Chapter 581 "Locomotive"
Waltz was talking about the submarine cable from the South Ryukyu Islands to Fuzhou. The straight-line distance from Miyako Island to Fuzhou is nearly 700 kilometers, so the workload and consumption are enormous. Therefore, the task of the Dar es Salaam State Cable Factory No. 1 is very large.
Mori: "Submarine cables are indeed not simple, and the quality requirements are higher. After all, the conditions in the sea are complicated, and ordinary cables cannot withstand it. But if you can give us some parameters, our factory can be mentally prepared. I wonder how long this Far East submarine cable will be laid?"
Waltz: "Hey, this is not a secret. Didn't we in East Africa have a conflict with Japan in the Far East a while ago? It's a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean on the map. I heard that our navy even had a battle there. That's our place, but it's too far from East Africa, so the higher-ups must solve the communication problem there."
Mori had a general understanding after hearing this. Although Mori was born in a German country, he was well-educated. In terms of the cultural level of that era, he was "well-versed in astronomy and geography."
This is not an exaggeration, because the simplest books that Mori could access in the East African troops were East African textbooks, and East African textbooks taught history and geography.
Mori: "If the South Ryukyu Islands are connected to the telegraph, it will definitely not be a small project. As far as I know, this archipelago is at least several hundred kilometers away from the Far East mainland, so I will use a ruler to estimate how far this archipelago is from the Far East mainland, so as to arrange the production tasks for next year and avoid fighting an unprepared battle."
Waltz: "Don't bother with that. The South Ryukyu Islands are about 600 to 700 kilometers away from the Far East mainland. You can just produce at least 500 kilometers, and there won't be any problems. You can just make up for it later."
Mori: "This telegram is not simple. It seems that the South Ryukyu Islands are of great significance to the country. So there must be other factories that have also received the mission, right?"
Waltz nodded and said, "You're right. There are more than a dozen factories participating in this production mission, and some European companies are bidding. The factories that have received the mission in East Africa are mainly Dar es Salaam, Bagamoyo, Tanga, and Mombasa. Because they are close to the sea, it is convenient for production."
Mori: "This is a big move. We have never taken on such a big job before. In the past, the submarine cables laid by East Africa were imported from Europe. Three or four years ago, the submarine cable from Pemba Island to Bagamoyo was shipped from the Austro-Hungarian factory."
Waltz: "If it's not imported from Europe, then how can it grow from the ground? I remember that your factory was one of the first cable factories in East Africa, and it was established only three or four years ago. At that time, I'm afraid you couldn't even figure out how the machines worked, right?"
Mori: "You're right. At that time, the only people who knew how to operate the machine were me and two technicians in the factory. We had to teach them everything. Besides, the raw materials were all imported from overseas, so we just made minor repairs and used them as is."
When the first batch of cable factories in East Africa were established, there was not even enough raw materials. The railway had just been opened to traffic, so the inland copper mines had not yet been developed. Therefore, most of the copper was imported from the Austro-Hungarian Empire and then processed on the coast of East Africa.
As for coal mines and rubber, East Africa has no shortage of them. East Africa's coal mines are close to the coast. As for rubber, East Africa is the world's largest rubber producer. The second is Brazil. The advantage of Brazilian rubber is that it is close to the coast, especially the Amazon Plain. With the Amazon River, shipping is very convenient and the collected rubber can be directly loaded on ships and shipped to all parts of the world.
East Africa is much worse in this regard. The main rubber producing area in East Africa is in the eastern part of the Congo Basin. The Congo River is also not very useful, and its downstream estuary is a group of waterfalls. Therefore, it can only be transported to the eastern coast by land, which is time-consuming and laborious.
However, there are other rubber producing areas in East Africa that can serve as alternatives, especially the intersection of the eastern coastal plains and plateaus, where rainfall is relatively abundant and can be transported directly to Dar es Salaam via the central railway.
In comparison, the advantage of Mombasa is that the Northern Railway and Great Lakes Shipping can transport rubber from the Great Lakes region and Hesse to the east. The disadvantage is that Mombasa is far away from the copper producing areas in East Africa.
Therefore, the development of Dar es Salaam and Mombasa is like two locomotives, neither giving way to the other. It is no problem to call them locomotives. The two most important railways in East Africa, the Central Railway and the Northern Railway, start exactly in Dar es Salaam and Mombasa. Of course, there is also a new port city of Hamburg to the south of the Central Railway.
As the saying goes, a train runs fast only when it is led by the locomotive. Dar es Salaam and Mombasa play the role of the locomotive. As for the new Hamburg Port City, it has been around for too short a time and its foundation cannot be compared with those two old cities, so its future is uncertain.
However, Ernst does not think that the new Hamburg Port City will surpass its two predecessors, and it is even questionable whether it can make it into the top three among coastal cities.
This involves the Maputo Port that Ernst has been thinking about, but the Maputo Port is still in the hands of the Portuguese. It is unknown when East Africa will be able to take it back by some means. By that time, the New Hamburg Port City will have been developed for many years and its first-mover advantage will be obvious.
For example, the southern section of the Central Railway. If Maputo was in the hands of East Africa, it would definitely be built to Maputo, but now it is a fait accompli and the port city of New Hamburg has taken the lead.
The driving effect of railways on the economy is quite obvious, especially the trunk line like the Central Railway. It is likely that there will be no railway line in East Africa that can surpass the Central Railway in the future. After all, when Ernst designed this line, he could be said to have coordinated the most essential areas of East Africa.
In the Central Railway, the more well-known capitals of African countries in the past include Dodoma (capital of Tanzania), Lusaka (capital of Zambia), Harare (capital of Zimbabwe), as well as Dar es Salaam and Pretoria, which have served as capitals; a number of important African cities, including Mbeya, Bulawayo, Lubumbashi, etc.
The line basically covers most of the mineral producing areas, cities, and villages in East Africa, so the East African cities that can be connected with the Central Railway will have a good starting point for future development.
The New Hamburg Port City, a sea and land transportation hub, combined with the rich mineral resources of the former Transvaal Republic and the Zulu Kingdom, if it can develop reasonably in the future, it may be able to compete with Mombasa and Dar es Salaam. However, it will depend on whether the leadership of the New Hamburg Port City will be strong in the future.
As of now, the only cities in the first tier of East African urban economy are Dar es Salaam, Mombasa, Mbeya and Nairobi.
Whether the New Hamburg Port City wants to be on par with these cities depends on its subsequent development. However, it should not be difficult to surpass Mbeya and Nairobi in the future. It is just a matter of time, because the New Hamburg Port City is in South Africa and has resources that the two cities cannot reach.
As for Mombasa and Dar es Salaam, it is almost impossible for them to be overtaken. These two cities have the best conditions in East Africa and involve the larger regional economy of East Africa. However, Dar es Salaam has more advantages overall. After all, there are other cities around Dar es Salaam to help, while Mombasa can only rely on Nairobi and Tanga for warmth.
(End of this chapter)
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