To the north were the Portuguese colonies of the Gold Coast, and the three black countries of Dahomey, Grand Arad and Oyo, the three countries in the south that had been the Kingdom of Benin had perished, and the city of Benin was controlled by nearby tribal powers, and was declining as the slave trade moved to the south.

The Gulf of Guinea in the south was dominated by the Spanish sphere of influence, who established slave trading ports in Malabo and Douala, but Douala itself was a settlement of the Douala tribe.

The delta of the Niger estuary juts out into the Atlantic Ocean, at the point where the Gulf of Benin and the Gulf of Guinea meet, and the Chinese and African companies have established a base between the Spanish and Portuguese forces. The Portuguese sphere of influence in the north has now been replaced by the British, and the Spaniards in the south are stronger and able to maintain their presence.

In order to establish a base in the estuary, the African company has made great efforts to establish a base in the estuary, because this is a large river delta region, the terrain is relatively low, the sea water interacts with the river water, the water in the estuary is lower than the sea water and higher than the river water, it is impossible to quote or grow freshwater plants, and the estuary is occupied by mangrove forests rooted in the river sand. The size of the Niger River means that the main terrain here is marshy and inhabited by an endless stream of mosquitoes, flies, and crocodiles lurking in the sludge. It's also close to the equator, so it's full of rainforests, and you have to cut out the road before you take a step.

To get into the estuary, you first have to clear a road from the mangrove forest, then find a safe passage through the mosquitoes, flies and crocodiles, and then find a road through the rainforest, which is extremely difficult to develop.

This is why the estuary has remained untouched by Westerners, with only six small indigenous tribes settled, the Bambara, Malka, Bozo, Sulko, Pall and Tuareg tribes.

The six tribes had different divisions of labor, but they were generally able to live in harmony because the Europeans did not infiltrate the area, and they did not get involved in the slave trade. The Pall and Tuareg make a living from herding, the Bozo and Surko fishing, and the Bambara and Marka farming.

Six tribes, three occupations, exchanged goods with each other, and a number of small bazaars were formed along the river. The bases of African companies are based on these bazaars.

Xie Qinggao's expedition team spent several months carving out navigable channels from the mangrove forests at the mouth of the river, surveying deep channels in the swamps, and finding the main channel of the river from the primeval rainforest. With adequate medicines, a third of people still die from disease, and the price of this price in exchange for shipping is precious.

Under Zhou Lang's instructions, the African company entrusted more savvy and capable European companies to negotiate with European countries, with a focus on Mediterranean countries, and thought that it would be the first to reach an agreement with the French, but it did not expect that it was the Austrian Empire that would be the first to respond.

They made it conditional on recognizing the Chinese bases in the Niger River in exchange for African companies opening them up to them and helping their immigrants enter the landlocked Mali Empire. The Niger River is a relatively navigable river, with navigable sections accounting for 75% of the total length of the river, and the total length of this river is 4,200 kilometers, which means that the navigable section of the river is even larger than the Pearl River Basin.

From the mouth of the river, it is possible to sail all the way up to 1,200 kilometers and then change boats to the vicinity of Timbuktu. However, the first 350 kilometers can be navigated to the sea all year round, the middle 350 kilometers can only be navigated by ships during the wet season from June to March of the following year, and the large ships can not be navigated during the dry season of three months every year, and the next 500 kilometers can only be navigated by large ships in October ~ mid-November. After 1,200 kilometers, the channel can only be navigated by small boats. If the time is right, you can reach your destination within half a year, and if the time is not right, you have to wait until the next year.

However, with the support of the base, this time can be shortened to three months, because there is no need to worry about logistics and supplies, and it can be safely called a small ship sailing, and there is no need to wait for the navigation period of the large ship.

By accepting the terms of the European companies, the Austrians were granted the right to use the bases of the African companies, which allowed them to enter Timbuktu more safely and quickly than the pioneers of other countries.

The reason why the Austrians agreed so happily is also related to their geographical location, after the opening of the Suez Canal, in fact, the biggest beneficiary is Austria. Before the Suez Canal connected the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea, the only outlet for the Austrian Empire (not Austria) was through the ruled regions of northern Italy, such as Venice into the Adriatic Sea and then into the Mediterranean, and through the Danube into the Black Sea, before entering the Mediterranean.

But even the Mediterranean Sea declined with the Age of Discovery, the world's shipping center shifted to the Atlantic, the coasts of the Austrian-controlled Dalmatia and Italian city-states were simply far away from the world's waterway centers, and the Black Sea was surrounded by some economically underdeveloped countries such as Russia and the Ottoman Empire, and commercial trade was far inferior to that of Northwest Europe.

To get to the European economic center at this time, northwest Europe with Britain as the core, the Austrians had to pass through the Rhine River valley, which had to pass through the entire German region, especially the North German region, and the North German overlord Prussia had risen to the point where it could compete with Austria for German hegemony, so Austria's access to the sea was either controlled by Serbia, Romania and other lower Danube countries under the rule of the Ottoman Empire, or subject to the North German states represented by Prussia. The only thing that can be controlled by itself is the mouth of the Adriatic Sea, close to the Mediterranean.

