Chapter 840
Upington.
Upington is the second largest city in New Baden Province in southwestern East Africa. It is located on the north bank of the Orange River and is the capital of the former Grigualan Republic.
In June of this year, the people of Upington received good news. According to rumors, a railway would be built in Upington.
"We are going to build a railway. Is the news accurate?"
In Upington, truckloads of construction materials were continuously shipped in from the east. Thanks to the British who built the Kimberley Railway, many raw materials for railway construction could be transported from nearby Kimberley.
“Of course, the railway runs from Bulawayo, through Gaborone and Kathu, and ends in Upington.”
It is no wonder that the people of Upington are so interested in railways. As a small frontier town in East Africa, transportation here is really inconvenient.
Upington itself is located on the southern border and is far away from the political and economic center of East Africa. The construction of this railway will greatly enhance Upington's transportation capacity.
The Upington Railway mainly passes through the eastern part of New Baden Province, basically parallel to the Orange River, because the southeastern region of New Baden Province is the area with the best natural conditions and the richest mineral resources in the entire New Baden Province.
The main purpose of the construction of the Bu-A railway, in addition to national defense needs, is to transport mineral resources out of the New Baden Province.
Most of this railway passes through New Baden Province, with a small part in Matabele Province, and then connects to the central railway line in Bulawayo. It runs from northeast to southwest and is an important project for the development of the Kalahari region in East Africa.
The Kalahari region, which is the area centered on the Kalahari Basin, is a separate geographical unit in East Africa.
Of course, the Kalahari region in East Africa is strictly speaking also considered the Southwest Africa region, but the southeastern Kalahari region and the Okavango Delta still have development value, while the natural conditions in Southwest Africa are really too poor.
The New Baden Province in East Africa is the northern part of the Orange River in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa in the previous life and the southeastern part of Botswana. It can be said that the New Baden Province occupies the essence of the Northern Cape Province of South Africa and the Republic of Botswana in the previous life.
In the past, the Northern Cape Province occupied an important position in South Africa's mineral resources, producing more than 30% of the country's diamonds, more than 70% of silver, more than 80% of iron ore, 90% of aluminum, almost all of the copper, and a large amount of manganese resources.
Of course, the copper mines in the North Cape are mainly concentrated in the western coastal areas, with only a small amount distributed in the New Baden Province of East Africa. However, East Africa is not a country that lacks copper. There are copper mines in many provinces of East Africa, and the copper reserves in the central region are world-class. The copper reserves in Matabele Province (Zimbabwe), Hohenzollern Province (Zambia), Hesse Province, and Swabia Province (eastern and southern Congo) are all very considerable.
Moreover, this "small" distribution is only compared with the Northern Cape area of the Cape Colony, and the number is still considerable.
Except for the relatively large copper mines and diamonds in the British Cape Colony, the main mineral resources are distributed in East Africa.
In particular, New Baden Province has rich iron ore resources, which are essential for the industrial development of Matabele Province.
The New Baden Province itself is obviously not suitable for industrial development. In addition to being located in the border area, the local natural environment is relatively dry. It is located in the south of the Kalahari Desert, and the local economy is mainly based on sheep herding and grape planting.
The lack of water resources is fatal to the industrial development of the New Baden Province, and the local environmental carrying capacity is extremely poor, which is likely to cause the expansion of the Kalahari Desert or land salinization.
In this regard, the situation in the Orange region in the east is much better than that in the New Baden Province. The annual precipitation can be maintained at at least 500 to 600 mm, and in the east it can reach more than 900 mm. The Kimberley in the west can also maintain at around 400 mm.
The precipitation in New Baden Province can only be maintained at around 300 mm. If it is slightly lower, it will be no different from a desert area.
Therefore, Upington has become the city with the longest sunshine hours in East Africa, and the quality of local wine is also among the best in the country.
There are two major high-quality Portuguese wine-growing areas in East Africa. One is in the north, close to North Africa, and the other is the South African plateau, especially the Upington region. The quality is comparable to other top grape-growing regions in the world, and it is also an important wine producing area in East Africa.
It is worth mentioning that the capital of the New Baden Province is Gaborone, the former capital of Botswana, and the capital of the Northern Cape Province of South Africa in the past was Kimberley, but now Kimberley is only an important city in the Orange region.
So both Gaborone and Kimberley suffered a lot, one lost the opportunity to become the capital, and the other lost the opportunity to become the provincial capital.
However, Upington was not affected at all. Instead, it was favored by East Africa because of the importance of its geographical location.
Upington is the most habitable area in the western section of the Orange River. Further west is South-West Africa and the western part of the Cape Colony, where the climatic conditions are even more severe and not suitable for human habitation. If the Orange River had not passed through and a small amount of irrigation agriculture could have been developed along the river banks, it is estimated that no humans would have existed.
Orangemund in East Africa is located at the mouth of the Orange River, and although it is close to the sea, Orangemund is actually completely surrounded by the desert. This can be considered as "sighing with regret", as the Atlantic Ocean does not provide any rain for Orangemund.
To the east and north of Oranjemund is a vast desert covering an area of hundreds of thousands of square kilometers, with almost no human habitation. The nearest city to Oranjemund is Upington, which is more than 470 kilometers away in a straight line.
Although Upington is the closest to Oranjemund, transportation between the two places relies entirely on walking or camels. It is more convenient to travel from Walvis Bay to Oranjemund by sea.
This was also the main reason why the British did not attack Southwest Africa during the South African War. It was all desert, and with too many people, the logistics would probably drag them down, and they would not pose any threat to East Africa.
Of course, another important reason is that it is very difficult for the British to reach the northwest of Cape Town on their own. They have to pass through deserts, Gobi and mountains. To bypass these areas, they have to cross the Orange River, and they may encounter East African border guards on the north bank of the Orange River.
This is when the strategic value of Upington was reflected. By capturing Upington, the colony could attack the interior of East Africa in the northeast direction. Unfortunately, the population of the Cape Colony was too small, and East Africa had heavy troops stationed in the New Baden Province, so this military feat could not be accomplished.
The construction of the Buenos Aires-Afghanistan Railway is to prevent the British from having another conflict with East Africa in the future to seize Upington, or it can serve as a military frontier in East Africa to continuously export troops and supplies from the rear to the front line through the Buenos Aires-Afghanistan Railway.
Of course, there are many economic considerations for the Bu-A Railway, especially the rich mineral resources in the east, including iron, manganese, diamonds, copper, aluminum, etc.
Of course, another important reason for building the Bu-Afghan Railway is that the Orange River has poor navigability. The Orange River runs deep into southern East Africa, but its estuary is in the Atlantic Ocean. Moreover, the terrain is undulating, resulting in a large drop in the river, similar to most rivers in East Africa. For example, near Upington there is the fifth largest waterfall in the world in the past life - Augrabies Falls.
East Africa has many waterfalls that rank among the best in the world, but these waterfalls also cut off several major rivers in East Africa.
Victoria Falls, also known as the King's Falls in East Africa, cuts off the Zambezi River. Of course, even without the King's Falls, the Zambezi River would not be navigable. The King's Falls is only the largest one on the Zambezi River.
The Kisangani Falls in the upper reaches of the Congo River and the Lee (Livingstone) Falls in the lower reaches were both relatively well-known in the past, as well as the Tugela River Falls, Owen Falls and so on.
Ernst is numb to this point, so it is understandable that East Africa vigorously develops railway transportation. From that perspective, East Africa has the strongest dependence on railways.
(End of this chapter)
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