African Entrepreneurship Records

Chapter 1353 Director Borna

Late 1919.

City of Cabinda.

Among the many provinces in East Africa, Congo Province is quite special. From a climate perspective, because most of it is located in a tropical rainforest area, Congo Province is not suitable for the cultivation of food crops.

In ancient times, Congo Province was simply unable to support the emergence of large-scale civilizations, and it was difficult to enter agricultural civilization. Of course, agricultural civilization throughout sub-Saharan Africa advanced very slowly, even in areas like the East African Plateau that were suitable for agricultural development.

This can be seen from the populations of relevant countries in the African tropical rainforest climate region in the past. Even in the 21st century, the population of Congo (Brazzaville) is only more than 5 million, Gabon has a population of only 3 million, and Equatorial Guinea has only more than 1 million. , Cameroon, which has a relatively rich population, only has more than 20 million people, and only the Democratic Republic of the Congo has a population of nearly 100 million.

However, as mentioned before, Congo's population is basically distributed on the edge of the basin, which is the transition zone between tropical rainforest and savannah. However, deep into the tropical rainforest area, the population is almost negligible.

Cameroon, with a population of more than 20 million and even close to 30 million, illustrates this point even more.

Cameroon is a country with a rich coastline. According to common sense, the population and economy should be concentrated along the coast. However, in the past, Cameroon's population was more concentrated in the northern or southern plateau areas.

In its previous life, its capital, Yaoundé, was built on the hilly terrain of Cameroon's southern plateau.

The administrative divisions of Cameroon in the previous life can also prove this point well. The more tropical rainforest areas are, the larger the provinces are, which fully shows that the development of tropical rainforest areas is not easy.

The situation in Congo Province in East Africa is very similar to that of Cameroon in its previous life. Congo Province is not entirely a tropical rainforest area. Affected by the terrain, the southern part of Congo Province is also in the transition zone between tropical rainforest and savanna.

The transition zone is also a relatively developed agricultural area in Congo Province, and Kinshasa, the capital of Congo Province, belongs to this transition zone.

However, this was obviously not the case in Kinshasa more than 20 years ago. In the past, due to infrequent human activities, places such as Kinshasa were actually tropical rainforest areas. However, after East Africa took control of Congo Province, large-scale land reclamation and construction caused a large number of Rainforests are burned down and converted into cities, towns or farmland.

This has caused the climate in the entire region to begin to move closer to the savanna climate. After all, the ecology here is relatively fragile. Tropical rainforests and savannahs maintain a fragile balance, thus competing against each other. The development of East Africa has caused large areas of rainforests to shrink, and sparse trees Grassland climate characteristics began to take hold.

However, even so, the land in Congo Province is still relatively barren, and the main crops grown in the province are based on a tropical rainforest-type economy.

The so-called tropical rainforest-type cash crops are actually classified for tropical grassland-type cash crops. This is a unique agricultural classification standard in East Africa.

Of course, compared to Kinshasa or southern Congo Province, Cabinda City, located on the northwest coast, has a much more stable tropical rainforest climate. Although the entire Cabinda City has been developed by East Africa and its urban area and population have continued to expand, it is completely a city. A city surrounded by rainforest.

As of 1919, Cabinda had a population of 830,000 and a registered population of 670,000.

As time goes by, more detailed data on the population of East Africa have been released, and this time the permanent population of each city has been counted.

As of 1919, there were as many as eight cities in East Africa with a population exceeding one million. Of course, if the population is based on household registration, there are still three.

During the same period, there were about ten cities in the United States with a population of over one million, which was higher than that in East Africa. This also reflects the urbanization gap between East Africa and the United States to a certain extent. After all, the population of East Africa is nearly 6,000 more than that of the United States. million, which is almost equivalent to one Germany.

In 1919, there was only one city on the west coast of East Africa with a population of more than one million, and that was Luanda, the capital of the West Coast Province. Cabinda's population was second only to Luanda, but it was much higher than Kinshasa, the capital of the Congo Province.

The eight cities in East Africa with a population exceeding one million, except for Luanda, are basically located in the east and central areas. This also shows that at this stage, the economy of the west cannot be compared with that of central and eastern East Africa.

However, this is also normal. Western East Africa, especially the former Angola area, was occupied and incorporated into East Africa too late.