The opening of the Suez Canal made the Mediterranean Sea the core of the great shipping route again, among the Mediterranean countries, Greece was also ruled by the Ottoman Empire, Italy was divided into states, either controlled by Austria, or controlled by France and Spain, France and Spain are countries with Atlantic outlets, so the real benefit is the Austrian Empire.

At this time, Austria was not a small landlocked country, but one of the four great European powers of Austria, Hungary, Czech, Slovakia, Slovenia and Croatia, Poland, Ukraine, Romania, Germany and Italy. Population-only after Russia and France, both with a population of 20 million, three times the population of Prussia, twice as large as Britain, and the second largest country after Russia in terms of territory. Technically, the industrial revolution began earlier than the Nordic countries, and in education, it was the first to implement six-year compulsory education.

Such a large empire is gradually lagging behind other countries because it has broken away from the main channel. Historically, before World War I, Austria-Hungary developed faster than any other power, and one of the main reasons was the opening of the Suez Canal, which allowed them to embrace the world's big market.

Although the influx of Chinese goods has affected some industries in Austria, commerce has developed greatly, imports and exports have increased, and the contribution of customs revenues to the national treasury is real. Therefore, although together with Britain and Prussia, China was forced to open up its colonial market, but Austria welcomed Chinese influence into Europe.

Immediately after Austria signed an agreement with the European company, the French were not to be left behind and agreed to the terms of the European company, which had previously had some ambitions for the territory of the Niger River. The French were also involved in the slave trade, but in a better position, they established an outlet to the sea in Senegal, and Dakar was the base of the French slave trade.

And the French found that the Senegal River can actually lead to Timbuktu, just to cross the Sahara Desert, they are not urgent, want to find a more convenient passage, but the Austrians took the lead, so that the French had to give up their ambitions, quickly recognize the Chinese's sovereignty over the Niger River base, in fact, is a disguised abandonment of the competition for the river.

This was followed by Spain and Italy. As for North-West Europe, they rallied on the side of the British.

Large numbers of surplus laborers, especially veterans, have packed their bags and started heading to Africa.

The farthest reaches in the Mediterranean are through Gibraltar, then into the Niger River and finally in Timbuktu.

Spain and France had the advantage, while the Austrian Empire and the Italian states suffered geographical losses, but as long as they reached the mouth of the Niger River, they could easily use the bases established by the Chinese to quickly enter Timbuktu.

By the time they arrived in Timbuktu, the French and Spanish companies had already taken possession of the best gold mines, Austrian and Italian companies had shared some leftovers, and British and Prussian companies had to look for the gold deposits that had not yet been discovered.

These African companies, showing the world what the bloody violence of capitalism is, saw the weakness of the surrounding tribes, the strength of their mercenaries who had been baptized by the Napoleonic wars, and immediately began to use the most primitive violence, arresting blacks as laborers and helping them to perform unpaid labor.

The tribal forces that broke off from the Mali Empire were completely powerless to protect themselves under the sweep of this colonial force.

Mali has a lot of gold reserves, and later became the third largest gold producer in Africa, second only to South Africa and Ghana, with nearly 1,000 tons of gold proven mining, an annual output of more than 50 tons, and a pound sterling equivalent to 7 million pounds in the alloy standard, which is really a huge amount of money in this era.

As gold mines continued to be discovered, more and more Europeans poured in, and there was a wave of migration from Europe to Africa, with more than 30,000 people pouring into Mali in just one year.

Spurred on by gold, a large number of commercial companies set up production bases in the interior of Africa, and the price paid was terrible, with indigenous attacks, cannibalism, and inexplicable disappearances and deaths, most of which did not last more than half a year, and finally succeeded in gaining a foothold after paying a high price for declarations.

At this time, the Europeans discovered that the land in Africa was not of the highest grade, and the land around Mali was also quite feasible for agriculture, and its proximity to the equator, excellent sunlight and abundant freshwater resources made it ideal for growing cotton and other tropical cash crops.

So a gold company began to develop a sideline in their own mining areas, with the gold mine as the center to build a plantation, to provide food and other consumer goods for the gold mine, but also to produce some cash crops, mainly cotton, at the beginning of planting cotton can only be a sideline, far less than the return of gold mining, but gold is a relatively poor mineral resources, after the gold mining, these plantations have continued to operate.

Not only Mali, but also other parts of the Niger River basin around Mali also owned gold and land, and over time, driven by the gold industry, other industries began to appear, and a frenzy to carve up Africa appeared more than half a century earlier.

Eventually, the British occupied Ghana on the Gold Coast, the French opened up Senegal on the Dakar, Austria and China were far from Northwest Africa, the Chinese opened up commercial bases along the river, and the Austrians coincidentally occupied a large overseas colony in the interior of Mali.