Chapter 1408 Technological Advancement
In fact, if you think about it, you will understand this. If the Nile Basin was suitable for human habitation, Egypt or other North African civilizations would have moved south long ago. However, from the distribution map of Arabism in Africa, we can see that they have more frequent exchanges with West Africa. There are a lot of black countries and tribes in West Africa that believe in Arabism, which further proves the harsh environment at the intersection of East Africa and North Africa.
Of course, in addition to climatic factors, the ancient African natives were not as easy to bully as imagined. At least in the era of cold weapons, even the relatively backward black civilization could fight against the Arab civilization in North Africa.
In the Nile River Province of East Africa, the area with relatively good economic development is the northern desert area. As for the south, except for a few cities, there are basically not many people.
The specific reason, in addition to the bad climate, is the frequent flooding in the southern region. Just imagine that the Nile River Basin has a rainy season, and the river water from the upper Great Lakes region is also drained here during the rainy season. The probability of flooding in the area is naturally higher.
After the rainy season, the Nile Basin is prone to drought, which is a repeated torture. Therefore, the construction of the Nile Province in East Africa has always lagged behind.
Ernst said: "The climate in the north of East Africa is worse than that in the central and southern parts, and there is not much advantage in resources. Therefore, the Great Lakes region is the most habitable area close to the north. Naturally, you also have to shoulder the responsibility of promoting the economic development of the north."
"After the establishment of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, the Great Lakes region was at the center of this regional economic cooperation organization. The intersection of land trade between countries such as the Belgian Congo Colony, the Kingdom of South Germany, the Abyssinian Empire, and the Italian Red Sea Colony was in the Great Lakes region."
"Even if it is further expanded, this place may become a land trade intersection for North Africa, West Africa and Central and Southern Africa in the future."
The geographical location of the Northern Great Lakes Province can be figuratively described as the East African version of the "Hexi Corridor". The topography and landforms on the east are relatively complex, with a large difference in terrain from the East African Plateau to the plains such as Somalia. Further north, it encounters mountains and canyons in southern Ethiopia, and the areas in between are mostly deserts, making transportation construction costly and difficult.
To the west is the Congo rainforest, which is even less conducive to transportation construction. This means that most of East Africa's transportation routes are concentrated in the Great Lakes region, and then diverted from the Great Lakes region to North Africa, West Africa and other regions.
This can be seen from the characteristics of railway construction in East Africa. There are only two north-south railway lines in Turkana Province, Juba Province and Northern Province in the eastern part of the Great Lakes region, and there are only two railway lines in the Congo rainforest area in the west.
These railway lines are trunk railways that the East African government has prioritized building from a national defense perspective to facilitate East Africa's control over the northern region.
In contrast, there are as many as five railway trunk lines passing through the Great Lakes region, three running north-south and two running east-west, making the Great Lakes region one of the important railway hubs in the country.
Moreover, in addition to the trunk railways, the Great Lakes region has also built numerous branch lines and local railways, forming a relatively developed railway network.
From an economic perspective, the gap is even more obvious. It is basically difficult to make a profit if the railway line does not pass through the Great Lakes region because the population, towns, economy and resources along the line cannot support the recovery of railway construction costs.
In particular, the central railway that passes through the heart of the Congo Basin not only has poor economic benefits but also has high maintenance costs. The original intention of building this route was to facilitate the rapid assembly of East African troops to the north.
After all, during the construction of the Central Railway, Egypt, as an important British colony, could potentially pose a certain threat to East Africa. Objectively speaking, East Africa has more neighbors to the north, and the defense pressure is relatively greater.
Although as far as the current situation is concerned, the countries and colonies in the north of East Africa are a mess, but who can predict whether there will be a country in the north that will defy fate and threaten the security of East Africa's border areas in the future?
In short, when it comes to building railways and other land transportation, the Great Lakes region is the most cost-effective choice. It is not impossible to build in other regions, but the cost is too high. Only with national support can railways that run through tropical rainforests and deserts be built.
