African Nationhood

Chapter 138 Portuguese Governor (Please subscribe!!!)
  The earliest residents of Mozambique were the Khoisan people, and the Bantu people moved here around the 10th century.

Since the 9th century AD, Arabs have been trading along the northern and central coasts of Mozambique.

In the 11th century AD, the Persians once replaced the Arabs, but they failed to establish rule in the interior.

In the 13th century AD, the Mashona people established the Monomotapa Kingdom in what is now Zimbabwe and Mozambique. The kingdom gradually declined in the early 16th century.

In the mid-15th century, Mozambique became part of the kingdom of Mweni Matapa.

At the end of the 15th century, in order to open a sea route from Western Europe to East India, Portugal came to the coastal areas of East Africa and began colonial rule until the end of the 19th century.

The Portuguese also encountered challenges from other European and American powers during their colonization of the East African coast.

The Netherlands once attacked the Portuguese island of Mozambique on the coast of East Africa in the 18th century, but was ultimately unsuccessful.

Later, after Cape Town was occupied by the British, the Dutch no longer wanted to compete for supremacy in the Indian Ocean, so they devoted themselves to colonizing Southeast Asia.

The battle between the British and the Portuguese had been intermittent. In 1869, the governor of the Natal colony sent a small force to occupy the bay of the Delagua River (today's Maputo Bay, the capital of Mozambique).

However, too few people were dispatched at that time, and the local troops in Portugal were not defeated, so the matter was abandoned.

After the Berlin Conference in 1885, the competition between Portugal and Britain over the Kingdom of Matabeleland and the Kingdom of Lunda in southern Africa entered a fierce stage.

The Portuguese advocated the establishment of a pink plan from Portuguese East Africa (Mozambique) across the two indigenous kingdoms to Portuguese West Africa (Angola).

The British, instigated by colonist Cecil Rhodes, implemented the "Double C Plan."

That is, the establishment of a colonial plan spanning the entire African continent from Cape Town, South Africa to Cairo, Egypt.

Therefore, Shi Jintang's early occupation of two indigenous kingdoms at this time was a great benefit to the British government, and it was also a big blow to the Portuguese.

According to the original time and space history, the Portuguese government will send several expedition teams from the mainland in April of this year (1884) to explore the geographical environment of the two indigenous kingdoms.

The appearance of Shi Jintang on Mozambique Island, the seat of the Portuguese East African colonial government, during this period was a huge surprise to the Portuguese government and the Portuguese East African colonial government.

Francisco dos Santos Aveiro, the governor of the Portuguese East African Colony, was stunned when he was informed by his subordinates. How could the British Nanhua Company find this place?
  Doubts are doubts, but we still have to see.

"Invite them in."

As soon as he met Francisco, he was attracted by Shi Jintang's clothes. The white stand-up collar short-sleeved shirt made people remember him deeply.

"Hello, Governor Francisco, I am Henry Shi, the general manager of the British South China Company!"

After Shi Jintang finished speaking, a white civil servant took the initiative to come aside and translate.

The fat governor glanced at Shi Jintang, then at the neatly dressed guards and the flag of the colonial company behind him. The Union Jack flag with a red background could not be faked.

"Hello, General Manager Shi, are you from the Qing Dynasty?"

Shi Jintang chuckled and said, "Yes, I was once a Qing citizen. Now I have become a British citizen and now I am serving Her Majesty Queen Victoria."

Francisco nodded and invited Shi Jintang to take a seat.

Only then did Shi Jintang have the opportunity to look at the Portuguese governor in front of him.

The fat and bloated governor must be in his 40s this year, with a bald forehead and a thick beard covering the lower half of his face.

Moreover, his skin is a little dark because he has been here for a long time, and because he has not exercised for a long time, his lower body looks very thick.

The Portuguese Governor took out his pipe from the table and said, "Do you want to smoke? The tobacco I have here is of the highest quality and is exported to Europe!"

Shi Jintang took out the Haocai cigarette box, opened it, took out the cigarette and handed it to the other party, "I have this, you can try it too."

The fat governor smiled and nodded and took the cigarette from Shi Jintang's hand, "This thing seems to be very popular in Cape Town?"    "Yes, this kind of cigarette is produced by the workshop under my name. If you like it, I can I’ll give you some.”

The fat governor nodded, "Okay, I always like good things."

When the other party said this, Shi Jintang also laughed, "I came here just to give you some good things. I wonder if you are interested?"

The fat governor lit the cigarette and took a deep breath: "Well, not bad, it smells good. Do you want to give me something good?"
  What could be better than this cigarette? "

Shi Jintang lit a cigarette by himself, took a puff and then slowly exhaled the smoke, saying word by word: "How about the gold mine?"

After hearing what Shi Jintang said clearly, the fat governor's pupils suddenly shrank and his eyes opened as wide as possible.

"Gold mine?"

Seeing the other party's shocked and unbelievable look, Shi Jintang smoked his cigarette leisurely and slowly puffed out smoke rings.

"Yes, the capital of the Kingdom of Matabeleland has been captured by my Nanhua Company. I have received a batch of gold mines, a large number of cattle, sheepskin, ivory and slaves. I wonder if you are interested, Governor?"

“What, the Kingdom of Matabeleland fell?

This, how is this possible? "

The fat governor was stunned by Shi Jintang's two shocking news. He couldn't understand why the tyrannical King Lobengula suddenly failed.
  "How many employees does your company have?"

"I have a little more than 20 employees. The battle process basically doesn't take much time. The battle is over in one night."

Shi Jintang's understatement made the fat governor even more frightened.

This yellow-skinned oriental man actually has such a powerful strength and easily destroyed the Matabeleland Kingdom. Then he is not going to attack my colony next, right?

The Portuguese governor's worries were by no means unfounded. Although the Portuguese had colonized the East African coast for hundreds of years, they had never been able to penetrate deep into the interior.

They currently occupy only 35% of the total area of ​​Mozambique, mostly in coastal areas, and most of the inland areas are ruled by "Prazo".

The so-called "Prazzo" is a local force formed after the immigrant Portuguese and local indigenous people merged.

They oppressed the indigenous people, collected a lot of tax resources and put them into their own pockets, and had nothing to do with the native and colonial governments.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the "Baluai Uprising" led by the indigenous chief Hanga broke out in Portuguese East Africa.

The indigenous people hated the Portuguese to the extreme and tried to fight back against the Portuguese by joining the British.

"Did you really come here just to do business with me?"

Seeing the other party's careful inquiry, Shi Jintang smiled and nodded, "Yes, I came here to sell the loot this time just by the way. My real purpose is to buy a port from the Portuguese East African colony."

The fat governor's eyes lit up when he heard this.

The Portuguese are habitual offenders of the slave trade. They have never stopped the slave trade for hundreds of years.

Although Britain and France officially banned the slave trade, the French colony of Reunion was in urgent need of slaves to serve as coolies, so they did not refuse the "indentured laborers" transported by the Portuguese.

It was not until the first few years of the 20th century that the Portuguese really stopped the slave trade. Their main source of slaves was the indigenous people in Mozambique.

Seeing that the other party had fallen into the trap, Shi Jintang smiled leisurely and said, "Let's talk about purchasing the port first."

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  (End of this chapter)