Chapter 318 Juba Town
March is the dry season in South Sudan, and the hot weather is baking the town of Juba (Juba, the capital of South Sudan in its previous life, is distinguished from Juba Province in Somalia). earth.
Juba Town is a small village on the west bank of the White Nile. It is also the most "prosperous" area in South Sudan. It was once a stronghold used by the Ottoman Empire for missionary work and slave hunting. Later, the Ottoman Empire Egypt, a rebellious boy, withdrew because of this, and slowly the local area became the residence of the indigenous people. The good life of the indigenous people had not lasted a few days, and then the East Africans came.
At this time, Andre, the mayor of Zhuba Town, was hiding in the shade of a tree, shaking his fan desperately, trying to cool himself down.
Andre said to Levins, the military commander of Zhuba Town: "This is not far from the North Great Lakes Province. I didn't expect the weather to be so hot, it will kill people!"
Levins: "Don't worry, there is still more than a month. The rainy season here will arrive, and it will be cool by then."
Although he said this, Levins knew in his heart that this was just a comfort. If so, the temperature in South Sudan will not improve much even during the rainy season.
The climate in South Sudan is simply great compared with that of North Sudan next door. Although it is close to the Sahara Desert, more than 95% of the land in South Sudan is humid and semi-humid. However, due to the lower altitude, it is much hotter than the East African Plateau, and much hotter than the East African coast. At the hottest time, the daytime temperature can often exceed 40 degrees, and it is sultry, in sharp contrast to the dry heat of the Sahara Desert. .
Levins continued: "Now that we are lying here, we have no work every day, that is, directing the black slaves to work. What else are you dissatisfied with? This is much better than when you were working in the North Great Lakes Province. An ordinary villager is much better."
Andre: "I fought for this mayor on my own. Besides, there is probably no mayor in East Africa who is worse off than me. In our town, If you eliminate the number 100 soldiers under your command, I’m afraid you won’t even be able to gather the number of people in a village in the east.”
Levins: "Haha, don't be dissatisfied. You may have seen an immigration team passing by here a few days ago. Their group only has more than forty people in total, which is even fewer than us here. If nothing else happens, If so, I will finally accept your leadership! "
The destination of the immigrants Levins mentioned is an area about 40 kilometers west of Zhuba Town. It is different from the Ottoman Empire legacy stronghold like Zhuba Town. It is simply an indigenous village, so There is a high probability that a village will be built.
Andre: "It's forty or fifty kilometers away, and it takes at least two or three days to deliver the message, so they should just ask for their own blessings."
While the two were chatting , the black natives had cleared another batch of vegetation at the gunpoint of the East African soldiers, which were basically trees and weeds chopped down with stone tools.
With this inefficient productivity, the development work of Zhuba Town has been completed very slowly. So far, it is still in the land consolidation stage, relying on more than 2,000 slaves captured from the local area, little by little. of clearing vegetation from the land and picking up stones from the fields.
Thanks to the day and night work of successive slaves, the scale of arable land in Zhuba Town is now more than six times larger than when East Africa first took over the land. The same indigenous people also changed several batches to achieve today's results.
The slaves put the stones aside, and the trees and weeds were cleaned and piled together. Then after two or three days of exposure to the sun, the East Africans lit a fire again. After the thick smoke, a large amount of The East African immigrants then scattered the plant ash into the fields.
While the indigenous people are developing the land, they can also drive away the animals living here, especially snakes, in advance to clear obstacles for the subsequent agricultural production of East African immigrants and ensure the safety of East Africans.
South Sudan’s land reclamation reveals a strong primitive style and is a true “slash-and-burn cultivation”. Because there are not enough iron tools, South Sudan’s land reclamation can only rely on slaves, and local slaves are almost Infinitely, every once in a while, the East African Army will go out for a period of time and follow the Nile River to capture a group of new slaves to replenish losses. Only immigrants from East Africa can work with iron tools. The supply of iron tools currently gives priority to the Zambia and Zimbabwe regions in southern East Africa, so the Neggos in South Sudan have to suffer first.
Andre: "We have to open up another 700 acres of land before the rainy season comes, otherwise it will be difficult when the rain comes. So in the next month, we still have to work overtime to complete the project."
< br>While Andre was planning the next work tasks in Zhuba Town, a black man who had been working for five hours under the scorching sun of more than 30 degrees suddenly lost his eyesight and fell to the field.
The East African soldiers stepped forward to check and found that he was still breathing. He probably had heat stroke, and then dragged him to a puddle on the side to cool him down. The East African soldiers were not surprised by such a scene.
Abundant rainfall and water from the Great Lake (Lake Victoria) have created large swamps and forests in the upper reaches of the White Nile.
Obviously, South Sudan’s climate and abundant water sources are most suitable for rice cultivation and meet all the conditions for rice cultivation.
Of course, the prerequisite is to develop the land, and this step is also the most difficult. If South Sudan was placed in East Asia, it might have been developed long ago.
But this is Africa. For thousands of years, the local indigenous people have not developed farming civilization. Instead, it was Sudan and Egypt in the Sahara Desert next door, and the Abyssinians on the plateau who pointed out farming. technology tree.
The agricultural conditions in South Sudan are obviously the best in these places, but the local people are only nomadic, wasting water, heat and land resources.
Especially in the previous life, fruits and vegetables from South Sudan had to be imported. This was simply a shame for African countries. Even if the cultivation efficiency of food crops was not good, fruits and vegetables had to be imported. It was simply appalling.
Nowadays, there are all kinds of wild fruits growing in the forests of South Sudan, and we can’t eat them all. Instead, they need to be imported in the 21st century.
The inefficient agricultural development model was destined to fail to develop in South Sudan in the previous life. In other words, the indifference to work and the love for leisure made South Sudan waste its treasures. Various armed groups fought for the oil fields, and then they could just sit back and collect money from foreigners. .
However, this money was directly consumed to purchase food, weapons and luxury goods. South Sudan’s water, electricity, infrastructure, and roads have not progressed at all. South Sudan, an oil-producing country, is a mess among poor African countries. South Sudan is not only rich in oil, it is also rich in other resources.
To be honest, when South Sudan did not break away from Sudan, it complained every day. It was said that the oppression of the Arabs in the north caused South Sudan to fail to develop. As a result, after independence, it was busy fighting almost every day. Compared with the Sudan next door, Everything is in chaos, and the living standards of ordinary people are not as good as before independence.
The only country in Africa that can compare with South Sudan is Somalia, where warlords are fighting. Now it is basically certain that these two countries, which were judged as failed countries by the international community in their previous lives, will no longer exist. They can also be regarded as East Africa’s achievements. A good thing.
(End of this chapter)