African Entrepreneurship Records

Chapter 591 Return

Constantine’s inspection trip to Matabele Province did not last for a few days, and he was about to return to the first town to welcome the New Year with his family. This trip to Matabele Province basically stopped in Harare.

Getting on the special train, Constantine said with some regret: "I am in a hurry this time. It would be great if I could go to Bulawayo and have a look!"

"Your Majesty, just look at Bulawayo next year. Now with the railway, it is not troublesome to go to these cities. Apart from Bulawayo, the only city worth visiting in the south is New Hamburg. However, New Hamburg They are completely built according to the template of cities such as Dar es Salaam, they are similar but have no special features.”

Kaide Butler said this, in fact, New Hamburg Port City is very different from many ports in East Africa, because there are three port areas in the bay of New Hamburg Port City, including a military port, and they are divided into inner and outer ports. If you really go to New Hamburg If you take a boat tour of the harbor city, you can also discover and appreciate its unique layout.

As for what Cade said about building according to the template of coastal cities such as Dar es Salaam, there is nothing wrong with it, but it is more about the same standards, reflected in urban infrastructure and living facilities.

"Kade, how is Pretoria, the province of Hechingen, the capital of the former Transvaal Republic, doing now? It seems like we haven't heard any news?" Constantine asked.

Before East Africa occupied the South Africa region, Pretoria was definitely one of the top cities in South Africa. Cape Town was one level better than Pretoria. There is no news at all now, so Constantine is still quite curious.

Cade: "Pretoria is now a military center in South Africa, but it has no special features in economic development. In recent years, the population growth of Hechingen, Southern Frontier and New Baden provinces has been far less than that of Mata, which is next door. In Belay Province, the army has increased a lot, and the only one that has been developed is probably the coastal city of New Hamburg, and that was because of the original construction of the Central Railway."

“Didn’t I hear that Ernst planned to raise sheep in South Africa? What happened now?”

"Aquaculture takes time. We spent more than ten years improving the livestock industry in East Africa before we could barely catch up with other countries. The land area in East Africa is more than ten times that of other countries, so the scale of my country's livestock industry is not proportional to that of other countries. It’s not big, but it’s small, and the same goes for sheep farming, which is still only done in the Southern Frontier Province.”

Constantine felt a little petty when he heard this, and said: "There is only one province, Southern Frontier Province? Isn't the scale a bit small?"

Cade smiled when he heard this. He said to Constantine: "Your Majesty, the Southern Frontier Province is not small at all. You have stayed in East Africa for a long time, so now you are used to looking at problems according to the thinking of a big country. We in East Africa A province in the Southern Frontier Province is larger than many European countries. If compared individually, it is on par with some medium-sized countries. Therefore, the grazing industry in a province in the Southern Frontier Province may be much stronger than that in many countries. After all, other countries are even larger. Considering the issue of food cultivation, it is impossible to use all the land for grazing.”

Hearing Cade's words, Constantine suddenly discovered that his thinking and work were indeed different. In addition to serving the Prussian army in Europe, he could only focus on his own feudal industry.

The Prince of Hechingen is, to put it bluntly, a town. Sometimes Constantine even worried about the little land in his subordinate villages. But after arriving in East Africa, he became numb when faced with tens of thousands of square kilometers of land, just like this time. The trip to Larei City was also in the name of inspecting Matabele Province, and Matabele Province covers more than 300,000 square kilometers, which is almost half the area of ​​Germany.

When Constantine first arrived in East Africa, the territory of East Africa was only limited to the area around the East African Plateau, but it was two or three times the size of Germany. In recent years, it has continued to expand its territory, and East Africa has become one of the largest countries in the world.

 It takes time to transform the land into national power, but the size is reached, and it is also very thirsty, which satisfies Constantine's great vanity. The only shortcoming is that he cannot brag about his achievements with his old friends like he did in Europe.

