Chapter 38 Reclamation
While the battle between Prussia and Austria was raging, all the natives in the coastal areas of the East African colonies had been driven out. Except for those who were sold to slave traders in Zanzibar, some were left to do heavy labor, and the rest were released after being re-issued with their own weapons.
These exiled natives were certainly not out of kindness from the East African colonies. They had been frightened by the military power of the coastal area and naturally dared not return here. They could only go west or north. They are bound to encounter other indigenous tribes. They have weapons but no land and food, so conflicts will naturally arise with other tribes. At that time, they will fight to the death, and the East African colonies will be left behind to accept the new land.
It is also unknown whether the indigenous people who have lost their tribes can survive. In short, one thing is to reduce the number of indigenous people.
It is impossible to plant crops on all the new land, but the area around the new base can be developed first.
Most of these are places with abundant water resources, which can provide a stable water supply for production and life. Although the coastal areas have relatively abundant rainfall, the current East African colonies have a small population and not much cultivated land. As long as they can find a river, they don't have to rely on the weather for their food.
The coastal area is currently the easternmost sub-district. Because it is close to the Indian Ocean and has a relatively humid and hot climate, it is very suitable for rice cultivation.
These newly developed lands naturally tend to prefer rice as the staple food. Wheat production will decrease if the temperature is too high, so it is suitable for planting in the western plateau areas.
Moreover, the precipitation in the western part of the East African colonies is relatively low, which is suitable for the growth of drought-resistant crops such as wheat and millet.
Sisal is currently the largest product in the colony. East Africa is suitable for growing many tropical cash crops, such as cotton, bananas, rubber and coffee...
But sisal grows the best here and has a better market, and the competition from other cash crops is quite fierce.
In addition, cloves are also an important crop in the colonies. The Sultanate of Zanzibar is famous for its abundant production of cloves, so the coastal areas adjacent to the Sultanate of Zanzibar also do not miss the opportunity to grow cloves.
The production of cloves is relatively low, so sales are not a problem. Every time, the Dutch fleet can be used to transport these cloves directly back to Europe for sale.
The East African colonies had begun to use horses and cattle to plow the land. With the increase of new horses, supporting farming facilities were also arranged.
Now the colonies also began to use horses for communications. News that used to take one or two months to be transmitted back from various bases could now be transmitted back within one or two weeks.
The East African colonies also began to explore further afield with the help of horses, including intelligence on areas such as Kenya and Zimbabwe.
Horse plowing was popular in Europe, which meant that war horses were not as scarce in Europe as in ancient East Asia. Horse plowing made horses a necessary tool of production, and people were motivated to raise horses.
At the same time, it also made cattle less important in Europe and became a common food on the table, so Europeans like to eat beef and drink milk.
This is also related to the fact that Europeans do not know how to process food ingredients. For example, Europeans do not know how to castrate boars, which results in pork having a strong smell that can only be covered up with the strong smell of spices.
Of course, people in Europe don’t eat much pork now, only in Germany they eat more. When Germany is unified in the future, the amount will increase further.
Beef only needs simple processing to have a good taste, so it is naturally popular among Europeans. A piece of butter and a little salt can make a simple and delicious steak.
In the East African colonies, Ernst naturally chose horse plowing, and cattle were mainly used for meat. The Maasai of later generations were a nomadic people in East Africa who made their living by herding cattle.
The mandatory use of horse plowing will inevitably increase the demand for horses, and horses, as an important means of transportation, can enhance the transportation capacity of the East African colonies.
After all, the current East African colonies had basically no infrastructure and were still at the walking stage, with only a few Germans equipped with military horses for travel.
In addition, East Africa's flat and open terrain is very suitable for horses to gallop. In short, the more horses needed, the better.
In Manda, the northernmost part of the coastal area, smoke can now be seen rising from the chimneys as immigrants start making fires and cooking.
The nearby fields have almost been cultivated. Using water wheels, river water is pumped into the rice fields, and the entire land is intertwined with fields.
These paddy fields are relatively large in scale and the soil is plowed by horses. Of course, some of them are also plowed by indigenous people as power.
Some of it has already been planted with seedlings, while some of it needs time. To the east is a hill that is being used to grow sisal.
Rows of sisal cover the hills from top to bottom. From a distance, they look like tea plantations in East Asia, which are surrounded by low mountains and hills in circles, which is quite spectacular.
The weather conditions in the coastal areas have been good recently, with rain coming at a relatively stable time, rarely untimely.
This can also be considered a benefit for the Indian Ocean. It is well known that the El Nino and La Nina phenomena in the Pacific region are more significant, which will aggravate climate fluctuations in East Asia.
Although the Indian Ocean is also affected, the impact is not prominent. In addition to the influence of the equator and plateau areas, the most important factor affecting East Africa's climate is the shift of the trade wind belt. Every year, the trade wind belt moves south or north, bringing a certain amount of rainfall to East Africa.
This results in two rainy seasons in East Africa each year. At the same time, the coast of East Africa is also affected by ocean currents, which is most obvious in the coastal areas.
If there were no Somali cold current, precipitation along the coast of East Africa would definitely increase, forming orographic rain similar to that in northeastern India.
The stable climate in the East African colonies also led to orderly agricultural production. The colonies already had a relatively mature agricultural calendar that could be used to guide new immigrants in participating in agricultural production.
Currently, affected by the unrest in East Asia, the number of immigrants coming to East African colonies to develop is also increasing rapidly, especially in the north.
Influenced by the movement to the Northeast, residents in the north now have two choices: one is to develop overseas, and the other is to develop in the Northeast.
If going overseas, East Africa is currently the best option, because Ernst set up the network earlier, and the northern region was not exposed to the outside world as early as the southern region, so the immigration network built by Ernst in the north is larger and more mature.
In the southern region, especially in the southeastern coast, there are more channels. Some people choose to develop in Southeast Asia, and the second destination is America. After all, there are more channels, and many clans and local groups go to sea together.
Therefore, immigrants from the South tend to stick together overseas, but internal strife is also quite serious, because they also gather together overseas to form strongholds similar to Chinatown, and armed fighting is a characteristic of southern clans. The overlap of their interests is even more serious overseas. If you eat more, he will eat less, so there are more conflicts than at home.
This is also one of the reasons why Ernst did not dare to choose immigrants from the south. They would only farm honestly and not cause trouble, especially would not form groups. Although the Chinese immigrants in the East African colonies currently have the largest number, they have no leader and are a mess. Ernst is very satisfied with this.
While Prussia and Austria were engaged in a fierce battle in the German region of Europe, the East African colonies were peaceful and everyone was contributing to their development.
House construction, farmland development, canal building, new road construction, livestock breeding, an East African colony with agriculture as its core is being rapidly built.
(End of this chapter)
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