When East Africa took over Angola from Portugal, there was almost no effective development and utilization, and industry and transportation were basically zero.

Angola is already the best land in western East Africa. To the north is the tropical rainforest area, while to the south is the tropical desert area, which is not suitable for urban, agricultural and other development.

As the second largest city in western East Africa, Cabinda has developed to what it is today in less than thirty years, which is enough to shock the world.

In fact, Cabinda City is the most developed city in the tropical rainforest of East Africa, and the second is Kisan City, the capital of Hesse Province.

As for this city built on the coast and surrounded by rainforest on three sides, the East African government can be said to have invested a lot of manpower, material and financial resources.

After all, it is a city developed in the rainforest, so its development costs are naturally higher than ordinary cities, but the results have also made East Africa very satisfied.

Cabinda City Customs Entry-Exit Quarantine and Epidemic Prevention Bureau is located in the port area of ​​Cabinda.

Director Borna was standing by the window admiring the scenery of Cabinda.

Borna looked at the sea view of Cabinda and said leisurely: "Standing from this position, you can have a good view of the Cabinda Port, but who can imagine that this prosperous metropolis has changed in thirty years?" It was just a small Portuguese stronghold that was completely undeveloped!”

Deputy Director Lisher sat on the sofa and drank tea and said: "This just illustrates the great economic achievements we have made in East Africa in the past thirty years. Before the 1970s, we were still a poor colony."

"But now, East Africa has become a major world power, and cities such as Cabinda are developing by leaps and bounds."

Borna agreed and said: "It is true. When I was young, the economic environment in East Africa was still quite poor. Except for its relatively large area, it was not much different from ordinary backward countries in other aspects. If we go back further, that At that time, East Africa’s economy was even more backward.”

"My father was a graduate of the 4th Hechingen Military Academy. When he was less than nineteen years old, he followed others to come to Africa to pioneer."

"He later married my mother in Plateau Province, which is now Lake Solon Province, and they had me the following year."

"However, my father served in the army all year round and had little time to take care of the family. I still vividly remember the small village where my mother and I lived. It was still a border area at that time."

"However, it has now become the inland hinterland of the empire. It has to be said that fate is a trick. No one could have imagined that a colony that started on the coast of East Africa could develop into a major power in the world in less than half a century. "It is because of living in such a big country that I can reach my current position by looking at the achievements of my fathers."

"As a meritorious service to the empire, my father has accumulated rich connections in the army. Although his military talents are not outstanding, he knows a lot of people. Even many of his classmates are now in the imperial army and Among the top officials of the government, there are many senior officials at the provincial level and above.”

"My life is pretty good now, but I still miss my childhood days with my mother in the East, where I went to school and eventually went to high school."

"At that time, education in the empire was not yet mature, and the number of places to enter middle school was very limited. My grades were not outstanding, but I still entered middle school because of my father's status."

"It's a pity that I didn't know how to cherish it at that time, and ultimately failed to pass the national unified examination. Otherwise, if I had become a college student, I wouldn't be just a small director now."

Borna, director of the Entry-Exit Inspection and Epidemic Prevention Bureau of Cabinda, is a member of the local generation. The so-called local generation refers to the first batch of descendants born of the first generation of immigrants from East Africa.

After all, East Africa itself is a country that developed from a colony. The people in East Africa today are all immigrants if you go back further, except for the extremely rare San people in Southwest Province (Namibia) and other areas.

From this point of view, the Bantu people are the black people who have been completely emptied out of East Africa. They are also immigrants, but they came less than a thousand years earlier than the East Africans today.

Even the farther south you go, the closer the time gap becomes. East Africa is almost less than two hundred years later than Zulu and other Bantu people.

Because according to clues, the Zulu tribe was established around the beginning of the 18th century. They also belonged to the group of Bantu black people who went south. They even arrived in South Africa earlier than the colonists from Portugal, the Netherlands and other countries.

From this perspective, although East Africa has seized the land of black people, the land of black people was originally taken from the San and other races.

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The San people, or the Bushmen as the Dutch call them, although their skin color is darker due to the influence of the environment, but more of their characteristics are consistent with those of the yellow race, they are genetically an ancient independent race.

There are currently a small number of San people living in East Africa. This is not because the East Africans are kinder than the Bantu people and they have not been exterminated, but because the place they live in is too harsh and inaccessible.

