In an effort to smooth over political debate, may I suggest that the southern coast of Zenland has a few British client-state city-states (think United Arab Emirates) that are little more than coastal trading ports?
Similarly, the north coast of Zenland was a series of small Portugese/Swahili speaking city-states. During the 1960s, Portugese colonial administrators were ousted during a Soviet-backed coup-d'etat, but North Zenland is far too poor to invade Central Zenland on its own. North Zenland is such a mess that they struggle to mount fishery patrols.
It helped that most of the citizens of Central Zenland came from the same tribe and same religion. Like Moors, they have a benevolent attitude towards other religions. As long as religious minorities pay tithes to Zenland temples. no one else cares which god they worship. The central kingdom remained strong enough to discourage invasion by Europeans. Besides, the central kingdom consistently delivered enough trade goods (spices, rare metals, food, etc.) to coastal trading ports, that there was little need for Europeans to invade. Europeans could turn a profit by buying goods from locals, without the added expense of policing the interior.
Along the way, Brits decided that it was better to send a few of the brightest locals to British universities (e.g. London School of Economics) to become competent mine managers, bank managers, etc. Eventually Scottish professors even established a Central Zenland University to train local mid-level managers, doctors, engineers, etc.
