Chapter 918 "Eastern and French Territorial Recognition Agreement"
The French government's choice was very rational, and the East African side did not make any concessions. Lieutenant Masers reported the news to his superiors. Since East Africa is close to Madagascar, the East African government received news of the border friction between the two countries earlier than the French government. .
"We have foreseen this day a long time ago. After all, the issue of Madagascar has been foreshadowed as early as the last century, but no one thought that East Africa and France would eventually have differences in the region." East African Foreign Minister Hull Mann said.
This is nonsense. East Africa only appeared on the stage of history in the mid-to-late 19th century, and France had colonized Madagascar as early as the end of the 18th century. There was no role for East Africa in the first place, but the emergence of East Africa disrupted the original Due to the game between Britain and France, the British now do not even pay much attention to Madagascar as they did in the previous life.
This is easy to understand. The South African War actually replaced the Boer War in the previous life and represented the bud of the decline of British global hegemony. Therefore, at this time, the British did not want to do it again on the island of Madagascar.
Of course, France has never fought against East Africa after all, so East Africa has no idea. This does not mean that East Africa does not have the confidence to defeat France on its homeland. In the eyes of East Africa, the East African territory on the island of Madagascar is also part of the homeland.
“If we can talk, we’ll talk; if we can’t, we’ll fight. There is no fundamental conflict of interest between us and France, so starting with negotiations on this matter can appropriately release goodwill to the French government,” Ernst said.
Ernst is not very interested in the Kingdom of Immerina, just like the Abyssinian Empire. After all, these two countries are rare countries in Africa with their own independent ideologies. France will not be able to occupy this country in the future. place.
As a result, the French government and the East African government both preferred to resolve the issue of territorial sovereignty on Madagascar through negotiation, which laid the foundation for the two countries to carve up Madagascar.
In June 1896, the East African government took the initiative, and the French government responded positively. The East African and French governments held negotiations in Paris. After some discussions, the two countries finally decided to occupy the area based on the facts and formulated the border between the two countries. .
After all, the historical and geographical boundaries of the border area between the two countries were originally blurred. After all, how our territories and colonies came from is a confusing account, and it is impossible to really follow the standards of the original indigenous people.
Therefore, it is in the best interest of both parties to directly use the actual occupied areas of the two countries as a reference. Of course, in some details, both governments have shown a certain degree of "tolerance".
So in harmony, in August 1896, the governments of East and France formally signed the "Agreement on the Recognition of Territory of East and France", which clarified the border areas between the two countries, namely Madagascar, Gabon, and French Somaliland. A fixed border line with East Africa, a peaceful settlement of the territorial dispute between the two countries, and everyone believed that the agreement was public and equal.
This also disappointed some extra-regional countries who hoped for a conflict between East Africa and France, including Britain, Portugal and Germany.
England and Portugal suffered big losses last time, while Germany did not want France to go too smoothly, and at the same time, it did not want East Africa and France to get too close.
Of course, East Africa and France will naturally not be disturbed by the attitude of third-party countries. Both countries are big countries. Although France is one level stronger than East Africa, its influence in Africa and East Africa is unparalleled, and France also has a lot of interests in Africa. , so the two countries respect each other and there is a basis for cooperation.
The signing of the "East-France Territorial Recognition Agreement" is also a historic event of great significance for East Africa.
There is actually Britain, but Britain is the only one that has confirmed its respective spheres of influence with East Africa through war. There is no relevant formal agreement or treaty between the two countries. This is actually a trick played by the UK. What the UK likes most is to deal with issues left over from history to ensure conflicts between regions.
Fortunately, East Africa signed relevant treaties with the Egyptian government long before the British completely colonized Egypt. Otherwise, Egypt might really have reason to bring out the "South Sudan" issue in the future.
And according to the size of East Africa, only Egypt is the "Wakanda" hiding Africa, and it dares to provoke a hegemonic country like East Africa.
“Before the adoption of this agreement, the territorial scope of our East African mainland was basically determined and implemented, and it was possible to conduct a nationwide census based on this incident.” said Geers, director of the National Bureau of Statistics.
In the past, the specific value of the land area of East Africa was unstable. After all, East Africa has continued to expand. After the South African War, the estimated land area of East Africa in 1890 was about 13 million square kilometers. This time, the national area was re-measured more accurately. .
“In addition, our country’s administrative divisions should also be readjusted. With the stabilization of land area, industrial transformation and population migration activities due to the construction of the ‘three regions’ in East Africa, Angola, Mozambique and Orange have accelerated their development. "In order to facilitate regional governance, administrative divisions should also be adjusted in areas that do not have clear administrative areas."
Previously, East Africa had ruled Mozambique and Angola for five years. Through the construction of the three departments, the three places should be able to reach the national average level by 1900.
Ernst also agreed with this. He said to everyone: "In this case, let's start a new round of compilation of the national zoning. My request is based on the economy, population, environmental carrying capacity, geography, This zoning adjustment will be carried out based on comprehensive factors such as location, terrain, and climate.”
"Of course, it is not limited to the current population and economic level of various places, but also focuses on the future. For example, the West, Southwest Africa and Angola are definitely different. Angola, as an important external channel on the west coast of East Africa, has unbeatable potential. For the eastern coast, as time goes by, it can even catch up with some areas on the eastern coast, so in this round of zoning adjustment, we should take a longer-term view. "
“Secondly, some original unreasonable regional divisions should also be adjusted according to local conditions. For example, Bujumbura, the capital of Western Great Lakes Province, is too remote and has inconvenient communication with other regions in the province due to terrain. This should also be recognized. Pay attention to."
The city of Bujumbura is in the southeast corner of the Western Great Lakes Province, and the Western Great Lakes Province as a whole is biased towards the Great Lakes (Lake Victoria) basin, but Bujumbura, the provincial capital, belongs to the Lake Solon (Lake Tanganyika) basin, and is The most developed city in the Solon Lake Basin, this is really a bit awkward.
So according to Ernst’s idea, Bujumbura will no longer serve as the provincial capital of Western Great Lakes Province in this regional adjustment, and the new province will be directly selected from the eastern cities of Western Great Lakes Province.
Bujumbura became the capital of the new province. As we all know, among the three major lakes in East Africa, the Great Lakes (Lake Victoria) and Lake Malawi are too obviously favored, while Lake Solon (Lake Tanganyika) has long been favored. Neglected, so in order to effectively manage and develop Lake Tanganyika, Ernst intended to establish a new province around the lake area.
This new province also has another purpose, which is to weaken the Plateau Province. After all, the area of the Plateau Province is relatively large in the eastern region.
With the East African government’s decision to re-measure the land area and East Africa’s desire to conduct a new round of administrative division adjustments, from 1896 to 1897, the East African government conducted a new round of surveys and inspections across the country.
The focus is on border areas, as well as Angola, Mozambique, Madagascar, Orange and other areas that have been incorporated into East Africa not too long ago and have no relevant administrative divisions.
(End of this chapter)