Chapter 521 Application
Bulawayo, once the capital of the Matabele Kingdom and now the second largest city in Matabele Province in East Africa, is developing very rapidly.
The basic conditions here are already relatively good, and the central railway passing through here has created good transportation conditions for the development here.
In its past life, Bulawayo was famous for its industry and was the largest manufacturing centre in Zimbabwe. Including industrial sectors such as steelmaking, machinery manufacturing, food, textiles, fertilizers, and daily chemicals, this configuration shows Bulawayo's economic status in Zimbabwe. After all, industry is quite rare for African countries.
The most important factors that have made Bulawayo an industrial power in Zimbabwe are its historical heritage, transportation advantages and rich mineral resources.
After East Africa occupied Bulawayo, it inherited most of Bulawayo's assets. However, the main assets left by the Ndebele people in the local area were houses, which solved the housing needs of East Africa's early population resettlement. As for the Ndebele treasury, it had long been turned over to the East African treasury, mainly precious metals such as gold and gems, and other things as well, but East Africa did not value them.
The whole world has the same love for gold, and so do the Ndebele people. The Matabele Kingdom's treasury has also gained the most since East Africa's colonization of Africa. After all, the Matabele Kingdom is large in size and has accumulated a lot of wealth.
In the past, many indigenous countries in East Africa were destroyed, but most of them did not accumulate as much wealth as the ancient Zimbabwe. Others migrated as a whole nation, taking away the wealth accumulated over generations, such as the Mshiri regime and the former Great Lakes (Lake Victoria) countries.
Zimbabwe's history is discontinuous, but this did not affect the Ndebele people who later conquered the region from inheriting the heritage of their Shona ancestors. After all, the force that was able to build the Great Zimbabwe ruins must have been a regional overlord in its time.
As for whether the Great Zimbabwe ruins were built by the Shona people, Ernst believes that the Shona people must have been involved. Just like Egypt, although it has been conquered many times, the ethnic group is still the same and will not change because of a change of culture, unless there is a massacre or a replacement like in the United States and East Africa.
"Bulawayo has rich coal resources, and compared with Mbeya, its biggest advantage is its flat and open terrain. The only difference is the rainfall, but this also provides conditions for cotton planting. Therefore, in addition to being suitable for the development of the steel industry, Bulawayo is also suitable for the textile industry like Nairobi."
“Mayor Roan, do you mean to envy Nairobi?”
“Haha, there is nothing to be embarrassed about. Nairobi is the ‘textile city’. We in Bulawayo started late, but we also want to work hard to make progress!”
“We need to investigate this before we can draw a conclusion. After all, we cannot build a textile enterprise here just because of your one-sided statement. After all, Bulawayo is developing quite fast and has a steel industry, which is something that many cities cannot get.”
Bulawayo's steel industry is mainly steelmaking, which is inseparable from the rich coal and iron ore resources in Matabele Province.
The reason why Bulawayo focuses on the steelmaking industry is mainly to pave the way for the stainless steel industry. After all, East Africa is the world's largest country in terms of chromite reserves. The chromite reserves in Matabele Province are second only to Hechingen Province. If these two provinces are taken separately, they are ranked first and second in the world respectively.
The main product of chromite is chromium, which is one of the main raw materials for stainless steel. There are also many other ore such as manganese ore and nickel ore in East Africa.
Of course, the stainless steel industry has not yet been developed in East Africa. Henry Brearley, a British metallurgist in his previous life, invented stainless steel in 1912, so there is no stainless steel now. As for Ernst, of course he knew stainless steel. Stainless steel originated from Brearley's discovery of ferrochrome (stainless steel). Ernst knew the answer directly, but in order to interfere with history as little as possible, Ernst did not intend to release stainless steel in advance, and only conducted experiments at the Bulawayo Metal Research Institute.
East Africa has almost 90% of the world's chromite reserves, so in the future East Africa does not have to worry about other countries surpassing East Africa in this regard. Just like the tungsten mines of the Far East Empire, the stainless steel market will not escape from East Africa in the future, so Ernst is not in a hurry to develop it.
"This year, the Ministry of Agriculture has conducted experimental demonstrations in our city of Bulawayo and opened three cotton experimental fields in the Bulawayo area. All of them have achieved good results. We are waiting to analyze the cotton samples after the harvest. Regardless of the final results, this land is definitely suitable for cotton planting, and the cotton fields are growing very well."
"Is that so? That means the Ministry of Agriculture should have made some arrangements for Bulawayo, and Mayor Roan doesn't need to ask us for help, right?"
“It’s different. The Ministry of Agriculture has no control over factory construction. They just think that the environment near Bulawayo is suitable for cotton planting, but they cannot ensure that the cotton textile factory will be located in Bulawayo. So we still need to ask your industrial department for help! Besides, the textile industry is a big industry. Nairobi alone cannot handle it. We in Bulawayo are willing to help them share some of the burden.”
The scale of the textile industry is naturally huge. The textile industry in the UK is a pillar industry, and the population in East Africa has grown rapidly in recent years, so Nairobi's output cannot keep up.
So Mayor Roan went on to say: "Look, our city of Bulawayo is suitable for growing cotton, and it has a good industrial base and good transportation conditions. East Africa's industry is currently concentrated in the eastern region. The inland, especially the south, will definitely be developed on a large scale in the future. The population growth is unstoppable, and demand will definitely increase greatly. Therefore, building a textile factory in Bulawayo will definitely have many benefits."
"This is not something we can decide, but we will submit your suggestion to the higher authorities. But I have to remind you first that if you want to build a textile factory, you must first solve the problems of raw materials and personnel. I am not too worried about the personnel. The higher authorities will definitely consider it and will most likely transfer personnel from Nairobi for support. The issue of raw materials is more difficult. You must discuss with the Ministry of Agriculture and quickly expand the cotton planting area."
“You are right. Our municipal government will give priority to this aspect. If the quality of cotton in the experimental field this year is satisfactory, we will apply for large-scale planting west of Bulawayo next year and strive to solve the cotton production problem in a short time.”
"Haha, aren't you afraid that if you blindly expand the planting area, the factory won't approve it, resulting in serious waste?"
"Then you underestimate me. I have inquired with the East African Import and Export Trading Company in advance. Even if Bulawayo does not build a factory, they can still consume the cotton production. On the one hand, domestic demand is high. This year, East Africa also imported several batches of cotton from the Far East. On the other hand, foreign demand is also high. For example, Germany and Austria-Hungary have a small land area and a large population, so the market is also relatively large."
"It seems that Mayor Luo An has made sufficient preparations, so I won't persuade him any more. According to what you said, the probability of success is very high. I guess the position of your market can be moved up by then."
"Haha, thanks for your good words. If it really works out, I'll treat you to a meal."
(End of this chapter)
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