African Entrepreneurship Records

  Chapter 105 Portuguese

   October 5, 1867.

  East Malawi Lake District.

  Mitomoni Village is located more than 100 kilometers south of Songgaia City.

  The forests in the East Malawi Lake area are relatively dense, and the tall and clustered trees are completely different from the endless grassland scene in the northern part of the East African colony.

  In the previous life, even in the 21st century, the forest coverage rate of Tanzania remained at about 50%. In this era, the forest coverage rate of the entire Tanzania is only a lot more.

Unlike the tropical rainforest and subtropical forest, the forests in East Africa are not densely packed, and there are large gaps between the trees, while the trees are dominated by grassland, with few shrubs, etc., so it is easy to pass, that is Without a compass and a map it is easy to get lost.

  So the East Malawi Lake area is also the least developed land in East Africa. After all, a fire in the grassland can burn a large area of ​​wasteland, and it is still very difficult for the East African colonies with a small number of people to cut down these trees.

  Everything has two sides. The forest is lush and timber resources are also abundant. Due to the limitation of transportation capacity, these trees cannot be exported at present, but they greatly meet the needs of the East African colonies themselves.

   Building houses, as fuel, making tools, can use these rich resources, according to the current population size of East African colonies, to develop these woods, it is really inexhaustible and inexhaustible.

  As one of the southernmost villages in the East Malawi Lake District, Mitomoni Village is also a small military stronghold.

  In addition to the low walls made of mud and stones, there are also simple sentry posts made of wood, and there are wooden horses in the direction of the exit. This configuration is a bit luxurious for the southern natives.

  Strictly speaking, East Africa has no borders with the Portuguese colony of Mozambique. After all, although Mozambique has a large population, there are not many Portuguese, and most of them are distributed along the coast.

  It is naturally impossible for the Portuguese to fully control Mozambique, so there are a large number of indigenous tribes in Mozambique, and their relationship with the Portuguese is more like a vassal state.

  As long as they submit to the rule of the Kingdom of Portugal, they are regarded as their own people. Of course, this situation is more obvious in the inland areas. In the coastal areas controlled by the Portuguese themselves, those indigenous people can only do cattle and horses for the Portuguese and bully them at will.

  Before the end of the slave trade, Mozambique was an important source of goods for the Kingdom of Portugal.

  The Portuguese colonization of Mozambique also followed the rules, first occupying the coastal ports, and then gradually expanding inland along the river.

  Of course, at first the Portuguese had an additional goal, which was to destroy the power of the Arabs as much as possible, so this was also a religious war.

  In Mozambique, the Portuguese succeeded. The Arabs along the coast were indeed weak, and it was difficult to resist the Portuguese invasion.

But when the Portuguese tried to go north to repeat this action, they encountered the Sultanate of Zanzibar, which was in a strong period. , the two sides jointly develop the interests of the West Indian Ocean coast.

The Portuguese once reached parts of Zimbabwe and Zambia when their power was the farthest, but because of the plague in the two places, the Portuguese were forced to withdraw to Mozambique. This was also the first failed attempt by Western colonists to develop the interior of Africa. .

  Until now, the Portuguese have not successfully expanded into the interior of Africa, at most they are important extraterritorial forces affecting the inland indigenous kingdoms and tribes.

  …

  A Portuguese patrol team, fully armed to explore the north, led by Tulio Pennelli, an officer in the Portuguese Mozambique colony.

  As a Portuguese who has been in the Mozambique colony for many years, Tulio Pennelli is quite familiar with the local area.

  The small team, forty-seven in total, followed the traditional road to inspect the indigenous tribes under the Mozambique colony.

   Gradually, Turio Pennelli came to the border area between the East African colony and the Mozambique colony.

  Actually, the Portuguese didn’t know much about the expansion of the East African colonies. They only knew that the Germans defeated the Sultanate of Zanzibar, but the Sultanate of Zanzibar still existed, but retreated to the island of Zanzibar.

  According to the Portuguese's thinking, the Germans should be on the same path as themselves, mainly concentrated in the coastal areas, and at most affect the inland tribes.

  After all, the Portuguese themselves have developed local power in Africa for hundreds of years, and they have not succeeded in going deep into the inland. The Germans have just arrived, and most of them have developed the coastal plains.

   Mitomoni Village is not far from Lake Malawi, and it can be regarded as inland, so Turio Pennelli and his party set off towards the north carelessly.

   Soon, after reaching the last tribe in the north of Mozambique, its chief began to report the latest news with Tulio Pennelli.

"Many people who escaped from the north were captured by us. They are all from the northern tribes. I heard that they were driven out by a group of white-faced people recently. Many rebels were killed or fled westward. They are also resisters. Unwilling to flee to the west, they escaped to our territory through the forest." The translator said to Turio Pennelli.

   "White face?" Turio Pennelli whispered: "Could it be a German!"

  Tulio Pennelli couldn't make up his mind, and said to the chief: "Tell me in detail about their appearance, clothing, and weapons."

"Our people have gone to the north to check, and there has been a castle built there (Mitomoni Village), their skin color is very similar to yours (actually most of them are Chinese), they have the same weapons (guns) as yours, and their clothes are very similar to yours. Similar, but relatively uniform, not as good-looking as your clothes (Westerners wear fancy clothes, while East African colonies mainly wear military uniforms), and the northern tribes we captured said that the other party has a lion as a totem tribe." The chief replied.

   "It seems that they are indeed Germans!" Tulio Pennelli said to the team members, "In this case, let's go visit and listen to my orders then, and don't conflict with the Germans."

   Soon, under the leadership of the chief, Turio Pennelli and his team rushed to the vicinity of Mitomoni Village. From a distance, there was a lion totem that the chief said was erected in front of the simple fortifications.

  Tulio Pennelli naturally recognized that it was not the tribal totem in the mouth of the local aborigines, but a flag, the family emblem (armor) of the Hechingen family, and the flag of the East African colony.

In fact, Tulio Penelli only knew that it was the flag of a European noble family. As for Hexingen, there are so many nobles in Europe, especially in the German region. How did Tulio Penelli, a commoner in the Kingdom of Portugal, know him? come over.

The reason why we can know that it is the flag of a European noble family is mainly the lion on that flag, which is too common in Europe. Many noble families have this symbol on the coat of arms of the royal family. Generally, eagles and lions can be used as family emblems (patterns) Chapter) has a lot of background.

But this does not hinder, Turio Pennelli knows that it is the flag of the Germans, because on the eastern coast, Portuguese businessmen can still get a lot of information from East Africa, especially the mouth of the Rufuma River (the Rufuma River is the eastern East African colony and the border river of Mozambique colony), there are many such flags on the other side.

   It was just that Tulio Penelli did not expect that the Germans had penetrated into the inland areas of East Africa and established a large stronghold here.

  (end of this chapter)