Chapter 290 Long Staple Cotton
This time the entire Nairobi city plans to immigrate to a population of 80,000. Adding in the previous population of 20,000, it will almost exceed 100,000. It is expected to become the first population in East Africa to exceed 100,000. Big city.
The planned industry to support such a large population in Nairobi is the textile industry. In the agricultural areas around Nairobi, the main cash crop grown is cotton.
At the same time, in order to broaden product categories, East Africa plans to introduce Egyptian cotton for planting in the upper reaches of the rivers in Somalia. Egyptian cotton, also known as Egyptian long-staple cotton, has long been famous in the world and is known as "white gold".
Egyptian cotton is native to the South Asian subcontinent and likes high temperatures and rainy weather. Tropical grasslands, temperate zones and tropical monsoon areas are most suitable for its growth. With the development of irrigation technology around the world, cotton is increasingly concentrated in arid areas with irrigation conditions.
But the product with the best quality is the Egyptian long-staple cotton improved by the Egyptians. The East African Kingdom plans to directly introduce Egyptian varieties of long-staple cotton for cultivation.
In the Nile Delta and along the Nile River in Egypt, the existence of the Nile River ensures that cotton cultivation will not be short of water. The soil moisture content is consistent, the humidity is constant at about 60%, the temperature is constant high heat, and the sun is shining The amount of water and rainfall are very suitable for the growth of cotton. It is a perfect natural cotton irrigation system, a typical example of God’s blessing.
When looking for similar environments around the world, Somalia is unparalleled. Although it is not blessed by the longest river in the world, the Shabelle River and the Juba River are both African rivers.
The Shabelle River, in particular, is most similar to the Nile River in terms of natural conditions. They both flow from the savannah climate area to the tropical desert, forming an irrigation area downstream.
Egypt is currently the world's largest producer of long-staple cotton. During Ali's era, Ali vigorously built water conservancy projects, dredged old canals, dug 20 new canals, built nearly 30 dams, promoted improved waterwheels, and put them on trial basis. Steam irrigation and drainage machines introduced new crops and varieties. The famous Egyptian long-staple cotton was promoted during this period. Cotton export volume increased from 944 bales in 1821 to more than 250,000 bales in 1849. Cotton cultivation provided convenience for the development of Egypt's cotton textile industry, and the development of the textile industry provided the Ali government with a large amount of funds to open more modern factories.
Of course, now Egypt's economic system has been completely destroyed by the British, especially the cotton textile industry. As the world's factory, Britain's most important thing is the textile industry, so the original cotton textile industries of its colonies in India and Egypt have been destroyed. Become a single source of cheap raw materials.
In other words, the Egyptians are now growing cotton for the British, and the textile industry established during the Ali era no longer exists.
In addition to its huge economic benefits, long-staple cotton cultivation in East Africa also relies on the Austro-Hungarian and German regional markets. They are not suitable for long-staple cotton cultivation, so East Africa has a natural advantage in this regard, and will not compete with There is a conflict in its local textile industry because its positioning is different. The characteristics of long-staple cotton destined it to focus on the high-end consumer market.
So Ernst’s plan is to build several new long-staple cotton planting bases in the Northern Province and Juba Province of Somalia.
After harvesting, the cotton is transported to Nairobi, processed and then exported to the Middle East and Europe.
The Venetian textile industry has a long history and was the most important textile center in medieval Europe, so there was no technical problem with workers migrating to Nairobi. At the same time, Nairobi is located near the northern livestock production area of East Africa. East Africa has plans to raise a large number of sheep on the grasslands of Kenya.
While promoting Nairobi to become the cotton textile center of East Africa, it will also become the wool textile industry center of East Africa. Even Ernst plans to introduce silk technology from the Far East and re-establish it in Kisumu City, Great Lakes District. Build a silk fabrics industry center, which together with Nairobi and Mombasa will form the center of light industry manufacturing in East Africa.
At present, due to the war in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Franz's plan to cooperate with the Hechingen royal family to develop the Kenyan region has not been carried out, so East Africa can only develop the Kenyan region alone first.
The Austro-Hungarian Empire also contributed to the development of Kenya. A large number of farmers in the Venetian area followed the immigration ships and landed at Mtwara Port, and then took boats upstream from the Rufuma River. After a journey on land, we arrived at Lake Malawi, then changed boats, then reached the west shore of Lake Malawi, and then poured into Zambia.
The Venetian citizens who were trapped in the city by the Austro-Hungarian Empire were imported to various cities in East Africa. Most of them were used to promote the development of East African handicraft industries, such as glass manufacturing, textile industry, iron manufacturing, etc.
Most of these Venetian citizens are workers, so they have certain skills and are divided among various cities in East Africa. Although their Italian cultural attributes are relatively deep, especially Nairobi, the city will inevitably enter the population after it reaches a certain stage of development. In the negative growth stage, the rural areas of East Africa will only have a single population of German culture by then, so the cities in the region are destined to be assimilated by Germany.
Through the Italian-Austrian War, the number of Italian immigrants in East Africa is expected to be close to that of Slavic immigrants this year. Except for a small number of Slavic immigrants from the Balkan Peninsula, most of them come from Tsarist Russia. The Slavic people in the Austro-Hungarian Empire are counted in East Africa. Classified as Germans, they are mainly Slovenian and Croatian people in the previous life. They are deeply influenced by German culture. Their life is not much different from that of Austria. Only the language and religion are different. East Africa has always promoted German communication. , and at the same time deliberately de-religious.
Nairobi currently has a German-speaking population of more than 20,000, so there is not much problem in assimilation. After the Far Eastern immigrants and Italian immigrants mix, they will definitely have problems in language communication. Italian and Far Eastern languages cannot communicate directly, and German automatically becomes a bridge for this communication.
In short, Nairobi, a small and inconspicuous city in East Africa, will become an important industrial city in East Africa after passing through the blood-sucking Venice.
Now Ernst only needs to wait until the day Austria captures Venice, and then smuggles Venetian machinery and equipment to East Africa, completing a bandit-like industrial transfer.
The staff of the Hechingen Consortium have already greeted the Austrian military. The Hechingen Bank helped cash in the "baubles" seized by the Austrian soldiers, and they were responsible for transporting these "gadgets" to the dock.
The price is not high. After all, these soldiers cannot take these mechanical equipment as trophies. East Africa only needs to pay the transportation fee.
As for the business owners and landowners in Venice, a large part of them have been sentenced to death by the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The vast majority are those who previously opposed Austrian rule and colluded with the Kingdom of Sardinia. They either fled abroad or were exiled. , its land and assets will be confiscated by the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and in addition to paying imperial soldiers, it will also be used to resettle a large number of Austrians.
(End of this chapter)