Vitu or Vitulend ( Eng. , German : Witu or Wituland , also Suaheliland ) - East African Sultanate on the coast of Kenya ; from 1885 to 1890 was under the protectorate of the German Empire and played an important role in the British-German section of African possessions.
History
Vitu occupied an area of approximately 3,000 km² north of the mouth of the Tana River in modern Kenya . The Sultanate was founded in 1858 by Ahmad ibn Fumo Bakari , who previously was the owner of the island of Pate , in 1856 conquered by the Sultan of Zanzibar . Vitu was constantly threatened by the Zanzibar invasion, in part because he received runaway slaves who were fleeing the Zanzibar slave traders.
As far back as 1867 , long before the so-called “pursuit of Africa” and before the reunification of Germany, Sultan Vitu met with German explorer of Africa Richard Brenner . The Sultan asked Brenner to convey to the Prussian king the desire of the Sultan to receive help and protection from Prussia from Zanzibar attacks. Prussia at that time was not at all interested in African possessions; it was focused on the unification of Germany (carried out in 1871 ); therefore, the request delivered by Brenner to Berlin was not noticed.
In 1879, two other German travelers, the brothers Clement and Gustav Dernhart, arrived in Vita . On April 8, 1885, they signed an agreement with Sultan Vita, according to which the sultanate ceded 25 km² of territory, with all sovereign rights to it, to the company of Tan, whose founders were brothers. In addition, the sultan agreed to "put the rest of the sultanate under the protection and guard of the German Empire ." With this treaty, the Dernhart brothers requested the German government to protect their interests.
The German protectorate was officially proclaimed on May 27, 1885 . A small military garrison was stationed in Vita to demonstrate sovereignty and protect against Zanzibar attacks. Clemens Dernhart was appointed Minister of the Interior and Foreign Affairs of the Sultanate.
In 1890, according to the British-German Zanzibar Treaty, Germany refused a protectorate over the Vitu Sultanate and claims in the territory to the north of it (to the mouth of the Jubba River in modern Somalia ) in the interests of Great Britain . Among the residents of Vitu, Germany’s refusal to act as the defender of the Sultanate caused great indignation and led to an open riot during which several Germans were killed, and the Dernhart brothers miraculously escaped from the angry crowd. The new owners of the country - the British - sent a punitive expedition to Vita, which brutally crushed the uprising and destroyed the capital of the Sultanate. Sultan Ahmad was arrested and soon died in custody, and the sultanate was incorporated into British East Africa (modern-day Kenya ).