African Entrepreneurship Record-Chapter 462 - 140 Ambition

The main function of this administrative reform is to rely on the Central Railway to rationally distribute industries in inland areas, so Zambia, the southern Congo Plateau (Katanga Plateau), and Zimbabwe are divided into three provinces.

The main industry of the Swabia Province is copper mining. In addition to copper, there are cobalt, tin, and uranium mines, while gold mining areas are distributed in Hessen Province. The population is mainly concentrated in the tropical savannah region in the south, whereas the north is tropical rainforest.

Compared to the Katanga Province of the Congo from the previous world, the actual area of East Africa’s Swabia Province has decreased, but mineral resources still account for more than 60% of those in the Congo.

In the previous world, resources like cobalt and uranium mines in the Katanga Province of the Congo were actually controlled by Americans. The cobalt resources in the Katanga Province accounted for 70% of the world’s total, uranium (Uranium 238) accounted for 60%, tin accounted for 10%, and copper about 8% (Data from various institutions is inconsistent, so this is for reference only).

This resource endowment caused continuous conflicts in the Katanga region in the previous world, with Britain, the United States, Belgium, and Russia supporting local forces. Even Rwanda became involved.

The Hohenzollern Province is also not bad in terms of resource endowment. It is centrally located with convenient north-south transportation, able to handle resource exchanges between the northern and southern Swabia Provinces and the Matebele Province.

The Matebele Province, which is Zimbabwe, is most famous for the Zimbabwe Great Dyke, which runs north-south through the central region of Zimbabwe and aligns with the Central Railway.

This is the main reason why the Central Railway was built from Harare to Bulawayo instead of taking a shortcut and abandoning the path that passed through King’s Falls (Victoria Falls) as done by the British in the previous world, and instead built a cross-river bridge from the east bank of the Kariba Dam in the previous world.

On this point, Ernst fully drew on lessons from the previous world, such as the Kariba Dam. The Kariba Dam is one of the world’s largest artificial lakes: the normal water storage level on the northern bank in Zambia is 487.79m, with a dead water level of 475.5m, a maximum capacity of 185 billion cubic meters, and an adjustable capacity below the normal level of 60.85 billion cubic meters, shared by Zambia and Zimbabwe. In comparison, the largest Three Gorges Dam in the Far East has a total capacity of only 39.3 billion cubic meters.

For such a mega project as the Kariba Dam, Ernst wishes to replicate it in East Africa. However, East Africa currently does not have the capacity or conditions to do so.

Therefore, the Kariba Dam remains in Ernst’s notebook, to be constructed when conditions mature.

In the previous world, the Kariba Dam stretched east-west for more than two hundred kilometers, causing the Central Railway to shift eastward by more than two hundred kilometers overall. This made the section of the Central Railway from Lusaka to Harare and then to Bulawayo form a large triangle.

However, due to the significance of the Pillar, the Central Railway is generally quite straight, while still catering to (major) cities along the route, resulting in a fairly high utilization rate.

Once the Central Railway is completed, East Africa can activate the inland economy in one stroke and, in passing, develop the new Hamburg Port in the south. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

For the original Transvaal Republic, Ernst plans to defer development. As for the original Zulu Kingdom (Southern Border Province), it is not needed. The main resources within the Zulu Kingdom are primarily coal, and it also has the convenience of ports.

Therefore, developing coal resources in the Drakensberg Mountains is an essential project. After development, the coal can be direct-shipped to East Africa to support industrial development along East Africa’s eastern coast, with coastal cities like Dar es Salaam, Bajamojo, Tanga, Mombasa, and Mtwara all benefiting.

After all, the British are not lacking in resources like coal; domestic coal resources are plentiful. Coupled with their colonies, it’s safe to say coal is the cheapest mineral for the British. If even the coal resources of the Southern Border Province (original Zulu Kingdom) tempt them, Ernst is more than willing to teach them a lesson.

Now, with the ongoing economic crisis, the time before the world is completely divided is entering a countdown. In fact, Italy and Belgium have already taken action.

Currently, Italy has consolidated its control in the southeastern direction of the Abyssinia Empire and, under the influence of the economic crisis, the Kingdom of Italy has staked its national fate on the Abyssinia Empire.

Leopold II of Belgium also leveraged his previous expertise to deceive the indigenous people west of the Ubangi River in the Congo with various methods and has already gained sovereignty there.

These two countries entering the fray while other major powers have yet to act is primarily because they have not yet felt the pressure from competitors.

The existence of the East African Kingdom greatly alleviated the economic crisis in the German region. Both Germany and the Austria-Hungary Empire fared better during the economic crisis, while the United States suffered a more severe crisis than in history.

This is because most German factories maintained basic operations, coupled with the competition posed by the Heixinggen Consortium to the United States (mainly in the electricity industry). U.S. steel and electrical products found it challenging to penetrate the European market, while U.S. agricultural products also faced more severe competition than before, especially in crops like grains and tobacco. Contrarily, due to the domestic high unemployment rate and an uncertain future, tobacco sales soared.

However, the crisis in the United States is not as severe as imagined, because East Africa absorbed a portion of the unemployed population from America.

The East African Immigration Office in the United States heavily recruited unemployed German workers and farmers from the German community, even advertising through newspapers of the German community, leading many German workers to take slave ships to East Africa.

As for why there are German farmers in urban German communities, this is also due to the East African Kingdom’s actions. Amidst the agricultural crisis, to address the economic crisis, southern U.S. plantations drastically reduced costs and expenses, replacing formerly employed white agricultural workers with large numbers of extremely cheap Black people.

Black laborers do not need wages as their contracts are directly linked with the Haitian government as "workers," essentially labor dispatch workers.

Theoretically, their salaries are issued by the Haitian government. U.S. plantation owners have no obligation or responsibility to pay these "workers"; they only need to ensure their three meals a day.

Plantation owners have no shortage of food; now, warehouses are piled high with unsellable grains, so using them to sustain obedient "slaves" is also good.

Moreover, these slaves are entirely legal, and the federal government and courts can’t find any fault. When these slaves grow old or are disabled, it’s easily resolved; due to the liberation of Black people, there are many on the streets. If they’re not needed, simply let them roam the society.

The influx of large numbers of new-type Black slaves to southern plantations naturally worsened conditions for the underclass whites, thereby affecting white farmworkers.

And with America’s vast German population as the main source of labor and being the primary group facing unemployment, East Africa absorbs them.

In just the first three months of 1874, over two hundred thousand German Americans went to East Africa, surpassing Germany and Austria to become the largest source country for German immigrants to East Africa.

With Europe and America being so competitive, the Far East market attracts much attention from countries around the world. The Far East significantly absorbed the surplus production capacity caused by this economic crisis.

In contrast to the relatively restrained behavior of Europe and America, Japan directly chose to act on Egg Bay Island beneath the Far East. Nevertheless, in advance of knowing the news, the intervention from the upper-level government (Fujian) of Egg Bay Island led to a head-on collision.

The consular guard company of the East African Kingdom stationed in the Zhuhai Trade Region reaped an unexpected fortune but also suffered significant casualties. German mercenaries are famous worldwide. In other words, Ernst’s ancestors were also in the mercenary business, and such matters are not surprising in Europe.

As a pioneer in colonialism and development in Africa, Ernst does not plan to stand idly by in this wave of world division. Besides consolidating gains achieved in Africa, East Africa also plans to advance further on the continent. Simultaneously, once East Africa’s navy is initially formed, Ernst plans to take action in the Indian Ocean, and not only in the Indian Ocean, he also intends to probe the Pacific Ocean to see if some benefits can be gained amid the chaos.