Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2322

On March 1697, 3, after painstakingly paying a sum of money, the three-masted sailing ship "Antarctic Wolf" slowly sailed into Motu Port under the tow of a steam tractor, intending to conduct a thorough overhaul of the ship. renovation.

"Antarctic Wolf" is an old-fashioned ship. Over the years, it has traveled several times in the Pacific Ocean, and has been to Ningbo, Guangzhou, Tokyo (Vietnam), Rabaul, Australia and other places, and has contributed to the business of the Yu family. huge contribution.Today's trip to mainland China is probably the last ocean voyage of the "Antarctic Wolf". After this trip, the ship will be sold to others at a low price. Decommissioning and dismantling.

Sail wooden boats still have a huge market even on the east coast where shipbuilding technology is changing with each passing day. Because of their fast construction, low price and uncomplicated maintenance, they still tenaciously play their role in the shipping industry on the east coast .If we want to really eliminate sailing and wooden boats, it will take years of the monkey. After all, the timber resources on the east coast are too rich and too cheap. People are always greedy for cheap, especially for small businessmen who start businesses and run transportation. in this way.

At present, in the east coast of China, basically large state-owned transportation companies have begun to use new ships and new technologies.For example, the largest Nanhai Shipping Company has an increasing number of steel ships, and even more iron and wood mixed ships.The ships of East African Shipping Company and Caribbean Shipping Company, which are ranked behind, have two or three big cats and kittens, which are far inferior to the former.However, even for the South China Sea Transportation Company, the dominant number of sailing wooden ships is still sailing wooden ships, and these ships are still used to go to the ocean. The replacement is not something that can be completed overnight—even if the company completes the replacement, the eliminated wooden ships will not It may be dismantled on the spot, and there are many domestic companies or individuals who want to take over. The wooden boat will still play a pivotal role.

The above is the relatively rich and developed East Coast.In the vast overseas colonies, most of the boats sailing on the water are wooden boats.The "Antarctic Wolf" had docked at Jinhua Port in Tahiti before, and they were considered big in the local area with their bodies.As a sparsely populated island colony, the jurisdiction of the Tahiti Management Committee is full of unpowered wooden boats ranging from tens to hundreds of tons.There are very few powered ships, and most of them are in the hands of the government, such as steam tugboats at the docks, naval frigates (fifty-ton class, equipped with ten old-fashioned artillery), etc. The shipping power is not very strong, but they are important to the local people. Seriously enough.

The situation in the Rabaul Management Committee area is slightly better than that of Tahiti. After all, there is a larger population and a more developed economy.There are currently two cities in this overseas colony, namely Rabaul Port and Motu Port (later Port Moresby). The former has gathered most of the population and the environment is better. The latter was bought from the natives. Not to mention the bad environment, the economy is also very bleak, because ships in the past like to replenish fresh water, food, and repair and maintain ships in Rabaul.

However, in recent years, the mainland has increasingly recognized the cross-center position of the Rabaul Management Committee in various routes on the east coast, so it has invested a lot of resources in development.Although most of these resources have been invested in the Rabaul Port area, Motu Port, as the only two cities in the region, has naturally received a little soup, and life has improved a lot.

Just two months before the "Antarctic Wolf" arrived at Motu Port, the mainland had just sent an expedition team belonging to the Ministry of Geology.The expedition team is currently surveying along the coastline of New Guinea and has not yet returned, but according to the information that has been sent back, it is not very ideal.

The broken island of New Guinea is big enough, but it's really bad.First of all, this island is located in the fragile zone of the earth's crust. It is full of volcanoes and frequent earthquakes. It is inherently not suitable for human beings to live and develop stably.Secondly, the island is full of cliffs and sharp ridges, and traces of landslides can be seen anytime and anywhere. The river valley is narrow and steep, and the water flow is fast.The existence of geological fault zones has caused canyons and waterfalls to appear on many river channels. These rivers rush down the lowlands at an extremely fast speed and wantonly cut the few plains.After all, this big island is too young!Most of the orogeny was formed about 1500 million years ago in a period of violent geological structure and volcanic activity.

In later generations, one expedition after another traveled across the north and south poles of the earth.But in the central highlands of New Guinea, it is still popular.This is probably one of the most rugged places in the world. At the same time, it is covered with tropical vegetation, forming a green desert. The swamps all over the place also bring a large number of malaria mosquitoes and poisonous snakes to explorers, and one brave explorer after another may die. At this point, or look forward to sigh.

Of course, the people on the east coast are not interested in developing the entire island with their lives. They mainly plan to find areas that can be developed in the low places around the island, and along the volcanic island arc areas that are scattered all over the island (later Bismarck Islands, Solomon Islands, etc.) ) is also a key development area, in short, it is easy to pick, there is no need to use human lives to fight against the environment, it is not worth it.

People on the east coast mainly choose the southern coast, because the large areas on the north coast are steep cliffs formed by mountains that go straight into the coast, and it is difficult for people to go ashore.In addition, there is also a lack of sheltered harbors with good conditions, and there are many rising coral reefs hidden under the sea surface, which is not conducive to ship navigation.Even in the few places that do not have these disadvantages, the hinterland is mostly rugged and worthless.

