African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1143 Belgian Refugees

1914 8 Month 19 Day.

Pointe Noire.

The outbreak of the European war and the invasion of Germany brought great trouble to Belgium, and the Belgian Congo, as a Belgian colony, also ushered in a rare opportunity.

It can be said that the situation of the Belgian Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo under Belgian colonization in the past were very different.

Now that Leopold II has passed away, the rule of the Congo colony has been taken over by the Belgian government. It has gone from being a place for Leopold II to make money to a initially developed colony.

On the one hand, the population is smaller than that of the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the black indigenous people were basically "extermined" during the reign of Leopold II. On the other hand, the conditions here are much better than those in the previous Democratic Republic of Congo.

Although the Democratic Republic of the Congo is much larger than the Congo Free State, it has only one seaport that cannot be fully utilized. In addition, the Democratic Republic of the Congo is deep inland and too large to be developed. For a small European country like Belgium, the difficulty level of developing a colony of more than 2 million square kilometers is completely different from that of a colony of only more than 200,000 square kilometers.

Moreover, the discovery and development of local iron ore has raised the Belgian government's attention to the Congo colony to a higher level. After all, Belgium is famous for its steel industry and is one of the few steel powers in Europe. The development of the Belgian Congo is of great significance to the development of the Belgian steel industry.

In addition to iron ore, the Congo colony is also rich in other resources, at least for Belgium. The export of potash from the Congo colony alone can bring huge profits to the Belgian government.

Mineral exports have become the pillar industry of the Belgian Congo. Because of its developed local industry and its proximity to East Africa, Africa's first industrial power, the Belgian Congo has never lacked markets.

At the same time, there was great potential for developing agriculture in the Belgian Congo. Although Leopold II was cruel, it must be said that during his reign, the blood and sweat of the black people were used to lay the foundation for the initial development of agriculture in the local area.

Belgium is a country at high latitudes. Even though the warm and humid air currents from the Atlantic make Belgium quite livable, it is impossible to develop tropical agriculture.

The Belgian Congo provided this opportunity. It could develop almost all tropical agricultural products to meet the needs of Belgium.

This enabled Belgium to obtain a stable supply of tropical agricultural products such as rubber, coffee, and sugar, making it basically self-sufficient.

After the death of Leopold II, the Belgian government also changed some of its extreme policies toward Belgian Congo. From simply plundering the local area in the past, it began to make some large investments and encouraged its own immigrants to develop the Congo colony.

This is also a last resort. The Belgian Congo has already demonstrated its huge value, and with a giant country like East Africa next to it, the Belgian government certainly cannot simply believe in the guarantees of the East African government.

So starting from 1908, in just five years, the Belgian government immigrated nearly Belgians to the local area. During the era of Leopold II, the Belgian population of the entire Belgian Congo was less than .

The influx of Belgians led to further development of the local economy, the development of a large number of agricultural products and plantations, and the establishment of a number of small and medium-sized enterprises, mainly engaged in mining, agricultural product processing and import and export trade.

Before the outbreak of World War I, the entire Belgian Congo had already shown signs of vitality, and the quality of its economic development even exceeded that of Argentina.

This also provided a basis for immigration from Belgium. When World War I broke out, Belgium was affected by the war and a large number of Belgians chose to go to the Belgian Congo to escape the war.

Pointe-Noire has become one of the main destinations for Belgian refugees, and its development is now in no way inferior to most cities in Belgium.

In 1913, the population of Pointe-Noire had reached . It was the political and economic center of the entire Belgian Congo and was also considered a large city in Belgium. The total population of the entire Belgian Congo had exceeded , of which more than were Chinese immigrants, nearly were Belgians, and the rest were mostly East Africans.

In the port of Pointe-Noire, there are many ships carrying goods from the Belgian Congo to Belgium or East Africa every day. However, the port of Pointe-Noire has now ushered in new changes. Many Belgians with their families have come to Pointe-Noire with their luggage to seek refuge.

At the dock in Black Point, Hermann was looking for his target with his wife and three children.

"Hermann, is that you?" At this time, a strong man squeezed out of the crowd and shouted loudly to De Croo.

I saw a man walking over carrying a wooden sign, on which was written De Croo's name, Hermann De Croo.

"Are you Hughes?" Looking at the person who came, De Croo asked with some uncertainty.

"It's me, brother. How is it? I can't recognize you. Have you become darker and stronger?"

Hughes De Croo is Hermann's younger brother, but the image of Hughes and Hermann in memory is quite different.

The Hughes in Herman's memory was definitely not strong. He remembered that when he was in Belgium, Hughes was rather thin due to lack of nutrition, and his skin was not as dark as it is now. Hughes even looked a little delicate before leaving Belgium.

But now Hughes looked strong and muscular, wearing a strange short-sleeved shirt. The lines of his arms were fully displayed under the scorching sun. He was wearing shorts and a pair of sandals. If it weren't for the familiar voice, he would never think that this person was his brother.

As if he could see through his brother's thoughts, Hughes said a little embarrassedly: "My appearance has indeed changed a lot in the past few years since I came to the Belgian Congo, but it is mainly because the environment here is different from that in my hometown."

In fact, compared to the mainland, the Belgian Congo is definitely a good place for ordinary Belgians to live, except for the climate here. Of course, the climate in Pointe-Noire is still good.

Although this place is tropical and adjacent to the tropical rainforest climate zone, the Benguela cold current along the coast keeps the temperature in Pointe Noire at over 20 degrees, but the sun is a bit scorching.

Herman continued to ask: "Your clothes are quite peculiar. Do all tropical people dress like this?"

Herman's impression of the tropics was that it was hot, so he couldn't accept his brother's outfit for the time being, but he also noticed that most of the locals dressed like this.

Hughes said: "This is East African short-sleeved shirt and shorts. East Africans usually wear this, so we wear it too. It should be very comfortable to wear this in European summer, but cultural differences have caused this kind of clothing to be popular only in East Africa and surrounding areas for the time being."

Europe and many temperate countries do not have this kind of attire, which is actually in line with common sense. After all, the temperature of the earth today is far less hot than Ernst's previous life. This brings us to the Little Ice Age, which not only had a huge impact on the Far East, but Europe also experienced a Little Ice Age that lasted for hundreds of years.

So in this era, especially in temperate regions such as Europe and East Asia, people generally wore thicker clothes than in Ernst's previous life. Of course, East Africa is a tropical region, and with the influence of Ernst, people were much more casual about clothing than in Europe. They dressed in whatever was comfortable. This situation also affected the areas surrounding East Africa.

After all, as East Africa is a major textile country, East Africa's clothing habits will also flow to these regions with trade, and this is the case with the Belgian Congo. Many East African industrial products are popular in the Belgian Congo. After all, the shipping cost of a piece of clothing from Belgium is not cheap. The trade between East Africa and the Belgian Congo is quite frequent, and the two countries have many border areas and many border trade markets. Therefore, the living habits in the Belgian Congo are also rapidly becoming East Africanized.

Hughes said, "You look quite different in this suit. You can tell at a glance that you just came from Europe. Compared to the mainland, Belgian Congo has its own culture and living habits. Many things here are similar to those in East Africa. You should be able to get used to it after living here for a while."

"Besides, whether you can go back to Europe is another matter. I feel that this place is no worse than the mainland. Basically, there is nothing missing. There are many opportunities now. Many local nobles and businessmen are increasing their investment here. If it can be developed to the level of Cabinda, it will basically be no different from Europe."

(End of this chapter)