Chapter 660 Trade and Industry
The trade between Abyssinia and East Africa had become the sixth major trading country in East Africa throughout 1882, only after Oman, so East Africa attached great importance to the Abyssinian Empire.
Currently, the five countries that traded with East Africa before the Abyssinian Empire were the Far Eastern Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Germany, Tsarist Russia, and Oman.
Oman is so conspicuous mainly because of the existence of Zanzibar merchants as transit traders. Many East African goods sold to the Arab region are distributed in Oman, radiating to the Middle East, Central Asia, and even parts of Southeast Asia.
The trade between the Abyssinian Empire and East Africa also made the border trade of the entire Turkana Province surpass that of the Southern Frontier Province, and it is currently only behind the Central Province and the Eastern Province.
The seaport of Southern Frontier Province is the Port of New Hamburg, the Central Province has three trading ports: Dar es Salaam, Bagamoyo and Tanga, and the Eastern Province also has the city of Mombasa.
Therefore, the foreign trade volume of the Central Province and the Eastern Province is difficult to be surpassed by other provinces, especially the Central Province which has three major trade ports.
The economic hinterland behind the New Hamburg Port City in the Southern Frontier Province includes: Southern Frontier Province (Zulu Kingdom), Hechingen Province (Transvaal Republic), Lorraine Province (Kalahari Basin), New Baden Province (Bechuanaland), and part of Matabele Province.
So it was indeed a remarkable achievement for Turkana Province to surpass the New Hamburg Port City in the Southern Frontier Province simply by virtue of its trade with the Abyssinian Empire.
The only pity is that there is more than one trading location between Turkana Province and the Abyssinian Empire, that is, border trading city, unlike the unique Port of New Hamburg or Mombasa.
In fact, Dar es Salaam is larger than both, but the Central Province also has Bagamoyo and Tanga to share the burden. However, Bagamoyo and Tanga are very small compared to Dar es Salaam.
After all, Dar es Salaam's influence extends beyond the Central Province. The foreign trade of more than a dozen provinces requires Dar es Salaam to circulate. Mombasa monopolizes the foreign trade of the northern industrial belt, northern pastures, the Great Lakes region and the northwest region.
The cities of Dar es Salaam, Mombasa and New Hamburg all have vast economic hinterlands and railway transportation, so their development is naturally not slow.
In such a comparison, Turkana Province is neither on the coast nor has railways to support economic development. Its population and industries are not advantageous. However, it has developed into the third largest province in East Africa's foreign trade, surpassing the South Frontier Province. This is enough to show the efforts of Turkana Province.
Of course, the role of Egypt in the Abyssinian Empire and Italy’s colonies along the Red Sea coast cannot be ignored, especially the Abyssinian Empire’s economic contribution to Turkana Province exceeding 40 percent.
In addition to the surprising trade in Turkana Province, the import and export trade between East Africa and the Far East Empire is also a highlight, which is that it surpassed Germany and Austria to become East Africa's largest trading partner.
The Far Eastern Empire became the largest trading country in East Africa in 1881. Before that, the largest trading country in East Africa was the Austro-Hungarian Empire for a long time, and Germany from 1874 to 1878.
From 1874 to 1878, the economic crisis was at its worst. At that time, steel trade between East Africa and Germany alone reached its peak. After the economic crisis, the Austro-Hungarian Empire returned to the top, but was officially surpassed by the Far Eastern Empire only two years later.
This is understandable. The Far Eastern Empire's economy is huge, and the northern market alone is enough for East Africa to absorb. Of course, another important reason is the southern market, which East Africa cannot squeeze into.
Moreover, the prerequisite for East Africa to obtain the northern market of the Far Eastern Empire is to cooperate with the two major business groups in the north of the Far Eastern Empire through means such as trade exchanges. The British do not have the freedom to trade in the Far Eastern Empire.
East Africa imports goods from the Far Eastern Empire every year, mainly agricultural products, handicrafts, and textiles, while the Far Eastern Empire imports food, industrial products, electrical appliances, tropical specialties, etc. from East Africa.
Industrial products in East Africa can only go the price route, but the materials used are solid, the production is relatively standardized, and the cost-effectiveness is still relatively high, but the profits are not ideal.
The category of electrical appliances is one of the few flagship products in East Africa and is East Africa's advantageous export commodity, so it is divided into a separate sector.
This is not only reflected in foreign trade, but also in the development of East Africa's power industry, which can be seen from the popularity of electricity in various countries. The popularity of electricity in East Africa is second only to Germany and the United States, but the growth rate in East Africa is higher than the other two places.
One important point is that East Africa is large in size. The combined area of Germany and Austria is only over one million square kilometers, so the upper limit cannot be compared with East Africa and the United States.
However, the United States also has its own problems. There are many power companies and the degree of standardization is not as good as that in East Africa. The standards among various power companies are relatively chaotic and incompatible with each other, which is not conducive to the unification and promotion of the power market.
Of course, there are also advantages, that is, it is easy to form competition, and in the field of innovation, it is second only to Germany.
The current power industry in East Africa lacks innovation, but the government's unified procurement standards have standardized the East African power market and promoted compatibility of power industry standards across the country, which is conducive to the popularization and promotion of the power industry, making East Africa one of the fastest-growing power industries in the world.
As for innovation and competition, they are mainly completed in Germany. The Hechingen Electric Power Company has layouts in East Africa and Germany at the same time, so as not to make the East African power industry stand on one leg.
Moreover, after the economic crisis in 1873, monopoly organizations emerged in various countries, and this was also true in the electricity industry. Therefore, the previous disadvantages of East Africa's electricity industry turned into advantages, allowing it to compete with power giants in European and American countries and ensure the advantages of East Africa's electricity industry.
Moreover, East Africa has the world's first electricity university, and this year Germany's Darmstadt University of Technology introduced Europe's first electrical engineering program, so East Africa's layout of the power industry is far ahead of European and American countries.
Before 1880, the key industries promoted in East Africa were steel and railways. After 1880, the key industries were electricity and automobiles. In the future, East Africa will not lag behind other parts of the world in these two areas, and at the same time, it will be able to ensure the future economic momentum of East Africa.
Of course, the steel and railway industries are still in their rising stage in East Africa and will grow in the long term. The two industries provide a foundation for the development of the electricity and automobile industries in East Africa and drive the development of upstream and downstream industrial chains.
For example, the copper mines and rubber needed for the electric power industry both require railways to be developed from the inland, and railway construction is based on the boom in the steel industry.
In 1882, India was the seventh largest trading country in East Africa, with imports being the main source of mineral resources such as coal and iron, as well as unique resources such as jute. The industrial development of East Africa and the development of the steel industry in the eastern coastal areas were important factors in promoting trade between East Africa and India.
The East India Trade broke the British economic blockade of East Africa, successfully allowing East Africa to reintegrate into the economic system of the British Empire and promote the industrial development of East Africa.
(End of this chapter)
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