Chapter 659 Trade with Afghanistan
Turkana Province, Jimma City.
When East Africa occupied the southern part of the Ethiopian Plateau, its main purpose was to ensure the safety of the Omo River water source in the upper reaches of Lake Turkana.
With the occupation of East Africa here, not only the Omo River, but also the water source security issues of many rivers such as the Shabelle River and the Juba River have been solved. It is the "small water tower" in northeastern East Africa.
Nowadays, the trade with the Abyssinian Empire has made Turkana Province the most important land trading port in East Africa. The Abyssinian Empire is also the largest land trading country in East Africa. .
The main reason is that the Abyssinian Empire is large. Among the countries and regions bordering East Africa, the most populous are the Abyssinian Empire and Egypt.
Unfortunately, the core area of Egypt is too far away from East Africa, and the Sudan in the middle is too barren. Moreover, Egypt is now a semi-colony of the United Kingdom. East Africa can only watch this market helplessly.
“This pile of wood carvings can only be exchanged for three Rhine shields, because the wood carving market is not booming now, especially your kind of wood carvings. Although they have their own cultural characteristics, they are worthless in other countries. ."
"Mr. Hans, these wood carvings were carefully crafted by the most famous art master in Negmot City over several days. It’s made. Look at the pattern and the texture of the wood. Not to mention the carving, the value of the wood alone is not cheap.”
I have to say that East Africa has inherited the characteristics of Germany. There are just too many people named Hans. If you shout it on the street, six or seven people may turn around. However, immigrants from the Far Eastern Empire have greatly enriched the diversity of names and surnames in East Africa.
"Then how much do you want?"
"At least twenty Rhine Guilders!"
"That's too much, your goods are not worth so much money, as I said before Yes, after all, your culture is different from that of Europe, and even different from Arab countries, so blindly carrying forward your own traditions may not be welcomed by the market. As I told you before, it is better to follow the samples we provide. Only in this way can we open up the market.”
The wood carving samples provided by Hans are naturally customized for Europe, mainly based on religious and cultural factors. After all, Europeans pay tithes and indulgences. It’s not too much to be willing to buy some cultural products to support “God”.
Of course, the more important thing is that the Abyssinian carpenters are good at craftsmanship. Many religious figures can be vividly represented. This should be the talent of Africans.
Hans continued to lower the price: "Look at this pattern, such good wood has been wasted. It can even be said that the original high-quality wood is worth more than three Rhine guilders. How can it be sold for 5 Rhine guilders with handwork? , just because you made your own decision, the price of three Rhine Guilders is now considered high."
Calle was obviously convinced by Hans's words, but has the value of these wood carvings really been devalued because of his own opinion? ?
"Mr. Hans, how about we take back these wood carvings and redo them? If we make them slightly smaller, we should be able to save some value." Kale asked tentatively.
How is it possible? The meat is already in his mouth. Hans naturally doesn’t want to spit it out. As for the previous batch of wood carvings that he devalued as worthless, how about doing business! Everyone knows that it is a process of mutual discounting.
But Hans is telling the truth. If the wood carvings of the Abyssinian Empire are not improved according to European aesthetics, it is really difficult to sell. But being difficult to sell does not mean that there is no market, especially Those artists are very interested in this kind of wood carving with primitive wild beauty.
European artists are all wealthy people and have always been generous with their money. However, the artist group is a minority after all, and mass products are also a target that East Africa attaches great importance to. This is why Hans asked Party B to produce products based on European religious and cultural elements. So Hans said: "Just take it back and modify it. After all, it takes more time to go back and forth, and it will also affect our next transaction. This time I suffered a little loss, so I bought it for four Rhine guilders."
East Africa purchases large quantities of handicrafts from the Abyssinian Empire. In fact, it is a helpless move, because the Abyssinian Empire itself does not have any outstanding mineral resources, and agriculture is Abyssinian. The pillar industry of the Abyssinian Empire, and East Africa is also a large agricultural country, so East Africa must find more ways to make the Abyssinian Empire affordable for trade between the two countries.
Take wood carving as an example. In the past, East Africa could produce it itself, but the craftsmanship of the local indigenous people obviously could not be compared with that of ancient civilizations like the Abyssinian Empire.
Furthermore, the labor cost of the Abyssinian Empire is much lower than that of East Africa. The population of East Africa is too small compared with the land area, while the situation of the Abyssinian Empire is the opposite. The territory of the Asian Empire has been shrinking in the past few years. The cultivated land has decreased, but the population has increased instead of falling, and the labor cost has further declined.
Therefore, handicrafts such as wood carvings, carpets, etc. were handed over to the Abyssinian Empire in East Africa. Of course, these were limited to handicrafts.
East Africa attaches great importance to industry, not handicrafts. After all, compared to handicrafts, no country in the world is a rival of the Far Eastern Empire. Many handicraft products in East Africa will be purchased directly from the Far Eastern Empire.
The handicrafts purchased from the Far Eastern Empire are mainly used for domestic consumption, while the handicrafts of the Abyssinian Empire are mainly used for resale to other countries and regions. In fact, they are second-hand dealers in East Africa. goods.
In fact, Turkana Province can also rely on the Abyssinian Empire to develop its own industry, which is quite rare in the interior of East Africa.
The method is also very simple. Turkana Province has a small population in East Africa and is not particularly rich in resources, especially basic industrial raw materials such as coal and iron.
Turkana Province has a large area and certainly does not lack these minerals, but it lacks the population to mine these minerals. Therefore, one of Turkana Province's measures to develop industry is to use its trade advantages with the Abyssinian Empire to bring Abyssinia into the province. The Bisinian Empire became a raw material supplier and market for Turkana Province.
Among other things, all the iron ore and coal in Jimma City, a border city in Turkana Province, are imported from the Abyssinian Empire.
At the same time, Jimma City is an important gold trading market, because the Abyssinian Empire has relatively rich gold reserves and a relatively mature industry. Jimma City sells Abyssinian gold through various industrial commodities. Exchange the gold and other wealth of the Asian empire away.
Of course, the most famous trade between the two countries is the arms trade. The Abyssinian Empire pays a sum of money every year to purchase arms from East Africa. This is a long-term business, because Abyssinia None of the three countries around the empire, East Africa, Italy, and Britain (Egypt), is easy to mess with.
Between these three countries, the Abyssinian Empire was naturally very anxious, so East Africa's arms trade with Abyssinia ensured that its country would not collapse.
For East Africa, a complete Abyssinian Empire is beneficial to East Africa, because the situation here is complicated. If the Abyssinian Empire falls into pieces, which country is behind the various forces will become one. A mess.
As for the Abyssinian Empire as a whole, its strength has long been weakened by East Africa, and its future potential has also been greatly reduced. After all, it does not have a land as large as its previous life. In the future, the population of Abyssinia will always be only Maintained at the tens of millions level.
The most important thing is that the import and export trade of the Abyssinian Empire is basically monopolized by East Africa. It is the first de facto supplier of raw materials and a completely open market in East Africa, so East Africa naturally wants to ensure that Abyssinia now The stability of the imperial regime in Bithynia.
(End of this chapter)