Chapter 538: The Hohenzollern Version of the "Scramble for Africa"
"Uncle Karl, you see this area here is Lake Chad. Just from the map, you can see how vast its waters are. It's no exaggeration to say that among African lakes, it might be second only to the Great Lake (Lake Victoria) and Lake Soren (Lake Tanganyika)."
At this time, Lake Chad had not yet dried up like in later eras. Its surface area could reach 30,000 to 40,000 square kilometers (it expanded rapidly during the rainy season), making it a prominent feature on the East African-drawn map of Africa.
Prince Karl was certainly tempted. A lake this large would excite anyone—lakes and rivers represent civilization, especially a lake of this size next to the Sahara Desert.
"Ernst, does this so-called 'Lake Chad' really exist?"
It was a fair question. In fact, Lake Chad had already been discovered in the early 19th century, but map updates and dissemination were slow. Only recently had European countries begun large-scale exploration of Africa.
But frankly, East Africa alone occupied nearly a third of the continent. Even two-thirds of Africa was of little value for expansion, with only West Africa being somewhat worthwhile. North Africa, despite the decline of the Arab and Ottoman empires, still retained a strong cultural imprint. This was one reason Algeria eventually broke away from France.
"Rest assured, Uncle Karl, if any country truly understands Africa, it's us in East Africa. In fact, the British discovered Lake Chad in 1822 while exploring the relationship between the Niger River and Lake Chad. Our own expedition team also investigated it later, and our data is even more detailed."
To be precise, the first European to discover Lake Chad was a Scotsman. There's actually little connection between Lake Chad and the Niger River. In ancient times, Lake Chad was even one of the sources of the Nile River, and its area back then was larger than today's Caspian Sea.
Ernst continued to explain to Prince Karl: "The entire Chad region, especially the north, isn't a great place. It's dry and desert-covered. But the southern grasslands resemble many parts of East Africa. Rainfall ranges from 500 to 1,200 mm—ideal for agriculture. The northern part may be harsher, but there's no competition. If you want to occupy land, take as much as you want. You won't lose out. After all, the Arab Empire was born on the vast sands of the Arabian Peninsula."
It's not all desert—there are grain-producing areas in Arabia. But once the population grows, it's never enough. The north-central part of Chad is similar in this regard.
"To the east or south is the Cameroon region. You can consider those areas as well. In the northwest is Darfur, an Arab nation. If you want it, you'll have to take it yourself. The people of Darfur are probably harder to deal with than the southern Blacks."
"We can send troops to clear parts of Chad and Cameroon as forward bases for your colony. You just need to secure your advance to the west and north."
With a grand gesture, Ernst essentially offered Sigmaringen nearly two million square kilometers of land, leaving the seasoned Prince Karl momentarily breathless.
So bold—or perhaps rough. That's the appeal of colonization. Unlike Europe, where people might fight to the death over a single village.
Of course, East Africa was only promising to help secure a base of operations for Sigmaringen—specifically, the former territory of the Wadai Empire.
The Wadai Empire was a sultanate established by Abbasid nobility. In fact, many of the countries bordering East Africa to the north and west were sultanates—Arab nations. But in Chad, Cameroon, and Darfur, these Arab nations were primarily Black African.
Those original sultanates no longer existed—East Africa was to blame. When East Africa expelled western Black kingdoms from its territory, they traveled through this area to reach West Africa.
Such massive population movements inevitably led to conflict with the indigenous states. They might have resisted at first, but with wave after wave of Black Africans crossing through from East Africa, many local nations were eventually destroyed. These expelled groups weren't weak either, and needed supplies for the journey, which spelled disaster for the locals.
So when Ernst offered military help to Sigmaringen, it was mostly symbolic. The Black African powers near East Africa were already nearly wiped out.
Prince Karl: "But this land, while vast, is too far from the ocean. That makes it difficult to manage."
Indeed, the distance from the Indian Ocean to Chad was considerable. Access from the Atlantic would be easier. Historically, the French had taken this route. But among all German states, Germany had the most presence near the Atlantic. Even so, its navy couldn't fully control its own coastal waters, let alone the South Atlantic, which remained in the spheres of Britain and France.
At present, Germany did maintain some token colonial holdings in West Africa, but France's dominance there made it hard for Germany to make meaningful gains—though it did cause France considerable trouble in its own West African colonies.
It was ultimately due to East Africa. East Africa had swallowed what were formerly Germany's two most important African colonies—German East Africa and German South West Africa—so in this timeline, Germany had more resources to devote to colonizing West Africa.
"Uncle Karl, you don't need to worry about this. We can help you. The northern railway extends all the way to the Great Lakes region and can provide you with transportation capacity. The remaining route to the Chad area is also under our control. On the other hand, the South Atlantic is not a feasible direction—our naval power is too weak to compete with other countries there."
