Chapter 591 Return
Constantine’s inspection trip to Matabele Province did not last for a few days, and he was about to return to the first town to welcome the New Year with his family. This trip to Matabele Province was basically It ends in the city of Harare.
Boarding on the special train, Constantine said with some regret: "I am in a hurry this time, if only I could go to Bulawayo and have a look!"
"Your Majesty, Bu Just look at Bulawayo next year. Now that there are railways, it is not troublesome to go to these cities. Apart from Bulawayo, the only city worth visiting in the south is the New Hamburg Port City. However, the New Hamburg Port City is completely in accordance with the Dalai Lama. It is built on the template of cities such as Es Salaam City, but they are similar, but have no characteristics.”
Kaide Butler said that in fact, the new Hamburg Port City is very different from many ports in East Africa, because it is very different. There are three port areas in the bay of New Hamburg Port, including a military port, which is divided into inner and outer ports. If you really go to New Hamburg Port City and take a boat tour, you can also discover and appreciate its unique layout.
As for what Cade said about building according to the template of coastal cities such as Dar es Salaam, there is nothing wrong with it, but it is more about the same standards, reflected in urban infrastructure and living facilities.
"Cade, Hechingen Province, the capital of the former Transvaal Republic, how is Pretoria doing now? It seems that we haven't heard any news?" Constantine asked.
Before East Africa occupied the South African region, Pretoria was definitely one of the best cities in South Africa. Cape Town was one level better than Pretoria. Now there is no news at all, so Constant Ding is still quite curious.
Kade: "Pretoria is now completely a military center in South Africa. On the contrary, it has no special features in economic development. In recent years, the population growth of Hechingen, Southern Frontier Province, and New Baden Province has been far less than In the neighboring province of Matabele, the number of troops has increased. Quite a few, and the only one that has been developed is probably the coastal city of New Hamburg, and that was because of the construction of the Central Railway.”
“Didn’t I hear that Ernst planned to raise sheep in South Africa? What happened now. Like? ”
"Aquaculture takes time. We spent more than ten years improving the livestock industry in East Africa before we could barely catch up with other countries. The land area in East Africa is more than ten times that of other countries, so the scale of my country's livestock industry is not proportional to that of other countries. Not big, but rather small, and the same is true for sheep farming, which is still only done in the Southern Frontier Province."
Constantine felt a little petty when he heard this, and said: "There is only one province in the Southern Frontier Province? Isn’t the scale a bit small?”
Cade smiled when he heard this. He said to Constantine: “Your Majesty, the Southern Frontier Province is not small at all. You have been in East Africa for a long time. Therefore, we are now used to looking at problems according to the thinking of a big country. One of our provinces in East Africa is larger than many European countries. If compared individually, it is on par with some medium-sized countries. Therefore, the grazing industry in a province in Southern Frontier Province is It may be much stronger than many countries. After all, other countries have to consider the issue of food cultivation, and it is impossible to use all the land for grazing.”
Hearing Cade’s words, Constantine suddenly realized that he had a certain thinking pattern. It is different from being engaged in business. In Europe, apart from serving the Prussian army, at most it revolves around its own feudal industry.
The Prince of Hechingen is, to say the least, a township. Sometimes Constantine even worried about the little land in his subordinate villages. But after arriving in East Africa, he became numb when faced with tens of thousands of square kilometers of land. , such as this trip to Harare, it was also in the name of inspecting Matabele Province, and Matabele Province covers more than 300,000 square kilometers, almost catching up with the area of more than half of Germany.
When Constantine first arrived in East Africa, the territory of East Africa was only limited to the East African Plateau, but it was two or three times the size of Germany. In recent years, it has continued to expand its territory and East Africa has become one of the largest countries in the world.
It takes time to transform the country into national power, but the size is reached, and it is also very thirsty, which satisfies Constantine's great vanity. The only shortcoming is that he cannot communicate with his old partners like he did in Europe. They brag about their achievements.
