African Entrepreneurship Records

Chapter 585 The Era of Change

Ernst and Prince Karl revealed their opinions on the construction of the Hessian railway. However, there is still no way to implement this idea. Don't look at the fact that the Hessian railway only passes through Hesse and then connects to Swabia, but its project The difficulty is definitely the highest I have ever encountered in East Africa.

Because the area it passes through has the most abundant precipitation in East Africa, and the transition from the Katanga Plateau to the Congo Basin has a large terrain difference, which also adds difficulty to the construction of the railway, and the area is densely populated with wetlands and forests, and there are many difficulties to overcome. It’s also a step up.

So Ernst said to Prince Carl: "The difficulties encountered in building this railway are definitely the most serious in the history of railway construction in East Africa. I estimate that there will be no tens of thousands of casualties. It is estimated that it will be difficult to complete, so I am not optimistic about the construction of this railway." Planning and construction should be carefully considered.”

Prince Karl also agreed with this point. In this era, there was no precedent for building such a long railway in the tropical rain forest. Of course, Hesse Province is on the eastern edge of the Congo Basin, and its environment is not similar to the hinterland of the Congo rain forest, because Hesse Province has The lower half of the area is covered by mountains and plateaus, so the main difficulty that the Hessian railway has to overcome is the topography.

Ernst continued: "There is also the Northern Railway extension you mentioned. I also have this intention, but I will definitely not consider it in the next few years. In the future, it will definitely be connected to the Central Railway."

Ernst thought it was very simple. After the completion of the Hesse Railway, the Central Railway completed the "four links" in extending in all directions. However, before, the Central Railway and the Northern Railway were completely independent parts.

After the construction of the Hesse Provincial Railway, the Northern Railway can be connected to the Hessian Provincial Railway to the west, allowing the Central Railway and the Northern Railway to achieve intersection and networking, which will help strengthen connections between various parts of East Africa.

However, Ernst thought of more than this. The Northern Railway is very similar to the Uganda Railway built by the British in the previous life, but it is not as long as the Uganda Railway. In the future, if the Northern Railway is connected to the Hesse Railway.

At the same time, a northern branch line can be opened to the north, the Azande Plateau, to integrate the transportation of the Central African Republic and East Africa in later generations.

In this way, the so-called Northern Railway can be more worthy of its name. Before East Africa did not have the land area it is now, there is nothing wrong with calling it the Northern Railway.

Now the Northern Railway has become the "Northeast" railway in the huge land of East Africa, and the Northern Railway seems to be somewhat unworthy of its name.

Of course, this is just Ernst's personal idea, but Prince Carl also had his own thoughts. He said to Ernst: "What you just said makes sense. It seems that there is not much demand for northern railway construction in East Africa at present. , I couldn’t force it, but Sigmaringen is now colonizing Chad and can only pass through East Africa, and you know this.”

 When Prince Carl said this, his intention was basically revealed.

East Africa does not pay much attention to the northern railway, but Sigmaringen needs this railway to contribute to the colonial cause of Sigmaringen.

 Because Sigmaringen has no outlet on the Atlantic coast, a large number of people and materials need to be transported to Chad through East Africa, and the Northern Railway is only half a section, which greatly increases the cost of colonization of Sigmaringen.

 The distance from Mombasa to Chad is more than 2,000 kilometers, and the exchange of people and materials takes almost three months. During these three months, all the food, drink, and food are in East Africa.

 This is a realistic factor, and Sigmaringen also needs to consider future development factors. Unlike in Europe, Sigmaringen's biggest reliance in Europe is naturally Germany, and in this three-thirds of an acre of Africa, there is simply no country stronger than East Africa.

 So the future of Sigmaringen must be bound to East Africa, and if the Northern Railway can be extended to Chad, then the connection between Sigmaringen and East Africa will naturally be closer.

"Of course, I know this is a bit difficult. After all, railway construction, especially railway construction of thousands of kilometers, is not a small project for any country. However, the Northern Railway is indeed important to Sigmaringen. You should be very clear about this. , so if East Africa is willing to build a northern railway, it must inform us in advance so that we can contribute." Prince Karl said with some regret. In fact, Prince Carl also knew in his heart that Ernst must further build the northern railway. After all, the Azande Plateau, the Great Lakes Region, and the Nile Basin all need this railway to drive the economic development of northern East Africa, and of course to consolidate the country. Safety considerations.

 That’s why I mentioned the Northern Railway this time, and to test Ernst’s tone, Prince Carl definitely didn’t have such ambitions before.

 But he had been in East Africa for more than half a year. The more he learned about East Africa, the more his colonial enthusiasm was aroused.

The more shock he received in East Africa, the more he placed high hopes on the Chadian colony. Not to mention becoming like East Africa, even if it only developed into one-twentieth of the national strength of East Africa, it would still be less than the potential of one-third of an acre in Romania. Much stronger.

Prince Karl's biggest trip in East Africa this year was to take a train and inspect the construction of East Africa along the Central Railway.

Let’s not talk about the development of East Africa. The journey of more than 3,000 kilometers alone was an eye-opener for him. It took him two weeks to get from the Port of Dar es Salaam to the southernmost port of New Hamburg in East Africa.

I stopped in Mbeya, Harare and other cities in the middle. Now the development of the inland areas is comparable to that of some backward areas in Europe. Of course, the backward areas referred to are Romania. The only thing Romania can do better than the inland areas of East Africa is nothing more. It’s just that the population density is high.

 This is true for the interior of East Africa, not to mention the eastern region, which can be compared with most European countries. Apart from the vast land and sparsely populated areas, there is not much difference.

Moreover, in terms of vast land and sparse population, Tsarist Russia, the United States and East Africa have similar national conditions. East Africa has a population of 50 million if black people are included, while Tsarist Russia has a population of more than 100 million, and its land area is twice that of East Africa, and its population is also East Africa. twice that of Tsarist Russia, so the population densities of East Africa and Tsarist Russia are similar, and the effective territory of East Africa is obviously much larger than Tsarist Russia.

The population of the United States is slightly smaller than that of East Africa, and the land area is slightly smaller than that of East Africa. Although East Africa is nearly three million square kilometers larger than the United States, it is almost enough if you remove the tropical rainforest, because East Africa has not yet defined the Congo Basin as a The land of East Africa can only be regarded as territory, or sphere of influence.

 So the population density of East Africa today is actually about the same as that of the United States and Russia. The only difference is that these two countries developed hundreds of years before East Africa.

The gap of hundreds of years is naturally not easy to surpass. Just talking about roads, East Africa cannot expect to catch up with the accumulation of hundreds of years in just a dozen years.

However, East Africa does not have no chance to catch up. For example, hardened roads are the future road development trend. Now countries in the world are on the same starting line as East Africa. When the automobile industry rises, East Africa will also be at the same starting point as other countries in road development. .

The same is true in terms of industry. Now is the time when the second industrial revolution is emerging. Although East Africa is more than ten years later than other countries, it is still on the same starting line as Japan and other emerging countries.

 All in all, this is an era of change. As long as East Africa seizes the opportunities, it will soar in the future. Ernst has laid a good foundation for East Africa's basic market.

 (End of this chapter)