Chapter 53 Potato Planting
December 16, 1866.
Karatu, the capital of the Northern Highlands region.
To the northwest of Karatu is the famous Serengeti grassland, a real animal world.
At present, every region in the East African colony, except for the upper coastal area which has been thoroughly cleansed, other regions are basically the territory of wild beasts.
Even the indigenous people, whose population is relatively large compared to the immigrants, seem small and insignificant in the face of the huge animal populations in East Africa.
These abundant animal resources allow the indigenous people to live a prosperous life just by relying on hunting.
After hunting every day, we would sing and dance, and go to bed when it gets dark. We didn’t have any other worries. After all, there were endless animals to hunt, and we didn’t have to worry about tomorrow’s food source.
As immigrants who came to Africa to farm the land, they naturally could not learn from the natives to make a living by hunting.
Their ideas and concepts have been influenced by thousands of years of farming culture, and they emphasize getting rich through hard work. Immigrants cannot yet feel the life attitude of the indigenous people, who only consider the present and do not think about the future.
In fact, people's ideas are given by social characteristics. For example, the indigenous people have not developed a country, but the African environment allows them to live very well under the most primitive tribal system. Once they enter a relatively advanced social system, their development becomes half-dead.
After all, the humans who walked out of East Africa millions of years ago all faced survival issues, so they took the initiative to learn how to plant and raise crops.
For example, in the vast desert like Egypt, it would be a problem to survive without relying on the Nile River to develop agriculture. All human beings who left Africa eventually became "King of Rollers".
A million years later, the Europeans returned and directly "swamped" these indigenous African tribes to death.
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Whenever immigrants arrived at a new location in East Africa, they had to first clear out the local wild animals and threatening indigenous tribes.
In order to prevent accidents, immigrants work and carry out activities in groups to avoid any fish slipping through the net and attacking immigrants.
There is lush vegetation near Karatu, but it is mostly withered and yellow during the dry season, with a thick layer of yellow vines and weeds covering the land.
The first immigrants who came here burned the dead grass and trees with fire. After the fire, a thin layer of ash was left on the land.
Then use a shovel and hoe to clean out the plant roots buried in the soil. After the soil is turned over, the light red soil comes into view.
Therefore, Karatu's immigrant residential areas and reclaimed land are all dazzling red, which, combined with the withered yellow vegetation around them and the hazy low sky under the strong sunlight, looks a bit depressing.
There is relatively little precipitation in the Karatu area. Because it is located inland and on a plateau, it is difficult for water vapor from the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean to penetrate deeply into here.
There are two large lakes in the east and west of Karatu. Lake Eyasi in the west is a seasonal shallow saline lake, and Lake Manyara in the east is also a saltwater lake.
Both are lakes formed on the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, and flocks of flamingos and other water birds can be seen on these two lakes.
To the north of Karatu is the Rogorongoro Mountains. Rogorongoro is a plateau volcano. Karatu is located on the southern edge of the Rogorongoro Mountains.
Ngorongoro is a very unique area, which concentrates various ecological landforms such as grasslands, forests, hills, lakes and swamps. Countless species of wild animals live here, gradually forming an independent ecological chain system.
Rogorongoro means "big hole" in the African indigenous language.
Lake Manyara is the gateway to the Ngorongoro Crater Nature Reserve, which Hemingway once described as "the loveliest place in Africa."
Africa's famous Maasai people live in the area near the Ngorongoro crater and lead a nomadic life.
During the dry season, the lake in the crater becomes a water source for nearby animals, and groups of animals live here.
As the newly established regional capital of the East African colony, Karatu is by no means outstanding, and its future development potential is not as good as that of other regional capitals.
The reason why it is separately designated as the capital of the Northern Plateau Region is because of its geographical location. It is located in the center of the Northern Plateau Region.
In Africa, cities like Mwanza and Kigoma have excellent natural conditions, Dodoma has outstanding transportation advantages, and the first town in the east is where the colony first started.
Only Karatu and Ronroda in the Lower Coast became the administrative centers of the region because of the circles that Ernst randomly drew on the map.
In the East African colonies, all cities are basically at the same starting line, starting from scratch, so the future development of Karatu and Ronroda will still depend on whether the two capitals can give full play to their first-mover advantage.
Karatu has relatively little rainfall, so the crops chosen were not rice and wheat, but potatoes.
Potatoes are a typical lazy crop and, like sisal, do not require meticulous care.
Potatoes prefer cold weather and are afraid of heat, but the Karatu area is at a high altitude, with temperatures ranging from 10 to 20 degrees Celsius.
The lighting conditions in the plateau area are basically the most suitable for crop growth, with thin atmosphere, shallow clouds and strong light.
At the same time, the soil is acidic, and because wood ash is added before reclamation, it is weakly acidic.
The soil in Karatu is relatively loose and non-sticky, which facilitates the expansion of potato roots in the later stage.
There is no need to worry about the water needed to grow potatoes. Although there is less rainfall, there is enough water in the rivers.
The immigrants used tools to turn over the soil and make ridges. They divided the sprouted potato tubers into groups of two and inserted the potato sprouts upwards into the plowed soil at intervals of about 20 to 30 centimeters. Finally, they sprinkled fertilizer on it and the planting was ready.
When it comes to choosing cash crops, Karatu still chooses sisal.
The forest resources in the Ngorongoro Mountains are relatively abundant, which provides convenience for the construction of Karatu.
Houses are mostly built with wooden structures, which also facilitate the creation of some production tools, such as water wheels and windmill millstones.
The Karatu immigrants are currently only active in the southeastern part of the Rogorongoro Mountains and have not gone deep into the interior of the Rogorongoro Mountains.
Therefore, no East African colonial forces entered the northwest of the entire northern plateau area, mainly the Serengeti grassland area.
On the contrary, to the west is the Great Lakes region, where the immigrant population is second only to the Upper Coastal Region, and there is no natural barrier between the Great Lakes region and the Serengeti grasslands.
So the Serengeti grasslands are classified as the Great Lakes region, but the animals in the Serengeti grasslands are a real animal paradise.
In the documentary of the previous life, the scene of tens of thousands of wildebeests crossing the river on the Serengeti grasslands is a scene. The river is called the Mara River, which is the river between Kenya and Tanzania. Every year, wildebeests and other animals migrate between the Masai Mara in Kenya and the Serengeti in Tanzania.
Such a large piece of land was not effectively developed in Tanzania in the past, but was treated as a national park. The East African colonies would not be so stubborn as to develop the Serengeti.
It is indeed difficult to deal with so many wild animals, and the early development of East African colonies was bound to be barbaric, and wild animals in other regions have already suffered.
It would be better to leave the Serengeti grasslands and leave a piece of clean land for East African wild animals. What the East African colonies lack the least now is land, and they can also develop northwards and westwards.
Therefore, although the Serengeti is not small in area, its impact on the East African colonies is very limited.
(End of this chapter)
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