Cade continued: "Of course, the Southern Frontier Province only carries out development work in the eastern area. The area bordering the western part and the former Orange Free State is not developed, and the eastern part is not just about sheep farming, but also There is some agriculture, which is not much different from other eastern regions, except that the north mainly breeds cattle, horses, pigs and other livestock. This is also the reason for considering staggered industry competition. The New Hamburg Port City is now busy building a wool textile center and the formation of Nairobi City in the north. They are two centers of the textile industry in East Africa, and I heard that the city of Bulawayo is also actively promoting the goal of a central textile center, and it is a two-lane development. The western region where Bulawayo is located has a relatively arid climate, so it is suitable for cotton cultivation. At the same time, it is also suitable for raising sheep. ”
Raising cattle is very different from raising sheep, but cattle are obviously more picky than sheep. Looking at the high-quality pastures in the world, there are high-quality grasslands in regions such as Europe and Argentina. , the temperate maritime climate of northern Europe, and the subtropical grassland climate of Argentina are all reflected in the warm and cool climate and abundant water and grass, so they mainly focus on raising cattle. Areas with a relatively arid climate are suitable for raising sheep. Typical examples include Australia's Murray Darling Grassland and the northwest region of the Far Eastern Empire. Many areas on the South African plateau have limited precipitation and a relatively arid climate, so sheep raising is very suitable.
Of course, South Africa is also suitable for raising cattle. Cattle and sheep are the same as people. They all like a climate that is warm in winter and cool in summer. The vast plateau area of East Africa conforms to this characteristic.
In the previous Republic of Transvaal, or in other words, the choice of the Boers to raise cattle was related to their habits and the market. Many Boers came from the Netherlands, Germany and France. The livestock industry in these countries was mainly cattle raising. Therefore, after immigrating to South Africa, they continued their traditional practices, but the export market for the Boers was still Europe. Europe and the United States are the regions with the highest beef consumption in the world.
In comparison, East Africa is still a little behind in this regard. However, the livestock industry in East Africa is also dominated by cattle. However, the development time of the livestock industry in East Africa is too short. It will take time for East African civilians to eat beef.
As for sheep raising, in addition to the wool textile industry mentioned earlier, the export value of mutton itself is also very high. East Africa is very close to the Arab region and Central Asia, and the consumption of mutton in Arabia and Central Asia is very high. Considerable.
While Constantine and Cade were talking, the special train had entered the Zambezi River Railway Bridge, the largest railway bridge in East Africa.
The Zambezi River Railway Bridge is one of the well-known construction projects in East Africa. It is entirely constructed with steel structures. The steel used was imported from Europe during the economic crisis in 1873, so the cost was not large.
Although East Africa has the Nile River and the Congo River, world-class rivers, the Zambezi River is obviously much more important to East Africa than the first two rivers.
Because the Zambezi River is likely to become a unique global river in East Africa in the future, the southern bank of the lower reaches is still in the hands of the Portuguese.
As for the Congo River, although East Africa accounts for the majority, the Congo River passes through a tropical rainforest area and its economic value is not high.
The Nile River is better than the Congo River, but the natural conditions and economic value within its scope are far less than those of the Zambezi River Basin.
Finally, there is the relatively unknown Orange River. As a boundary river, the Orange River has not been taken seriously, and the conditions in the region are also quite bad. Only the upper reaches, that is, the land on both sides of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State has some value. , suitable for human settlement.
Of course, none of the rivers in East Africa could make Ernst very satisfied. The river basins in East Africa are also fragmented, and their role in boosting the economy of East Africa is far less than other rivers of the same level in the world.
The only promising hydropower resource is not easy to develop now, but this is also a good thing for East Africa. Human beings have a strong desire to explore large river basins, such as tracing the source of the Nile River.
The lack of large rivers in East Africa hindered the colonization process of other colonists in Africa. On the other hand, the Niger River, with better conditions, accelerated the progress of Western colonists' conquest.
(End of this chapter)