African Entrepreneurship Records

  Chapter 72 Tobacco Growing

  Kenya, Central, Mashulu Town.

  In order to develop the newly explored area, the East African colonial government decided to grow tobacco here after sending people on-site inspection.

  As a temperature-loving and light-loving crop, most places in East Africa are almost suitable for tobacco planting, and the precipitation in East Africa is moderate, which can meet the water required for early growth.

  Mashulu Town, 90 kilometers southeast of Nairobi, has an unknown river running north-south.

   There were only more than 30 immigrants who first arrived here, led by the German Anthony, five immigrants from the Austrian Empire, and more than 20 Chinese.

  Looking at the vast grassland reaching the sky, Anthony couldn't help feeling the magnificence and magic of nature.

  Antony, who used to live in Europe, has seen agricultural manors and forests in North Germany since he was a child, full of beauty and vitality.

   And the land of Africa is full of wild nature, and the area is so large, it can't help but feel the heart is surging.

The same is true for the immigrants from the Austrian Empire. Most of them came to Africa for the first time, and they were more shocking than Anthony. The Austrian Empire is a place with mountains and rivers, especially where the immigrants live. Because of the relative backwardness, they still maintain a relatively simple life. Way.

  Some people have never left their villages all their lives. It is conceivable that after going to sea, they are first impressed by the magnificence of the sea, and then they are attracted by the peculiar tropical scene of Africa after landing in East Africa.

  The Chinese immigrants are relatively better. Due to the problem of their source, they can't see such an area of ​​grassland in North China, but the farmland there is also beyond sight.

  Although the land area of ​​the German and Austrian empires is far smaller than that of the Far Eastern powers, when it comes to per capita land holdings, the Far East is far inferior to the former two.

   It’s just that the Far East is too large, especially the endless plains and long land, it’s always easy for people to overlook its huge population size.

  …

  The immigrants began to build houses, which are temporary houses built with mud. After all, there are too few people now, so we can't waste too much time improving the living conditions.

  After disembarking from Tanga Port and Dar es Salaam Port, replenish supplies in the first town, led by an experienced old man.

   This is the source of the first batch of immigrants in Mashulu. The living materials are all in two carriages, farm tools and rations.

  Looking down from the sky, more than 30 people seem so small on the vast grassland, and their houses are like matchboxes.

  This is the initial size of Mashulu Town, and the East African colony plans to send nearly a thousand immigrants to this place in the future.

  At the same time, towns and villages like Mashulu Town rose rapidly in Kenya.

   From the eastern coast to the westernmost Great Lakes, immigrants quickly filled local ecological niches.

  The immigrants in this period were all mixed, led by Germans, Austrian Empire immigrants and Chinese immigrants.

  …

   After a month of development.

  The population of Mashulu Township has reached more than 400, and it already has the appearance of a village, and the development of the fields has also begun.

   Along the bank of the nameless river, the residents of Mashulu Town have opened up a thousand acres of tobacco plantations.

  On the rows of field ridges, the green tobacco seedlings are full of vigor and vitality, rooted in the red soil.

  These are the future suppliers of raw materials for Hexingen Tobacco Company.

   For a long time, Hexingen Tobacco Company mainly purchased tobacco from businessmen in other countries, and then processed it into cigarettes through machines.

  This is a great waste of production costs, because the pricing power of tobacco is in the hands of those businessmen.

  East Africa has a large area of ​​barren land, which is suitable for growing tobacco. It can not only provide Hexingen Tobacco Company with a large amount of raw materials at a good price, but also the quality is quite good.

  The East African colonial government plans to build a tobacco plantation of 50,000 mu near the town of Mashulu.

  On the one hand, it can speed up the immigration to Kenya, and on the other hand, it can create benefits, which is the best of both worlds.

  After the tobacco harvest is abundant, the people from the Hexingen Tobacco Company will come and collect it, send it to the seaside to the port of Mombasa or Dar es Salaam, and then transport it back to Europe.

  Anthony looked at the town of Mashulu, which had achieved quite a lot, and felt a sense of pride spontaneously.

   As the mayor, Anthony can be regarded as the last group of German mercenaries in the colony.

  At the beginning of the year when they came to East Africa, there were only two thousand German mercenaries in the entire East African colony. Later, as the population of the colony increased.

  Adhering to the principle of primary and secondary, the Germans became the seed candidates for the natural rulers. Anthony's teammates have been promoted to officials in various places one after another, or gained more power in the army.

   While Anthony is still in place, it is finally Anthony's turn to develop the Mashulu area this time, and he was elected as the mayor of Mashulu Town.

  As a mercenary and a former Prussian soldier, in fact, Anthony doesn't like the days of fighting and killing.

   Compared with war, Anthony, who was born in a peasant family, is more willing to deal with the land.

  After becoming the ruler of Mashulu Town, he didn't act domineering, but like a farmer in Prussia.

  Leading the big guys every day, working in the fields, looking at the vibrant crops, Anthony felt happier and more satisfied.

  The immigrants in Mashulu Town were also infected by this kind and friendly mayor, and they were full of passion for the cause of land reclamation.

  Three different groups from Germany, Austria and the Far East all have a common language because of their identity as farmers.

  They exchanged and shared experiences in the field work. Anthony shared some scientific knowledge popularized in Prussian education with the two. The experience of immigrants from the Austrian Empire is also very rich, especially good at knowledge of some agricultural facilities. Immigrants from the Far East are somewhat sophisticated in vegetable cultivation and non-staple food research.

Because of frequent communication together, Anthony has learned some dialects in the Austrian Empire and many short Chinese sentences. Immigrants from the Austrian Empire themselves know some German, and now they have also learned a small amount of Chinese vocabulary. Also touched the threshold of some European languages.

  The residents of Mashulu Town live in harmony just as they are connected to the iron-red land under the red sunset.

  In addition to the immigrants engaged in agricultural work in the entire East African colony, the largest number are soldiers, so there is no significant difference in class.

  This creates conditions for different nationalities to live together, eat in the same pot, and get similar income, and the barriers and vigilance caused by historical and geographical reasons are gradually melted away.

  Of course, the aborigines in East Africa are not counted here. After all, these aborigines don’t even have decent clothes, and their faces are covered with patterned tattoos, which look fierce. Moreover, the dark complexion is difficult to be accepted by ordinary people no matter from the perspective of civilization or race.

  The East African colonial government also deliberately strengthened the impression in the minds of immigrants that the aborigines are cruel, inactive, uncivilized, and backward in evolution (by comparing the faces of orangutans and aborigines, the lower face is convex.).

  (end of this chapter)