On the west coast of Africa, at the mouth of the Niger River in the Gulf of Guinea, a small city stands near the mouth of the river. This kind of city is very small. It is said to be a city, but in fact it can only be regarded as a small town at the mouth of a coastal river.
This was originally a trading station built by the Portuguese many years ago, mainly to conduct trade with the indigenous people in the inland areas through the Niger River, and also to provide some supply services for passing ships, but overall there was little development.
During the Portuguese period, only a hundred people lived in this miserable place.
Later, after the Tang Dynasty occupied the west coast of Africa, they also took over a large number of colonies in the coastal areas of Africa, including this town, from the Portuguese.
The people of the Tang Dynasty also had little interest in this small town called Hekou Town, and instead placed their main foothold on the Gold Coast of Ghana next door.
Later, after steam engines and ships became rampant, this poor place no longer even played a final role in providing supplies, and the Tang Dynasty officials even withdrew from the town.
Later, there were only occasional private caravans or expeditions stationed here to prepare for the subsequent deep dive into the Niger River.
Now, in this small place called Hekou Town, the dilapidated buildings once again welcome new faces, and they are the Tatars who came all the way from Europe.
According to the relevant agreement signed between the Tang Empire and the Tang Dynasty, the future territory of the Tatars is the vast coastal area in the northeastern Gulf of Guinea, east of Ghana, and all the way to the Kemailong volcano in the south. It belongs to them.
It's human.
They Tatars can do whatever they like in the future.
At the same time, as for the inland areas, the Tang Dynasty would not care in principle how far the Tatars could expand inland.
Due to the uncertainty in the inland areas, especially after a large number of European countries have successively decided to colonize Africa, the Tatars are also worried that they will be late and this vast inland area will be robbed first.
You must know that they chose to come to Nigeria not only for this small coastal area, but also for the vast Niger River Basin.
They had previously visited the Niger River Basin and found that the navigation conditions of this river are very good, much better than the Congo River, a large river in southern Africa. The Congo River looks like a big river, but there are many waterfalls along the way, and most importantly, there are waterfalls in the lower reaches.
A group of waterfalls, and it is impossible for ships to go up the river.
In addition to good navigation conditions, they also saw a quite good agricultural land in the inland area. After going deep into the inland, some northern areas were quite suitable for farming.
There are also many mineral resources and so on.
After a comprehensive decision, the Tatars finally chose this place.
But the fact that the Tang Dynasty allowed them to go does not mean that the Tang Dynasty completely allocated this area to them. The only territory that the Tang Dynasty gave them clearly divided was the coastal area. As for the inland areas, the Tang Dynasty did not give them any clear boundaries.
This means that if other countries also come to colonize, they can take away large areas of the inland area first, and the Tatars will be blinded by that time.
In order to avoid subsequent troubles, and the Tatars had actually begun the preliminary migration of the entire country, the Tatars did not hesitate.
Soon a large fleet was dispatched to the mouth of the Niger River in the northeastern Gulf of Guinea.
In addition to the five Tang Dynasty steam ships hired for mixed passenger and cargo use, there were also more than 20 Tatar sailing ships, including five sailing warships.
Naturally, these five sail warships were not to fight against the Tang Dynasty navy, but to deal with the possible local indigenous sampans, to deal with the possible pirates, and more importantly, to fight against the colonists of other European countries.
The era of colonization in Africa has begun. It is not just the Tatars who come to Africa, but also other European countries. Among them are the United Kingdom of Spain and Portugal, a country with rich overseas colonial experience, and a country like England.
Even the people of the United Provinces, who were rising stars in sailing, had more experience than the Tatars when they colonized overseas.
Although the Tatars have the largest sailing fleet in Europe, they actually don't have much experience in ocean navigation and combat, and this is their first overseas colonization.
In order to avoid any possible trouble, the Tatars also took great pains this time. During this large-scale immigration, the total number of people reached tens of thousands, but more than half were soldiers.
After they arrived there as planned, they immediately established strongholds suitable for early settlement in many places along the coast.
However, their footsteps did not stop at the coastal coast. How should I put it? This coastal coast was already the territory designated for them by the Tang Dynasty. There was no need to worry about other European countries coming over to colonize. Moreover, many places in the coastal areas were actually not suitable.
Mass immigration.
Therefore, after they initially settled on the coast, they soon followed the river deep into the interior and built simple settlements in some important areas on both sides of the river to determine their ownership.
At the same time, it is also to prepare for the subsequent larger-scale immigration. Most of the immigrants this time are soldiers and various craftsmen. In fact, not many are ordinary immigrants.
When the first batch of soldiers and craftsmen open up multiple settlements, they will be able to truly welcome the subsequent large numbers of immigrants.
The second batch of immigrants in the Tatar plan will exceed 100,000 people. The immigrants will still be mainly young people, and they will be reorganized in advance and implemented militarized management.
Their main task here is to carry out preliminary land development, carry out reclamation, and provide food rations for ordinary immigrants who arrive later.
The colonial development of the Tatars was much more intensive than that of other European colonial countries. The official number of the first two batches was more than 100,000, which is roughly equivalent to the current six Ottoman countries.
The migration of the six Ottoman countries was intense, and they were forced to do so. They had even lost their territory, and now they are rushing into Africa, hoping to re-establish their own new countries in Africa.
As for the Tatars, they simply have more people, more money, more ships.
Able to support such a large-scale immigration operation!
You must know that although the Tatars will still pay for the steam ships of the Tang Dynasty to help transport, they still use sailboats to transport more people and materials.
Otherwise, if such a large-scale transportation is carried by the Tang Dynasty, the freight will be very high. Although they Tatars have a little money, they still have to save money.
Moreover, it is not too far from the Mediterranean Sea, the Baltic Sea, or the Atlantic coast all the way to the west coast of Africa, and the routes are all old routes.
Even though large-scale transportation is more difficult, it is still better than spending money!