African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 966 Visit to Mbeya

Mbeya Station is a large station, so the stop time is longer. At Tirpitz's strong request, after a phone application from the station, the East African government allowed him to observe the development of Mbeya City around the station.

Looking at the East African security personnel who were guarding him like thieves, Tirpitz said helplessly: "I heard that East Africa is relatively closed before. Now it seems to be true. I just think that there are so many restrictions when walking around this East African city."

Aaron, the East African receptionist, naturally could not allow Tirpitz to "slander" his country at will, and explained: "Your Excellency, East Africa is actually a relatively free country, but we are indeed much stricter in screening and examining foreigners. After all, East Africa has a short history. In order to maintain regional stability, we need to organize third-party forces to threaten the security of East African countries, but these have little impact on ordinary people in East Africa."

"Well! Do you think I'm a spy? Or someone who has bad intentions towards East Africa?" Tirpitz said sarcastically. No one would feel good about being treated like this, so Tirpitz said this deliberately.

"Haha, Your Excellency the Count is certainly not an outsider. We in East Africa are brother countries with Germany, but East Africa adheres to the principle of rule of law, so this procedure is unavoidable. You must know that the population of East Africa is not indigenous, so we must guard against those who have had grievances with East Africa and use the indigenous people to impact the social order of East Africa."

What Aaron said makes sense. As for the countries that have had conflicts with East Africa, there is no doubt that in the eyes of outsiders, they are only Britain and Portugal.

Tirpitz, the old fox, naturally did not believe Aaron's words. After all, East Africa was even more closed before the South African War. At that time, there were only two open cities in East Africa, Dar es Salaam and Mombasa. It was exactly the same as the Far Eastern Empire before the Opium War. The Far Eastern Empire once had only one legally open port, Guangzhou.

Of course, there are many speculations about East Africa's implementation of a closed-door policy, but there is no need to pay too much attention to it. After all, the African continent is not a hot spot. Except for the South African War, it was hardly reported in Europe. After the end of the South African War, although the situation improved a little, it was better than nothing.

Tirpitz was too lazy to care about all these things. Now he was only interested in Mbeya, a large city in the interior of East Africa.

It was already past three in the afternoon, but the streets of Mbeya were bustling with people and vehicles, and the large chimneys of the factories in the industrial zone were emitting exhaust gas into the sky.

There are many buildings and structures in Mbeya, the roads are neat and clean, and all the street lights are electric, which shows that East Africa has spared no effort in the development of electricity.

Tirpitz passed through many cities along the way. Those East African cities also had factories and power facilities, which was in line with the national conditions of East Africa as a major export country for power equipment and products in the international market.

"What is the population of Mbeya?" Tirpitz asked Aaron.

"I don't know the exact number, but it should be around 500,000 people. After all, it's one of the few big cities in East Africa." Aaron answered honestly.

The actual total population of Mbeya is currently more than 500,000, ranking fourth among cities in East Africa.

"In this case, this city should not be underestimated. At first glance, I knew that this city is more prosperous than Dodoma. It might even be ranked among the top five in Germany," said Tirpitz.

In terms of population alone, only Berlin, Hamburg and Cologne in Germany are ahead of Mbeya. Munich is comparable to Mbeya, with more than 500,000 people, so Mbeya's population can also be ranked in the top five in Germany. "Mbeya is the earliest heavy industrial base in East Africa, so it has a first-mover advantage. In the early days, East Africa's military industry and heavy industry were concentrated in Mbeya, and with the construction of the Central Railway, Mbeya maintained its huge advantages." Aaron said.

The support from the Central Railway and East African countries’ policies is an important reason why Mbeya City has been able to maintain rapid development.

In the past, Mbeya ranked between sixth and eighth among Tanzanian cities, fluctuating up and down. But now, Mbeya ranks among the top five in East Africa. This is naturally closely related to the attention that the East African government attaches to Mbeya.

"So it seems that East Africa has attached great importance to industrial development many years ago, and it was located in the hinterland of the country. No wonder East Africa was able to fight against the two great powers, Britain and Portugal, at the same time during the South African War without losing the upper hand. If Portugal had invested the same amount in its colonies as you did, it would not have been driven back to its homeland by you." Tirpitz said.

The biggest difference between conventional colonists and East Africa is that Portugal takes more than it builds. In the past, the two Portuguese colonies only focused on developing the coastal areas, leaving the inland areas completely free. Under such circumstances, how could it possibly compete with the enterprising East Africa?

Tirpitz continued, "Mbeya's urban planning, construction level, and industrial development are all up to standard. Although this is just a glimpse of the whole picture, I can assert that if other East African cities are like Mbeya, then East Africa will be the next America in the future."

"I originally thought that East Africa had only developed its coastal areas effectively, but what I saw and heard along the way made me realize that East Africa's development is far from what the outside world has shown. I'm afraid it's hard for Europeans to imagine that in the hinterland of the African continent, nearly a thousand kilometers away from the coastline, there is a city that is no less impressive than a big European city."

"I used to think the same way, but after seeing Mbeya, I realized that my previous understanding was a bit ridiculous."

What was Tirpitz's original idea? The answer is that it is like many uncivilized areas, especially in South America, where there is almost no civilization in the interior. Lions and other wild animals roam the East African savannah, and there are only sparse colonial outposts scattered in the interior of East Africa.

But the towns and villages along the Central Railroad, the vast tracts of farmland and plantations, all tell the story of the pioneering history of East Africans. Just like the westward movement in the United States, they madly expanded their lands deep into the African continent and transformed the occupied lands into contiguous habitable areas.

Cities such as Mbeya, Dodoma and Iringa have proved that East Africa is not only developing agriculture in the interior, but also has the ability to build cities that are no less impressive than those in Europe. It would be terrible if more than 10 million square kilometers of land in East Africa looked like the Central Railway in the future!

You have to know that although a giant country like Tsarist Russia has a strong sense of oppression, it has many big countries around it, such as the Far Eastern Empire, Iran, the Ottoman Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and even Germany itself, which can restrain Tsarist Russia. The United States is isolated overseas, and Brazil and Australia are uncivilized places with sparse populations.

Although East Africa's population is not large relative to its land area, Tirpitz thinks it is probably around 40 to 50 million, which is comparable to Germany. However, Germany has a small land area and the per capita resources it can enjoy are far less than those of East Africa.

"Thank you for your compliment, Count. However, there is still a big gap between East Africa and Germany. Although we have several large cities, most of them are built up by population. As you can see, East Africa is actually a mixed country with German culture as the main culture. Chinese immigrants have played a huge role in the construction of East Africa, especially in the early development of East Africa."

"As the world's most populous country, the Far East Empire has almost unlimited population resources. As a naval officer, I think you also know something about the coastal cities of the Far East Empire. Although the Far East Empire is relatively poor and backward as a whole, their coastal cities are quite well developed. Several major cities in East Africa should be in a similar situation."

(End of this chapter)