According to the inference of the East African government, there may be many San survivors in the desert areas of the southwest. Because of the harsh environment in areas such as the Kalahari Desert, they also escaped the Bantu and East African purges.

As for why the East African government didn't find them, there is really no need. The Kalahari Desert alone covers an area of ​​more than 600,000 square kilometers. There are many mountains, plateaus, canyons and other complex terrains in southern East Africa.

It can be said that it is difficult to explore and find these San tribes. The only feasible way is to conduct uninterrupted aerial reconnaissance of the hinterland of the Kalahari Desert and other regions through aircraft.

However, the aircraft has only been around for a few years, and its battery life and technology are also big problems. The East African government obviously does not have the time and energy to play this kind of hide-and-seek game.

However, there is no need for the East African government to find these San people who are even rarer than some rare wild animals. According to the East African government's predictions, there may not even be 10,000 San people in East Africa at present, compared to a population of more than 100 million. In East Africa, the San people are not even considered a drop of water.

This also leads to the fact that there is no need to exterminate the San people in East Africa. For these San people, East Africa's solution is to continue to maintain their status quo.

After all, if their living environment does not receive external intervention, their population size and level of civilization will not change much after tens of thousands of years. In fact, the San people may have tens of thousands of people since they separated from other humans. Not much has changed over the years.

Otherwise, they would not have been beaten to a pulp by the Bantu people who came from West Africa. You must know that the Bantu people are already quite primitive in the eyes of East African and other colonists.

Lisher and Borna certainly would not care about the fate of a weak race that may exist in the southwest.

Lischer expressed admiration for Director Borna’s experience and said: “The Director has a good father!”

Regarding this point, Director Borna said without hesitation: "This is natural. After all, my father fought for the empire for more than ten years and made great contributions."

Lisher said: "Not only that, even without your father's resources, I think you, Director, could have reached this point today. After all, middle school students more than thirty years ago were considered highly educated intellectuals in East Africa. Let's put it aside." Not bad in the world. ”

Today, although academic qualifications in East Africa have been devalued to a certain extent, this is what has happened in the past thirty years. When Borna was in school, primary education was not even fully popularized in East Africa, and secondary education had only begun to be promoted on a large scale.

Therefore, thirty years ago, Borna's academic qualifications were still very valuable. Of course, now that East Africa has experienced the devaluation of academic qualifications, the so-called middle school students are almost worthless.

In East Africa, people who have not attended middle school are rare when they reach their age. Those who are truly unaffected are college students. Although East African University has built a lot in recent years, it can barely meet the needs of East African society. Even so, if compared horizontally, East Africa It is already considered a country with an “extensive” number of college students.

Of course, people at the beginning of the 20th century had not seen the true extent of higher education in various countries around the world in the 21st century. Now East African college students can find good jobs, but in the 21st century it is more difficult for many college students to find employment.

Although Ernst knows that the more talents the better, he does not intend to follow the 21st century higher education enrollment model.

After all, this means a cost issue. Higher education is a very expensive thing. Of course, this refers to colleges and universities that are truly powerful and serious about running schools.

In addition to high investment costs for the government, the universalization of higher education is also very costly for some ordinary families. In addition to basic expenses such as tuition fees, time costs are also a problem.

The study time for higher education is basically about four years, and many families have to pay four years of time costs in addition to four years of expenses. However, for an ordinary person, these four years are very precious.

After all, the most important stage for life and society is the youth stage, and the higher education stage happens to be during this golden period of life.

And if, because the threshold for higher education is lowered, a group of "surplus" college students are cultivated, but there are no corresponding job arrangements, causing them to spill over to farmland, construction sites or factories to perform the most basic work, it is completely meaningless. of.

After all, East African middle school students can still do this kind of low-valued job after graduation, and they can even perform better because they are in better health and younger.

Therefore, higher education in East Africa has always been maintained within a controllable range, and it is better to be deficient than excessive. This can be seen from the experience of Director Borna. Even though he had a father with a relatively strong background, there was nothing he could do. Enter the university campus through the back door.

However, even so, the standard of higher education in East Africa has been greatly lowered compared to other countries at the same time. Otherwise, it would not be possible to become the country with the largest number of university students in the world.

(End of chapter)