Over decades, East Africa broke free from the predicament of lacking basic resources like oil and coal through expansion. If Ernst had been content with the territory of former German East Africa, which is now Tanzania, then the ceiling for East Africa would have been just a regional power.
The area of former German East Africa was less than a million square kilometers. Although Tanzania was relatively rich in resources, it was only comparatively so. In all of Africa, the places truly outstanding in resources were former South Africa and Nigeria; the former had a lot of coal, the latter a lot of oil.
This, to a certain extent, reflects the significant role of energy in economic development. Even if East Africa had a lot of overseas territories, its foundation would remain on the African Continent, just like the United Kingdom couldn't move its political center from the British Isles to India.
