Mayotte is located in the Strait of Mozambique and forms the Comoros archipelago together with the islands of Grande Comore, Anjouan and Moheli. With an area of 374 square kilometers, the economy is mainly agricultural, mainly producing spices such as vanilla, and in the past was a French overseas region, under the jurisdiction of a department, that is, Mayotte.

In 1870, the French colonies had six key areas, the first was North Africa (French Algeria), which was self-evidently important, the closest to the French mainland, and the area that France most wanted to localize.

The second is West Africa (French Seychelles - Gambia, Guinea, etc.). Ivory Coast – Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, etc. Gabon, the region of Equatorial Guinea – which later became the French Congo) was the most economically valuable French colony in terms of quantity and quality. At the same time, the latter two were located in the Gulf of Guinea, and the French naval forces could easily support these areas.

The third is Madagascar, which, together with the French Comoros (Mayotte), constitutes the strategic fulcrum of the Indian Ocean.

The fourth is Southeast Asia (Cambodia, southern Vietnam), the Far East.

The fifth is French Guiana, South America.

Finally, add a Djibouti region that controls the Suez Canal, after all, the importance of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait is self-evident, and the Suez Canal is a dead end without the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, and Britain and France have deployed troops near this area.

These regions constitute the main body of the French colony, and together with the French mainland, it happens to radiate the whole world, so none of the above areas can be moved.

Moreover, among these 6 regions, Africa accounts for 4, which is enough to show that France attaches great importance to Africa, after all, according to the European version of the world map, Africa is the real geographical center of the world, and the junction of latitude and longitude 0 degrees is in the Gulf of Guinea.

Therefore, Ernst had to think of a way to find a way from the French-controlled islands, which were certainly not too far away, and Mayotte was the closest to East Africa, and at the same time, it was strategically located in the center of the Mozambique Channel.

At the same time, the island's agricultural conditions are good, there is no problem in feeding tens of thousands of people, plus the entire Comoros Islands, there is no problem with more than 100,000 people (in fact, the population of the Comoros Islands in later generations is more than 800,000), and the other three islands are terra nullius (in fact, there are two indigenous kingdoms, of which the Greater Comoros Island speaks Swahili and is the same as the indigenous people of East Africa), but Mayotte, which is occupied by France alone, is very conspicuous, so Ernst attaches more importance to the island.

Mayotte is inhabited by Malagasy tribes in the south and the French colony of Madagascar and the Kingdom of Imerina in the north.

It would certainly not be possible to say that Ernst was not interested in Madagascar, but the French colony of Madagascar could not defeat it, and the four ships of the East African Navy could not withstand the toss.

The kingdom of Immerina is obviously not the cuisine of East Africa now, not to mention its size, it is not the kind of ignorant, gunless and disunited tribal group of the indigenous people of East Africa, Ernst judges the indigenous civilization very simply, primitive, slave, semi-feudal and semi-slave, feudal.

And the expansion of East Africa in Africa also validates this statement, the best fight is the primitive tribes, then the slave kingdoms, then the semi-feudal kingdoms, and finally the feudal kingdoms.

The higher the level, the higher the degree of centralization, the stronger the organizational ability, so far the most difficult country in East Africa is the group of semi-feudal and semi-slave kingdoms in the Great Lakes region and the Sultanate of Gradi, as for the Sultanate of Zanzibar, it is completely unexpected, after all, it was controlled by Felix, who does not speak of martial virtues, and if East Africa chose to destroy the high-level of the Sultanate of Zanzibar at that time, I am afraid that there will be a follow-up fight with the Sultanate of Zanzibar, and its main body is in Zanzibar, and at that time East Africa did not even have its own ships, It is impossible to attack it across the sea.

And the kingdom of Emmerina is a very difficult bone to gnaw, and among the indigenous Africans, it is on the same level as the Abyssinian Empire.

It can only be said that the Malagasy people, like the Abyssinians, are not pure African natives, one is deeply influenced by Middle Eastern civilization, and the other is mostly brown people from the Far East. The two countries are just at the crossroads of civilizations, so they are relatively civilized.

As early as 1817, Britain signed a treaty with the Kingdom of Madagascar, recognizing Radama I as King of Madagascar, promising to provide weapons and advisers and to prohibit the slave trade, and the London Mission was allowed to join the mission in Madagascar.

Its ruler, Radama I, was also a powerful ruler who abolished the slave trade and instituted modern reforms. His successors, Ranavalona II and Ranavalona III, came into conflict with the French and were eventually overthrown by the French. After the defeat of the War of Resistance against France in 1896, Emmerina fell and became a French colony.

Even so, the subsequent kingdom of Imerina continued to revolt, so it was impossible to take Madagascar without a large population.

Judging from the time of the fall, it is known that the Kingdom of Emmerina is not a good stubble, Belgium is a small country, and it has only been a few years since it annexed the entire Congo, while the Kingdom of Emmerina has been fighting with France for nearly a century.

Therefore, Ernst was more interested in the tribes of southern Madagascar than in the kingdom of Imerina.

Now the center of gravity of East Africa is on the mainland, so it is impossible to go to Madagascar for expansion, but not now does not mean that it will not be able to do it in the future, and the south of Madagascar is far from East Africa, and the Comoros Islands in the middle can be used as a transit point.

And the biggest problem with the acquisition of the Comoros Islands is the French-controlled island of Mayotte, which is important, but it is also the same for France, because there are already colonies of Madagascar and Reunion. The colony of Madagascar was certainly a key area of interest for the French and related to their global strategy (threatening the Cape of Good Hope and the Indian Ocean shipping routes).

The only colony that could be obtained through the Franco-Prussian War was Mayotte, and the other French colonies, with their strong power and distance, and their autonomy were very strong, they might not obediently listen to the central government, to be precise, they were in cooperative relations with the French central government.

Therefore, those colonies with large areas and large populations should not be considered, even if France agrees, East Africa will have to fight a rematch.

Mayotte has no such concerns, it is sparsely populated, the area is not large, the value is not high, and it is not distressing to cede to Heixingen.

As for the question of competition, it is not the turn of East Africa, the British in this region are the henchmen of the French, for example, the Seychelles were snatched by the British from the French, and the British naval strength is stronger than that of the French is also an important reason.

(End of chapter)