African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 971 Economic Conditions
The data standards emphasized are different, and the conclusions drawn are also different, but no matter how it is ranked, East Africa is firmly in the top five. As for Tsarist Russia, although the total volume is higher than that of East Africa, in Ernst's view, compared with the two countries, Tsarist Russia is far inferior to East Africa, especially with the general trend of rapid population growth in East Africa, Tsarist Russia's population advantage will also be replaced by East Africa.

After all, Tsarist Russia had a large population, but Poland, Ukraine, Central Asia and other territories were not stable, with many ethnic groups and prominent contradictions. These populations would even have a negative effect during wartime.

The millions of "gray cattle" of Tsarist Russia seem oppressive, but with the current total population of East Africa, it is relatively easy to form an army of millions. At the same time, East Africa does not have the harsh geopolitical environment and prominent contradictions like Tsarist Russia, so East Africa can vigorously develop its economy and is confident that it will surpass Tsarist Russia in all aspects in the next decade.

In fact, in the future, the key task of the East African government will be to make up for the gap between them and developed countries in the fields of science, technology and culture. After making up for this shortcoming, East Africa will be almost invincible.

This does not mean that the level of development of science and technology culture in East Africa is relatively poor. On the contrary, East Africa's science and technology and culture are rapidly catching up with European and American countries.

At the end of the 19th century, East Africa's domestic scientific and technological breakthroughs were no less impressive. However, due to institutional and political reasons, the talents trained in East Africa were not active in the international community, which made it easy for people to overlook the development of education and science and technology in East Africa.

Many talents are kept in captivity by East African governments or scientific research institutions. The most typical examples are in the fields of electricity and internal combustion engines. East Africa is a leader like the United States and Germany. However, in contrast, East African researchers in these two fields are relatively unknown in the international community.

Of course, it is undeniable that in terms of cutting-edge basic theoretical talents, there is still a significant gap between East Africa and other major countries in the world, but as time goes by, similar talents will emerge as the quality of higher education in East Africa improves.

……

With the release of population data, senior officials in East Africa have a clearer understanding of East Africa's development. Population represents the market and labor force. Understanding population data will help the government formulate policies for future development.

Then, Siweit gave a relatively detailed report on the industrial data of East Africa in 1900 released by the State Planning Commission.

"As of last year, my country's steel production has exceeded 3.2 million tons, pig iron production has reached 1.9 million tons, and coal production has exceeded 30 million tons, achieving leapfrog development in the steel industry and ranking first in the world."

Although there is no specific data for other countries, the East African government can roughly judge that the East African steel industry is at the forefront of the world, because the East African steel industry has achieved a technological update and has no obvious technological gap with other major countries in the world.

This is indeed the case. In 1900, East Africa's steel production was only behind the United States, Germany and Britain. Britain ranked third with a production of nearly five million tons, while East Africa ranked fourth. The fifth was Tsarist Russia, with only more than two million tons.

The development of the steel industry in East Africa is inseparable from the leapfrog development of infrastructure construction such as transportation in East Africa. Transportation construction itself has a huge demand for basic raw materials such as steel, and transportation development provides conditions for the integration of the steel industry.

For example, the construction of the Upington Railway enabled the iron ore in southwestern East Africa to provide a new source of raw materials for the steel plant in Bulawayo, further increasing Bulawayo's steel production.

"In 1900, the total length of my country's railways reached kilometers, making it the third largest railway network in the world after Europe and the United States."

This figure exceeds the plan of the State Planning Commission, but does not reach the level of 100,000 kilometers mentioned by the Ministry of Railways. However, it still reflects the rapid progress of East African railway construction. In the field of railways, a single European country cannot compare with East Africa, but East Africa has a land area of ​​more than 13 million square kilometers, which is nearly the size of India, which is larger than the entire area of ​​Europe. Therefore, although East Africa has the second largest railway network in the world, the density is far from enough.

Compared with Europe, the railway construction in America ranks first in the world. There are many railways in the United States and Canada. The United States ranks first in the world in terms of railway mileage, with a total mileage of 300,000 kilometers. The railways in the United States alone are comparable to the entire world. There are also countries such as Canada, Mexico, etc. in America. Especially Canada, which is no worse than European countries, has reached nearly 30,000 kilometers.

Moreover, the U.S. railway is still in a stage of rapid development. Before the opening of the Panama Canal and the popularization of automobiles, railways will still be the main mode of transporting goods between the east and west coasts of the United States.

Therefore, it is unlikely that East Africa will surpass the United States in terms of railway mileage, and Ernst does not have this idea. However, this does not change the fact that the total mileage of East Africa's railways is already second in the world, while Tsarist Russia, which has the largest land area, only has about 50,000 kilometers.

The development of East African railways is an important factor in promoting the expansion of the steel industry. Similarly, the development of transportation such as shipbuilding, roads, and bridges has greatly promoted the development of the country's high-speed rail industry.

"The textile industry has also made great progress. Compared with 1890, our textile output has nearly doubled, and it is also at the forefront of the world. We have become the world's second largest cotton producer, which provides basic raw materials for the development of our textile industry. At the same time, a large amount of cotton is exported to Europe and other regions."

East Africa has a natural advantage in developing the textile industry because most areas of the country are suitable for cotton cultivation, including the city of Kissan in the Congo Basin, which is one of the important cotton textile centers. After the South African War, East Africa also took over a large number of cotton plantations from the Portuguese.

However, in addition to meeting domestic needs, East African cotton is mainly exported to markets in Central and Eastern European countries such as Germany. Germany's cotton textile industry is developing rapidly, and Germany is not a major cotton producing area, so East Africa has become Germany's main cotton supplier. East Africa can almost meet all of Germany's cotton needs, both in terms of quality and quantity.

"Our country is still in a leading position in emerging industries such as electricity, automobiles, and petroleum. Most of the important export products in our economy come from these emerging industries. At the same time, in 1889, a new round of oil and natural gas exploration was launched to provide security for our energy sector."

There is no doubt that East Africa's rapidly developing automobile, petroleum, chemical and other industries all require oil as a basic guarantee, so the East African government, under Ernst's instructions, has begun a new round of energy surveys.

Among them, the Lake Albert Basin in Uganda (called Lake Constantine in East Africa) is the focus of this round of oil exploration. The oil resources here are sufficient to support East Africa's demand in the next fifty years.

Of course, Ernst does not want to start the oil resources in the Nile Basin in northern East Africa and the oil resources near Cabinda for the time being. These two regions are located in border areas and are more likely to cause disputes.

As for the oil near the Lake Albert Basin, there is no such concern. It is located in the Great Lakes region, the core territory of East Africa, and is very safe.

“…By 1900, the number of enterprises above designated size in my country had reached more than , accounting for more than percent of my country’s total economic output, and together with other enterprises, including local small and micro enterprises, joint ventures, etc., they formed the overall economic structure of East Africa.”

(End of this chapter)