Chapter 585 The Era of Change
Ernst and Prince Carl revealed their opinions on the construction of the Hessian railway. However, there is still no way to implement this idea. Don't look at the Hessian railway only passing through Hesse. Then it connects to Swabia, but its engineering difficulty is definitely the highest ever encountered in East Africa.
Because the area it passes through is the area with the most rainfall in East Africa, and the transition from the Katanga Plateau to the Congo Basin, the terrain varies greatly, which also adds difficulty to the construction of the railway, and there are wetlands and forests in the area. The more dense it is, the more difficulties it has to overcome.
So Ernst said to Prince Carl: "The difficulties encountered in building this railway are definitely the most serious in the history of railway construction in East Africa. I estimate that there will be no tens of thousands of casualties. It is estimated that it will be difficult to complete. Therefore, the planning and construction of this railway must be carefully considered.”
Prince Carl also said. I very much agree with this. There is no precedent for building such a long railway in the tropical rain forest in this era. Of course, Hesse Province is on the eastern edge of the Congo Basin, and its environment is not similar to that of the hinterland of the Congo rain forest, because Hesse Province still has the lower half. There are mountains and plateaus in the area, so the main difficulties that the Hessian railway has to overcome are the topography and topography.
Ernst continued: "There is also the Northern Railway extension you mentioned. I also have this intention, but I will definitely not consider it in the past few years. In the future, it will definitely be connected to the Central Railway."
Ernst thought it was very simple. After the completion of the Hessian railway, the central railway would complete the "four links" in extending in all directions. However, before, the central railway and the northern railway were completely independent parts.
After the construction of the Hesse Provincial Railway, the northern railway can be connected to the Hessian Provincial Railway to the west, allowing the central railway and the northern railway to achieve intersection and networking, which will help strengthen connections between various parts of East Africa.
But Ernst didn’t just think about this. The Northern Railway is very similar to the Uganda Railway built by the British in the previous life, but it is not as long as the Uganda Railway. In the future, if the Northern Railway is connected to the Hesse Railway.
At the same time, a northern branch line can be opened to the north, the Azande Plateau, to integrate the transportation of the Central African Republic and East Africa in later generations.
In this way, the so-called Northern Railway can be more worthy of its name. Before East Africa did not have the land area it is now, there is nothing wrong with calling it the Northern Railway.
Now that the Northern Railway has become the "Northeast" railway in the huge land of East Africa, the Northern Railway seems to be somewhat unworthy of its name.
Of course, this is just Ernst’s personal idea, but Prince Carl also had his own ideas. He said to Ernst: "What you just said makes sense. It seems that East Africa currently has a greater influence on the north. There is not much demand for railway construction, so I would not force it, but Sigmaringen is now colonized in Chad and can only pass through East Africa. You know this."
Prince Karl basically said this. The intention is almost revealed.
East Africa does not pay much attention to the northern railway, but Sigmaringen needs this railway to contribute to Sigmaringen's colonial cause.
Because Sigmaringen has no outlet on the Atlantic coast, a large number of people and materials need to be transported to Chad through East Africa, and the Northern Railway is only half a section, which greatly increases the cost of colonization of Sigmaringen.
The distance from Mombasa to Chad is more than 2,000 kilometers, and the exchange of people and materials takes almost three months. During these three months, all the food, drink, and food are in East Africa.
This is a realistic factor, and Sigmaringen also needs to consider future development factors. Unlike in Europe, Sigmaringen’s biggest reliance in Europe is naturally Germany, but in Africa, which is three-thirds of an acre, it is simply impossible. There are more powerful states than in East Africa.
So the future of Sigmaringen must be bound to East Africa, and if the Northern Railway can be extended to Chad, then the connection between Sigmaringen and East Africa will naturally be closer.
“Of course, I know this is a bit difficult. After all, railway construction, especially railway construction of thousands of kilometers, is not a small project for any country, but the Northern Railway is indeed important to Sigmaringen. You should be very aware of this, so if East Africa is willing to build a northern railway, it must inform us in advance so that we can contribute," Prince Karl said with some regret. In fact, Prince Carl also knew in his heart that Ernst must further build the northern railway. After all, the Azande Plateau, the Great Lakes Region, and the Nile Basin all need this railway to drive the economic development of northern East Africa, and of course to consolidate the country. Safety considerations.
That’s why I mentioned the Northern Railway this time to test Ernst’s tone. If it were said before, Prince Carl definitely did not have such ambitions.
But he had been in East Africa for more than half a year. The more he learned about East Africa, the more his colonial enthusiasm was aroused.
The more shocked he was in East Africa, the more high hopes he placed on the Chadian colony. Not to mention becoming like East Africa, even if it only developed into one-twentieth of the national strength of East Africa, it would still be worse than Romania. One-third of an acre has much greater potential.
Prince Carl’s biggest trip in East Africa this year was to take a train and inspect the construction of East Africa along the Central Railway.
Not to mention the development of East Africa, the journey of more than 3,000 kilometers alone was an eye-opener for him. It took him two weeks to get from the Port of Dar es Salaam to the southernmost port of New Hamburg in East Africa.
I stayed in Mbeya, Harare and other cities in the middle. Now the development of the inland areas is on par with some backward areas in Europe. Of course, the backward areas referred to are Romania. The only thing Romania can compare with is East Africa. The only thing that makes the interior strong is its high population density.
This is true for the interior of East Africa, not to mention the eastern region, which can be compared with most European countries. Apart from the vast land and sparsely populated areas, there is not much difference.
And in terms of vast land and sparse population, Tsarist Russia, the United States and East Africa have similar national conditions. East Africa has a population of 50 million if black people are included, while Tsarist Russia has a population of more than 100 million, and its land is twice the size of East Africa. times, the population is exactly twice that of East Africa, so the population density of East Africa and Tsarist Russia is similar, and the effective land of East Africa is obviously much larger than that of Tsarist Russia.
The population of the United States is slightly smaller than that of East Africa, and the land area is slightly smaller than that of East Africa. Although East Africa has nearly three million square kilometers more than the United States, it is almost the same if you remove the tropical rainforest, because East Africa has not yet Defining the Congo Basin as East African territory can only be regarded as territory, or sphere of influence.
Therefore, the current population density in East Africa is actually similar to that of the United States and Russia. The only difference is that these two countries developed hundreds of years before East Africa.
The gap of hundreds of years is naturally not easy to surpass. Just talking about roads, East Africa cannot expect to catch up with the accumulation of hundreds of years in just a dozen years.
However, East Africa does not have no chance to catch up. For example, hardened roads are the development trend of roads in the future. Now countries in the world and East Africa are on the same starting line. When the automobile industry rises, road development in East Africa will also follow that of East Africa. Other countries are at the same starting point.
The same is true in terms of industry. Now is the time when the second industrial revolution is emerging. Although East Africa is more than ten years later than other countries, it is still on the train halfway and is on the same starting line as Japan and other emerging countries. .
All in all, this is an era of change. As long as East Africa seizes the opportunity, it will soar in the future. Ernst has laid a good foundation for East Africa's basic market.
(End of this chapter)