Chapter 111: On Civilization
The current population of East Africa (including natives) is comparable to that of Britain's Australian colony. But in order to truly develop East Africa, this number is nowhere near enough.
Unlike British colonies such as Canada or Australia, which had the might of the British Empire behind them, East Africa had only Ernst and the Hohenzollern Consortium. It could not afford instability.
The only way to secure East Africa was through continuous immigration.
The larger the population, the more secure the colony would be.
Like the Ottoman Empire or the Far East, even if they were forced to concede benefits to foreign powers, their massive populations meant no one could fully subjugate them.
(India, as a counterexample, doesn't apply here.)
National cohesion was not a fantasy; it was a real force.
To ensure stable rule, East Africa had to constantly reinforce immigrants' sense of belonging—assimilating and eroding their distinct cultures until a unique East African identity was formed.
If racial theories of Western origin were applied here, they would be a time bomb.
So even for Black African natives, Ernst never denied their intelligence.
When Ernst compiled colonial textbooks, his description of the natives stated they were "transformable through education," but historical and cultural influences made the cost of that transformation very high.
He didn't say Africans were inferior—but the fact that they couldn't even farm and lived in extremely primitive conditions made it clear their worldview couldn't be corrected in just a few decades.
And frankly, if the natives weren't expelled, where would the land for new immigrants come from?
That's why immigrants were taught to be grateful—reminded of their identity as East African Germans, and told to give back to the "homeland" in the future.
Better to speak frankly than be exposed later.
Every immigrant in East Africa was complicit in Ernst's actions.
Their descendants couldn't pretend their ancestors bore no responsibility.
As for racism—Ernst never believed in it, and he certainly wouldn't apply it in East Africa.
In East African history textbooks, Ernst placed the origin of humanity in East Africa
(in fact, hominid fossils were discovered there in the late 20th century).
He divided humanity into three migratory groups:
— One headed to West Africa
— One to the Middle East
— One along the coast
These became Black Africans, Eurasians, and Brown-skinned peoples.
Eurasians were further divided into three subgroups:
— Mediterranean (Romans, Arabs) with black hair and eyes
— East Asians, also with black hair and eyes
— Northern Europeans, with blonde hair and blue eyes
As for skin color, it was said to vary by latitude—the higher the latitude, the lighter the skin.
Blonde hair and blue eyes were explained as genetic mutations.
After all, most people worldwide had dark hair and eyes, while Northern Europeans had a wide range of unstable traits (brown, blond, red hair, etc.).
Ernst also gave Brown-skinned peoples their own classification, describing them as coastal gatherers and fishers.
This group included Indians, Indonesians, and indigenous Oceanic peoples.
Black Africans were said to live in low latitudes, exposed to strong sunlight, and wore minimal clothing—leading, over thousands of years, to their present appearance.
This theory would've made Ernst a target of European liberal outrage—
but this was East Africa, and Ernst's word was law.
The only one with the right to criticize him was Maximilian I.
Ironically, Maximilian appreciated the curriculum.
When he ruled as Emperor of Mexico, many of his subjects were indigenous.
He didn't know where Ernst had gotten such a strange theory,
but he thought it worked—grouping all races into one human family and borrowing some of Darwin's ideas to ease ethnic tensions.
Future generations, raised on these textbooks, would have their worldviews reshaped.
Of course, the curriculum also highlighted Ernst's darker side.
If he didn't believe Africans were inferior, why treat them so harshly?
Wasn't that just sheer cruelty?
Logically, yes.
But Ernst didn't care.
He accepted the label of colonizer and oppressor without flinching.
Throughout history, those who won were often glorified.
Russian tsars, China's Qin and Han emperors—none were saints.
But their nations remembered their contributions.
As long as East Africa endured as a civilization, Ernst's name would be remembered—even if built on native blood and tears.
Thus, forging a unified East African identity was Ernst's only real strategy—
the theoretical foundation of Hohenzollern rule in East Africa.
Just like religion promotes conversion, Ernst aimed to achieve cultural conversion—pushing German culture across East Africa.
In East African propaganda and education, "German" was no longer limited to ethnic Germans.
Anyone who embraced the German lifestyle and cultural education was considered German.
This turned narrow ethnic nationalism into a broader civilizational identity.
In East Africa, "German" became not an ethnicity, but a civilization.
For German immigrants, as long as the culture remained German, nothing else mattered.
For non-German immigrants, it gave them a path to assimilate.
"I accept and believe in German culture—therefore, I am German."
To promote this ideology, racial equality was essential—even for natives.
Despite persecuting them, Ernst acknowledged Black Africans had no inherent mental inferiority.
He simply exploited them for profit—forcing labor, selling them, expelling them—without even pretending otherwise.
Unlike Western colonizers who justified their crimes by labeling Africans subhuman, Ernst didn't bother with excuses.
They claimed Africans weren't the same species—he admitted they were. He just didn't care.
He wasn't a criminal who believed he was innocent—he was one who knew he was guilty, and did it anyway.
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