Just managed to bang out an update while in the library between classes. Some minor things will probably get ret-conned in the future as I don't have my notes with me (usb is still being annoying, I'm guessing it's with my user profile for the uni computers), but it should be fairly consistent.
Part Sixty-Three: Red Sea Rising
A Newcomer to the Colonial Game:
By the late 1870s, Germany had recovered from the effects of the Grand Unification War. Prussia had assured its dominance over a unified German state with Emperor Wilhelm I and chancellor Otto von Bismarck at the country's helm. Now that Bismarck had secured Germany's presence as a power in Europe, he started looking to proclaim Germany's presence among the world's foremost great powers. In the imperialist world on the late 19th century, this meant going overseas to Africa or Asia and gaining colonies. As most of Asia was already claimed by the Atlantic countries, Germany had to look to the uncolonized shores of Africa to find its place in the sun.
The first target of the German colonial regime was the Sultanate of Oman. Oman and its dependencies on the east coast of Africa had been embroiled in a decade-long succession war after the death of Sultan Sa'id bin Sultan. Thuwaini ibn Sa'id had taken control over the area around Muscat in Oman, while Mayid ibn Sa'id controlled the majority of the East African regions of Oman from Zanzibar. From 1877 to 1879, Germany sent governors to mediate the situation and gradually assume control over the region. In 1879, Germany overthrew Sultan Mayid ibn Sa'id and took direct colonial administration over the East African coast from Mogadishu to the Rufiji River. Germany established a colonial fortress on Zanzaibar and improved much of the island making it the administrative center of what would become German East Africa. Thuwaini ibn Sa'id was overthrown by Ibadi clerics in 1881 who moved the capital of the region to the city of Nizwa. While Oman was able to remain independent a few more years under Ibadi rule, Germany incorporated the provinces around Muscat into management from Zanzibar by 1885.
After building further fortresses in Mombasa, Mogadishu, and Mzizima[1], Germany began looking for elsewhere to stretch its colonial regime. While the German colonial ministry encouraged settlement of the German colonies in Africa and Muscat, they were primarily focused on resource extraction. Exploration of the East African interior via the river systems was done to penetrate German trade and claims further into the continent. German explorer Colonel Hans Kowalski discovered the Sachsensee after trekking up the Rufiji River past its source, and later discovered the Bismarcksee which later was found to be the source of the Nile[2]. Germany quickly extended its control of the coast north from Mogadishu as well, reaching the tip of the African Horn by 1890.
Egypt in Revolt:
While Germany was expanding its influence in Africa, the Ottomans were slowly losing their hold on parts of the continent. On the death of Muhammad Ali Pasha in 1853, the Ottomans attempted to reassert their control over Egypt by making his first son Ibrahim Pasha governor of Egypt. However, a coup in 1854 by his brother Sa'id Pasha ousted Ibrahim and through a treaty with the Ottoman Sultan Abdulmecid, Sa'id Pasha was recognized as the governor of Egypt, Sudan, and Palestine, and the Hedjaz, all the lands which traditionally went to the governor of Egypt. Ibrahim was sent in exile to Istanbul where he lived for the remainder of his life.
Sa'id Pasha governed Egypt effectively and made many reforms to modernize the country just as Muhammad Ali had done. While Egypt was nominally under Ottoman control, it operated virtually independently as a state. Among other projects, Sa'id oversaw the construction of a new harbor in Alexandria and a modernization of the Egyptian navy, the establishment of the Bank of Egypt in 1862, and Sa'id made trading concessions to bring Egypt to a better relationship with France under Louis Napoleon. Through this relationship, Sa'id Pasha began plans to build the Suez Canal under French backing and moved to become more independent from the Ottoman state.
While France had attempted to finance a canal connecting the Mediterranean to the Red Sea earlier in the century, serious consideration only arose after the Second Napoleonic War when France achieved greater control over the Mediterranean in a time of peace. Looking to expand the abilities of French colonial and trading aspirations, Louis Napoleon and Sa'id Pasha agreed on concessions that Egypt would make toward France to allow the canal to be built through Egyptian territory. The Ottomans, influenced by British diplomats, attempted to stop the canal from going through and used it as an excuse to reassert their control over Egypt. Sa'id Pasha declared Egypt officially independent from the Ottoman Empire in 1877 and Louis Napoleon provided assistance to the Egyptians in the resulting war. The Egyptian Revolt lasted three years, but in 1880 the Ottomans signed a peace granting Egyptian independence with control over much of the lands that Sa'id Pasha had control over. Over the next decade, the Suez Canal completed construction in 1887 and Egypt gradually became a French protectorate as further concessions were granted to French advisors and the French government.
[1] Mzizima is the former name of Dar es-Salaam.
[2] Sachsensee = Lake Nyasa, Bismarcksee = Lake Victoria
