Chapter 863 Three Vertical and Three Horizontal

The Hawaiian coup was just a minor episode for East Africa, which had been engaged in large-scale construction in the south and west in the years since the end of the South African War.

After the end of the South African War, the average annual construction mileage of East African railways increased from about 1,500 kilometers to 3,000 kilometers, nearly doubling.

At the same time, this data is still increasing. Many railways are being planned and designed. In addition to several trunk railways in the south and west, the central and eastern regions are also accelerating the popularization and promotion of the railway network.

"According to the preliminary plan of the Ministry of Railways, we will complete the construction of three longitudinal railways before 1900. The Central Railway has been completed. In recent years, my country will build two other north-south railway corridors, which are second only to the Central Railway in importance. The Eastern Coastal Railway starts from Mogadishu in the north, passes through Kismayo, Mombasa, Dar es Salaam, Beira, Maputo, and finally reaches the New Hamburg Port in the south. The Western Coastal Railway starts from Cabinda and ends at Alexandria."

This Alexandria Port is a natural harbor located in southwest Angola, not the Alexandria Port in Egypt.

The Port of Alexandria is located in a desert area, but relying on a natural bay, it has excellent conditions for port construction. To the north is the Port of Moussamides, which has similar conditions to the Port of Baltic Sea. If it were not for the desert restrictions, the conditions would be no worse than those of Luanda and Benguela, and even much better.

Further south, the East African Railways has no plans to build railways. This section of railway originally involves a lot of desert areas, and the more than 800 kilometers from further south to Walvis Bay are all uninhabited areas, so there is no need to build railways.

The Eastern Coastal Railway is another national strategic railway project after the Central Railway and the Northern Railway. It is foreseeable that the eastern coast of East Africa will be an economically developed region in East Africa in the future. Therefore, the Eastern Coastal Railway is also the primary project to be tackled in the future East African railway. After the completion of the construction of this railway, it will be more than 4,000 kilometers long and cover the major port cities in eastern East Africa.

"We call them the three verticals, which are the three arteries of our country's north-south transportation in the next ten years. In addition to the vertical railways, we will also build three east-west horizontal railways, including the Northern Railway and the Central Railway. In the south, we will start from Walvis Bay, pass through the edge of the Okavango Delta, and the Southern Railway in Bulawayo and end at Inhambane Port. We call these three railways the three horizontals."

“This will basically lay the foundation for the three vertical and three horizontal railway patterns in my country, while completing the initial network of railways in East African countries and connecting all regions of the country, including Southwest Africa and Somalia.”

Southwest Africa and Somalia are highlighted because they are the two major desert regions in East Africa, and will also end the history of no railways in the desert regions of East Africa. Of course, although the environments of the two regions are poor, one is located in the northeast of East Africa, and the other is in the southwest of East Africa, and their positions in national defense are also extremely important.

"On the basis of the three vertical and three horizontal lines, new branch lines were built, especially in the central, eastern and Mozambique regions. Before 1900, my country's railways reached at least 100,000 kilometers."

This would require East Africa's railways to quadruple in the next few years, but this is entirely feasible given current economic trends in East Africa.

Putting aside the three vertical and three horizontal national basic railway structure, the East African Railway focuses on the Mozambique region in order to open up economic ties between central and eastern East Africa and Mozambique.

In the past, East Africa's economic and demographic structure was "pole-shaped", with the two major economic zones in the east and the middle connected by the central railway and separated by Lake Malawi, Lake Tanganyika and the Mitumba Mountains. After the development of Mozambique is completed, East Africa's major economies will be connected.

It will form a large economic core area that can effectively radiate across the country and enhance the economic competitiveness of East Africa.

Of course, according to Ernst's idea, this "central economic block" will definitely include northern Angola in the future to better play its leading role.

Take the United States for example. The economic core of the United States is now in the northeastern Great Lakes and coastal areas, not in a central position. However, to the north of the United States is Canada, which poses no threat to the United States and is also beneficial for the United States to utilize Canada's economy and resources.

There are no strong economies around East Africa, and resources are concentrated in the central and southern parts, while maritime transport advantages are concentrated on the east and west coasts, which is very different from the United States.

There are now huge differences between the east and west coasts of the United States. The climate conditions in the west are poor, and there is the Rocky Mountains blocking the way. The East African Plateau extends from the center to the east and west coasts. Except for a few lakes in the east, there is basically no terrain blocking. The climate conditions are not much different and are relatively suitable. The agricultural conditions are good, which is conducive to population concentration and industrial concentration.

Of course, East Africa’s current capacity is limited and it can only give priority to developing the central and eastern economies. It is worth noting that Mozambique also belongs to the eastern part of East Africa, and it is located directly east of the Matabele Plateau and directly south of the East African Plateau. In this way, the future development potential of eastern East Africa will be further enhanced.

The west is restricted by certain natural conditions. First of all, in terms of territory, the northwest region of East Africa does not extend to the west coast of Africa, but ends abruptly near the Azande Plateau, which makes the northwest corner of East Africa seem to be missing a piece.

However, the missing area is mainly the tropical rainforest area, which has limited potential. This can be seen from the population distribution in Africa in the previous life.

The southwest region also has a tropical desert climate, so the only area in the west that can be vigorously developed is actually Angola. However, the area of ​​Angola is not small, so the difference between the east and west coasts of East Africa is actually smaller than that of the east and west coasts of the United States.

Therefore, after the initial development of Mozambique is completed, East Africa will inevitably continue to develop westward. In this way, in addition to the north and south, the future economic entities of East Africa will become clear.

However, the New Port of Hamburg and Maputo actually belong to the southern part of East Africa, and Somalia in the north is also a key development area in East Africa, so the overall economy of East Africa will still be balanced in the future.

Although it is not as balanced as European countries such as Germany, it is more balanced than other territorial powers of the same level, such as the Far Eastern Empire, Tsarist Russia and the United States.

Once the three vertical and three horizontal railway networks are completed, the gap between the regional economies in East Africa will be further narrowed. After all, the conditions in the new territories such as Angola and Mozambique are no worse than those in the original central and eastern regions of East Africa. As long as the infrastructure construction and population and industry migration are completed, the gap can be quickly narrowed.

Of course, the Ministry of Railways' plan also further prompted Ernst to choose a location in the interior of East Africa to build the capital. It is naturally safer to place the capital inland.

At the same time, administrative and other resources can also be used to accelerate the development of central East Africa. Compared with coastal areas, the central region is now more popular for developing heavy industry relying on resources. However, once a globalized market like that of the 21st century is formed, ores will be mainly imported from regions with lower costs, and the economic gap between the coastal areas and the inland areas will quickly narrow.

Although Ernst might not see that day, he still had to prepare for a rainy day. Moreover, placing the capital in the center of the country would be more conducive to maintaining the rule of the Hechingen royal family. For example, the Far Eastern Empire had its capital too close to the sea during the era of sea power and lacked a strong navy, which led to the capital being threatened by external forces several times.

The first town in East Africa is obviously also facing this problem. Of course, this is only a possibility. After all, there is no country that dares to attack East Africa. But this is only because of East Africa's strong military strength. If the national strength drops to the level of the Far East Empire, it will probably also face this problem.

At this time, the location of the capital becomes more important. If the capital is inland, then even when facing invaders like Britain and France, any monarch with a little courage will not compromise with the invaders. After all, living deep in the inland, the enemy will not be able to break in for a while and threaten the life safety of the ruling group.

(End of this chapter)