African Entrepreneurship Records

Chapter 1019 Choosing a route

Although East Africa cannot fully support Russia, it can provide Russia with certain help, which is a timely help for the current Russian government.

Next, Maxim and East Africa discussed the process of how to provide services to the Russian Navy. It was basically determined that East Africa would only provide Russia with some ports in the mainland and Lanfang Overseas Province.

"On the west coast, there are a total of six ports capable of providing services to Russian warships, including Cabinda, Luanda, Benguela, Alexandria, Swakopmund and Walvis Bay."

“East Africa can provide Russia with one of its ports as a temporary docking port for the Russian navy. Among these ports, Luanda and Cabinda have the best conditions, especially in terms of material supply, and can basically meet all the needs of the Russian navy. Among them, Luanda and Cabinda have the best conditions, especially in terms of material supply. Anda also has the most favorable climate conditions. The tropical rainforest climate in Cabinda may be difficult for Russians to adapt to. "

"Similarly, the ports in the southern part of the west coast are too dry, but the basic infrastructure is relatively complete. However, the supply of materials in Walvis Bay and Swakopmund is relatively tight. The two places are completely surrounded by deserts and lack the supply of fruits and vegetables, as well as other materials. It’s also relatively tense.”

During the First Five-Year Plan period, the west coast of East Africa accelerated development, especially these six port cities, which have been implemented in the field of infrastructure and have railways and inland connections, so they have the basic conditions to provide services for the Russian Navy.

Seeing the East Africans scolding Fang Qiu on the map, Maxim felt nothing but endless envy in his heart. Russia has always been a country full of yearning for the ocean. Starting from Peter the Great, the core idea of ​​Russia's territorial expansion was to obtain It has an excellent outlet to the sea, but it backfires. Even today, Russia's territory reaches an astonishing more than 20 million square kilometers, but it is still controlled by others in terms of oceans.

Look at East Africa again. To be honest, this land and sea layout in East Africa is what Russia wants to a certain extent. Of course, Maxim secretly thought that Africa could not compare with Europe, the center of world civilization, so Russia’s future was still Expansion to Western Europe can solve the current dilemma.

"Generally speaking, we recommend that you choose Luanda as your port of call. This was originally the center of the Portuguese colonial period. After it fell into our hands, it has developed rapidly. All infrastructures are very complete, and this is the west coast of Africa. As a commercial and trade center, most of the world’s goods can be found in Luanda, and even some Russians do business here.”

On the west coast of Africa, except for East Africa, there are few well-developed countries or colonies. That is, Morocco in the north and Cape Town in the south are barely passable economically, but they are far behind compared to the west coast of East Africa. .

Therefore, it is entirely reasonable to say that the city on the west coast of East Africa is the commercial and trade center on the west coast of Africa. This has also led to Luanda attracting more and more businessmen from Africa, Europe and North and South America to do business.

In the past, only some agricultural products could be exported here. After all, Angola's agricultural conditions are still good. As the "bread basket" of the Portuguese, it has a long history of development. It is one of the few colonies on the west coast of Africa with a relatively high degree of agricultural development.

Under the governance of East Africa, local industry has gradually developed since the 1990s. Entering the new century, it has become a key development area during the First Five-Year Plan of East Africa. The current development of the West Coast is beyond the world. Imagine.

The development of industry and agriculture has also made Luanda prosperous in business and trade, and can provide a richer variety of products. At the same time, transportation construction has made it increasingly closely connected with the interior of East Africa, and is rapidly narrowing the economic gap with the central and eastern regions, becoming the East African economy. The third pole.

"Then choose Luanda!" With the introduction of the East African government, Maxim also determined the port on the west coast of East Africa where the Russian navy would temporarily stay.

"Don't worry, Ambassador Maxim, your navy may have its own plans and arrangements. After all, the specific landing point must be considered comprehensively. Next, we will briefly introduce the situation of the port cities on the east coast, and you will give feedback to the country. Decide on the final result." Maxim readily accepted the East African government's suggestions, mainly because he didn't know much about the geography and urban development of East Africa, so the introduction had to be made by East African government personnel.

Although East Africa is currently developing rapidly, with the exception of Mombasa and Dar es Salaam, East African cities are not very well-known. In fact, this is the case in most countries, even in many economically developed countries. Many people may Only its capital or the city with the most developed economy is known.

“There are far more ports to choose from on the east coast than on the west coast, and most of them have a longer history of development and have no obvious shortcomings. They can basically provide relatively complete services to the Russian Navy. Among them, Mombasa and Dar es Salaam Needless to say, apart from these two ports, the most developed are Beira and New Hamburg, and the other ports marked on the map are not bad either.”

In Maxim's view, there is really nothing to choose from the ports on the east coast of East Africa. It mainly depends on how the Russian naval department plans the navigation route.

So he said to Ernst: "Your Highness, I will send this information to the country as soon as possible. I believe that our government will soon come up with an idea. At that time, I will come over to feed back our opinions to your country."

In addition to the east and west coasts, there is another city that has been identified but is no longer under discussion, and that is Pontianak City, the capital of Lanfang Overseas Province.

For Russia, the location of Pontianak City is currently the most suitable except for the Strait of Malacca. Moreover, after leaving the East African mainland, the Russian Navy cannot rest from the east coast of East Africa to the Strait of Malacca, so the importance of Pontianak For the Russian Navy, it is not weaker than some ports in East Africa.

In the past life, there was no port like Pontianak in the Southeast Asian region to provide convenience for the Russian navy. It was impossible for the Malacca Strait and other ports controlled by the British to provide services to the Russians. Under the pressure of the British, the Dutch colonies would most likely not be open to the Russians. , as for France, for various reasons, it did not provide convenience to Russia, so not surprisingly, Pontianak will definitely be the temporary foothold of the Russian navy.

As for whether this will give Russia an advantage in the next war, Ernst is not worried at all. There is still a long distance from Pontianak to Northeast Asia. By the time it reaches Northeast Asia, the Russian navy will completely become a rootless power. Ping, at that time Lushun was besieged or occupied by Japan, and the route to Vladivostok was definitely under Japanese control, so the Russian Pacific Second Fleet successfully reached Northeast Asia, and the situation would not improve.

And what Maxim said as soon as possible is a bit long for East Africa. The wait will be March this year, because Russia not only has to consider East African factors, but also the attitudes of other countries along the route, especially Germany and France. Otherwise, it would be difficult for the Russian Navy to even get out of the Baltic Sea.

There are two main passages in the Baltic Sea. One is the natural strait controlled by the two Nordic countries, Denmark and Sweden. At this time, Norway had not yet become independent from Sweden, and Finland was also under the control of Russia, so there were only two countries in Northern Europe.

The second one is the Kiel Canal in Germany. The Kiel Canal was officially built and put into use as early as 1895. It has become the most important artificial waterway from the Baltic Sea to the Atlantic Ocean.

Many merchant ships in the Baltic Sea now choose the Kiel Canal route in Germany to the Atlantic Ocean. If Germany allows it, this is also the most suitable route for the Russian Navy to sail to the Far East.

(End of chapter)