Postcard
Helgoland is a small German archipelago in
the North Sea, about 60 kilometers of the German coast.
What has Helgoland to do with Zanzibar..?
The island had been under British rule since 1807 when
they seized it from the Danes. But, being important for naval operations,
Germany wanted to gain control over the islands. As a result of negotiations with
Britain, Germany gained control over Helgoland. In return, Germany (amongst
other things) recognized the British protectorate over the island of Zanzibar
of the coast of Tanzania.
Queen Victoria insisted that her grandson, the German
Kaiser Wilhelm II, be given a mountain in Africa because Britain had two,
Germany had none. So the border from Lake Victoria to the coast has a kink in
it, putting Mt. Kilimanjaro in German East Africa (now Tanzania).
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