"France and Africa?" Wizet recalled what he knew. "Do we really have to go all the way back to that time?"
Madame Maxime poured herself another cup of tea. "Mr. Lovegood, it seems you know a fair bit about Muggle history as well..."
"But you should know that before Muggles learned of the so-called 'New World,' wizards had already discovered the existence of other continents through various magical means."
"Before French Muggles landed in Africa, our relationship with African wizards had been fairly harmonious... Since you know Muggle history, you understand what happened afterward."
"Let me mention something off-topic first! Because of certain actions by French Muggles, our relationship with African wizards was also damaged, leaving us in a rather ambiguous period."
"As far as I know, Uagadou had an academic exchange with you last year. You should know this as well, yes? Uagadou... or rather, African wizards, have a unique magical system."
Wizet nodded. "Yes!"
"Just as you said, if you want to gain something, you must give something in return," Madame Maxime said. "That was the direction of our earliest exchanges with them."
"Beyond exchanges of supplies, we also wished to exchange knowledge. What interested us was their Animagus transformation, as well as wandless magic."
"African wizards were quite conservative at the time and would only agree to exchanges of supplies... Then French Muggles landed in Africa, turning that conservatism into distrust."
"It was not until the last century that wandmaking techniques from England finally made their way into Africa... Mr. Lovegood, you should know why, shouldn't you?"
At Madame Maxime's question, Wizet immediately thought of something. "Could it be... because English Muggles also came to Africa?"
"French wizards had worked painstakingly for centuries, only for English wizards to beat them to it..." Madame Maxime shrugged. "Travailler pour