 The difference being that Mittelafrika would presumably be an agglomeration of German colonies in Africa, while Mitteleuropa was conceptualised as a geostrategic buffer zone between Germany and Russia to be filled with puppet states.German strategic thinking was that if the region between the colonies of German East Africa (Rwanda, Burundi, and Tanganyika (Tanzania minus the island of Zanzibar)), German South-West Africa (Namibia minus Walvis Bay), and Kamerun (today's Republic of Cameroon) could be annexed, a contiguous entity could be created covering the breadth of the African continent from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean.Given the richness in natural resources of the Congo Basin alone, this region would accrue considerable wealth to the colonising power through the exploitation of natural resources, as well as contributing to another German aim of economic self-sufficiency.