Chapter 845 Northern Mozambique
"These conditions are good, but most of the areas you provide are undeveloped areas. For example, Bella looks like a completely new city according to the map. I'm afraid there are not even many people here now?" Rudolph asked, pointing to the words "under planning" written in front of Bella on the map.
Ernst explained: "At present, our population in Beira has reached more than 7,000 people, and there is a railway that goes directly inland to the port of Beira. Investing in building a factory here will definitely have a good future. In addition, we in East Africa are not short of population in the strict sense, especially since compulsory education in East Africa is relatively mature."
"Besides, you don't understand the national conditions of East Africa. Have you seen this area? In fact, this is the most industrially developed place in East Africa. After the connection between Beira and the middle provinces is completed, the Port of Beira will develop by leaps and bounds just like the Port of Trieste that you developed back then."
The area that Ernst refers to is Matabele Province, the largest industrial province in East Africa. Obviously, if Beira can take over the important task of being the seaport of Matabele Province, its status in the future will not be lower than that of Dar es Salaam.
Because this is the fastest natural access to the sea in Matabele Province, and it can radiate to the southern part of Lake Malawi, the Hohenzollern Province and other central regions.
Ernst's words made Rudolf a little surprised: "Isn't the most developed area in East Africa the eastern coast?"
After all, according to what Rudolf saw and heard when he came to East Africa, the development of Mombasa and Dar es Salaam was no less than any city in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Bagamoyo and Tanga were also good, and the first town was also very modern. So at first glance, he never thought that the interior of East Africa would be more developed than the east.
Ernst nodded and said, "We have more than 20 provinces in East Africa. If we look at the number, the eastern part of East Africa is indeed the country's economic core area. However, if we compare the provinces alone, the industrial scale of Matabele Province in the central part is already the largest in the country, and other provinces in the central part have also developed well due to resource issues. So don't underestimate the potential of the inland of East Africa."
Rudolph frowned and said, "Why don't you open up the inland market, but only develop the coastal areas?"
"Nonsense, we in East Africa are fully capable of developing the central and eastern parts on our own. Otherwise, why should we cooperate with Germany and Austria in the coastal areas?" Ernst asked in return.
Moreover, even if East Africa relaxes its inland restrictions, Germany and Austria will not be able to sincerely help East Africa develop. After all, they are not the suckers like the Soviet Union, and East Africa's current international status makes it impossible for them to recognize the two countries as its big brothers.
Therefore, East Africa fully supports the two countries' investment in coastal areas, while the inland areas will be borne by the East African government itself, especially some of East Africa's heavy industrial sectors and defense industries must be placed inland.
As for the coastal areas, Angola on the western coast can cooperate with Germany, and Mozambique on the eastern coast will naturally cooperate with the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In this way, East Africa can reduce a lot of pressure.
Of course, Germany and Austria are not charity organizations, and companies in both countries also need to make money, so their investments in East Africa must be profitable. East Africa has no objection to this point, as long as they do not owe salaries to their citizens, it is completely within East Africa's affordability.
Moreover, it is impossible for Germany and Austria to invest too much in East Africa. It is not that they cannot build factories in their own countries. In fact, the financial industries of the two countries are not very developed, and the amount they can invest is also very limited.
If we really talk about capital, Britain and France are definitely the strongest. Britain is the overlord of the financial industry, and France is also known as the usury empire.
Therefore, the cooperation was real cooperation, rather than support from Germany and Austria to East Africa. With the support of state-owned monopoly enterprises and resource bases, in terms of economic size alone, East Africa itself was actually not much worse than the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Rudolf also had some insights into what Ernst said, that is, this cooperation itself is equal. In fact, it is to build a platform among the three countries to promote mutual development and complementary advantages among the enterprises of the three countries.
Finally, Rudolf signed an agreement with East Africa on behalf of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. After all, East Africa had great potential. At least in the early stages, there was no need to worry about losing all the investment. Moreover, as a tropical country, East Africa itself had special resources that Austria lacked.
…
February 1892
Pemba Port.
