Chapter 449 Ambition
The most important function of this administrative division reform is to rely on the central railway to make a reasonable industrial layout in the inland areas, so Zambia, the southern Congo Plateau (Katanga Plateau), and Zimbabwe are divided into three provinces.
The main industry in Swabia is copper mining. In addition to copper mines, there are also cobalt mines, tin mines, uranium mines, and gold mining areas are distributed in Hesse. Its population is mainly distributed in the tropical grassland area in the south and the tropical rainforest in the north.
The actual area of Swabia Province in East Africa has become smaller than that of Katanga Province in Congo in the past, but mineral resources still account for more than 60% of Congo.
In the past, the resources of Katanga Province in Congo, such as cobalt and uranium, were actually controlled by Americans. Katanga Province's cobalt resources accounted for 70% of the world's total, uranium (uranium 238) accounted for 60% of the world's total, tin accounted for 10% of the world's total, and copper accounted for about 8%. (The data of various institutions are not consistent, so you can use it as a reference)
This resource endowment led to constant conflicts in the Katanga region in the past. Britain, the United States, Belgium, and Russia all supported local forces, and even Rwanda got involved.
The resource endowment of the Hohenzollern Province is not bad. It is located in the middle position, with convenient north-south transportation, and can undertake resource exchanges between the two provinces of Swabia in the north and south and Matabele Province.
Matabele Province, which is Zimbabwe's resource, is most famous for the Great Wall of Zimbabwe, which runs north-south across the central region of Zimbabwe and basically coincides with the Central Railway.
This is the main reason why the Central Railway was built from Harare to Bulawayo instead of taking shortcuts, and also because the British's previous route of taking the King Falls (Victoria Falls) was abandoned, and a cross-river bridge was built on the east bank of the Kariba Reservoir instead.
On this point, Ernst made full use of his past life experience. For example, the Kariba Reservoir is one of the largest artificial lakes in the world. The normal water level of the Kariba Hydropower Station on the north bank of Zambia is 487.79m, the dead water level is 475.5m, the maximum storage capacity is 185 billion cubic meters, and the regulating storage capacity below the normal water level is 60.85 billion cubic meters, which is shared by Zambia and Zimbabwe. For reference, the total storage capacity of the Three Gorges Reservoir, the largest in the Far East, is only 39.3 billion cubic meters.
Ernst wants to replicate the Kariba Dam, a mega project, in East Africa, but East Africa currently does not have the capacity or conditions to do so.
Therefore, the Kariba Dam remained on Ernst's plan and would be built when conditions were ripe in the future.
In the past, the Kariba Reservoir was more than 200 kilometers long from east to west, so the Central Railway as a whole shifted more than 200 kilometers to the east, which made the Central Railway from Lusaka to Harare and then to Bulawayo become a large triangle as a whole.
However, because of Pretoria, the Central Railway is generally relatively straight and can take care of the (large) cities along the line, so the utilization rate is still relatively high.
Once the Central Railway is completed, East Africa will be able to activate its inland economy in one fell swoop and develop the new Hamburg Port in the south.
Ernst planned to postpone the development of the former Transvaal Republic, but there was no need to do so in the former Zulu Kingdom (Southern Frontier Province). The Zulu Kingdom was mainly based on coal and had the convenience of a port.
Therefore, developing the coal resources in the Drakensberg Mountains is an important project. After development, the coal here can be directly transported to East Africa by sea to support the industrial development of the eastern coastal areas of East Africa. Coastal cities such as Dar es Salaam, Bagamoyo, Tanga, Mombasa, Mtwara and others will directly benefit from this.
After all, the resource that Britain lacks the least is coal. There are enough coal resources in the mainland, and together with the colonies, it can be said that coal is the cheapest mineral for the British. If they are greedy for even the coal resources in the Southern Frontier Province (the former Zulu Kingdom), Ernst is willing to teach them a lesson.