Ernst said: "In the future, the Great Lakes region must focus on promoting trade with North Africa and West Africa. After all, the Great Lakes region is an inland area, and the 20th century is the era of the ocean. You are geographically inferior to coastal areas."
“Therefore, we should pay more attention to economic linkage with other regions in the country, as well as North Africa and West Africa, especially the Kingdom of South Germany and the Abyssinian Empire.”
“The Abyssinian Empire is a large market with a population of over 10 million, while the Southern German Kingdom has even greater potential, and in the future there will also be regions such as Egypt and Libya.”
"Let's not talk about industry first. In terms of agriculture, the prospects are quite bright. After all, the current food production in West Africa and North Africa is not optimistic."
"With the help of railways, you can sell grain to the interior of these regions at a lower cost."
The reason why it is an inland hinterland is very simple. West Africa and North Africa also have coastal areas, and there are more options for food imports in coastal areas.
East Africa's advantage lies in the construction of the most powerful inland railway network in Africa, and this railway network has been extended to countries and regions such as southern Germany, Darfur, and Abyssinia.
These railways are also the routes with the lowest foreign trade and communication costs in the hinterland of these countries and regions.
Unless they can build a railway from the inland to the coast with their own country as the core, the Kingdom of South Germany may still have a chance, but the Abyssinian Empire is a completely landlocked country, and Darfur is surrounded by Egypt, Libya, East Africa and South Germany in the heart of Africa. For now and for a long time in the future, they can only cling to East Africa.
Manfred said: "Your Majesty, rest assured. Our province's grain exports have been growing over the years. The Abyssinian Empire and the Italian Red Sea Colony are among the most important overseas customers."
"The only problem is that the main food crop in our province is rice, and there are very few countries on the African continent that use rice as their main staple food. Eating habits are the main constraint on our food exports to North Africa."
It took decades of promotion for rice to become the staple food of East Africans. After all, few East African immigrants had the habit of eating rice as their staple food. This was true for Europeans as well as immigrants from the Far East. After all, most of the Far Eastern Empire immigrants in East Africa came from the northern region.
The reason why rice is vigorously promoted by the East African government is very simple. That is, rice is more suitable for cultivation in East Africa. Although there is a lot of wheat planting area in East Africa, the quality and yield of wheat are still much worse than those in temperate regions.
To put it bluntly, rice has a high unit yield, so it is more likely to be favored by East African governments, and it is more adaptable to the climate in East Africa. Among staple foods, rice and wheat are top-tier in the world, and most countries will consider these two according to local conditions.
Ernst certainly has no good solution for the problem of eating habits on East African food exports. He can only say: "Food exports generally depend on prices. In fact, we and the United States are the two largest countries in the world that dump food abroad."
"However, wheat is definitely not our strong point. Let alone competing with the United States, even Argentina and some European countries have a greater advantage than us in this field."
"On the other hand, we can still strive for Southeast Asia, the Far East, Japan, South Asia, the Middle East, and some extremely backward countries and regions."
The quality of rice in East Africa is not bad. At least in the Great Lakes Region and the Plains Province, the taste of rice is considered to be relatively good in the world, because the agricultural conditions in these two places are the best. In addition, it relies on the improvement of agricultural technology in East Africa.
Ernst said: "Food is an important tool for the empire's external expansion and influence. Its importance is no less than that of energy and minerals, so it is particularly important to expand our country's food market."
People are like iron and food is like steel. No country can live without food. To control a country's food is to control the country's lifeline.
Therefore, Ernst emphasized: "In the process of promoting East African food exports, it is advisable to make appropriate concessions, especially in economically underdeveloped regions such as Asia, Africa and Latin America."
"For the people in these regions, survival is the first priority, so they pay more attention to the price. In this process, we in East Africa have room for maneuver."
In general, food prices in East Africa are among the cheapest in the world. After all, because East Africa is located in the tropics, it can achieve more than one harvest a year.
