Norwich bulletin., 1916-09-16
THE. WAR PRIMER By National Geographic Society

Tanaa.-"When despatches from the East Africa battle front recently an nounCed the successful operation of British forces under General Shuts between Tanga and Korogwe, and of a force under Brigadier General Sir c. Crewe at MuanZa, few readers real ;zed that the distance separating these two scenes of hostility in German East Africa is as great as the airline dis tance from London to Frankfort, Ger many" according to todays war ge- ograpby bulletin of the National Geo. graphic Society, issued from its Wash ington headquarters.
 'FF'rom Targa to the southern shores of Lake T[iwu, where the Belgians from the Congo made their first descent upon the Teutonic enemy's, African poss essions it is nearly twice as far as from Brussels to Berlin.
 "The scene of General Shuts sue cess was along the Usambara Rail way which, at the outbreak of the war, Germany was constructing from the seaport of Tanga to Lake Victoria Nyanza When completed it will prove an outlet for one of the richest sec tions of the dark continent That part of the road already in operation la ps. the rich agricultural region of Usambara, the first district of German East Africa to come under the juriS- diction of the kaiser. It was just 32
 
 Karl Peters, Count Pfeil, and Dr. JuhlI1e, made their way inland from the coast and won the friendship of a chieftain of Usambara. With him they negotiated a treaty, which was followed by others insuring protection the German government. For five or six years the Sultan Zanzibar disputed the right of 1he Germans to make treaties with tribes supposed to be subject to him, but a quarter of cen tury ago he surrendered his claim to the mainland territory for a million dollars.
 'Tanga whose name means the sail is a town of 5000 inhabitants, only about 100 of whom are Europeans. About 30 miles to the east is the fer tile island of Pemba, with an area about equal to that of Cape Cod. It is famous for its cloves, exporting an- nually about 10, 100000 pounds of this spice. The popularity of clove plan tations with Pemba planters dates back about 45 years, when a cyclone devastated the neighboring island of Zanibar, and temporarily created a shortage in the spice market.
 "Tanga is about 20 miles south of the boundary line between British and German East Africa, and about 70 miles southwest of Mon1basa, the chief seaport of the British East African col ony. It is 30 miles north of the port of Pangani, situated at the mouth o1 the river of the same name, dowr | which the Germans are reported te have retreated before the troops under General Shuts.
 l "Muanza, the scene of General Sil l C. Crewe's success, is 125 miles south west of the British German frontier on the southern shore of Lake Vic i toria Nyanza. The tiny gulf on which the station is situated is called Spoke ] in honor of the great English explorer ', John flaming Spoke, who discovered | the lake in 1858 and recognized it as the souRce of the Nile, thereby solving problem which had puzzled geogra- phere for 1000 years. This young Englishman, to whose memory a gran. | ite obelisk now stands in Kensingto1 | Gardens, London, accidentally killed 1 himself while out hunting the after | noon before he was to meet his former associate, Sir Richard Burton, iE pub | lie debate on the question of whether Victoria Nyanza or Lake Tanganyil1s was the true source of the great Life giver of Egypt"