As the economic crisis continues, the countdown to the division of the whole world has begun. In fact, Italy and Belgium have already taken action.
The Italians have currently consolidated their control over the southeastern part of the Abyssinian Empire, and under the influence of the economic crisis, the Kingdom of Italy has bet its national destiny on the Abyssinian Empire.
Leopold II of Belgium also used his expertise from his previous life and through various means deceived the Congolese natives west of the Ubangi River and obtained local sovereignty.
One important reason why these two countries have taken action while other major powers have not taken any action is that they have not yet felt the pressure from their competitors.
The existence of the East African Kingdom alleviated the economic crisis in the German region to a great extent. Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire generally improved during the economic crisis, while the United States, which suffered the most serious crisis, suffered a more serious crisis than in history.
Because most German factories maintain basic operations, and due to the competition from the Hechingen Consortium against the United States (mainly in the power industry), it is difficult for American steel, electricity and other products to be sold in Europe. At the same time, American agricultural products have also suffered more severe competition than in the past, especially crops such as food and tobacco. On the contrary, tobacco sales have skyrocketed due to high unemployment and uncertain future in the country.
However, this crisis in the United States is not as serious as imagined, because East Africa absorbs part of the unemployed population in the United States.
The East African Immigration Agency recruited a large number of unemployed German workers and farmers in the German communities in the United States, and even advertised through newspapers in the German communities. Many German workers went to East Africa on East African slave ships.
As for why there are still German farmers in the German communities in the city, this is also the fault of the East African kingdom. Under the agricultural crisis, plantations in the southern United States cut costs and reduced expenses in order to cope with the economic crisis, so a large number of extremely cheap blacks replaced the white farm workers originally employed by the plantations.
Black workers do not need any wages at all because their contracts are directly linked to the Haitian government as "migrant workers," or dispatched workers.
In theory, their wages were issued by the Haitian government. The American plantation owners had no obligation or responsibility to pay these "workers". They only needed to ensure their three meals a day.
The thing that plantation owners lack the least is food. Now there are mountains of food piled up in the warehouses that cannot be sold. It would be a good idea to use the food to feed obedient "slaves".
Moreover, these slaves are completely legal, and the federal government and the courts cannot find any fault with them. It is also easy to deal with when these slaves become old or disabled, because the United States liberated black slaves and there are still many black people in society. When they are no longer needed, they can be directly released into society.
A large number of new black slaves poured into the southern plantations, and the lives of the lower-class white people naturally became more difficult, which also affected the white farmers and workers.
The large German population in the United States, the main source of workers in the United States and the main force of unemployment, was absorbed by East Africa.
In the first three months of 1874 alone, more than 200,000 German Americans traveled to East Africa, surpassing Germany and Austria to become the largest source country of German immigrants in East Africa.
With Europe and the United States so competitive, the Far East market has attracted much attention from countries around the world. The Far East has greatly absorbed the overcapacity caused by the economic crisis.
Compared with the relatively restrained Europe and the United States, Japan directly chose to take action against Danwan Island in the Far East. As a result, due to the intervention of the higher-level government of Danwan Island (Fujian) which learned the news in advance, Japan suffered a bloody nose.
The consulate guard company of the East African Kingdom in the Zhuhai Trade Zone reaped an unexpected fortune, but also suffered heavy casualties. German mercenaries are famous all over the world. In other words, Ernst's ancestors also did mercenary business, which is not uncommon in Europe.
As a pioneer in the colonization and development of Africa, Ernst was not prepared to remain indifferent in this craze of dividing the world. In addition to consolidating the achievements made in Africa, East Africa also planned to go further in Africa. At the same time, after the navy of East Africa had taken shape, Ernst's long-cherished Indian Ocean could also begin to take action. And not only in the Indian Ocean, Ernst was also ready to test the Pacific Ocean to see if he could fish in troubled waters.
(End of this chapter)
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