All in all, the island of New Guinea is steep in the north and sinks in the south, and the south coast is more valuable for development than the north coast.And most importantly, there are some rivers on the south coast that can be navigable to inland areas, such as the Sepik River, and small boats can be navigable hundreds of kilometers upstream. This is a huge advantage-you know, the island of New Guinea Most rivers are not navigable even by small boats.

The choice of Port Motu by the East Coasters as an outpost for developing the island of New Guinea was purely accidental.First of all, there are a large number of aborigines (that is, Motu people) living here, and they have traded with merchants on the east coast for many years, and the people on the east coast are relatively familiar with this place.Later, due to a series of factors, these aborigines and the people on the east coast fell out, and the two sides fought violently. The aborigines suffered heavy casualties, and the rest gradually became vassals of the people on the east coast.Then, there is the matter of land redemption. People on the east bank bought this port and a large piece of land nearby from the remaining Motu people with materials worth 1000 yuan, and immigrated here as an important stronghold. operate.

However, the leaders of the Rabaul Management Committee still think too simply.The environment here is harsh and the infrastructure is poor. Almost no one wants to immigrate here.In addition, the local Motu people have been killed too much before, and the rest are still moving away. It is almost difficult for the people on the east coast to get enough coolies to work, so neither merchants nor civilians are willing to come here to suffer .

In no other way, the government took the lead in setting an example.After a collective vote, the Rabaul Management Committee decided to move the government away from the relatively comfortable port of Rabaul and make Motu Port the new capital.As a result, many people have to come, especially the families of soldiers and government officials.At present, about [-] people from the east coast have settled in Motu Port, and it looks like an administrative center.As for Rabaul, it is now a commercial city. There are several copra factories, sago factories, building materials factories, and cigarette factories in the local area. At the same time, there are shops, restaurants, and hotels opened by immigrants from the mainland. mixed Melanesians).

But don't look at how prosperous Rabaul is, but the people on the east coast living there are actually not satisfied.Many wealthy businessmen or engineers send their children to Australia to study in the south, and work or do business locally, which shows that the local environment is not very attractive.

The Rabaul Management Committee also saw this, so they made some efforts.First of all, a large area of ​​beautiful villas has been newly built in Motu Port, which is for government officials, soldiers and engineers to live in.The environment of the community is relatively good, and the incidence of various diseases is very low. At the same time, the management committee also allocated a limited fund of [-] yuan to cooperate with the subsidy of [-] yuan issued by the Immigration Department to build a high-standard hospital here. Serving East Coast Colonial Settlers.The hospital was modeled after the well-known Ping An Memorial Hospital in the local area—it was even named Motu Memorial Hospital—but it was much smaller to save money.

At the same time, school education has also been put on the agenda.They hired many local teachers with high salaries, and with government financial allocations, they built Motu Complete Primary School covering kindergartens in the western suburbs of Motu Port to provide basic education for the children of residents in the city.This is a very important part, because it can effectively reduce the loss of population.

Of course, the means to reduce population loss is not limited to this, the most important thing is to allow people to have jobs and income.As a result, local industry and commerce have also developed recently.First, they introduced and planted rubber trees in Motu Port. There is a rare plain land here. After the people on the east bank drained the swamp, they opened up many plantations of different sizes.

The labor force of the plantation is dominated by the Motu people, which forced the people on the east bank to send troops to conquer the surrounding tribes and capture slaves.Slaves worked on the plantations, tending to coconuts, rubber and a small amount of Robusta coffee trees for a meager income, which brought a little improvement to the otherwise stagnant local economy.

Of course, there are also some farmers engaged in grain cultivation outside the city.These are all the immigrants detained by the Rabaul Management Committee, and there are also a small number of military households and their families who have been abolished in Denglei.They mainly grow sweet potatoes, but it is not easy because the climate here is changeable. Sometimes it is hot and rainy for many days in a row, and the sweet potato vines will soon wither and reduce production. doesn't work.

In such an unfriendly situation, farmers have to raise some poultry or livestock to increase their income.Take pigs as an example. Due to the lack of labor force, most of the pigs in the reclamation villages are free-range. Outsiders can find that these pigs are dirty, thin, ugly, but wild.You know, this is a large white pig imported from Europe. It has always been known for its willingness to grow meat, but now it is no different from a wild boar, and there is no one else.

The number of pigs is only about half of that of humans, there are still many parasitic diseases, and there are not enough veterinarians in the local area, so the number of pigs is growing very slowly.When a sow gives birth, there are often only 2-4 piglets in a litter, and the mortality rate is very high, which troubles the local farmers.

Basically, pigs are a symbol of wealth in the local area, and they are commodities that people use to exchange money with people in the city. When marrying in rural areas, pigs are also an important part of the bride’s worth. It is equivalent to bank deposits and is a real hard currency. — But if you say you can survive by eating pork, you're kidding.At present, most of the food in Motu Port still needs to be imported from Rabaul, and sometimes some wheat is bought from Australia, but the amount is not much, after all, people are not very rich.

To sum up, the development of Motu Port still has a long way to go, and the development of Rabaul Management Committee also has a long way to go.It was an important anchorage for ships many years ago, but after so many years of development, it is still an anchorage for ships.For this to happen, the local government cannot absolve itself of the blame. To say that they are incompetent may be a bit more serious, but mediocrity is certain.I just hope that after this wave of investment comes, the local economy can improve a bit. Although the local environment is extremely harsh, it is not far away from the route. There are still opportunities, and it depends on whether you can seize them.

(End of this chapter)