African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1069 German Discussion
Among the countries in the early 20th century, although East Africa was one of the few countries with a population of over million, the population size of East Africa was not enough to make other countries feel afraid. After all, many European countries had a population of over million, and there were top powers like Russia with a population of over million.

Russia's population has long been the largest in Europe, but this does not mean that Russia's huge population size can make other countries feel afraid. After all, factors such as industry, defense industry, economic capabilities, social stability, and mobilization capabilities must also be considered. If the country's national strength is based solely on population, other European countries would have surrendered long ago.

Although the news that East Africa's population has exceeded 1910 million is shocking, it is not unacceptable. In , the U.S. population was close to million, and the gap with East Africa was not that big. The U.S. industrial strength and economic level are much stronger than East Africa. So instead of worrying about East Africa, it is better to worry about the United States. No matter how you look at it, the United States is stronger than East Africa.

At the same time, the exaggerated population data of East Africa is completely understandable. As an immigrant country, most of its population comes from the Far East Empire, which can also explain the abnormal situation of the East African population to a certain extent.

The Far Eastern Empire has long been the world's most populous country. Even if it loses a small amount of population every year, it would be comparable to the population size of a small or medium-sized country. East Africa has long taken over the Far Eastern Empire's excess population, so it is not surprising that the population of East Africa can grow so rapidly.

We also have to consider the factors of the German region in Europe. The economy of the German region has only completely turned around in recent years. Before that, it has always been a major area of ​​population outflow in the world. Therefore, it is completely reasonable for East Africa to become the fourth most populous country in the world with the support of the German region and the Far East Empire.

This is indeed the case. Ernst has always regarded population as wealth, and this is especially true for pre-colonial Africa. Without sufficient population, the development of African land would be unimaginably difficult. Therefore, introducing a large number of immigrants to East Africa is an inevitable measure for the Rhine royal family to develop Africa.

The success in East Africa also provided experience for countries such as the Kingdom of South Germany and Belgium. Before that, almost no country would introduce a large number of immigrants from the Far East Empire.

Although there were many Chinese workers in the United States, especially railroad workers, they only added up to tens of thousands, and after the Chinese Exclusion Act and the economic crisis, there were almost no left.

In fact, Americans look down on East Asians from the bottom of their hearts. This is not only directed at the Far East Empire, but also at East Asian populations such as Japan. For example, a few years ago, the US government and the Japanese government signed an agreement. The two countries exchanged interests, and the Japanese government restricted its population from entering the United States.

In sharp contrast to this is Brazil, which did not have too many obstacles to Japanese immigrants, which made Japanese immigrants one of the important ethnic groups in Brazil in the future. This also reflects that Brazilian society is more inclusive than the United States, and is worthy of the title of Brazil's "melting pot". Even the Brazilian government's attitude towards black people is considered "friendly".

Of course, Ernst did not comment too much on Brazil's approach. In any case, Ernst's attitude towards the Japanese is still mainly based on "conspiracy theory", because Japan has done too many dirty things in its past life, which is completely in line with the Japanese national character.

As for why Brazil did not encounter special circumstances in its previous life, Ernst believes that it is not because the Japanese government did not have such an idea, but because of the defeat in the war, the Japanese government could not implement the idea even if it had one. This was even more so in the late 20th century when Japan's population began to decline.

Moreover, Japanese immigrants in Brazil who are out of the control of the Japanese government are probably unwilling to become the government's pawns. After all, their lives in Brazil are still very comfortable. The degree of involution among East Asians has always been the highest, which makes it easy for Japanese immigrants to gain an advantage in the relatively fair society of Brazil.

There is even a great possibility that a Japanese immigrant will become the president of Brazil, something that is obviously unlikely to happen in countries like the United States.

……

While East African governments were compiling data for the Second Five-Year Plan, the German government was having heated discussions on East Africa's population issues.

"The population of East Africa is about 110 million, almost twice that of our country, and most of the population of East Africa is of German descent. If we can bring East Africa into our camp, it will be extremely beneficial for Germany to seize world power." Any country with a population of over 100 million is worth wooing, or has value in being utilized, even if the situation in India was as bad as it was in the previous life.

After the East African population data was released, it naturally aroused the interest of many people within the German government. If East Africa could be tied to the German chariot, the German government would even dare to challenge the whole of Europe.

"Can you confirm the authenticity of this news?" William II did not comment because he was skeptical about the data released by East Africa. The population growth of this scale in East Africa was really too exaggerated.

Imperial Prime Minister Bateman said: "The East African government should not be so far away from falsifying such things. Moreover, through our economic cooperation with East Africa over the years, we can also see that the population data of East Africa is authentic. For example, the trade of bulk commodities such as agricultural products, industrial products, and minerals all correspond."

"Our previous estimate of East Africa's population was about 50 million or more, but this estimate was obviously underestimated. However, this also explains the rapid increase in trade volume in East Africa in recent years, which would obviously not be possible without a large population base."

William II nodded and said, "Yes! No one would have thought that East Africa was so hidden. It seems that they have never released official population data before. But this is also good news for us. Moreover, we underestimated the market potential of East Africa, which caused us to suffer a great loss."

With a population of more than 100 million, it can definitely be called a supermarket in the world at that time. Moreover, because of long-term dealings with East Africa, Germany has a good understanding of East Africa's consumption capacity. East Africa is not like the poor countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. At least even ordinary people in East Africa are much richer than those in India.

Even in such a poor situation as India, it was able to support Britain's hegemony through its huge size. If Germany could dominate East Africa, it would be no worse than India. Not to mention anything else, the area of ​​East Africa alone is beyond the reach of India.

Bateman sighed, "We missed the best time to intervene in East Africa. If we had gone back 20 or 30 years, we would have discovered East Africa's potential and would not have been so passive, especially before the South African War. But it turns out that we always underestimated East Africa."

William II also said sourly: "If Germany had changed its development strategy in advance and actively colonized Africa, then the entire Central Africa and South Africa would be ours today!"

As a staunch colonialist, William II had the highest pursuit of becoming a maritime power among all the Prussian monarchs.

Of course, what he enjoyed was not very realistic. After all, if Prussia had not focused on Europe in the early days, Germany would not have been unified. Germany would have become a second-rate country at best and would still be suppressed by Britain, France and even the Austro-Hungarian Empire. If a second-rate country wanted to compete with other countries for overseas colonies, it would at most be able to get some leftovers that the great powers looked down upon.

The most typical examples are Belgium and the Netherlands. To put it bluntly, if Britain, France and other countries were interested in their colonies, they would have no choice but to give in. The reason why they can retain their colonies today is largely because the colonies they control "don't" have much value, or that the great powers are reluctant to take action for the sake of balance.

Take Belgium’s colonies for example. If East Africa did not exist, France would probably not have allowed Belgium to occupy this place. Not only the colonies, but even without Germany and Britain, France would have swallowed up Belgium itself.

Therefore, if Germany had not been able to unify and integrate in the early stages, it would have been nothing more than a pawn in the hands of Britain, France, Austria and Russia, and it would have been impossible for it to develop to its current level.

(End of this chapter)