Chapter 523 Drought
According to this principle, East Africa can be regarded as a pseudo-power. It can be regarded as a great power in front of ordinary countries, but not in the face of the countries above.
This state is similar to the Far Eastern Empire in the previous life. In fact, the Far Eastern Empire and the United States can be regarded as two new superpowers confronting each other, and they can be regarded as unique countries. However, some indicators of the Far Eastern Empire have not met the standards.
……
December 3, 1879.
"Your Highness, according to our archives, the total number of immigrants to East Africa is more than 14.6 million, and the number of black slaves registered is more than 13 million."
"These are just archives. A part of the records are counted and can be used as a reference for the population of East Africa. Of course, there is a big difference with the actual population data of East Africa. For example, the newly born population and the population lost due to diseases and wars are not included in the statistics. "< br>
“Moreover, there are a lot of discrepancies in the files caused by losses and recording errors. After all, some files are damaged for various reasons because of their age. This makes our work more difficult.”
This way. Ernst had a general understanding of the population data of East Africa. The number of immigrants alone reached about 15 million. In the end, without counting black people, East Africa should have doubled or tripled, almost 3,000. Ten thousand to more than 40 million levels.
As for the number of black people, we cannot ignore it. The number of black people counted a few years ago was 22 million. East Africa has sent out almost 3 million in recent years. So the current number of black people in East Africa should be close to 20 million. Less than 20 million.
Among these less than 20 million black people, there are 13 million registered black "laborers" in East Africa, which further illustrates the nature of the East African slave empire.
Ernst asked: "According to your statistics, when will it be completed?"
"It will almost wait until March next year. After all, the amount of this project is still quite large. We need various The cooperation between governments at all levels requires a lot of calculations and reexamination before the final result can be obtained," said Von der Leyen.
Population statistics is not an easy task. The population data that von der Leyen provided to Ernst is the easiest to obtain. After all, how many immigrants came to East Africa? Every time East Africa summoned and sold How many slaves were registered in East Africa.
This is the same as settling accounts. East Africa also has account books and has a rough calculation of the population of East Africa. After all, the number of immigrants and slaves is fixed, so every time the number of immigrants in East Africa is entered into the account, it will be added to the total in time. superior.
However, this method can only count the number of immigrants who came to East Africa. As for the number of immigrants who came to East Africa, it is not clear. After all, immigrating to East Africa is risky. After arriving in East Africa, there are no people who died unexpectedly due to acclimatization, disease and other reasons. few.
“Well, you don’t have to rush your work, but it must be accurate, especially when counting the population, and you must strictly prevent some people from playing tricks to hide the population.” Ernst emphasized.
It is not impossible for a country like East Africa to have a hidden population. The hidden population is actually black households. In fact, the largest number of black households may be black people. East Africa is a slave country and enjoys the benefits brought by slavery. Welfare, it is inevitable that some places secretly increase the number of slaves for local development, or laziness. These slaves are "laborers" that are not officially recognized in East Africa and are illegal.
"Well, we will pay attention to this matter, Your Highness."
Ernst took a sip of tea and said: "There is no need to worry about offending anyone. If it is a black person, it means it is not a big problem. , but for the sake of fairness, those black people in hiding must be redistributed by the government.”
This is the difference between local governments and the central government. Local governments make some extraordinary moves in order to complete their tasks and their own interests, but the central government must crack down severely on this phenomenon. However, Ernst was relatively tolerant of the local government's tendency to hide many black slaves and could let things go. This was because black people had no human rights and could only admit that they were unlucky.
“How far has the drought progressed now?” Ernst asked next.
“The current drought in the eastern coastal plain is within our control. That is, the situation in the dry agricultural production areas on the plateau is not very good. However, because drought-tolerant crops are mainly grown, the situation is on the contrary. It’s not too bad.”
Von der Leyen continued. : "In the grain-producing areas of the coastal plain, due to the construction of water conservancy facilities in recent years, the reservoirs and irrigation systems we built have played a huge role in combating drought. Fortunately, we filled the large and small reservoirs with water during the long rainy season, so now we can ensure timely Agricultural irrigation work ”
"However, because the long rainy season is followed by the dry season, we also have water needs. The dry season after the long rainy season lasts for about four to five months. During this period, the reservoir has been in a state of releasing water, and the storage capacity has been reduced by about 20%."< br>
“When the light rainy season comes, the reservoir only has about 60 to 70% of its storage capacity due to water use and losses. After all, this drought is a special situation, so it puts some pressure on our work, but only If we persist until March next year, the situation should be greatly alleviated. "
"As for the plateau grain-producing areas, the biggest problem is that water conservancy construction has caused some confusion, so the situation is worse than that of the coastal plains."< br>
The construction of water conservancy projects will inevitably affect the original natural form and have a certain impact on wetland ecosystems such as rivers and lakes. This is why the problems in plateau grain-producing areas are greater than those in the eastern coastal plains.
However, in transforming the East African environment, we naturally cannot care too much about the gains and losses in some details. If it remains unchanged, then there is no need for human society to exist, and it is better to go back to being a monkey in the tree.
So Ernst said to his subordinates: "The water conservancy construction will definitely have a certain negative impact on us in the short term, but the overall benefits once completed are what I really value, so the water conservancy construction must be steadily advanced, which may even affect The development of agriculture in East Africa in the next hundred years.”
Von der Leyen felt a little confused by Ernst’s words. Water conservancy construction is naturally a good thing, but listening to His Highness’s wishes can actually be harmful.
After all, we are not thinking about issues in the same era. Ernst’s idea of considering environmental issues was naturally out of place in the 19th century. Human beings in the 19th century were quite confident and believed that "man can conquer nature" Beliefs are firmly imprinted in the mind. This is the huge impact of the industrial revolution on human thinking.
In fact, in the 20th century, humans began to think about how to live in harmony with nature again, because conquering nature is an unreachable thing. It is useless to just believe that "man can conquer nature". The more science and technology develops, the more opportunities humans have. Discover your own insignificance in front of nature.
But in the 21st century, the evil path of "environmentalism" has emerged. Of course, Ernst is referring to extreme environmentalism. In the past, people believed in science, but in the 21st century, many people have begun to question science.
Therefore, social thinking will adapt to the development of the times, and the human mind is not as strong as imagined. When the overall society encounters a slight setback, it is easy to go to extremes.
The 19th century was an era of great development. At least in the Western world, humans were psychologically satisfied, confident and optimistic. In this way, it was easy to ignore some of the problems and drawbacks that would exist in the future, and Sturt is trying to find out what is missing in East Africa in this era.
(End of this chapter)