Chapter 627 Special Administrative City
However, Italy's efforts in developing Ethiopia and Eritrea are indeed quite strong, which is due to the abundant spillover population. Many European countries cannot learn from it even if they want to.
If Italy had not been split again because of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and East Africa had not absorbed population from the Far East, and Italy had developed its African colonies a dozen years earlier, it would be hard to say which would be stronger between Italy and East Africa.
"Well, since we can't determine the pros and cons of this matter now, let's experiment first. We can use Dire Dawa as a pilot. If successful, it can provide reference and experience to other border areas in the future. If it fails, there will not be too much loss. After all, Dire Dawa is just a small border town and will not have much impact on our overall strategy." Ernst finally ended the argument.
“Dire Dawa City was established as a special administrative city with border trade as the main development content, as a pilot city in East Africa.”
This allowed Dire Dawa to return to its development track ahead of schedule, but this time Dire Dawa did not rely on railways.
"Dire Dawa is located on the south side of the East African Rift Valley, with the Dechata River running through it. The former Kefira City was originally a distribution center for local agricultural and livestock products, and fur trade was prevalent, so there is still a certain foundation for its existence. However, the location of Dire Dawa is indeed not very friendly to us in East Africa, especially the poor transportation connectivity. This requires the Northern Province and Turkana Province to reopen the traditional trade routes."
In the past, East Africa used the city of Dire Dawa as a military base. Of course, it was not solved by simply drawing a circle on the map. There was already an indigenous settlement in the area, namely the ancient city of Kefira, which was a trade node between the Somali countries and the Abyssinian Empire.
The city of Dire Dawa is located on a major transportation route for Somalia and the Ethiopian Plateau, but the opposite is true for the giant East Africa, because it is conveniently connected between the East African Turkana Province and the Abyssinian Empire.
As for the Somali region, the Somalia region in East Africa is very different from the traditional Somalia. To be more precise, Somalia in East Africa should be the southern Somalia region, and much of the northern Somalia region is not in the hands of East Africa.
For example, the Afar lowland plain where the city of Dire Dawa is located, also known as the Danakil Depression, is in the northern Somalia region. The French colony of Djibouti, the British colony of Somaliland, and parts of the Italian colony of Eritrea are all here.
In fact, East Africa's occupation of Dire Dawa does not mean much to itself. Even if there is no Dire Dawa city, it will not threaten the security of East Africa. After all, the core area of East Africa is in the East African Plateau and the southern plateau, and the vast land in the middle does not have a very high economic value from the perspective of this era.
The main purpose of the city of Dire Dawa is external strategic deterrence. To the east, it can advance to the Gulf of Aden, to the north it can threaten the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and the Red Sea coast, and to the west it can lead to the heartland of the Abyssinian Empire. Therefore, the East African troops stationed here can achieve the goal of multi-faceted attack.
On the other hand, if other countries and forces attack the city of Dire Dawa, East Africa will not be affected at all. Instead, they can consume their manpower here.
The prerequisite is to provide sufficient material support to the local garrison, which is also the main reason why the Northern Province gives priority to supplying food to the Dire Dawa area.
To put it bluntly, the value of the Gulf of Aden, the Red Sea, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, and the Ethiopian Plateau are all higher than that of Dire Dawa. Dire Dawa can be messed up, but they can't. After all, if Dire Dawa is gone, it's gone. Even if it is destroyed in war, it can be rebuilt, and the scale is not large. The above-mentioned regions are either related to the main world trade routes or are important economies in the region.
"Your Highness, what is a special administrative city?"
"You can understand it as a key city with important status and functions, but this status and functions are mostly granted through administrative means."
In the past, Dire Dawa was a special administrative city of Ethiopia, which was related to Ethiopia’s national conditions.
Because Ethiopia is a rather landlocked country, Eritrea lost its entire coastline after separating from it. Moreover, due to the instigation of the colonists and historical reasons, the relationship between Eritrea and Ethiopia is extremely hostile.
Therefore, Ethiopia's foreign trade is extremely dependent on the port of Djibouti, and the connection between Djibouti and Ethiopia can only rely on railways. Dire Dawa is the node of this railway, so the importance of Dire Dawa to Ethiopia is self-evident. If it is destroyed, it will inevitably have serious consequences for Ethiopia's import and export trade, or even stop it. Therefore, it is easy to understand why Ethiopia established Dire Dawa as a special administrative city.
The city of Dire Dava can be understood as Trieste in the former Austro-Hungarian Empire. It is almost the only maritime gateway in the country, although the city of Dire Dava is not by the sea.
Of course, the special administrative cities in East Africa do not have such a high status. Dire Dawa Special Administrative City is just Ernst's bad taste, in order to make it have the same name as the Dire Dawa Special Administrative City in Ethiopia in his previous life.
East Africa's import and export trade mainly relies on the eastern coastal areas. Even if the eastern coastal areas are not feasible, there are still the Atlantic coastal areas in the west of East Africa that can go out to the sea. The importance of land import and export trade in the Nile Province and the Southern Frontier Province is far greater than that of Dire Dawa City. Therefore, East Africa will not pay too much attention to the economy of Dire Dawa City.
If the city of Dire Dawa wants to make a comeback, it must rely on the economy along the Red Sea coast to prosper, but this is obviously unlikely. The Sahara Desert alone is a major obstacle to local economic development.
Of course, it is possible for the Ethiopian Plateau to develop. Even if it doesn't develop very well and reaches the level of an average country, it will definitely help boost the economic development of Dire Dawa City. After all, the Abyssinian Empire is large enough.
In the past, Ethiopia's population exceeded 100 million, which was considered a populous country in the world. Even at this time, the population of the Abyssinian Empire was around 10 million, much larger than many countries. After all, the population of the Ottoman Empire was only around 20 million.
Although the current population of East Africa has surpassed that of the Abyssinian Empire, the population density of the two countries is far greater than that of East Africa.
So this also proves that the Ethiopian Plateau is indeed a good place. East Africa and Italy have each taken a big bite from it, while the core areas of Ethiopia can still support its huge population.
(End of this chapter)
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