After it was confirmed that Sigt would go to Berlin, East Africa quickly prepared the matter and greeted the host German government, and Prince Leopold of Sigmaringen joined the meeting on behalf of Sigmaringen.

The Berlin Conference was held in April 1884, more than half a year earlier than in history, and it was mainly due to the variables brought about by East Africa and other countries.

Now that the whole of South Africa and East Africa has basically been carved up, only one West Africa remains, so other countries are naturally worried that they will not be able to eat even this last piece of meat.

The Berlin Conference soon turned into a vegetable market, after all, this time it only takes a few strokes to determine the ownership of a large piece of land, in the face of interests, no one can be calm, and there is no shame in fighting for a red face, compared with the benefits in hand, the face is worth a few dollars.

But what is surprising is that the main rivals at this Berlin conference are not the two mortal enemies of Germany and France, but the alliance of Germany and France against the British.

France had an advantage in Northwest Africa, but not in West Africa, especially after the British joined the colonial forces in West Africa.

First of all, the Gold Coast, the richest colony in Africa, was firmly controlled by the British, and then the coast of Nigeria, the largest economic power in Africa, in the previous life, the British also had an advantage.

Now Nigeria is called the Sokoto Caliphate, this empire has an area of more than one million, and occupies the most fertile arable land in the whole of West Africa and has a huge population, the only drawback is that the Sokoto Caliphate has been divided into a large number of vassal states, but this is a disadvantage for the central government of the Sokoto Caliphate, for the colonizers is an assist, more convenient for colonial rule.

Of course, the Sokoto Caliphate actually has only a small area along the coast, which is occupied by the Oyo Empire and the Ijab Kingdom.

The former Oyo Empire was one of the most famous states in African history, ruling the Kingdom of Dahomey, Togo, and most of Nigeria at its peak.

The Kingdom of Ijab was a relatively prosperous country in the coastal trade of West Africa, so it was conquered by the British around 1892.

And these two countries are only two dependent states of the Sokoto Caliphate, on the southwest coast of the Sokoto Caliphate.

The southeastern part of the Sokoto Caliphate does not belong to the Sokoto Caliphate, but the Kingdom of Benin and other independent states.

It is worth mentioning that the Kingdom of Benin is not the predecessor of the Republic of Benin in Africa, which was formerly known as the Kingdom of Dahomey.

This also shows the destructive nature of the colonizers to the history of West African countries, and if history had been passed on in an orderly manner, there would have been no mistake in the Kingdom of Dahomey becoming the Republic of Benin.

Of course, the important reason why the Kingdom of Dahomey later evolved into the Republic of Benin is that the Kingdom of Benin itself is very famous in Africa, and it is a famous ancient civilization in Africa.

This is the same as a bunch of European countries vying for the title of the Roman Empire, and the Republic of Benin, which developed from the Kingdom of Dahomey, is similar to the Holy Roman Empire in German history.

The new British colony was not the aforementioned country, but the Kingdom of Bonni in western Benin, which was a coastal country through and through, with little land inland, but a complex and winding coastline.

This is also the reason why the British occupied the Kingdom of Bonnie first, which is in line with the characteristics of British colonial maritime countries, after all, in Africa, there is a relative lack of good ports.

The vassal states of the Sokoto Caliphate and the independent state of Benin, if you add the tribes, in the entire territory of Nigeria in the previous life, there are as many as hundreds of political entities alone, and there are more than a dozen ancient countries with a little history.

And this is just Nigeria in the previous life, you must know that there were many West African countries in the previous life, and that was the result of the integration of the colonizers, so West Africa is even more chaotic in this era.

Moreover, there are many indigenous regimes in West Africa that have fled from East Africa, further exacerbating the complex situation on the ground.

At this point, East Africa is still in the arms business with these indigenous regimes that have gone to West Africa, but at present, it seems that their overall influence on West Africa is not reflected, and there is no chance in the future, after all, the great powers are not vegetarians.

"Germany and France seem to be arguing fiercely, but in fact they are crowding out Britain at every turn, especially since the targets of the two countries are clearly communicated before the meeting." said to the members of the East African delegation

"The faces of the British representatives are almost green, but they deserve it, Britain itself is the world's largest colonial power, and now there is only such a large 'terra nullius' as West Africa left in the world, and the British still want to eat alone, so they will naturally be excluded."

The fundamental reason for the end of Britain and the robbery of Germany and France is the rise of East Africa, which makes it impossible for Britain to engage in the so-called "two C plan" like in the previous life, and the two C plan basically controls most of Africa in the hands of the British, from Egypt to South Africa, and the British power in West Africa is not small, so the British were the real African hegemon in the previous life.

However, the British did not hold their sphere of influence after World War II, coupled with the joint suppression of the United States and the Soviet Union, the colonies became independent one after another, and the later African hegemon France was born.

Of course, this is also related to the geographical location of France, West Africa and North Africa are not far from the French mainland, and during the Cold War, France's united front value was significantly higher than that of Britain, so French Africa was able to remain relatively intact and did not collapse until the 21st century.

"Let the three countries quarrel first, this time, our purpose, in addition to ensuring the relevant rights and interests of East Africa in the African region, if we can obtain some additional benefits, that is the best." Thinking of Ernst's advice, Witt said to his subordinates.

Although it is unlikely to be realized, it is man-made, and now West Africa has not shown its potential, but in the previous life, West Africa should be regarded as a rare place in the world.

Especially in Nigeria, coal, iron, oil, arable land, population and other indicators are not bad, which can fully support the development of a world power.

That is, Ernst chose to develop a foundation in East Africa, and if he was to colonize West Africa, Ernst would also prefer Nigeria.

In fact, the benefits of choosing West Africa are much more obvious than those of East Africa, which is the main resource for industrial development, and West Africa is all self-sufficient, while East Africa lacks fossil energy such as oil.

Moreover, East Africa itself is very poor in mineral resources, in order to solve the resource problem, East Africa expanded all the way to South Africa, until the annexation of the Matabele Plateau, it was completely solved, but this can only meet the needs of the first industrial revolution.

This is also an important reason why Ernst has set his next target on Angola, which has two main resources for East Africa, one is oil and the other is hydropower.

Both of these are located near the mouth of the Congo River, and the waterfalls in the lower reaches of the Congo River contain unique hydropower resources in the world.

The oil production area is not far from the mouth of the Congo River, and finally the port of Angola, which is an important passage for East Africa to open the Atlantic.

(End of chapter)