African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1192: Iron Forest
In fact, so far, the shock of the Brazilian exhibitors to the city of Dar es Salaam mainly comes from three points. One is the high-rise buildings in Dar es Salaam that are full of ultra-modern atmosphere, one is the traffic everywhere on the streets, and the last one is the urban supporting facilities in Dar es Salaam.

The main reason is that these three things are the most intuitive. This is probably also the reason why the Far Eastern Empire in the previous life liked to build numerous super-high-rise buildings, and even a kind of thinking that "building height is equal to the level of urban development" emerged.

And because the Far Eastern Empire was too keen on this kind of architectural aesthetic, Ernst's aesthetic in his previous life was fatigued. After all, in the small counties of the Far Eastern Empire, even in some special towns, you can see countless high-rise buildings. In such an environment, many cities can only be said to have no characteristics.

Of course, if foreigners, especially those from European countries or those backward countries, set foot in the Far Eastern Empire of the previous life for the first time, it would definitely be quite shocking.

This is not bragging, but is caused by different living environments. Most European cities lack high-rise buildings, and backward countries, except for the capital and a few important cities, do not have such financial resources and capabilities.

Just like people in the early 20th century who came to New York and saw a forest of steel and concrete, there is no doubt that this exaggerated architectural model would make immigrants from Europe and other regions involuntarily think that "the United States is so developed."

The Brazilians in the car behind were much more relaxed than Pereira in the car in front. They were discussing enthusiastically the new and interesting things about the city of Dar es Salaam.

"Yodel, you are also a German, what do you think of this German country in East Africa?"

Brazil is also a country with a large immigration population, so there are naturally many Germans. The story of how Jodl became a Brazilian can be traced back to his grandfather's generation.

After all, if it were a little later, Jodl might not be a Brazilian but an East African. The scale of East Africa's absorption of immigrants from the German region in the mid-to-late last century was unprecedentedly exaggerated.

Yodel did not answer his colleague's question directly. Instead, he thought for a moment and said, "Dreamlike, that's the word I can think of."

"If you exclude the black population, I don't even think the population structure of East Africa is any different from that of Brazil. This doesn't fit my impression of Germany at all, especially it's completely different from what my grandfather said about Germany."

As we all know, Brazil and East Africa are both immigrant countries with a large mixed-race population. The difference is that Brazil has a large white population and a considerable number of blacks, but relatively few native Indians.

There was no black person in East Africa, at least the Brazilian participants did not see any. Damn, isn’t East Africa the homeland of black people? How come there was not a single black person in sight? This is probably what most Brazilians think.

In addition, the size of the mixed-race population in East Africa is obviously much larger than that in Brazil. After all, in the population composition of East Africa, white and yellow bloodlines each account for half.

Although Brazil is not as extreme as the United States and Argentina, white people's contempt for other ethnic groups still exists. This is an important reason why even in the 21st century, the white population in Brazil still accounts for half of the population. At least it shows that early Brazilian whites disdained to intermarry with other groups.

But it is different in East Africa. The forced marriages imposed by the East African government have significant effects, and the mixed-race population in East Africa has a clear advantage. At least in the eyes of Brazilians, if you randomly pick an East African on the street, there is a more than 90% chance that he or she is of mixed-race descent.

This makes the Brazilian exhibitors seem out of place. After all, although there are mixed-race people among the Brazilian exhibitors, more than 90% of them are pure white.

This is obviously closely related to Brazil's social ecology. White people are at the top of society in Brazil. After all, those who can participate in this World Expo basically have a certain social status or wealth.

Jodl's colleague agreed and said: "Compared to Germany, I think this place is more like Russia. After all, many Russians have obvious Asian ancestry, although I have never been to Russia." It has to be said that Jodl's words are too classic. It is probably related to Russia's history. As we all know, the Russians have been loyal dogs of the "Golden Horde", not to mention that there are indeed many Asians in Russia, and the Western world also likes to use these "evidences" to exclude Russia from Europe, unless Russia is too powerful.

For example, when the whole of Europe fell under the iron hoof of Napoleon, Europeans generously gave Russia the title of "European Gendarmerie". This shows that unless Russia strengthens itself and hopes to be servile and act like a bootlicker, it will never be able to integrate into the Western world.

In this regard, East Africa and the United States are relatively pragmatic. Anyway, due to geographical division, it is impossible for Europeans to allow the two countries to join the "European citizenship". In comparison, Japan's "de-Asianization and Europeanization" is more obsessive than Russia. Another more obsessive country is Turkey, the posthumous child of the Ottoman Empire. It wants to join Europe and be the big brother of the Arab world. It wants both, but it also wants to go to the East to trace its roots.

All in all, Jodl did not feel too many "German" characteristics in Dar es Salaam, although as a Brazilian, his life and thinking had long been Brazilianized.

However, this did not affect his good impression of East Africa, so he said without hesitation: "East Africa's urban construction is at least 20 years ahead of Brazil. Compared with Rio de Janeiro, it is obvious that Dar es Salaam is superior in terms of urban construction and environment."

"Look at those skyscrapers in the West, they are full of ultra-modern temperament. This is a completely different architectural style from New York in the United States. Although it lacks classical artistry, it is very comfortable and not abrupt."

Although East Africa still has restrictions on high-rise buildings, appropriate adjustments have been made with the development of the times. Restrictions do not mean no construction, and the number of high-rise buildings in Dar es Salaam ranks third in East Africa.

The first is Dar es Salaam’s old rival, Mombasa, which was once regarded as the twin cities of East Africa together with Dar es Salaam. The second is the capital of East Africa, Rhine.

Mombasa has many high-rise buildings, even more than any other city except New York. This was deliberately done by the East African government. There is no doubt that in the early 20th century, steel and concrete forests were in short supply and could greatly deepen the impression of a country on most people in the world. Therefore, Mombasa, as a window of communication between East Africa and the world, was entrusted with an important task.

As for why it is Mombasa instead of Dar es Salaam, it goes back to the location advantage. Mombasa is a city in East Africa located in the north of the Indian Ocean coast.

It is also a bridgehead for cultural exchanges between East Africa and the Indian Ocean coast, the Far East, and Central and Eastern Europe, and is closer to the civilization center of Eurasia.

Therefore, if Mombasa is built in an exaggerated way, it will open the eyes of the "country bumpkins" in the above-mentioned areas.

This is not an exaggeration. Needless to say, there are no world powers along the Indian Ocean coast except East Africa. Some of them are very backward or simply colonies. Although there is Japan in the Far East, as a great power, Japan is indeed a real "poor imperialist" country. The situation in Central and Eastern Europe is slightly better.

But even if we include the two world powers, Germany and Austria-Hungary, they are only on the same level as East Africa, and in the countries and regions to the east, there is no rival to East Africa at all.

Therefore, if this exhibition is held in Mombasa, it may provide a more shocking visual feast for people from all over the world.

However, the East African government did not do so. There are naturally reasons for this. The first is the carrying capacity issue. The Dar es Salaam urban circle has other cities that can share the pressure, while Mombasa has always been a dominant city. As for the former Mombasa urban circle, it has now been completely integrated with Mombasa and has become the city of Mombasa.

(End of this chapter)