African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 915 The Strategic Value of the West Coast

After the South African War, Portugal's war reparations were actually transferred from East Africa to the British, so Britain achieved all-round control over Portugal's economy. In addition, as traditional allies, Britain and Portugal acquiesced to Portugal's expansion in its West African colonies.

This would also serve as a buffer between the colonies of Britain and Germany. As for France, it would naturally be impossible for it to deprive Portugal of the colony of Weida as it did in the previous life.

In fact, it is impossible for the British to allow France to do so. After all, they suffered a great loss in South Africa. Britain can only intensify competition with France in West Africa. However, France's strength in West Africa is obviously too strong, so the current conflict between France and Britain in West Africa is actually quite large.

After all, it was the expansion of East Africa that interrupted the colonial pace of various countries in the previous life. According to the current territory of East Africa, the victims include Britain, Portugal, Germany, Belgium and France.

Britain lost Kenya and Rhodesia, Portugal lost Angola and Mozambique, Germany lost German East Africa and South-West Africa, Belgium lost the Congo Basin, and France only got one-third of Madagascar.

The only two countries that benefited were Italy and Sigmaringen. However, Italy had been badly betrayed by Ernst before, losing the entire Venice and part of Lombardy, and the Papal States and Naples also regained their independence.

This shows the role of East Africa as a "troublemaker" in the world situation. In fact, other victims include Japan and the United States, both of which have been more or less cheated by East Africa.

Of course, apart from Britain, Portugal and Japan, other countries have good relations with East Africa. After all, they could not imagine the colonial pattern of their previous lives.

Of course, it is precisely because of this that French businessmen would invest or conduct trade activities in East Africa. For a large country with a land area of ​​13 million square kilometers and a population of more than 70 million, even a little leakage would be enough for many businessmen to make a fortune.

Cross: "In fact, your company's ability to get this order is actually related to us. The East African government makes money from us through agricultural products, so they have the funds to buy advanced industrial equipment from you. Otherwise, relying on the economic level of East Africa, it is not easy to improve industrial capacity on their own."

There is nothing wrong with what Cross said. East Africa is now following the Soviet approach, raising funds for industrial development through the scissors gap between industry and agriculture. Of course, this approach is not original to the Soviet Union, it is just more typical.

In fact, there are similar cases in the early development of industry in Europe and the United States. The more well-known one is the sheep cannibalism movement in the UK. However, in Europe and the United States, land is mainly concentrated in the hands of landlords, so the form of expression is different. In essence, they all sacrifice the interests of farmers to promote industrial development.

Of course, sacrificing agriculture is one of the mainstream means currently used by countries that want to achieve industrialization, but Europe and the United States can still achieve the original accumulation of wealth through foreign colonial plunder and the export of industrial products.

East Africa is no exception, except that the colonies in East Africa have basically been "localized", but the damage to the local indigenous people is irreversible. Although East African agriculture has made great progress, agricultural development provides the main funds for industry. At the same time, East Africa also exports electricity, automobiles, steel and other products. Therefore, the industrialization process of various countries is similar and not very clean.

Burley was naturally aware of what Cross said. He smiled and said, "Same, same. This only shows that everyone has gained their own benefits from trade with East Africa. East Africa has obtained advanced industrial equipment, and we have all made money. We each get what we need."

So who lost out in the deal? The answer is the Portuguese, the Orangemen, the Zanzibar people, and the native Africans.

As for East African agriculture, although it seems to be at a disadvantage, it can only be considered a mixture of losses and gains. After all, East African agriculture has also enjoyed the dividends of the times. The land was basically snatched away, and the labor force was supplemented by blacks. Although the number of blacks is now declining rapidly, the animal power in East Africa has increased, and mechanization is now in its infancy. Coupled with the improvement of related supporting projects, the development of East African agriculture is actually not slower than that of industry, but industry is easier to achieve results.

"Mr. Cross, as fellow townsmen, why don't we get together in Block 11 tonight and invite more friends. As fellow French people overseas, we should help each other." Burley suggested.

District 11 is actually the red-light district of Dar es Salaam, where foreigners usually go for pleasure. "No problem, but I know a lot of people in Dar es Salaam, so you'll have to spend a lot of money tonight," Cross said with a smile.

In fact, there is a relatively concentrated population of French people in East Africa. For example, there are more than 700 people living in Dar es Salaam.

Of course, the main reason for this is that, in addition to the fact that Dar es Salaam is the largest city in East Africa and there are more opportunities, another reason is that there are relatively few ports in East Africa. In addition, due to the influence of East Africa's closed-door policy, no matter how many foreigners there are, they can only be concentrated in a few coastal cities.

There are only a handful of such cities, so most foreigners are currently distributed in Dar es Salaam, Mombasa, Mogadishu, Kismayo, Beira, New Hamburg Port, etc. and Luanda and Benguela on the west coast.

Foreigners on the west coast are mainly Germans, concentrated in Luanda and Benguela. As for other west coast cities, such as Cabinda, which is second only to Luanda in terms of economy, there are actually not many Germans because the local railway has not yet been opened and because it is located in the tropical rainforest, Germans prefer to invest in Luanda and Benguela in the south.

As for merchants from other countries, apart from Portugal, there were hardly any who lived permanently in the ports on the west coast of East Africa.

As for Austria, they will certainly not go far away to invest in the west coast. Austria is closer to the eastern part of East Africa via the Suez Canal, and the economic strength of the eastern coastal areas of East Africa is also stronger.

Of course, another reason why the Germans attached importance to the west coast was that Germany's Cameroon colony was not far from the west coast of East Africa. Therefore, the construction of Cameroon or other German West African colonies required nearby support from East Africa.

After all, Germany is located far north of the European continent, and on the way from its homeland to its colonies in West Africa, it has to pass through British and French waters, so it is not very safe.

Furthermore, some of the goods needed for colonial development could save a lot of costs by importing them directly from East Africa, after all, East Africa is very close.

Moreover, investing in East Africa itself is not a bad thing. Germany is also optimistic about East Africa's development and construction in the west, especially in Angola. Early planning can also deepen its influence on East Africa.

Currently, East Africa is an important source of new raw materials and market for Germany, with huge potential. The west coast of East Africa is most convenient for sea transportation to Germany and is least likely to be restricted by the Suez Canal and the Strait of Gibraltar.

This can also be seen as a strategic foresight of Germany, just like the Far Eastern Empire in the past developed ports and land routes in Pakistan and Myanmar in order to ensure energy security.

It does not seem to be of much use in normal times, and may even result in a loss of money, but if there really comes a day of blockade or war, it may play an important role.

The Strait of Gibraltar and the Suez Canal are both under British control, so Germany naturally does not want to be so easily controlled. In the past, Germany built the Baghdad Railway with such considerations, that is, to break through other countries' blockade of the ocean through land.

The emergence of East Africa only gave Germany another option. During the war, it was quite difficult to block the trade between the west coast of East Africa and mainland Germany. After all, there were no favorable terrain conditions like Suez, Gibraltar, or even the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

(End of this chapter)