Not to mention Britain and France—East Africa's naval strength in the South Atlantic was even weaker than Portugal's. The reason East Africa was able to attack Angola was purely thanks to its inland support via railroads and highways.
So for Sigmaringen to colonize Chad and the surrounding areas, it was best to go through East Africa's interior. Of course, railway fees would still need to be paid, and this was a chance to earn a bit from Romania to subsidize East Africa's economy. Plus, since Sigmaringen's colonization would require a large number of people to pass through East Africa, all their basic needs—food, shelter, sanitation—would be provided by East Africa.
Even among close allies, accounts must be settled. East Africa's support for Sigmaringen was already very generous. After all, others didn't even have access to East Africa's railway network.
Prince Karl was very pleased—in fact, he felt like he'd hit the jackpot. East Africa was basically giving him a colony for free, and one with great potential. The remaining issues would naturally have to be handled by himself.
"Yes, I'll discuss this with Leopold and the others."
Aside from its own strength, Sigmaringen's greatest backing came from East Africa and Romania. East Africa had already cleared the land; the rest depended on Romania and Sigmaringen themselves.
However, Ernst offered a reminder: "It's important to separate family from national interests. In fact, the military pressure for colonizing Chad is quite low—it's mainly a matter of people and supplies. We in East Africa can provide these at cost, so I recommend that Sigmaringen and Romania divide their colonial responsibilities. For example, Darfur could be left to the Romanian military, while southern Chad is best kept under your own control."
Although King Carol I ruled Romania, the country wasn't his personal property. Therefore, it was better to take advantage of public resources for private gain—using Romania to serve the Sigmaringen royal family.
Sigmaringen and Romania cooperating to colonize Chad and its neighboring regions made sense; on its own, Sigmaringen lacked the strength to handle it.
"You can also provide the population?"
"Of course, but we can only supply Chinese from the Far East. As for white settlers, you'll have to recruit them yourself from Romania and surrounding areas."
Over the past years, East Africa had already absorbed most of the surplus German-speaking population from Europe. Especially in Germany—now that the economic crisis had ended and the economy was growing again, there was little incentive for migration. The earlier waves of migrants, particularly bankrupt farmers from East Prussia hit by the agricultural crisis, were already gone.
So the mass German migration to America that happened in the 1880s historically would no longer occur. In the 1870s, America itself was facing economic hardship and wasn't accepting many German immigrants. This meant that in this alternate history, the twenty years' worth of German migration had gone to East Africa instead.
Therefore, the possibility of Sigmaringen recruiting a large number of German immigrants from Germany was nearly zero—East Africa couldn't even meet its own needs.
They would have to look to Romania and other countries. As for Far Eastern immigrants, East Africa could still supply them. In fact, the number of Far Eastern migrants to East Africa had dropped significantly recently, and tickets for ships were now in extremely high demand.
This was because one of the key elements of East Africa's immigration policy had been population counterbalancing. Now that German migrants were no longer available, the policy had lost its meaning.
Many of East Africa's ships had now shifted to serving the Black labor trade, supplying cheap labor to the Americas. In other words, the peak of East African immigration had passed, and the region was transitioning to being a more typical immigration destination.
East Africa's immigration policy over the past decade had led to three outcomes: massive development and growth in East Africa, a relief to Germany's economic crisis, mitigation of the land-population imbalance in the Far East, and a large supply of Black labor for America. Consequently, the number of white immigrants to the U.S. dropped.
America is a capitalist country—capitalists do the math. Compared to advertising in Europe and paying for transportation, Southern plantation Blacks were clearly more cost-effective.
As for the ethics of slavery—Northern factory owners didn't see it. The Blacks coming from the South were legally free, maybe a bit older, but obedient and easy to manage, even better than before. No one wanted another Civil War just to seize free labor from plantation owners.
Ernst's generosity toward Sigmaringen—giving land and people—was not purely out of goodwill. His goal was to build a racial buffer zone to completely separate West African Blacks from East Africa in the future.
The northwest was already blocked by Belgian Congo, the northeast by Italian-controlled Ethiopia—only the central hole remained to be filled.
With East Africa's support, Sigmaringen's colonization of Central Africa (Chad, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, parts of Sudan) was very likely to succeed.
Germany also had a decent chance of claiming one or two colonies in West Africa. In the past, Germany held Togoland (modern Togo), Cameroon, and even parts of Gabon (France's compensation to Germany for the Morocco crisis).
So, with that, all three main Hohenzollern lines would have their own spheres of influence in Africa—cementing the Hohenzollerns' legacy as true African colonial lords.
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