by East Africa’s advanced industrial development and the new world he had encountered.

• Prince Maxim introduced Rhine City, and Princess Maria and Prince Alexei compared its modern, varied architecture with Saint Petersburg and American cities.
• Prince Maxim credited Ernst’s architectural influence for East Africa’s distinctive urban style and described how electricity and natural gas had changed homes and buildings.
• Princess Anastasia agreed that Rhine City had few tall chimneys, and Maxim explained that polluting factories were generally kept out of the imperial capital.
• Prince Alexei asked whether industrial development harmed health, and Maxim explained the dangers of pollution while arguing that technology and industry could address them.
• Prince Alexei was deeply impressed by East Africa’s industrial progress, which he found more advanced than Russia’s and somewhat ahead of Europe’s.

Prince Maxim showed Alexei and the others Rhine City and explained how Fuwa River Reservoir and Dam supplied water and electricity to the capital and nearby cities. He described East Africa’s expanding railway links and the reservoir’s scale as the group headed toward the dam.

• Maxim explained that Fuwa River Reservoir had been created by damming the Lunsemfwa River and that Rhine Palace stood upstream of it.
• Alexei learned that Fuwa River Reservoir was artificial, and Maxim compared it with East Africa’s three natural freshwater great lakes.
• Maxim described how the reservoir and its hydroelectric dam stabilized Rhine City’s water and power supply and supported nearby industrial cities.
• Maxim outlined Rhine City’s growing rail connections to multiple ports and contrasted its development with the changing fortunes of Dar es Salaam city and Mombasa.
• Maxim told the group they would pass through the southwestern industrial zone and visit Fuwa River Dam, prompting Alexei and the others to grow more interested in the project.

Maria, Anastasia, and Alexei compared Russia’s development with East Africa’s after traveling through Russia’s interior and along the East African Central Railway. Maxim explained East Africa’s lead in electrification, while Maria acknowledged that Russia relied on East African electrical products and equipment.

• Maria, Anastasia, and Alexei traveled through Russia’s less-developed interior en route to the Black Sea and saw a sharp contrast with the prosperous areas along East Africa’s Central Railway.
• Alexei noted that East African farms used machinery widely and that electricity reached villages and cities, unlike much of Russia.
• Maxim attributed East Africa’s electrification to early planning, government investment, and nationwide construction of electrical facilities.
• Maria said Russia lagged in some fields and depended on electrical products and equipment imported from East Africa.
• The account traced East Africa’s industrial rise to education, state-led investment, and decades of exploiting enslaved black people for land, labor, and capital.

Maxim showed Anastasia, Alexei, and Maria the Fuwa River Reservoir and explained East Africa’s infrastructure and geography. Their tour highlighted how the country’s population and development extended across regions that foreign explorers had hoped to find unexplored.

• A reservoir administrator explained the Fuwa River Reservoir’s water, power, and industrial networks to Maxim and the three Russian visitors.
• Maxim and Anastasia discussed East Africa’s diesel-powered locomotives, while Alexei described the smoke and snow associated with Russian steam trains.
• Maxim told the visitors about East Africa’s occasional snowfall and identified Kilimanjaro as the continent’s highest mountain and a volcano.
• The visitors learned that roads, railways, and tourist facilities had made much of East Africa accessible, disappointing explorers seeking wilderness.
• The chapter compared East Africa’s large, evenly distributed population and developed rainforest settlements with South America’s sparsely populated Amazon region.

Princess Maria, Maxim, and Crown Prince Alexei discussed East African geography and wildlife, then considered visiting the Serengeti. Alexei wanted to see animals in the wild, but Maxim explained that the remote reserve required careful preparations.

• Princess Maria questioned whether East Africa had measured every mountain, and Maxim explained that Kilimanjaro had long been listed as the region’s tallest peak.
• Crown Prince Alexei asked whether East Africa’s forests had lions and elephants, and Maxim said the nearby rainforest held few wild animals after years of development.
• Maxim offered to take Alexei to a zoo, but Alexei rejected seeing animals in cages and asked to visit the Serengeti Plains instead.
• Maxim explained that the Serengeti lay more than a thousand kilometers away and required specialized vehicles, firearms, and supplies.
• Alexei said the distance seemed manageable, prompting reflections on how people in Russia and East Africa were accustomed to traveling across vast territories.

Prince Maxim guided Crown Prince Alexei and the other Russians through Rhine City's industrial district and explained East Africa's urban planning and metro system. Alexei vowed to build a metro in Saint Petersburg if he became Tsar, while Maxim wished him success.

