African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1292 Indian Issues
Rhine Palace.

As the content of the conversation between Freer and Thomson became public, the East African senior officials present also began a heated discussion.

Ernst asked, “What do you think of these four colonies that the French want to give us?”

Finance Minister Logans said: "The French are clearly trying to divert trouble to the east, which could lead to disputes with the UK in the future."

"But the French are not generous enough. Their colonies are really useless. Take the three French colonies in India for example. They are at most three small colonial outposts of a certain size. The area is small, and most of the local enterprises and factories are run by French people."

"We can't use tough measures to deal with these French-owned companies and factories, and if we leave these French companies aside, we will have even less to use."

"At the same time, the security of France's colonies in India is not high. In the past, the Dutch and the British had seized these areas from the French, but eventually returned them to France for various reasons."

"And the port conditions here are not very good. Take the local governance and Kaligarh for example. Their ports are completely built on rivers that lead to the sea. There is no bay. Only Yanam has slightly better conditions and is located in the Godavari River delta."

India's coastline is not short, even longer than that of East Africa. Of course, this is the result of including Myanmar, Bangladesh, and Palestine in the previous life.

However, most of India's coastline is too straight to accommodate port construction. Take the east coast, for example, its straightness is almost the same as the Somali coast in East Africa.

However, after so many years, East Africa has only built two large ports on the Somali coastline: Mogadishu and Kismayo.

East Africa's infrastructure capacity is obviously far greater than India's, but it has not built too many ports on its coastline in the Somali region.

In addition to Somalia's arid climate, desert coastal areas, small population and small economic output, the overly flat coastline is also an important reason why it is difficult for East Africa to develop new ports on the Somali coastline.

This is not to say that East Africa does not attach importance to the Somali coastline. After all, Somalia is the northeastern gateway of East Africa, and the East African Navy has always wanted to find an area near the Somali coastline to build a military port.

However, in the absence of ready-made bays and ports, Mogadishu can only make do with what it has, which is also the main reason why Mogadishu has become a dual-use military and civilian port.

The conditions of India's coastline are similar to those of Somalia's coastline. The only difference is that India's climate, population, and economic size are much stronger than Somalia.

However, the development of Mogadishu and Kismayo is mainly based on the Shabelle River and the Juba River, and they have a considerable economic hinterland. In contrast, India lacks such large regional rivers.

The Godavari River where Yanam is located has good conditions. It is the largest river in central and southern India and almost goes directly to the west coast of India, but the shipping conditions are not good.

Originating from the Deccan Plateau, the entire river flows through a large area with a large drop in elevation, which is similar to the situation of rivers in East Africa. Therefore, it is suitable for hydropower development but not for shipping.

India obviously does not have the ability to manage this river, and the British obviously have no such plan. After all, if investment is to be made, the Ganges River Basin and Bengal are more valuable.

Ernst agreed with what Logans said: "If there were really no problems with these places, the British would not allow the French to control them, and the French would not willingly hand these places over to us."

Logans said, "Yes, Your Majesty, according to our investigation, the French government does not attach much importance to this place. At most, they use these three places as material supply points and ship docking places for trade between France and the East."

"The local industry and agriculture are not very developed. Although the French have invested in a number of enterprises, most of them are small in scale and low in technology, and are mainly engaged in the rough processing of agricultural products." Ernst said: "In this case, do you think the Empire should build a colony here?"

Freer said: "Your Majesty, I think we should take over these three French colonies. Although these three colonies have limited economic and strategic value to us, they are indeed an opportunity for us to infiltrate India."

"East Africa and India have relatively frequent trade exchanges, but this cannot change the fact that India is almost completely controlled by Britain. Of course, India is a British colony and this is not something we should worry about."

"What we should worry about most is India becoming an independent country again, especially during the hundreds of years of British rule in India, which led to the continuous external expansion, resulting in the entire Indian area exceeding more than three million square kilometers."

"There is no need to say much about India's natural conditions. Its arable land and resource conditions are fully capable of supporting it to become a world power."

"Moreover, if India becomes an independent world power, this will pose the greatest threat to East Africa. Although India is much closer to the Far Eastern Empire and Russia than we are, due to the terrain barriers and India's unique geographical location, it poses the greatest threat to the empire."

Although India is closer to Russia and the Far Eastern Empire, and even borders the two countries or their affiliated forces directly, there are plateaus and mountains separating them, which are the most rugged plateaus and mountains in the world.

The Indian territory directly extends into the Indian Ocean, which gives India a natural foundation to become a major Indian Ocean power, as can be seen from the name of the Indian Ocean.

East Africa, which regards the Indian Ocean as its core maritime strategic interest, obviously cannot allow the emergence of a powerful country around the Indian Ocean that can threaten its hegemony in the Indian Ocean.

Although Britain currently has the power to threaten East Africa in the Indian Ocean, the core of Britain is ultimately its homeland. The British have no intention of developing colonies along the Indian Ocean coast, such as India. If the British can maintain their colonial rule in India, then Britain will obviously continue to suppress India's development.

The problem with India was that it was impossible for the British to maintain their colonial rule in India forever. As the colonial era came to an end, the East African governments also came to this realization.

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That is, the cost of colonizing overseas colonies is getting higher and higher. Take India for example. Although the British want to suppress India's development, they have to rely on local Indian princes, nobles or compradors to maintain their rule in India.

As a result, the power held by the local ruling class in India became increasingly stronger, and they acquired technological, industrial and military capabilities through cooperation with the British.

This can be seen from the industrial development of India. Although under British rule, India's industry had to rely on Britain's large industrial system to exist, even if it was an incomplete industry, it was still an industry.

At a time when many countries in the world don't even have industry, India is already far stronger than its neighboring countries by being able to control some industries.

Moreover, in order to cut costs and reduce risks, British companies will not completely obey the government's arrangements. Take the cotton textile industry as an example. The British government naturally hopes that India will grow cotton and engage in textile production locally.

However, this means that companies will have to bear more transportation costs, labor costs and risks. After all, the distance from India to the UK is not far. Shipping cotton to the UK for processing and then shipping it back to India by ship for sale is obviously a redundant practice for many companies.

So over the years, more and more companies have chosen to build textile factories directly in India to produce and sell locally.

Moreover, Britain had already completed industrialization, and the cost of local labor was high. Obviously, the price of Indians was lower. And because they were colonies, there was no need to worry about riots when exploiting them.

With the active Labour Party in Europe and the ideological improvement of the lower classes of European people, workers' strikes, factory riots, and even unrest like that in Russia aimed at overthrowing the current capitalist regime are common.

(End of this chapter)