African Entrepreneurship Record-Chapter 76 - 72 Tobacco Cultivation

Kenya, Central, Mashuru Town.

To develop newly explored areas, the East Africa colonial government, after sending people for field investigation, decided to plant tobacco here.

As a crop that loves warmth and sunlight, almost all places in East Africa are suitable for tobacco cultivation, and the moderate rainfall in East Africa can meet the water needs for early growth.

Mashuru Town, located ninety kilometers southeast of Nairobi, has an unnamed river running north-south through it.

There were only over thirty immigrants initially settling here, led by a German named Anthony, five immigrants from the Austrian Empire, and more than twenty Chinese.

Gazing at the vast prairie stretching to the horizon, Anthony couldn’t help but marvel at the magnificence and wonder of nature.

Having lived in Europe, Anthony had seen the North German agricultural estates and forests, which were full of elegance and vitality.

In contrast, the land of Africa was filled with wild nature, and its sheer size evoked a surge of emotions.

The immigrants from the Austrian Empire felt similarly; for many, this was their first time coming to Africa, and they were even more shocked than Anthony, as their homeland was mountainous and scenic. Particularly the places where the immigrants lived had retained a rather primitive lifestyle due to relative backwardness.

Some had never left their villages in their lifetime, so one can imagine their awe at the grandeur of the ocean when crossing it, and their fascination with Africa’s unique tropical scenery upon landing in East Africa.

The Chinese immigrants fared somewhat better; due to their origin, they had not seen such vast prairies in North China, but the farmland there also stretched as far as the eye could see.

Although the land areas of Germany and the Austrian Empire were far less than that of the great nation in the Far East, the per capita land ownership in the Far East was much lower than the former two.

However, the vast expanse of the Far East, especially the endless plains and long national territory, often overshadowed the massive population size. Nevertheless, without considering population data, it did appear to be a land of boundless territory and abundant resources.

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The immigrants began constructing dwellings, which were temporary residences built with mud; after all, with few people, they couldn’t waste much time improving living conditions.

After disembarking at Tanga Port and Dar es Salaam Port, they restocked supplies at First Town, led by experienced elders.

This was the origin of the first batch of immigrants to Mashuru, with all living supplies on two horse-drawn carts, including farming tools and provisions.

From a bird’s eye view, the thirty-odd people appeared insignificant on the endless grassland, with their houses resembling matchboxes.

Such was the initial scale of Mashuru Town; the East Africa colonial plan intended to subsequently transport nearly a thousand more immigrants to this place.

At the same time, towns and villages similar to Mashuru Town were rapidly emerging within Kenya.

From the eastern coastal areas to the western shores of the Great Lake, immigrants quickly filled the local ecological niches.

This batch of immigrants consisted of a mix, led by Germans, and comprising immigrants from the Austrian Empire and Chinese immigrants.

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After a month’s development.

The population of Mashuru Town had reached over four hundred, taking on the appearance of a village, with the fields being developed in a decent manner.

Along the Nameless Riverbank, the residents of Mashuru Town opened a tobacco plantation covering a thousand acres.

In the rows of ridged fields, the lush green tobacco seedlings were full of vitality, rooting in the red earth.

These were to be the future raw material supply bases for the Heixinggen Tobacco Company.

Heixinggen Tobacco Company had always purchased tobacco from merchants of other countries, processing it into cigarettes by machine.

This greatly wasted production costs, because the pricing power of tobacco was in the hands of those merchants.

Yet, East Africa had vast areas of barren land suitable for tobacco cultivation, which could provide the Heixinggen Tobacco Company with abundant and cost-effective raw materials of quite good quality.

The East Africa colonial government planned to establish a fifty thousand-acre tobacco plantation in the vicinity of Mashuru Town.

On one hand, this would accelerate the rate of immigration to Kenya, and on the other hand, it would generate revenue, achieving both ends.

After the tobacco harvest, the people from Heixinggen Tobacco Company would come to collect it, send it to the coast at Mombasa Port or Dar es Salaam Port, and then transport it back to Europe.

Looking at the achievements in Mashuru Town before him, Anthony felt a surge of pride.

As a mayor, Anthony was among the last of the Germans in the colonial mercenaries to find his footing.

Back when he first arrived in East Africa, the entire East Africa colony had only two thousand German mercenaries, but as the colony’s population grew.

By adhering to the primary and secondary principles, the Germans became the natural candidates for leadership roles, and Anthony’s teammates gradually rose to become officials in various places or obtained more positions in the military.

Yet Anthony remained in place, and it was only in the development of the Mashuru area that his turn finally came, being selected as the mayor of Mashuru Town.

As a mercenary and former Prussian soldier, Anthony actually did not favor a life of fighting and killing.

Compared to war, Anthony, originating from a farming family, preferred working with the land.

Upon becoming the ruler of Mashuru Town, he did not display arrogance; instead, he acted like a farmer from the Prussian area.

Everyday, leading everyone in working the fields, watching the crops full of vitality, Anthony felt ever more happy and content.

The immigrants of Mashuru Town were also energized by the infectious enthusiasm of their kind and approachable mayor for pioneering efforts.

From Germany, Austria, and the Far East, these three different groups found common ground due to their farming backgrounds.

They exchanged and shared experiences while working in the fields, with Anthony imparting some scientific knowledge popularized in Prussian education. The Austrian Empire immigrants also had rich experiences, especially adept in knowledge about agricultural facilities, while the Far East immigrants were somewhat seasoned in vegetable cultivation and subsistence food research.

Often exchanging ideas, Anthony learned some dialects within the Austrian Empire and a number of Chinese phrases, while the Austrian Empire immigrants already knew a bit of German and now learned some Chinese vocabulary, and the Chinese found their foothold in some European languages in their exchanges with the former two.

The residents of Mashuru Town lived harmoniously as the red sunset connected with the iron-red land.

Throughout the East Africa colony, beside those engaged in agricultural work, soldiers comprised the largest number, so there was no significant class difference.

This created conditions for different ethnic groups to live together, sharing meals from the same pot, earning similar incomes, and the historical and geographical gaps and suspicions gradually melted away.

Of course, the indigenous people of East Africa weren’t counted here, given that these locals don’t even have proper clothes, have faces full of tattooed patterns, appearing fierce and menacing. Moreover, their skin is dark, making them difficult to be accepted by the general populace, whether from a civilized or ethnic perspective.

The East Africa colonial government intentionally reinforced in the immigrants’ minds the impression of the indigenous people as barbaric, lazy, uncivilized, and primitive (by comparing the facial features of apes and the indigenous people, with the prominent lower jawline).

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