• After visiting the Fuwa River Dam, Maxim and the three Russians toured Rhine City's southeastern industrial district.
• Maxim explained how East Africa planned its industrial districts and public transit, including plans to expand Rhine City's metro network to four lines.
• Alexei remarked that much larger Saint Petersburg had no metro, and Maxim said Rhine City's lines were not profitable or necessary for its current traffic.
• Alexei promised to build a Saint Petersburg metro if he inherited the throne, and Maxim wished him luck in strengthening Russia.

Ernst received a report on Russia’s growing unrest, the Labor Party’s rising influence, and the Russian government’s financial and military crisis. With the Ottoman Empire expected to enter the war within three months and close the Black Sea straits, he ordered East Africa to collect Russian hard currency, technology, and talent while trade remained possible.

• Morin reported that opposition to Nicholas II was spreading and that strikes organized by the Russian Labor Party were likely to increase.
• Morin described Russia’s military losses, depleted supplies, war weariness, and Nicholas II’s dilemma between seeking an armistice and continuing the war.
• Ernst judged that the Labor Party could exploit Russia’s collapse and that the European powers were too divided to unite against it.
• Morin told Ernst that the Ottoman Empire was preparing to attack Russia within three months, potentially closing the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits.
• Ernst ordered Morin to extract as much cash as possible from Russia and acquire Russian technology and skilled people, prioritizing ethnic Russians over Poles.

Ernst instructed Morin to recruit people without hesitation, while Archduke Ferdinand and Princess Charlotte visited Lake Malawi Rhinoceros Park and learned about East Africa’s rhinoceros breeding efforts. The park’s staff explained how East Africa protected and bred rare Asian rhinoceroses, leaving the species’ future there more secure than in much of their native range.

• Ernst told Morin to bring potential recruits in despite the extra travel costs, and Morin agreed.
• Archduke Ferdinand and Princess Charlotte visited Lake Malawi Rhinoceros Park and asked about its Sumatran Rhinoceroses.
• A staff member explained that the park’s eighty-two Sumatran Rhinoceroses descended from animals brought to East Africa beginning in 1886.
• The staff member described East Africa’s breeding centers, the decline of Asian rhinoceroses elsewhere, and the park’s role in protecting Sumatran and Javan Rhinoceroses within the country.
• The staff member said the park’s isolated, suitable habitat had allowed its breeding program to succeed and that its rhinoceros population could continue to grow.

Archduke Ferdinand toured East Africa’s Lake Malawi Rhinoceros Park while Ernst learned that Nicholas II had been forced to abdicate amid a Russian coup. Ernst agreed to protect Alexei, Maria, and Anastasia and offered Nicholas II political asylum, leaving his decision pending.

• A staff member told Archduke Ferdinand that research on rhinoceros horn had made little progress, and Ferdinand sketched a Sumatran Rhinoceros.
• The East African Embassy informed Ernst that Nicholas II had stepped down and delivered letters for Ernst and for Alexei, Maria, and Anastasia.
• Ernst read Nicholas II’s request to keep the three children in East Africa and recognized that Russia’s political struggle was only beginning.
• Ernst ordered his subordinate to ask Nicholas II whether he would flee to East Africa for asylum.
• Ernst called for Maxim and the other three to return so Nicholas II’s letter could be shared with them.

At the Port of Basra, Karl’s East African company bought Ukrainian refugees from German commander Dorr in exchange for supplies. After screening and signing contracts with the refugees, Karl arranged for their transport while Dorr went to collect the payment.

• Karl arrived at the Basra refugee camp and discussed its population with Commander Dorr.
• Karl’s medical staff examined the refugees and found only eighteen with minor or serious concerns, excluding two judged unable to adapt to the local conditions.
• Karl ordered contracts distributed to the eligible refugees, most of whom signed with thumbprints.
• Dorr questioned the lower price, and Karl explained that the batch had fewer women than the previous one.
• Karl and Dorr agreed to seek more young, healthy female refugees in future exchanges.
• Karl’s men escorted the refugees away, while Dorr took the East African check to the docks to collect supplies.

East Africa expanded a triangular trade by exchanging goods and supplies with the Central Powers for refugees, labor, and other resources, then transporting European refugees to its Nanyang colonies. Karl’s convoy delivered Ukrainian refugees to Fao, where Second Lieutenant Fassi tried to reassure them before their voyage onward.

• East Africa shifted its demands of the financially strained Central Powers toward talent, technology, labor, supplies, and other convertible wealth.
• Karl led a convoy carrying Ukrainian refugees from Basra toward Fao because congestion had overwhelmed the Port of Basra.
• Karl arrived in Fao with the exhausted refugees, and Second Lieutenant Fassi arranged for them to receive biscuits.
• Second Lieutenant Fassi divided the Ukrainians by gender and told them they had been transferred to East Africa by the Ukrainian government.
• Second Lieutenant Fassi told the refugees they would sail to Nanyang the next day and urged them to settle there and remain loyal to East Africa.