Chapter 167: Cultural Eradication
East Africa, relative to the rest of the world, is also a cultural wasteland. The brilliant ancient Egyptian civilization held up the historical narrative of civilization for the entire continent. However, Ernst never considered Egypt as part of Africa. Whenever he thought of Africa, he instinctively excluded all of North Africa. The vast Sahara Desert, like a river of stars, seemed to split the continent into two separate worlds.
The indigenous people on the East African plains were not, in Ernst's eyes, part of the civilized world. They were too wild and unrestrained, so much so that Ernst felt they had merged with the vast African wilderness.
From a moral standpoint, Ernst was reluctant to break the indigenous peoples' millennia-old way of life, coexisting with beasts. But even without Ernst, other colonizers would eventually disrupt the tranquility of the land. Western colonizers were the true destroyers of this world.
They forcibly dragged Africa into the machinery of global affairs. Before their arrival, these indigenous peoples had no concept of human society—they lived like the animals on the East African plains, following the law of the jungle and a purely instinctual way of thinking. What they possessed was the most primal and wild kind of mindset.
Colonizers then brought into their world the lies, deceit, selfishness, greed, and every other evil of the so-called civilized world. Yet, they failed to enlighten them, to pass on the noble thoughts and virtues of humanity's sages to these people.
Of course, Ernst wasn't a good man either. As someone who had been hardened by decades in society, his heart was just as black.
Now, Ernst intended to completely erase all traces of the indigenous peoples' existence in East Africa. It was incredibly easy to destroy their presence—especially on the grasslands. A single wildfire could burn away any evidence that they had ever been there.
However, Ernst's main target this time wasn't the indigenous people, but rather the Arab civilization, which had left real marks of civilization in East Africa.
The East African colonies were home to many remnants of Arab civilization. Arabs, Persians, Indians, and even the Ming Chinese from the Far East had once visited these lands. India, Persia, and the Far East were of little concern—they had only passed through East Africa.
But the Arabs had taken root. The entire East African coast and areas near North Africa were full of Arab cultural remnants.
This included buildings and cities left behind by the Sultanate of Zanzibar, which were only the tip of the iceberg. It also encompassed deeply influenced areas such as Kenya and Buganda. Even into the 21st century in Ernst's previous life, archaeologists continued to unearth remnants of ancient Arab presence in East African ruins.
A sea of Islamic-style architecture made for a glaring sight in East Africa—many of these structures dated back to the Middle Ages and were considered valuable cultural heritage in Ernst's former world.
But Ernst wasn't one to cherish cultural relics, especially those that could affect the future legal claims over East African land.
People often liked to fantasize. Many clung to the idea of "since ancient times." Numerous cities once built by Arab civilizations in East Africa could, in Ernst's view, one day be used by some Arabs to make claims on the land.
Not even looking ahead to the 21st century—this kind of thing already happened often even now. For example, several European countries fancied themselves the inheritors of Rome. While the French and the Germans used it for political declaration, the Italians were seriously dreaming of reviving the Roman Empire—pure delusion. Everyone knew that Italy's claims about Rome weren't taken seriously. Were they expecting the entire Mediterranean coast to be handed over?
Some Italians were like toads dreaming of eating swan meat—completely crazy. The Turks were even more ridiculous. The Eastern Roman Empire was wiped out by the Ottoman Empire, and yet the Ottomans later claimed to be the legitimate successors of Rome. At least the Germanic peoples had absorbed parts of Roman culture. The Ottomans were a completely foreign civilization—Rome's mortal enemy. They left no room for the Eastern Roman Empire, even erasing its culture. How dare they?
Moreover, Turkey both wanted to wave the Roman flag and kept yearning for Arab civilization. Later, they even promoted pan-Turkism—constantly jumping between identities.
So as time passed, absurdities only grew more absurd. Ernst simply wanted to patch the cracks, to prevent foreign countries from finding fault in the future.
As for East Africa, if all historical relics were destroyed, then in the future, its history books would replace America's as the thinnest. Ernst didn't care.
Even in Ernst's previous life, when America gathered cultural relics and knowledge from all over the world, it couldn't change the Old World's disdain for American historical culture.
With an even shorter history, East Africa had no need for self-deception. It had no historical culture, and should admit it openly. It was, at its core, a stitched-together monstrosity.
Fischer's job was exactly this—he was in charge of demolition work in Dar es Salaam. All buildings left behind by the Sultanate of Zanzibar were to be demolished and replaced with German-style architecture. This operation was also underway in places like Mombasa and Buganda.
In the future, these German-style new cities would replace mosques and other iconic Arab buildings as the new face of East Africa in international interactions.
Fischer was a "high-end talent" whose presence in Africa was pure happenstance. The Stuttgarter Zeitung was actually run by Ernst. As the pace of German emigration slowed, Ernst published a job advertisement in the newspaper—just to try his luck.
He hadn't expected East Africa to appeal to urban Germans. The pay wasn't high, and Africa had a terrible reputation in Europe.
But Ernst underestimated the living conditions of the lower class in that era. Even in economically developed cities, there were still skilled workers like Fischer on the brink of starvation.
Still, one shouldn't expect ads alone to bring in a flood of workers. Most Germans still preferred to live in Europe. Emigrating was usually a last resort.
Moreover, East Africa didn't have that many positions available. Fischer was lucky—construction skills were always in demand, and the job didn't require high technical qualifications.
But in Europe, the construction sector was already saturated. The low skill requirement made it easy to be replaced. On top of that, Fischer lacked formal education and relied solely on experience handed down in his family. He also happened to run into a heartless boss. These combined factors led to Fischer losing his job and seeking employment in East Africa.
Unfortunate individuals like him weren't too common in Germany. Even if they waited longer, they'd probably find work. But Fischer had three mouths to feed at home and couldn't afford to wait.
Also, southwestern Germany was a key area for East African immigration. With peasant communities already migrating there as models, Fischer became increasingly driven to build a future in East Africa.
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