Chapter 17 Dar es Salaam
February 1, 1865, Dar es Salaam.
Dar es Salaam means "Port of Peace" in Swahili. Later Tanzania's largest city and port, the national economic and cultural center, an important port in East Africa, and the capital of Dar es Salaam District. The city is green all year round, has a beautiful environment, and is dotted with relatively well-preserved Western-style and Arabic-style ancient buildings. It is a city along the "Maritime Silk Road". Zheng He, an ancient country in East Asia, visited the coastal areas here during his voyages to the West during the Ming Dynasty.
Currently, the Suez Canal is not open. Dar es Salaam is a must-pass for European ships heading to Asia. Many merchant ships dock here to rest and replenish fresh water and supplies.
There are also some Portuguese and Dutch merchants trading here. The Sultanate of Zanzibar encourages Arabs to go to the interior of Tanzania to hunt slaves and capture ivory. Specialties such as cloves are also grown locally, which are imported from Europe. When merchants returned from Asia, they would purchase goods here and bring products such as ivory and cloves back to Europe to earn higher profits.
The temperature today is about 30 degrees. The salty and humid sea breeze blows from the Indian Ocean. Coconut trees are swaying in the wind. The tide gently laps the white coastal beach. Standing on the coast and looking out, a large fleet of ships rises from the sea level. Coming gradually.
The ship was flying the Dutch flag and slowly sailed into the port of Dar es Salaam under the command of the pilot.
A team of more than 2,000 people armed with live ammunition disembarked from the ship and boarded the pier of the port. This team was the German colonial team hired by the Bank of Hechingen.
The team was led by an old Prussian officer who had just retired. Many of them were veterans of the Prussian army and had just participated in the Second Schleswig War.
The deputy in the team is an old mercenary who has been wandering around the Asian waters all year round. He once worked in the Dutch Far East Colony.
Of course, most of them were unemployed people recruited from all over Germany. After equipping them with second-hand weapons after the Prussian Army retired, they were sent to Africa to carry out colonial activities.
This large-scale colonial group, which landed with "advanced" weapons and equipment, brought panic to the local Zanzibar Sultanate. A colonial group of this size is enough to fight a war in this era The war to destroy the country.
The Sultanate of Zanzibar is an authentic Arab country. It is the African part after the separation of the Oman Empire, a once powerful Indian Ocean power. During its power, the Oman Empire occupied the East African land with Zanzibar Island as its core. , and controls part of the coastal areas of East Africa. Opposite Zanzibar Island is the Port of Dar es Salaam, which is also the core ruling area of the Kingdom of Zanzibar.
As a former hegemon of the Indian Ocean, Zanzibar often dealt with Western colonists. These people were ruthless. Zanzibar had fought against the Portuguese, so after seeing the colonists sent by Hechingen, After the group landed at the dock, the Sultan of Zanzibar did not dare to act rashly and sent someone to negotiate.
Europeans of this era naturally looked down upon small countries like Zanzibar. Except for Europe, other regions were barbarians and uncivilized lands in the eyes of Europeans. But remembering the tasks assigned by the boss, it’s better not to cause trouble.
The representatives of the colonial team followed the representatives of Zanzibar to the palace of the Sultan of Zanzibar. The Sultan prepared a banquet to receive the representatives of the colonial team, and at the meeting began to gossip about the colonial team's intentions.
“I don’t know how to address you?” asked the Sultan of Zanzibar.
The leader of the colonial team replied: "Your Excellency Sultan, you can call me Armen."
"Your Excellency Armen, are you Dutch? Look at your clothes and those Dutch people. There seems to be something different." The Sultan of Zanzibar said curiously: "But you came here on a Dutch ship, so I don't know where you are from."
"Your Excellency, we are from. The Kingdom of Prussia, the great German region, came to your land this time on a ship from the Netherlands.”
Prussia! The Sultan of Zanzibar frowned. The German Sultan of Zanzibar had heard of it, but Prussia didn't know much about it. He turned to look at his foreign minister.
