Chapter 108: History Class
December 7, 1867
East African Colony, Mlandizi Cultural School
Today, the Cultural School in First Town (Mlandizi) welcomed two very special "students"—Maximilian I and his wife, Empress Carlota.
A month earlier, Carlota had arrived in East Africa. For the safety of his future mother-in-law, Ernst had arranged a private vessel to escort her as part of his fleet.
Upon reuniting with Maximilian I, alive and well in Tanga, Carlota threw herself into his arms and wept.
As the one who had encouraged Maximilian to pursue his imperial dream, Carlota had been devastated after he was captured in Mexico. For a long time, she cried daily in Europe, tormented by guilt.
The disaster in Mexico shattered her dreams of being empress. Now, she only wished to spend the rest of her life with the man she loved.
After a tender reunion in Tanga, she agreed to remain in East Africa with Maximilian for a while.
...
It was Maximilian I's first visit to First Town—Mlandizi—the seat of the East African central government.
Though smaller in scale than Dar es Salaam, Mlandizi was more meticulously planned and better equipped. Its buildings and culture were deeply inspired by German design.
Unlike Europe, Mlandizi featured a distinct natural landscape and climate. Some city features, personally planned by Ernst, were also unique.
For example, tree-lined boulevards and green zones—rare in European cities—were present here, albeit in a crude form.
Simple dirt strips along roads were left to grow wild grass.
East Africa had no shortage of land, so urban planning emphasized scale.
Though current road construction couldn't match the planning, reserved space would allow future upgrades.
Paved roads, flanked by green strips, were lined with wide, empty spaces.
Buildings on both sides were mostly single-story and widely spaced, making the sparsely populated town feel even more open.
Most structures were timber and earth, but with attached yards and space for expansion, each household had over 100 square meters of usable space—ideal for future renovation.
Drainage ditches, currently open-air, ran behind houses.
East Africa had a peculiar law: residents were forbidden to dump sewage into these public drains, which were meant solely for seasonal rainfall.
This was to prevent the drains from becoming stinking sewers.
In the warm, coastal plains of First Town, fermenting sewage would fester in the dry season, breeding bacteria and attracting flies.
Future upgrades would see cement-covered pipelines, but for now, strict sanitation was essential.
Tropical disease was no joke.
On their arrival in First Town, the royal couple saw the Cultural School, which had been built on the outskirts due to its later construction.
Both were curious about the educational content of such a "backward" place—how it compared to Europe.
In Mexico, Maximilian never had time to implement reforms—education was a pipe dream amid the chaos.
East Africa's ability to implement compulsory education despite its poor conditions intrigued them.
Maximilian requested to experience an East African classroom.
The government arranged for them to observe a class at the First Town Cultural School.
In a Grade One classroom, around 30–40 students—children of Chinese and Austro-Hungarian immigrants—sat at desks. (Paraguayan children required Spanish-speaking teachers.)
The instructor was a graduate of the Hohenzollern Military Academy.
As the capital, First Town had the colony's best teaching staff.
The Academy and other schools were essentially fast-track programs—students' abilities varied greatly.
Most graduates could only hold basic conversations in German.
Still, East Africa's teacher shortage meant even the weakest were assigned roles.
The smarter ones taught higher grades. The slower ones handled the youngest children.
Thankfully, the curriculum was simple—reading directly from the textbook usually sufficed.
Today's lesson was history.
Maximilian eagerly flipped open a colony history book and whispered jokes to Carlota.
The teacher ignored their whispering—everyone knew these two were special guests of the government.
Due to the colony's diverse population, Grade One classes were taught bilingually.
From Grade Two onward, all instruction was in German. Chinese children had to overcome the language barrier to succeed.
Unsurprisingly, Chapter One was a glowing tribute to the Hohenzollern family—celebrating the royal house's rule over East Africa and its deep historical roots.
The children, too young to find it odd, treated it like a storybook—there were no tests on this subject.
This was Ernst's little trick.
Subjects with exams often bred resentment.
But when history was treated as light reading—like a novel—children got hooked.
The more they read, the more they liked it. But test them on it, and enthusiasm plummeted.
Maximilian and Carlota finished the chapter with suppressed laughter.
Compared to Europe's great dynasties, the Hohenzollerns weren't even the most prestigious—certainly not next to the Habsburgs.
Still, every noble house loved to exaggerate its grandeur, so Maximilian wasn't offended. If someone had written about the Habsburgs this way, he'd have gone even further.
What amused the couple was the almost messianic depiction of the Hohenzollern royal house.
Ernst wasn't wrong—his text used religious-style narrative to glorify the royal family's status.
However, unlike Japan's divine ancestry myth or Egypt's sun-god pharaohs, Ernst was more subtle.
He never mentioned gods or heaven.
Instead, he used coded language—"blue sky rhetoric"—to elevate the Hohenzollerns.
This avoided conflict with the colony's religiously diverse population.
In East Africa, there were no churches or priests.
Residents—Catholics, Orthodox, etc.—worshipped privately, based on family tradition.
Ernst's goal was secularization.
It was too hard to make adults give up their beliefs, but shaping children's minds was much easier.
No need to go overboard—just avoid the kind of religious infusion seen in Europe's church-run schools.
Without repetition and organized instruction, traditions fade.
Relying on spontaneous folk religion would never match the power of professional clergy.
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