Chapter 436 Malicious Competition
When the Little Rhine River was being managed in East Africa, Vienna actually widened the Danube River. However, compared to East Africa's governance for the sake of governance, Vienna's reason was more special, that is, in order to The 1873 World Expo held in Vienna was therefore a political achievement project.
The World Expo started in May, but Ernst did not join in the fun. On the one hand, he had a lot of schedule, and on the other hand, the Vienna World Expo was too chaotic.
Although Ernst had not participated before, the World Expo serves as a showcase for world commodities, so the Hechingen Foundation actively participated in it.
The exhibits of the Hechingen Consortium are divided into three major categories: "European scientific and technological and industrial products, specialties of East Africa, and the Hechingen Consortium's participation in trade goods between the Far East and Europe."
Technology and industrial products are the products of various companies under the Hechingen Consortium, mainly focusing on three aspects: electricity, light industry, and medicine.
East African specialties are mainly concentrated in East Africa’s cash crops, which are high-quality industries in East Africa. Grain agriculture and dairy livestock agriculture are strong industries in Europe and the United States.
Therefore, under the influence of the economic crisis, East Africa's commodity grain exports to Europe have almost stagnated, and only continue to retain its advantages in areas that are not suitable for agricultural development, such as the Middle East and North Africa.
On the other hand, tropical cash crops are completely different. If we only discuss cash crops, the United States is not bad. However, after all, most of the United States belongs to the cold temperate zone, with some subtropical climates, and none in the tropics (it has not yet annexed Hawaii) ).
If it was possible, Ernst had certainly thought about Hawaii as a place, but he could only think about it. This place was not like Alaska, a land of ice and snow, and it was located in the center of the North Pacific in a strategic position. It is too prominent. Not to mention the United States, even Japan, Canada, the Far Eastern Empire, the United Kingdom, and Tsarist Russia cannot have their turn in East Africa.
East Africa can blockade Alaska and delay its development, but it cannot use the same trick on Hawaii. It is the foothold of passing ships and cannot be avoided. However, it’s okay to think about it sometimes, and you won’t lose a piece of meat.
In addition, East Africa's main competitor in tropical cash crops is the Caribbean islands. The main development area of the Caribbean islands is the sugar industry. For various reasons, Western colonists obviously paid more attention to the Caribbean coast than South America, such as Haiti and Cuba.
South America is less interesting. Ernst thinks it may be because the South American sovereign states are relatively poor, and the South American countries are also stronger after independence. Brazil and Argentina are both quite large in area and have a relatively small population. It's not easy to control either.
The Caribbean has the advantage of fertile land, abundant rainfall, and it is located on the transportation artery between North and South America, not far from Europe.
The advantages of the East African Kingdom compared to the Caribbean are that it is close to Europe, especially the two markets of Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia. At the same time, it has higher organizational capabilities and production efficiency, a larger land area, and the planting industry pays attention to planning and gives full play to own advantages.
At the same time, the geographical environment of East Africa is more diverse than that of the Caribbean. There are tropical rainforest climates, savannah climates, tropical desert climates, alpine plateau climates and other tropical climate types. The savanna climates are also very different within the savanna climate, which is divided into plateau climate types (East African Plateau). ), plain climate types (Coastal Plain of East Africa), rainy climate (Great Lakes Region), drier climate (South Africa), double rainy season climate, single rainy season climate, long rainy season climate, short rainy season climate.
So although East Africa is dominated by a savanna climate, the savanna areas in the East African Kingdom are subdivided from the temperature and precipitation levels, resulting in a wide variety of savanna areas, providing a richer space for the development of different crops.
At this Vienna World Expo, the main East African specialties launched by the Hechingen Consortium include sisal, cloves, Somali bananas, mosquito coils (pyrethrum), asparagus (a kind of fruit), and East African gum (gum arabic). , tea, coffee, East African rubber and other 237 tropical cash crops grown on a large scale.
At the same time, there are more than 40 animal specialties such as horn specimens of the East African bighorn cattle (Watusi longhorn cattle), lion skins, ivory, crocodile leather goods, etc. Seventeen kinds of high-quality wood carving craft samples including African teak, African neem, and African red walnut.
Some more interesting scenes also happened at the expo:
"Why does your so-called East African rubber look exactly the same as our exhibits in Brazil?"
"Don't make excuses. This is a rubber tree species excavated by our company in the East African Kingdom. It was discovered after going deep into the hinterland of Africa. "The best local rubber tree species." Under the suspicious eyes of the Brazilian exhibitors, the employees of Hechingen Company expressed their loyalty. To put it bluntly: "Africa is an unexplored continent, and it is not surprising to find anything."
Others don't care whether the rubber tree species in East Africa are stolen, they directly Ask about the price and buy the one with the lowest price. Although rubber planting in East Africa started late, the planting volume is larger than that in Brazil, so it is very competitive.
In the banana exhibition area.
In order to compete maliciously, the Hechengen Consortium specially compared bananas from the Americas with bananas from East Africa. Everyone can taste the differences between the two bananas, and the origins of the two bananas are clearly marked.
“Thin skin and thick flesh, big and sweet, ahead of the competition.”
“Irrigated by high-quality river water from the Shabelle River originating from the Ethiopian Plateau, nurtured by twelve hours of sunshine, and farmers carefully With one-on-one care and single-tree care, the quality is better, the taste is sweeter, and the aroma is richer.”
Faced with the vicious competition from Somali bananas in East Africa, the Caribbean, especially the Boston Fruit Company in the United States, is very popular. Not convinced.
“You must have selected the worst products from the Caribbean to compare with your best quality bananas, and we are not convinced!”
"Whether or not you accept it, let the facts speak for itself. Only after everyone has tasted it can we feel which of the two bananas is the king of bananas!"
"Then we can't use the samples you provided for comparison. With the bananas coming, we are absolutely sure to win.”
So with the support of the melon-eating crowd, the banana competition started on the spot.
“On the left are Somali bananas produced in East Africa, and on the right are bananas produced in the Caribbean. How the two bananas taste depends on everyone’s vote, and everyone can participate.”
So a tasting meeting began, and Hechingen employees thoughtfully prepared drinking water for everyone to rinse their mouths to prevent odor transfer.
"Well, generally speaking, both bananas taste good, but I personally think the Somali banana is sweeter."
"Not to mention the sweetness, but just looking at the color and freshness, I think the Somali banana is better. .”
Finally, there are comments from a heavyweight, King Carol I, who came from Romania to attend the meeting in Zai. After tasting the two kinds of bananas carefully, he said: "To be honest, the Somali banana is the winner."
It is true that there are many kings at this World Expo, such as William I, Alexander II, Naples Francesco II of the Kingdom, etc., Carol I really just happened to watch the fun and then participated in the activities. Although they were relatives, Ernst would not ask Carol I to act as a trustee just to sell bananas.
As a result, the Somali banana was named "the sweetest banana in the world" at this World Expo. Out of jealousy over the development of the United States over the years, the British newspaper sourly slandered: "American banana products, just like American industrial products, have developed through plagiarism and shoddy quality..." Full display An old father's concern for his rebellious son.
(End of this chapter)