Chapter 470 Orange voted for Britain
East Africa’s behavior made Cape Town very cautious, but now it has no way to face the behemoth of East Africa by its own strength, but Cape Town does not need to be sad, East Africa did not mean it Regarding Cape Town, the Portuguese in Angola are actually also frightened.
Leitania Province is far away from Walvis Bay, separated by a vast desert area, but the climate conditions in the area where Namibia and Angola meet in the west of Letania Province are not bad! This can be seen from the map of Namibia. Basically, the important rivers in Namibia are distributed in the north.
Although these rivers are also mainly seasonal rivers, the plateau area in the northern region is quite large, and the precipitation can barely reach 500 millimeters.
Although there are plateaus in the southern region, there are also mountains. These mountains are the reason why it is inconvenient for East Africa to directly invade Namibia from the east.
Just imagine, after finally crossing the Kalahari Desert, you encounter the rolling mountains. After crossing the high mountains and plateaus, you still end up in the desert. This kind of despair cannot be overcome by willpower. That's why East Africa took the measures when colonizing Namibia. A way of advancing simultaneously by sea and land.
In the plateau area to the west of Letania Province, in the previous life of Namibia, it was called Ovamboland. It is the most important farming area in the country and can grow millet, sorghum, potatoes and other self-sufficient food crops. , home to 30% of the country's population.
How important is this region to Namibia? Let’s just say that Namibia’s food self-sufficiency rate is only about 20%, and most of this 20% food self-sufficiency rate comes from Ovamboland Contributed.
It’s no wonder that the Portuguese don’t like Namibia. This land is indeed bad land, but this is only considered in terms of colonial costs.
For East Africa, the value of Namibia is different. The importance of the ocean is self-evident. If Namibia is captured, East Africa will immediately become a two-ocean country.
As for the harsh climate in Namibia, it is not a problem for East Africa. East Africa itself has enough agricultural land and there is no need to add additional land. Just like the original positioning of South Africa, there is no need to vigorously develop the planting industry.
April 1877.
East Africa is also planning for the Congo rainforest zone. The Ubangi River Inland River Force has been established to conduct regular patrols on the Congo River and Ubangi River. This also heralds East Africa’s complete inclusion of the Congo Basin east of the Ubangi River. in their own country.
East Africa as a whole is in an offensive state in the west, and with the blessing of railways, East Africa's transportation capacity has been greatly improved, especially the western section of the Central Railway, which is approaching the Angolan colony and ending abruptly inland, forming It feels like a broken railway.
As for why the western section of the Central Railway was built like this, it can be said that Sima Zhao’s intention was well known to everyone on the road, and it was one of the manifestations of his plot to colonize Angola.
……
May 1877.
Bloemfontein.
Under the persuasion of the British, the Orange Free State held its final vote on whether to join the Cape Colony.
“The voting results were 1,308 votes in favor, 230 votes against, and 415 abstentions. I declare that from today on, the Orange Free State will be dissolved and automatically join the Cape. "President Brand personally dissolved the last Boer republic, so that South Africa completely changed from a tripartite force to a confrontation between two tigers.
In fact, President Brand is also very helpless. He personally hopes that the Orange Free State Republic will continue to remain, but if he really does this, I am afraid that a civil war may break out in the Orange Free State the next day, so merging with the Cape Colony is not a good idea in Brand's eyes. Poison that had to be swallowed.
Except for the Boers, the only remaining force in South Africa is the Kingdom of Lesotho. However, the Kingdom of Lesotho was robbed by the British at the beginning of the year and declared subjugated. This is also in line with the British character. After all, it was crippled by East Africa. The collapsed Kingdom of Lesotho has no use value at all. With the annexation of the Orange Free State to Cape Town, the United Kingdom has initially unified southern South Africa.
The negative vote in the Orange Free State means that they do not want to join forces with the British. Maybe East Africa is not a good thing, but the British are definitely bad. As for those who abstained, most of them do not want to mess with the British and the Germans. In the dispute, it seemed to them that the Orange Free State should remain neutral.
These people are generally natives of the Orange Free State, but the opposition and abstentionists are weak. There are more Boers, especially those who were driven to the Orange Free State by East Africa. They all hate East Africa deeply. Driven by their emotions, most people in the Orange Free State also hate East Africa.
Under the deception of the British, the Orange Free State threw itself into the arms of the British Cape Colony without hesitation and became part of the Cape Colony.
Under the situation of being a wolf and a tiger behind, it is obvious that Britain is more deterrent than East Africa, and the Orange Free State is quite clear about what East Africa did in the Transvaal Republic, and they also Afraid of following in the footsteps of the Transvaal Republic.
Lyent, the British special envoy to Cape Town: "The Boers made the right decision. From today on, you are all my brothers, and we will work together to defend the peaceful order of South Africa."
In order to win over the Boers, the British also After spending a lot of money, in order to reach an agreement with the Boers, the British generously stated that the diamond mines in the Orange River could be split 50-50 with the Boers. Of course, due to the needs of national defense pressure, they would temporarily take care of them to maintain military expenses. expenses, and then return that part to the Boers after three years.
At the same time, the British also promised to forgive the arrears of the two previous countries. This is very important for Orange. The Orange Free State and the Transvaal Republic are evenly matched, and their fiscal revenue is basically in a deficit, so We borrowed a lot of money from the British. After all, it was impossible for the Boers to borrow money from the Zulus and other indigenous people.
For the Boers, Governor Henry Buckley of Cape Town also offered a price, promising that the Boers had the same status as British citizens. Britain would respect the rights of the Boers and protect the sanctity of their private property.
Of course, if Ernst knew about the British's commitment to the Boers, he would definitely sneer at it. Dogs can't change eating shit, and the same is true for the British's commitment.
And this time the British deception is almost the same as in the previous life. They didn’t even provide any substantial benefits. They just shouted slogans and used immigrants from the Transvaal Republic in the Orange Free State. anti-East African sentiment, he brought the Orange Free State into his sphere of influence.
This is almost inevitable. The Transvaal Republic originally had a larger population than the Orange Free State. After they were expelled from East Africa, a large number of Transvaal people poured into the Orange Free State. State, quickly gained the right to speak in the Orange Free State by virtue of its population advantage, and with the support from the British, the original Boer power in the Orange Free State was eclipsed.
At this point, East Africa can be said to have dug a hole for itself. However, expelling the Boers from the Transvaal Republic is the best choice for East Africa. If Ernst really left the Boers in The real time bomb lies within East Africa.
The Boers have initially formed their own national ideology, which is contrary to the Germanization of East Africa. If you want to transform the Boers, the cost is too high, and it may not be effective, so it is better to let them leave, although East Africa knew that this group of Boers might become enemies in the future and had to do this.
(End of this chapter)