Chapter 230
The East African Kingdom's foundation primarily rests on roughly one million square kilometers of plateau area in East Africa, covering Tanzania, Kenya, and the Great Lakes region. It's quite stable – plus a few surrounding places, a total land area of about two million square kilometers where the kingdom doesn't fear any outside rivals.
With the advantage of large-scale immigration, no other colonizers and local tribes combined can threaten the East African plateau and its surroundings.
Now, to the southwest – the land corresponding to present-day Zambia – which only recently joined East Africa, that region is relatively weak. The East African Kingdom has reached temporary compromise with its native groups. With no external interference, East Africa can gradually absorb the southwest. But if another power stirs up trouble there, the kingdom would be on the defensive.
Besides these two areas, the Mitumba Mountains, the coastal plains, and the northern desert also occupy a sizable portion. All told, that's nearly four million square kilometers.
"Your Majesty, this is our latest map of the East African Kingdom, revised multiple times for accuracy,"
said von der Leyen, unrolling a map before Constantin. A quick glance reveals East Africa's shape is rather like a leaf, wide in the middle and narrow on both sides, slanting into the African interior.
"This map looks really awkward—strange-looking," King Constantin remarked.
"Sire, it's because in expanding East Africa's territory, we avoided some slightly stronger forces. In the west, we're blocked by the Mitumba Mountains, the Congo River, and the tropical rainforest, so we only reached the east bank of the Lualaba. Along the highlands, we could push west-southwest, and with no local opponents, it went smoothly," Felix explained.
"Eventually, these highlands will be our core territory—similar climate, plenty of space, and the heights give us a terrain advantage over the surroundings," Felix went on.
"In trying to develop the southwestern highlands, our main problem is transport. In the east, most rivers run east-west, more or less matching our path. But southwestern rivers mainly feed the Zambezi, running north-south, so we'd need more bridges to connect things."
"Exactly. The Zambezi itself is a huge barrier. Unless we solve that, our expansion might suffer," someone added.
"I think our inland 'river-lake forces' could help more. Africa has many wetlands, swamps, and lakes—small boats are perfect for that. Meanwhile, given East Africa's circumstances, we could build more suspension bridges as a stopgap, ensuring safe passage for troops and equipment," Felix suggested.
From the map, it's obvious East Africa's further expansion options—if it doesn't want clashes with other colonizers—are only three directions. One is southern Sudan, then west at the Luba or Lunda kingdoms, and south toward Zimbabwe. Southern Sudan is possible but limited; heading further north is North Africa, and west isn't great due to water shortage.
So that leaves the Luba and Lunda kingdoms in the west, plus Zimbabwe in the south—both areas are decent. One is the Lunda highlands, the other the Matabele Plateau. Which to choose? Ernst wouldn't even hesitate: Zimbabwe.
He knows Zimbabwe perfectly well from his previous life. Its currency was famously inflated, and from his job in Africa, he was very familiar with each country's resources. Zimbabwe had the most crucial resources in this era: coal and iron. In short, with Zimbabwe's coal and iron, East Africa could transform from an agricultural/mineral exporter into an industrial nation. Future data on Zimbabwe show it ranked high for resources in Africa; not many places had both coal and iron in abundance. Elsewhere, it's typically diamonds or metals. Zimbabwe's top resources include coal and iron, and its coal seams are high-quality and low in impurities—exactly what East Africa needs to drive an industrial revolution.
(Quoting the Chinese data: "Zimbabwe's mineral wealth is large, with around 80 discovered types, over 40 of which are basically confirmed. Major products are diamonds, platinum, chromium, gold, iron, coal, nickel, copper, zinc, and lead; industrial minerals like limestone, phosphate, clay, and dolomite. New finds show very rich shale gas resources. Preliminary exploration indicates its platinum reserves rank second in the world, chromium second, iron around 38 billion tons, coal 27 billion tons, and coal-bed methane five hundred million cubic meters. In 2001, they discovered a new diamond deposit with world-leading reserves.")
Coal and petroleum: these two energies are pivotal to industry. Coal and iron: the foundation of the First Industrial Revolution. Zimbabwe's only drawback is limited rainfall, about the same as northern Shaanxi in China—around 600 mm, whereas Zimbabwe ranges from 400 to 900 mm, both unevenly distributed. This is manageable. Without coal and iron, East Africa would remain an agricultural and mineral exporter; with them, it can become an industrial power.
Compared to other continents, Africa lacks abundant coal. Its iron is decent but mostly in West Africa. In central-southern Africa, only three places—South Africa, Angola, and Zimbabwe—combine both coal and iron. The first two are already taken. Zimbabwe is "unclaimed." Historically, after 1880, it fell under Boers and then Britain as Rhodesia and Nyasaland Federation (Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi). Now, East Africa has two of the triad. Securing Zimbabwe blocks any Boer expansion north or Portuguese expansion west. Then inevitably, East Africa must handle one of those two. Otherwise, the threat is huge. Possibly it'll launch a first strike. As for which one they'll face first, it depends on who steps out of line. By default, Ernst's main worry had been the Portuguese colony, but the Boers are just as obstinate. Fighting on two fronts isn't ideal, so it's best to smash one early.
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