Could there be a chance that the British and German colonies in East Africa be switched, so that the British got the southern portion of the sultanate of Zanzibar while the Germans got the northern half?
PC: British East Africa/Tanzania and German Kenya/Kenia?
- Thread starter Al-numbers
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If you were to stop Egypt falling into either British hands or their orbit, then that should be possible. And considering how the Germans IOTL attempted to colonize Wituland, which is basically northern Kenya...
Emperor-of-New-Zealand
Kicked
As Iserlohn says, it depends on what happens with Egypt. Even if the Germans were successful in Wituland, we would likely still see the majority of Kenya (well...what we today call Uganda) being used to connect Tanzania to Sudan if the British want to control the Nile.
Okay, so let's say Egypt gets a financially competent khedive (I know there was one heir that almost made it) and kept itself solvent through some method or other. And let's say for good measure that Egypt is more "diplomatically-aligned" to the British rather than "dependent on foreign powers" as it did IOTL. Would that at least tone down British interests on the Nile?
Also, I wonder what will happen to traditional Great Lakes kingdoms like Buganda. The British and Buganda had quite a history together, though I suspect relations with the Germans would be less than warm.
That's a good idea. Another might be for the French to join the British action in Alexandria, thus continuing the dual control of Egypt. This too might prevent British interest in Kenya.
Gladstone IIRC wanted nothing to do with East Africa. Perhaps the French try to make a grab for Uganda, to pad out their empire, particularly if it acts as a buffer towards German expansion.
Certainly plausible. IIRC they had a vision of a Dakar-Djibouti continuous empire to rival the Cape-Cairo vision. This could easily be amended to Dakar-Nairobi.