Chapter 1623 South American Benchmark City
As expected, the grain storage plan was approved by Ernst. Others may not know, but Ernst is very clear about it. From the very beginning, Ernst had only one imaginary enemy in his mind, and that was Japan.
However, Japan does not have the ability to sustain warfare, and by the time it goes to war in East Africa, it will probably be the end of World War II.
As for the risk of the grain storage plan, that is, Japan may occupy and obtain the war grain depot built in East Africa, Ernst believes that it is acceptable.
East Africa, Rhine City.
Ernst looked at the documents sent back by the Alaskan Governor's Office and said to Crown Prince Friedrich, "If we can feed future war criminals and thus save most Alaskans, then we can accept the loss of a little more food."
Food is not a scarce resource for a major agricultural country like East Africa, not to mention that international food prices remain low and supply exceeds demand.
International food prices hit bottom two years ago, around 1933 to 1934. Although they have rebounded now, they are still unprofitable. If we want to usher in a new round of growth, we may have to wait until the outbreak of World War II before entering a new cycle.
Crown Prince Friedrich also suggested, "Food itself is a powerful tool for the Empire to manipulate international politics. There's a large shortage in Alaska right now. We can buy it from countries that are pro-Imperial."
"Especially for countries in South America. Uruguay and Paraguay are both important grain producers. We can take these two countries into consideration and use this transaction to test the attitudes of countries like Brazil, Argentina, and South Africa."
Within the East African sphere of influence, there are only two countries with the capacity to export food on a large scale, namely Uruguay and Paraguay.
As for the West Asia, North Africa and East African spheres of influence, all of them are experiencing food shortages. The self-sufficiency rate in the South Pacific region is relatively high, but also relatively limited.
The fact that East Africa has become a major food producer and exporter is itself a very extreme case.
Brazil is the country with the most similar national conditions to East Africa, but Brazilian agriculture is heavily dependent on cash crops and the population is concentrated in cities, which means that the agricultural potential of Brazil's inland areas cannot be realized.
In the past, the key turning point of Brazil's transformation into a major food-producing country in the world was after the capital was moved to Brasilia, which was already in the 1960s. This marked the shift of the country's strategic direction from the coast to the inland.
In contrast, East Africa's development path is completely different. During the colonial era, East Africa attached great importance to the transportation of population to the inland, and through large-scale immigration, it quickly established a stable economic cycle and stabilized the borders, and then used this as a base to accelerate expansion to the periphery.
At the same time, East African immigrants themselves are mainly "agricultural" groups. Whether they are German, Slavic, or Far Eastern Empire immigrants, they basically come from the rural areas of these regions.
Therefore, East Africans have had the talent for "farming" since their appearance, which made early East Africa a "farming and warfare" political entity.
The attributes of the immigrant group will obviously have a significant impact on the country's economic development.
Brazil lacks this "gene", so Japanese immigrants played an important role in the rise of Brazilian agriculture in the 1970s.
Therefore, from the 19th century to the early 20th century, East Africa, a "tropical grain-producing power", was a very rare existence, and the only country that could be compared with it was India.
However, India is a major tropical food producer, but not a natural food exporter. Although its food export volume is not low, it is based on the extreme exploitation of its own agricultural groups.
Tropical agricultural countries such as India, Mexico and Brazil are typical "hungry agricultural exporters".
Countries like Argentina and Australia, although somewhat related to the tropics, their main agricultural production areas are more in the "subtropical" category.
Uruguay and Paraguay also belong to the subtropical climate zone, so the two countries have the conditions for food production and export. If this natural factor is not taken into account, it would be impossible to achieve this based on their backward economic structure and governance model.
Crown Prince Friedrich said: "In recent years, our economic ties with several small countries in central South America have become increasingly deep. In particular, the recent completion of the Asuncion-Lima railway has enabled us to establish a major axis for trade between South America and East Africa in central South America."
“It is also one of the core areas of our interests in South America, so East Africa should provide appropriate support to Paraguay and Uruguay.”
The Asuncion-Lima Railway is an important overseas railway project in East Africa during the Seventh Five-Year Plan period. It and the North African Railway are both strategic projects in East Africa.
