Chapter 681 Kinshasa
“The only pity in the Congo River Basin is that shipping ends in Kinshasa, and Kinshasa is currently the only one on the Congo River with potential compared to the city of Kisan (Kisangani) city, but all this is based on one premise, that is, the issue of access to the sea. Without an outlet to the sea, Kinshasa is just a dead port and can only be used by East Africa itself. Its cargo volume is not even as important as the Ubangi River to East Africa. ”
Original history, until 1881, colonial explorer Stanley. Before arriving in Kinshasa, there were scattered villages and thousands of black people.
East Africa captured Kinshasa three years earlier. The current population of Kinshasa is only more than 3,000, because East Africa does not count the local black population.
“The Congo River Basin, excluding Hesse Province, and several provinces in the plateau area, can be said to have extremely economic value. The most abundant resource is logs, but logs cannot be exported, which is basically equal to There is no value, so the Congo River Basin basically has no output.”
"At the same time, even if the Atlantic Ocean channel is opened and the outlet is seized from the Portuguese, Kinshasa will still be hindered by the waterfalls downstream. So we want to open up the Congo River Basin to the Atlantic Ocean. Basically, there are two options. , build a railway to achieve water-rail combined transportation, or build a canal. If the canal project relies on vigorously flying bricks, it is very possible to build a hundred kilometers while the black people in East Africa still have some effect. The canal can indeed bypass the downstream waterfalls.
The main thing that needs to be overcome is the terrain difficulties to slow down the river drop. Moreover, the explosive production capacity in East Africa is now considerable, so there is no need to rely solely on manpower to solve all problems.
However, the number of laborers required for this plan is also sky-high. According to the current development trend of the west of East Africa, it is simply unaffordable. The most important thing is that the downstream is still controlled by Portugal, and the Portuguese problem is not solved. It's all a mirror image.
“A certain proportion of Kinshasa’s residents are members of the military. Secondly, they are engaged in export trade to downstream areas, including daily necessities and medicines. In other aspects, they are basically competitive, such as the huge forestry industry. Resources, even the eastern grasslands of East Africa are not short of such things, not to mention other forces in the same region, they can also export to their own countries, and they also have many advantages over here in terms of mineral resources.”
In the final analysis, Kinshasa's trade still relies on East African industry, which does not exist in many colonies, so many of their items need to be imported from Europe.
Through shipping, East Africa can transport these materials to Kinshasa, and then the Belgians will operate them to the downstream areas. As for Portugal, it has already cut off trade with East Africa, especially those with spending power. Angolan farmer.
Kinshasa is a very young city, so it has little production capacity. The supply of goods mainly comes from Quisan City.
Even if Kisan City is connected to Kinshasa City by water transportation, the distance is more than 1,500 kilometers, but the one-way speed from Kisan City to Kinshasa City is very fast.
The middle part of the Congo River is in a basin and the terrain is flat. However, hundreds of tributaries all merge into the main channel. The water volume is large, so the flow speed is faster than that of ordinary rivers. It does not take long to get from Kisan City to Kinshasa. A few days.
But if you go upstream, you have to do the opposite, but it won't be like the downstream section of Kinshasa, where the terrain drops suddenly and becomes unnavigable.
However, this also puts forward requirements for the navigation capacity of ships. There are no trackers to pull ships in the Congo rainforest, so we can only work more on ship power, and steam engines and internal combustion engines have become the first choices. Fortunately, East Africa has accumulated relevant experience, especially the rapid development of inland waterway shipping in the Three Great Lakes region, which has solved technical problems, so the shipbuilding industry in Kisan City is relatively developed.
However, even so, medium-sized ships are mainly used on the Congo River. They are too small to be easily controlled, and fuel space must be reserved. They are too large to maintain. Only a few ships have been built along the entire Congo River in East Africa. Ten strongholds.
“Pharmaceuticals are a large part of Kinshasa’s exports. We in East Africa have a greater say in this regard than other regions. Quinine is an essential export commodity, which is very popular in the Belgian Congo and Angola. Best-selling, in addition to other drugs, there is also a relatively large demand.”
This is mainly because East Africa has developed well and has a large population, which has resulted in East Africa having sufficient experience and weight in this field. After all, if the medicine is not effective enough, East Africa will not be able to gain a foothold here, and it has the largest immigrant population in Africa. The population of East Africa is a secret to all parties, but one thing that is certain is that East Africa has the largest immigrant population.
As for black people, as indigenous people, they have strong immunity. Of course, it cannot be ruled out that they live in scattered places, so the disease has no time to spread.
Nowadays, African indigenous people still have primitive social systems, with villages and tribes being the mainstream, so the population is sparse and relatively dispersed, which to a certain extent hinders the spread of diseases.
Of course, diseases like malaria that rely on mosquito bites are difficult to prevent. Africa is located in the tropics and is the most suitable continent for mosquitoes to live in, like South America and India. However, this also makes East Africa’s Mosquito repellent products are becoming hot-sellers.
However, in this era, few people understand the relationship between mosquitoes and malaria, so they are simply used as mosquito repellent products, rather than becoming a mandatory daily necessity like in East Africa.
Therefore, even though some colonists purchased mosquito repellent products in order to improve their quality of life, they rarely shared them with slaves and workers.
In this case, East Africa ensured population growth and the secret of curbing the spread of diseases was not spread. After all, mosquitoes are the vectors of many tropical diseases, which has greatly improved the average life expectancy and health of East Africans. health level.
In addition, other regions are in dire straits, and it can further expand the export sales of East African pharmaceuticals. This kind of thing is killing three birds with one stone.
So don’t look at Kinshasa’s small population. Look at the resale of medicines and daily necessities. The profits earned for East Africa are not lower than some cities in the east. Of course, the upstream city of Kisan is also a beneficiary. .
“The cities in the entire west and the intersection of Belgium and Congo, namely Bangui and Kinshasa, can barely be seen, and their military significance is greater than their economic significance. However, according to the above news, in the next few years, Kinshasa will We must continue to expand capacity and be directly led by the central government.”
The Congo Rainforest Basin area has not been divided into provinces so far, but exists as a region like Southwest Africa.
The only "big" city here is Kinshasa, so it is normal for it to be directly managed by the central government, just like the three cities in Southwest Africa are jointly taken over by the Ministry of Defense and the government.
Kinshasa is of great significance to the East African military. It will serve as a forward city position for East Africa against Portugal in the future.
Because Kinshasa is built on the border between the two countries. It is the intersection of the Kuango River and the Congo River. It is a water and land transportation hub. The only thing it lacks now is population. Therefore, in order to attack Angola, Kinshasa City Development has also been put on the East African agenda, and it will also be a key development city near the South Atlantic in the future.
In fact, there is Brazzaville on the other side of Kinshasa, but Brazzaville is located close to the narrow strip of the left bank of the Congo River, and the Belgian Congo is to the north, so it is not a key development target in East Africa, but it is separated by a river. Kinshasa can use the river to play certain military defense and transportation functions.
Moreover, in the future, East Africa intends to directly build bridges to connect Kinshasa and Brazzaville. After all, there is no need to develop two cities on both sides of the river.
(End of this chapter)