Senior official Manfred said: "Your Majesty, rest assured, this is also an important strategy for our province's grain exports over the years. Through large-scale mechanized production, the cost of grain production in our province has been greatly reduced."
"This is also an important factor in the continuous increase in our province's grain export output in recent years. In addition, our province is also actively striving to improve the image of agricultural products and enter the mid-to-high-end agricultural market."
"Especially in cash crops, we have achieved good results. As a result, the province's food processing industry has been vigorously developed and a number of excellent agricultural product processing companies have been cultivated."
"At the same time, we are actively building and supporting some local foreign trade and commercial companies around the issue of exports, using this as a starting point to expand our province's influence in the global agricultural product market."
The upper limit of the agricultural economy of the Northern Great Lakes Province would certainly not be high if it relied solely on food crops. However, as the world's largest cash crop country, especially in the field of tropical cash crops, East Africa has strong capital and advantages.
The cultivation of cash crops in the Northern Great Lakes Province also occupies an important position in East Africa. Combined with animal husbandry, the Northern Great Lakes Province can be regarded as an agricultural all-rounder in the agricultural field.
Take the Northeast, the most important grain production base of the Far Eastern Empire in the past. Its grain and animal husbandry are good, but it is not suitable for the development of cash crops. The only areas it can show off are sugar crops and medicinal materials.
In comparison, the Great Lakes region has a much wider variety of cash crops that can be grown, such as fiber crops such as cotton and various types of hemp, oil crops such as peanuts and rapeseed, sugar crops such as sugarcane, and beverage crops such as tea, coffee and cocoa.
If we only talk about agricultural conditions, the agricultural basic conditions of the Great Lakes region are almost the same as South Africa's mineral resource endowment. South Africa has most of the major mineral resources for industrial development, while the Great Lakes region can develop comprehensively in agriculture and animal husbandry.
In contrast, Manfred concluded: "Our province's goal is to build an important agricultural complex in the world, including the cultivation of various basic agricultural products, as well as the agricultural product processing industry chain, and finally a complete external sales channel."
"In agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery, we have achieved a certain important position in the country and even in the world, and the most critical issues are the improvement of agricultural planting technology and agricultural product processing technology in the Great Lakes region and the construction of agricultural brands."
Ernst agrees with this. He said: "Technology is the driving force for agricultural development. The country has also made great efforts in this regard, from water conservancy construction in the past to the large-scale promotion of agricultural mechanization and the development of agricultural chemical products later."
"Today, East African agriculture has reached a new turning point with the development of the times, and the key lies in technology and branding."
"This includes cultivating superior varieties, supporting and building more advanced agricultural production equipment, developing water-saving agriculture, developing regional specialty agriculture, and reforming the agricultural management system, etc."
"During the Fifth Five-Year Plan alone, many key scientific research projects related to agriculture were launched across the country. You should also seize this opportunity to strengthen cooperation with enterprises, universities and scientific research institutions."
The reason for this situation, in addition to the need for agricultural transformation in East Africa, is that East Africa made a lot of money in World War I.
As for the use of this unexpected wealth, of course, more investments will be made in projects that East Africa was unable to carry out in the past, such as the many large-scale projects that require a lot of money, such as aerospace, atomic energy, nuclear physics, etc.
Agricultural research projects in East Africa have also received a lot of funding. After all, agriculture is the foundation of a country, especially a country like East Africa that wants to expand its influence in the agricultural field and preferably achieve agricultural hegemony in some regions. Naturally, it also needs to pay attention to the advancement of agricultural technology.
East Africa benefited more than that from World War I. In addition to obtaining funding for research in many scientific fields, the technology and talent obtained from Europe also played a big role.
From this point of view, the First World War provided the basic conditions to help East Africa achieve a leapfrog development in national scientific research, including support in terms of talent, technology, and funds.
Although East Africa would still develop according to its own plan without these factors, there is no doubt that it was precisely because of the huge benefits gained from World War I that East Africa was able to greatly shorten the time of economic transformation. Of course, the specific effects cannot be seen now.
(End of this chapter)
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