The two railways started construction at almost the same time and were completed in the same period. The North African railway was more difficult, but it was completed so quickly thanks to the fact that East Africa was more dominant in this railway, especially the sections within East Africa and Darfur, which were basically completed by the East African Railway Company and its workers themselves.
Although the construction conditions of the Asuncion-Lima Railway are better than those of the North African Railway, many workers are recruited locally, and engineering equipment is also purchased and transported from East Africa. It also involves coordination between Paraguay, Bolivia and Peru, so the progress is slightly slower than that of the North African Railway.
"We can also utilize this newly built railway to show other countries the tangible benefits and expand the empire's influence in South America in the future."
If East African governments place orders, grain from Uruguay and Paraguay can travel along the Asuncion-Lima route to Pacific coast ports and then be shipped to Alaska.
This undoubtedly increases the income of both countries and verifies the driving effect of the Asuncion-Lima railway on the countries along the route.
Bolivia and Peru may not be able to enjoy this opportunity because their main industries are mining and export, and their food production is far less than that of Uruguay and Paraguay.
Of course, the Asuncion-Lima railway is obviously beneficial to the long-term development of the two countries.
Ernst agreed with Crown Prince Friedrich's suggestion, saying, "Alaska's grain imports this time are not a small amount. Even if Uruguay and Paraguay were combined, they would not be able to meet such a large demand."
"As for the empire itself, we already have our own agricultural development strategy, so we are not in a hurry to eat such a big piece of the pie all at once."
Food production in East Africa is typically planned. In contrast, cash crop cultivation is more market-oriented.
Therefore, transporting large amounts of food from East Africa to Alaska is not necessarily a good thing, as it will disrupt the government's original planning of food crops in East Africa.
Of course, if East Africa does not consume this food itself, it will not be possible for it to benefit major food exporting countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States. Although it is more cost-effective to import food from the United States and Canada to Alaska, it is most appropriate to use it as a bargaining chip with some small and medium-sized countries.
…
Asuncion, Paraguay.
Thanks to the Paraguayan government's long-term and unwavering development strategy of clinging to East Africa, the development of its capital, Asuncion, can be said to be changing with each passing day in recent years.
According to statistics in 1930, the population of Asuncion exceeded 200,000 for the first time, and it is still growing, and it should have reached more than 200,000 now.
A capital city with a population of over 200,000 is not particularly prominent in the world, but it is a critical figure for the small country of Paraguay, representing the economic vitality and future development prospects of Asuncion.
You should know that in the previous life, Asuncion's total population barely exceeded 120,000 in the late 1930s, and in 1935, it may have just exceeded 100,000. This means that in this time and space, Asuncion's population is at least more than twice that of the same period in the previous life.
During the same period, there were less than ten cities in South America with a population of over 200,000. Brazil had the most, with five cities having a population of over 200,000, followed by Argentina with three, and the other countries listed with one each.
In other words, a city with a population of over 200,000 is definitely considered a "big city" in South America, and Asuncion has successfully entered the ranks of "big cities" in terms of population, and even more.
For example, the populations of Bogota, Colombia, and Caracas, Venezuela, may hover around the 200,000 mark.
In addition to its population steadily meeting the target, Asuncion is obviously stronger in economic and other data. After all, Asuncion is a "benchmark" city built with the support of East Africa.
Regarding Asuncion's development, Uruguayan businessman Baltasar expressed deep emotion: "Paraguay is developing rapidly now. It has completely overcome the pain of the war of the last century."
"Especially in recent years, Asuncion's economic development has been second to none in all of South America. Now that the Asuncion-Lima railway is complete, it may not be a problem for Asuncion to surpass Montevideo in the next 20 to 30 years."
Montevideo is the capital of Uruguay. In terms of economic output and population alone, Montevideo is certainly far ahead of Asuncion, the up-and-coming city.
After all, Montevideo itself has a long history of development, and Asuncion suffered severe devastation from war in the last century, and the entire country was almost hollowed out.
At the same time, as a port city, Montevideo has inherent advantages in economic development.
