Chapter 912 Luanda Businessman
“It takes ten years to catch up with the New Hamburg Port, twenty years to tie up with Mbeya, and thirty years to become the New Dar es Salaam.”
“ Work hard for fifty years to build a world-class city.”
“The economic bridgehead of the West and the future industrial city of East Africa”
………
Red slogans like this can be seen everywhere on the streets of Luanda. As the largest city on the west coast of East Africa, Luanda has the most ambition among the cities on the west coast.
In terms of geographical location, environmental climate, traffic conditions, etc., the conditions in Luanda are no worse than those in Dar es Salaam. The difference between the two is that Dar es Salaam The city was developed more than 20 years earlier than Luanda.
This time is naturally calculated from the time when the two cities were included in the rule of East Africa. If this factor did not interfere, it is really hard to say which one is better in terms of development level, Luanda or Dar es Salaam. .
Before the emergence of East Africa, Dar es Salaam was the main city of the Zanzibar Sultanate, while Luanda was the capital of the Portuguese colony of Angola, and could only be considered half a match in terms of strength.
However, after so many years of East African governance, the city of Dar es Salaam has long been separated from the charm of an "African" city. Even in the international community, Dar es Salaam still ranks high. As a "metropolis", Luanda's pursuit seems to many people to be as difficult as reaching the sky.
After all, Luanda is indeed developing well, but Dar es Salaam is also making progress. Dar es Salaam aims to be the most prosperous cities in various countries such as New York, London, Paris, and Berlin.
Moreover, Luanda's development speed in East Africa is currently not as fast as that of Beira, and is even being overtaken by Cabinda, which has a "harsh" environment in the region.
Seeing these red inspiring slogans, Hull didn’t know why he felt uncomfortable in his heart. Hull is a German businessman who came to East Africa to look for business opportunities.
And his destination is Luanda, because after the Port of Luanda fell into the hands of East Africa, it became an important port for exporting resources to Western Europe. With the opening of the Luanda Railway, the cargo volume here is no better than that of Luanda. Es Salaam is different from Mombasa.
“East Africa is a very strange country. Although you are culturally from the German region, you have your own characteristics. This is different from any country or region in the world, even the Far East, where the largest immigrant group comes from. This characteristic cannot be found in the Empire,” Hull said to Maxim, the East African who was responsible for receiving him, looking at the signs in the city of Luanda.
"How can Mr. Hull be so sure?" Maxim asked curiously. He was wondering how Hull came to this conclusion. This requires not only understanding of Germany, but also understanding of countries around the world.
Hull shook his head and said: "Perhaps my knowledge is shallow, but I have also been to many places in the world, and I have never seen a country that is so different from East Africa. Take Germany, for example, although Germany is also It is a big-government country, but Germany is a military power, and its national management reflects the characteristics of the military field. But we all know that Germany does this to maintain Germany’s security. After all, Germany is surrounded by wolves.”
"What about East Africa?" Maxim asked.
Hull thought for a while and replied: "Frankly speaking, my impression of East Africa before was that it was a more iron-blooded militaristic country than Germany. But when I came here, I found that I was wrong, even Angola. In such areas that are temporarily under control, there are not many troops. On the contrary, there are vigorous scenes of economic development everywhere. "
Of course, there is one thing that Hull did not say, and that is this kind of development. It's like being whipped to drive a cow forward, just because the East African government's administrative intervention in the economy is too crazy, but it has to be said that this method is very effective. He had also seen Luanda under the Portuguese rule when he was young. At that time, the Suez Canal had not yet been opened, so most ships had to pass through here.
It has only been five years since East Africa took over Luanda. Luanda’s urban area and population have expanded several times, and East Africa has deployed industries here, so Luanda can be considered a European country. A relatively nice small city.
Speaking of this, Hull suddenly remembered something, and he said to Maxim: "These slogans remind me of them! They are the previous recruitment slogans in Germany, but the content of the two countries is different. "
In this regard, Maxim said: "After the South African War, the external threats to East Africa basically disappeared, so the expansion of the army naturally stopped. In fact, although the number of troops in East Africa was large before, east africa It cannot be reflected. After all, the land area of East Africa is more than ten times that of Germany. To be honest, it is only fair to compare East Africa with Europe. However, there are many European countries and each country has a large army. The total is naturally much more exaggerated than that of East Africa, especially The major powers all have much larger armies than those in East Africa. ”
Europe’s population is concentrated, and each country is small, so any news can easily spread within the country, such as conscription, which can easily cause panic. .
It would be different if it were placed in East Africa. East Africa recruits troops in the east, and other regions cannot feel it at all. Only residents along the railway can experience the oppressive feeling of military mobilization during wartime.
“Furthermore, we in East Africa are also peace-loving countries. In the early days, all the people were indeed soldiers, but that was a special method in a special period. Think about the fact that there were a large number of indigenous forces and wild animals in Africa before. If this method had not been adopted at that time, There is no way we can have the peace and stability in East Africa today.”
The peace and stability in East Africa are based on the corpses of indigenous people, Arabs, Portuguese and British people. Of course, so are the wild animals across the country. Suffered a devastating disaster.
In this regard, Hull was quite envious. He said: "Your location in East Africa is so good. It is surrounded by the ocean on both sides. There is only one Cape Town in the south, and most of the north is uncivilized land. As long as the domestic Once developed, the threat of war is basically eliminated, and Germany is located in the heart of Europe, with peace on all sides."
Maxim could only comfort him: "This has also created Germany as the crossroads of Europe. position and become the center of Europe, so as long as Germany remains strong, this is an advantage.”
Although he is an East African, East Africans are also Germans, so Maxim does not hesitate to praise Germany. After all, the main civilization of East African society originated from the German region. In the same way, if he is an Austrian, Maxim I'll say that too.
Germany and Austria are both important economic partners in East Africa. Even Austria and East Africa are "allies" on the surface. In addition, the current industrial development in East Africa requires the support of Germany and Austria. Maxim also There will be some "respect" for people like Hull.
Of course, it is hard to say what Hull thinks. Although East Africa calls itself a German country, there is a question mark as to whether it can be recognized by the people of Germany and Austria.
In fact, East African Germanism has a strong market in Germany and Austria. Especially before the South African War, many people simply rejected the "German" identity of East Africa. After all, East Africa has the same blood and Geographical location adds two layers of negative factors.
However, after the South African War, this argument basically disappeared. If you can defeat the British, then only the "Germans" can become big.
After all, France has already been defeated once, and Tsarist Russia is a backward and barbaric country. Only the United Kingdom can interest the angry German youth. As a result, the South African War directly broke this filter, and even East Africa could not defeat it. So, does the British world hegemony mean it? It's time to change hands.
(End of this chapter)