Pemba is an important port in northeastern Mozambique. Construction here started relatively early in East Africa. Of course, it is also the most economically developed region in northern Mozambique.
Because the Port of Pemba is a natural harbor, hidden and easy to access, its terrain is similar to that of the Port of New Hamburgo, both are pocket-shaped, but Pemba's area is larger, the harbor is eight kilometers wide and fourteen kilometers long, the port entrance is 2.5 kilometers wide and the narrowest point is 1.8 kilometers.
Moreover, the port of Pemba is close to the New Württemberg Province in East Africa (southern Tanzania), so it is easy to get support from East Africa.
East Africa's development of North Mozambique is mainly concentrated on the coast, namely the three coastal ports or islands of Pemba, Nacala and Mozambique Island.
Among them, Pemba and Mozambique Island are mainly responsible for the foreign economic port functions of northern Mozambique, while the Port of Nacala is a military port that the East African Navy focuses on building.
In fact, this is easy to understand. Mozambique Island was developed early. As early as 1498, the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama landed there. Even earlier, from the 10th century to the late 15th century, the island and its natural port were used as a maritime trade center by Arab merchants. When East Africa took over, Mozambique Island was already quite developed and densely populated.
The island played an important role in Portugal's efforts to take over trade with India and the East Indies, which is probably an important reason for the name of the colony of Mozambique.
It’s just that the importance of Mozambique Island has gradually been replaced by Maputo in the south, but a lean camel is still bigger than a horse. Before East Africa took over, Mozambique Island was still a relatively economically developed area in Mozambique.
Historically, the Portuguese built the Port of Pemba in 1904. So before East Africa captured Pemba, it was just a natural harbor that had never been developed. The Port of Nacala was similar to the Port of Pemba. The Portuguese did not have time to develop the area before it fell into the hands of East Africa.
Of course, according to the history of Mozambique in the past, even if the Portuguese had the ability to develop these two ports, it would probably take until after the 20th century.
"Nacala is one of the strategic ports that the navy focuses on developing. It is one of the best naval bases in my country. Although Bagamoyo and Pemba Island have good conditions, their populations and economies are also relatively developed. Nacala's location means that it will not be very important in the national economy of East Africa."
"Moreover, to the northeast of Nacala are the Comoros Islands and to the east is Madagascar Island. The three are mutually supportive and mutually beneficial, which is of great significance for our country to control the Mozambique Channel."
“The civilian ports in the northern Mozambique region are mainly the ports of Pemba in the north of Nacala and Mozambique Island in the south.”
Of course, this is the main situation of the ports in Northern Mozambique at present. In fact, there are still many natural bays in Northern Mozambique that have not been developed. This is a place with more tortuous coastline in East Africa, and it is located in the center of the western Mozambique Channel, so the location is very important.
From the perspective of the previous life, the three main ports of Mozambique were Maputo, Beira and Nacala, but the layout of East Africa is obviously different. Nacala has become a military port, and Mozambique Island, a little-known place in Mozambique in the previous life, has also received attention from East Africa.
In fact, the decline of Mozambique Island was mainly caused by natural disasters and man-made disasters. The political turmoil in Mozambique caused the outflow of population from Mozambique Island, and the status of Mozambique Island, which lost its industry and population, plummeted.
When East Africa takes over the area, Mozambique Island will naturally no longer be able to withstand repeated wars. The only pity is that Mozambique Island is not connected to the mainland. However, this is not a big problem for East Africa. In the past, Mozambique built a several-kilometer road bridge to connect here with the mainland, and East Africa will naturally be able to do so in the future.
The entire North Mozambique is not very noteworthy in the East African economy, but it has surpassed some northern and southern provinces. However, after the national map is completed, the position of North Mozambique will stand out.
This is the central location of the eastern coast of East Africa, so the development of coastal areas cannot bypass northern Mozambique. If it were not for reasons such as the terrain, such as the obstruction of Lake Malawi, the development of this region would not be inferior to any other coastal area in East Africa.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