Currently, the population of Montevideo exceeds 500,000, about 600,000 to 700,000, which is more than twice that of Asuncion. In the entire South American region, Montevideo's population ranks among the top five.
But now Baltasar is actually worried that Montevideo will be surpassed by Asuncion in the future, which shows that he is optimistic about Paraguay now.
His son Bloom also said at this time: "Asuncion is probably the only new major city in South America that has grown economically despite the economic crisis. In recent years, it has developed rapidly, as if it had taken a tonic."
"This is indeed a rather strange phenomenon, but just looking at the urban development in Asuncion, we can see that the Paraguayan government's governance capabilities have improved in recent years. It is clearly more orderly and planned than in Montevideo."
Asunción's rapid development, or the city's earth-shaking changes, happened to begin in the 1930s.
Although Asuncion's economic growth rate was very good during the golden period of world economic development in the 1920s, Asuncion's economic scale was not yet formed at that time and it was still catching up with other South American cities, so the level of urban construction was not outstanding.
As to why such amazing changes occurred in the 1930s, on the one hand, Asuncion had accumulated sufficient population, and on the other hand, it was deeply influenced by East Africa.
Balthazar said: "Although East Africa had established relatively close ties with Paraguay at the end of the 19th century, East Africa's real support for Paraguay did not begin until the 20th century, especially after World War I, when this support was significantly strengthened."
"Plus, Paraguay had just begun to emerge from the shadow of war, and its population and industry had recovered to a certain extent, so East Africa's assistance to Asuncion began to play a role."
"In the 1930s, Asuncion's economy took off because of its close connection with the East African economy. After all, East Africa was one of the countries least affected by the economic crisis among the world's major powers."
It has to be said that Balthasar's inference makes sense. Before the 19th century, East Africa had already been in contact with the Paraguayan government and had relatively deep cooperation.
However, before the 19th century, East Africa itself had not yet fully developed, let alone leading an overseas country in South America.
At the same time, before the 19th century, Paraguay could not support itself due to the Paraguayan War. The lack of population and the influence of foreign forces, especially Britain, Argentina and Brazil, still existed on Paraguay.
Therefore, at that time, although East Africa wanted to take Paraguay into its possession, it also had to take into account the influence of countries such as Britain. Moreover, Argentina and Brazil were also developing well at that time. Although East Africa had the initial foundation of a strong country at the end of the 19th century, it could not play a big role in South America.
The First World War was a key turning point in the relationship between East Africa and Paraguay. Because of the outbreak of the First World War, Britain was dragged down by Europe, while East Africa, which had completed two industrial plans and had become a primary industrial power at that time, took over the dominance of Paraguay and other South American regions.
Paraguay also took advantage of the situation to become a political and economic vassal of East Africa, and took advantage of the rapid economic development of East Africa.
After the Chaco War, Paraguay achieved a high degree of integration with East Africa, including in military and cultural aspects. In addition, East Africa's attention to South America has been increasing, and East Africa has been exploring overseas markets.
Therefore, in the late 1920s, Paraguay was selected by East Africa, and Asuncion became the "model city" for South American-East African cooperation reserved by East Africa.
This is vividly reflected in the urban construction of Asuncion. If Balthasar and his son had been to East Africa, they would have discovered the high similarity between the current urban construction of Asuncion and that of East Africa.
Some East African businessmen even subtly call Asuncion "Little Luanda of South America", which is a great affirmation of Asuncion's development.
After all, Luanda is a well-known city in the South Atlantic. It is recognized as one of the four most developed cities on the South Atlantic coast and a well-known international metropolis.
These four cities are Luanda, Cabinda, Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro. Except for Luanda and Cabinda, Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro, as the capitals of Argentina and Brazil, are themselves the ceiling of South American cities.
Argentina and Brazil are also regional powers, so it is not surprising that their capitals are highly prosperous. However, even so, Luanda and Cabinda have stronger comprehensive strength and are more developed in industry, technology, education, and medical care.
The fact that Asuncion is known as the "Little Luanda of South America" also verifies the development of Asuncion in recent years, and this name has been accepted by more and more Paraguayans.
(End of this chapter)
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