Seeing the Sultan's instructions, the Foreign Minister leaned into the Sultan's ear and explained softly: "Your Majesty the Sultan, Prussia is one of the powerful countries in Europe. I heard that they have a powerful army in Europe, but I didn't listen. I have said that Prussia has the same navy as Portugal and England, and you can only see a very small number of Prussian businessmen here. "
Well, the Sudan understands that the people who come here are not ordinary people, and they should not be offended easily. After all, the Portuguese are already very powerful. This so-called Prussia is actually still a powerful country in Europe. Its strength should not be much worse than that of the Portuguese. "Then I wonder what your purpose is in coming to Zanzibar? Zanzibar is just a small country without any outstanding resource development." asked the Sultan of Zanzibar.
“Your Excellency Sultan, we Prussians come here with sincerity. We mainly engage in agricultural production in Tanganyiga and will not threaten your rule in Zanzibar. "Captain Yaman said.
The Sultan of Zanzibar did not believe the lies of the Europeans, and asked cautiously: "The land in Tanganyiga is actually not as good as imagined, especially in the interior, where lions and beasts are everywhere, and there are more people than people. Even our country has There is no way to develop the inland, and it may be difficult for you to complete it if you come from afar."
Yalman Regiment. The chief explained: "Don't worry, Your Excellency Sultan. To be honest, we are actually developing farms in the interior to grow tobacco and some tropical plants. These are rare in Europe, so we chose this place."
The Sultan of Zanzibar still asked uneasily: "Although I am not interested in whether your country will develop its interior, but Our country also has many interests in the interior, such as the savages and ivory there, which our country cannot give up. How can you ensure that the interests of the Zanzibar people are not harmed?"
"Your Excellency, I can guarantee that. , will not interfere with your country’s interests in the interior. At the same time, we can also cooperate and sign agreements, because we are developing The purpose of developing land is to drive away wild beasts and savages in the interior. Although these things have a certain value, our team still does not like them. They can be sold to your country. This time we are only the first batch, and there will be others in the future. Come here, so confrontation is a dead end, and both parties have a harmonious future," Arman persuaded with a hint of threat.
Thinking of the two thousand "elites" at the port, the Sultan of Zanzibar's heart rang with alarm, and he said without leaving a trace: "Your Excellency Armen, the peaceful development of both sides is also what we Zanzibar people pursue, but, I don’t think any king can sleep with an army under his nose!”
Seeing the surrendered Sultan of Zanzibar, Arman smiled contemptuously in his heart and comforted him: "Don't worry, Your Excellency Sultan. To show our sincerity, we can leave in two weeks and will not be in Dar es Salaam." Living for a long time, of course, it can be faster with the support of your country."
The Sultan of Zanzibar immediately understood such an obvious hint and said boldly: "You're welcome, we will do our best. Helping my 'friends'." But my heart felt painful.
Armen explained: "Don't worry, Your Excellency Sultan, we just need to build some tools for wild camping. After all, you can't live in the open air in the wilderness, right?"
Zanzibar heard When Arman said this, he was relieved and responded quickly: "Your Excellency Arman, you are too polite. We can still provide some additional support."
Unexpectedly, Arman did not hesitate. Received: "There are really other things that need your country's help."
"Gan... you didn't say anything earlier!" the Sultan of Zanzibar thought to himself, and was prepared to be blackmailed.
“Our follow-up materials and personnel still need help from your country’s port for transit. I hope your country can provide convenience for us.”
It turns out that this is the case. The Sultan of Zanzibar has already Unexpectedly, such a large group of people are not moving and must need a transportation channel to contact Europe. However, out of caution, the Sultan of Zanzibar still mentioned: "It's no problem to borrow a port. We can set aside a piece of land for your country's use." , but your country cannot have troops stationed in the port and Zanzibar, and your staff at the port cannot carry weapons."
Hearing this, Yaman knew that the matter was almost done. But he still bargained: "No problem, but the safety of the staff stationed in Hong Kong still needs to be guaranteed, so we will leave an armed group of 20 people to protect the safety of the staff."
Hearing that only 20 people People, the Sultan of Zanzibar agreed. Although the Sultanate of Zanzibar is a small country, it still has strength. It is just afraid that it will hurt both sides with the Prussians, and the Portuguese next to it will be ready to make a move.
As long as the conditions proposed by the Prussians do not threaten Zanzibar's rule, they are still barely acceptable. After all, the opponent's gun is pointed at the forehead. What else can be done? Fight or not, Zanzibar will suffer. Fortunately This group of Prussians knew something, otherwise the Sultan of Zanzibar would not have let these Prussians enter the interior through Zanzibar.
(End of this chapter)