Cade continued: "Of course, Southern Frontier Province only carries out development work in the eastern area. The western area bordering the original Orange Free State has not been developed. Moreover, the eastern area is not only raising sheep, but also doing some agriculture and other activities. There is not much difference in the eastern region, except that the north mainly breeds cattle, horses, pigs and other livestock. This is also the reason for considering staggered industry competition. The New Hamburg Port City is now busy building a wool textile center and Nairobi City in the north has formed the two textile industries in East Africa. Center, and I heard that Bulawayo City is also actively promoting the goal of the Central Textile Center, and it is a two-lane development. The western region where Bulawayo is located has a relatively dry climate, so it is suitable for cotton cultivation and sheep raising. .”

There is a big difference between raising cattle and sheep, but cattle are obviously more picky than sheep. Looking at the high-quality pastures in the world, there are high-quality grasslands in regions such as Europe and Argentina. The temperate marine climate in northern Europe and the subtropical grassland climate in Argentina are all This is reflected in the warm and cool climate and luxuriant water and grass, so cattle breeding is the main activity. Areas with a relatively arid climate are suitable for raising sheep. Typical examples include the Murray-Darling Grassland of Australia and the northwest region of the Far Eastern Empire. Many areas of the South African Plateau have limited precipitation and a relatively arid climate, so sheep raising is very suitable.

Of course, South Africa is also suitable for raising cattle. Cattle and sheep are the same as people. They all like a climate that is warm in winter and cool in summer. The vast plateau area of ​​East Africa conforms to this characteristic.

In the previous Transvaal Republic, or in other words, the choice of the Boers to raise cattle was related to their habits and the market. Many Boers came from the Netherlands, Germany and France. The livestock industry in these countries was mainly cattle raising, so they continued after immigrating to South Africa. Traditional methods, and the export market of the Boers is Europe. Europe and the United States are the regions with the highest beef consumption in the world.

Comparatively speaking, East Africa is still a little behind in this regard. However, the livestock industry in East Africa is also dominated by cattle. However, the development time of the livestock industry in East Africa is too short. It will take time to accumulate beef before the common people in East Africa can eat beef.

As for sheep raising, in addition to the wool textile industry mentioned earlier, the export value of sheep meat itself is also very high. East Africa is very close to the Arab region and Central Asia, and the consumption of sheep meat in Arabia and Central Asia is considerable.

While Constantine and Cade were talking, the special train had entered the Zambezi River Railway Bridge, the largest railway bridge in East Africa.

The Zambezi River Railway Bridge is one of the well-known construction projects in East Africa. It is entirely constructed with steel structures. The steel used was imported from Europe during the economic crisis in 1873, so the cost was not large.

 Although East Africa has the Nile River and the Congo River, world-class rivers, the Zambezi River is obviously much more important to East Africa than the first two rivers.

 Because the Zambezi River is likely to become a unique global river in East Africa in the future, the southern bank of the lower reaches is still in the hands of the Portuguese.

As for the Congo River, although East Africa accounts for the majority, the Congo River passes through tropical rainforest areas and has low economic value.

The Nile River is better than the Congo River, but the natural conditions and economic value within its scope are far less than those of the Zambezi River Basin.

Finally, there is the relatively unknown Orange River. As a boundary river, the Orange River has not been taken seriously, and the conditions in the region are also quite bad. Only the upper reaches, that is, the land on both sides of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State has some value. , suitable for human settlement.

Of course, none of the rivers in East Africa could satisfy Ernst. The river basins in East Africa are also fragmented, and their role in boosting the economy of East Africa is far less than that of other rivers of the same level in the world.

 The only promising hydropower resource is not easy to develop now, but this is also a good thing for East Africa. Human beings have a strong desire to explore large river basins, such as tracing the source of the Nile River.

 East Africa lacks a large river that goes inland, which actually hinders the colonization process of other colonists in Africa. On the other hand, the Niger River, which has better conditions, accelerated the progress of Western colonists' conquest.

 (End of this chapter)