Chapter 469 Walvis Bay Port
March 1877.
On the west coast of Africa, four ships quietly broke away from the slave trading fleet from East Africa to North America, and they docked towards a bay.
Walvis Bay has a special development. A long and narrow channel extends into the Atlantic Ocean. The entire bay looks like a person stretching out an arm. The opening of the bay faces north, which makes Walvis Bay easy to identify. Basically The ships passing here can be recognized.
In fact, in 1487, the Portuguese navigator Dias (one of the founders of the Age of Discovery) discovered Walwich Bay. Before the 18th century, the Dutch also investigated here, but nothing happened. So Walvis Bay's location stands out, but it doesn't get much attention.
"This is Walvis Bay, the only deep-water port between Angola and South Africa. We have measured that most of the water should be below fifteen meters, and the bay exit is close to ten kilometers. There are indeed conditions for building a deep-water port!"
However, these data cannot reassure East African sailors, because on the land on the east side of the bay, there is an endless white desert, and only a few green plants can be seen here and there.
"No wonder His Highness said that the conditions here are poor. The land is still desert, but it is somewhat similar to Mogadishu."
"It's far worse than Mogadishu. Mogadishu is an oasis. There is no big river like the Shabelle River here to nourish both sides."
From a tourism perspective, the scenery of Walvis Bay is remarkable. The pure white sandy beach and azure sea water connect, giving people a refreshing feeling, but no matter how beautiful it is, it cannot change that this is a desert. fact.
Andre kicked the animal bones on the shores of Walvis Bay and said: "If we want to find water here, I'm afraid it will take a little more effort. We don't know when the people in Letania will be able to get supplies." aisle."
Thanks to the construction of the East African Central Railway, cargo transportation is now much more convenient, but this is only relative to the inland areas of East Africa. The Central Railway has a westward extension, but it is closer to Angola. The huge desert in the southwest makes East Africa There is no immediate interest in building a similar railway to the south. Therefore, there is no way for the materials in the rear to be sent here directly by railway, and must be transferred through the province of Letania.
Letania Province is located in a plateau area. If you want to transport supplies from Letania to Walvis Bay, you must pass through hundreds of kilometers of desert. This is also a difficulty in East Africa's occupation of Namibia.
In fact, Letania Province is in the northeast of Namibia, but it is already the best land route from East Africa to Namibia. The due east direction closer to Walvis Bay is desert area for thousands of kilometers. The Namib The desert is almost continuous with the Kalahari Desert.
"Now we are divided into two groups of 20 teams to conduct surveys within 20 kilometers of the surrounding area. The first group is responsible for looking for areas where groundwater may exist. The second group goes to the surrounding areas to see if there are any oases or rivers. The most important thing now is Find drinking water and use it sparingly on the ship,” Captain Chris said.
East Africa is relatively experienced in finding water in arid areas. Africa itself has many dry areas, so this is an essential skill for some East Africans, and these skills were learned from African indigenous people and Arabs.
The crew soon identified more than a dozen places where water sources might exist through the characteristics of vegetation distribution. However, after digging several meters deeper, the results were not satisfactory.
However, there was no light in the east and light in the west. In the evening, no results were achieved in Walvis Bay. Good news came from those exploring in the north.
"We found an oasis about 20 kilometers north. It was a relatively large river. The conditions on both sides of the river were very good, and it gave birth to a relatively broad vegetation belt."
This river is the Swakop River, one of the important rivers in Namibia in the past. It originates from the inland mountains and flows downstream through the Namib Desert. However, the water volume is not very stable. Sometimes it may directly dry up due to less water coming from the upstream. of river bed.
Swakopmund, the most important port in German Southwest Africa in the previous life, was located at this location. After all, Swakopmund was not as famous as Walvis Bay (Walvis Bay Port), so Ernst did not think of it for a moment, but Swakopmund was also a well-known tourist destination in Namibia in its previous life, especially famous for its German architecture.
Historically, Swakopmund was founded by the Germans in 1892. It also became the center of German colonial rule in South-West Africa. It was the main port in South-West Africa during the German occupation. Later Swakopmund was replaced by Walvisport due to constant siltation.
Therefore, Swakopmund during this period obviously had more natural conditions for building a port than Walvis Bay, which gave East Africans a difficult choice.
"Captain, the oasis area in the north has obviously better conditions than Walvis Bay. At least the drinking water problem can be solved, and Walvis Bay is a place that His Highness personally confessed must be captured. What should we do?"
Chris thought for a while: "Why choose? There are a lot of us, so we might as well establish strongholds in both places. The two places are not far away. Even if we really can't find water here, we can still transport it from the north."
But Chris's mind soon changed, because after digging down for more than ten meters, water came out!
"Out of the water! Out of the water!"
Chris hurried to the water outlet and looked at the clear well water seeping out of the ground: "Hurry up and get some materials from the boat to support the well head. Don't let the sand bury the well."
Because the surface is a desert, the sand still flows down the dug pit, so the sailors found wooden boards to simply make a partition to separate the sand from the well, and also built a wooden manhole cover.
"Now that the water problem has been solved, the conditions for building a stronghold in Walvis Bay are now available. Do we still want to set up a stronghold in the north?"
"Of course, that place is not far from Walvis Bay, so it must be in our hands, otherwise what if the enemy takes advantage of it in the future?"
In fact, Walvis Bay was a British colony in the previous life, so there must be groundwater. The British are not gods and do not need to drink water.
In the previous life of German South-West Africa, Walvis Bay in Walvis Bay was an enclave of the British South African colony in German South-West Africa. It was not until the end of the 20th century that South Africa moved Walvis Bay to Walvis Bay under the pressure of international public opinion. Gulf was handed back to Namibia.
Walvis Bay is definitely a special place. Its sea conditions are much stronger than those of Swakopmund in the north. Although Swakopmund has relatively rich freshwater resources, there is no natural geographical barrier facing the Atlantic Ocean to the east. , and Walvis Bay is the only deep-water port on the 2,000-kilometer coastline of Southwest Africa, so both places are important to East Africa.
Two months later, the province of Letania finally made contact with the sailors heading to Walvis Bay, and construction here in East Africa finally began.
Prior to this, the East African government had learned about the existence of the Swakop River in the north of Walvis Bay through the news brought back by the returning slave ships.
The East African government decided to develop the two places at the same time, and soon a fort appeared in Walvis Bay. Regarding the name of the Walvis Bay port, it was still called Walvis Bay. Ernst thought this name was very appropriate.
The two strongholds built by East Africa at Walvis Bay and the outlet of the Swakop River were soon discovered by the Cape Colony. Of course, the first thing the Cape Colony noticed was East Africa's expansion on the north bank of the Orange River. .
This caused considerable dissatisfaction in the Cape Colony, because they also set their sights on Walvis Bay and originally planned to occupy it next year. As a result, East Africa took the lead (British colonization of Walvis Bay was in 1878).
There was even an unpleasant scene. The governor of East Africa sent people to inspect Walvis Bay. It turned out that a military fortress stood in the uninhabited area in their memories. This put the British who came all the way from Cape Town into a dilemma. In the end, they had no choice but to Reluctantly, he returned to Cape Town and reported to the Governor.