Chapter 958 Paraguay
1899.
Paraguay, Asunción.
After experiencing the Paraguayan War, Paraguay has now fully recovered its vitality, and its population has returned to pre-war levels in the 1980s.
The only pity is that after the Paraguay War, Paraguay was further away from the sea. However, through the two excellent waterways of the Parana River and its tributary, the Paraguay River, Paraguay’s internal and external trade was not greatly affected. .
At the fork of the Paraná and Paraguay rivers, East Africa's Paraguayan trade commercial fleet is being diverted.
"The destination of the Aaron Greene, the Overim, and the Paraquinma is Oriental City, while we enter the Paraguay River northwest and then arrive at Asunción, the capital of Paraguay." Captain Creed said Said to the trainee crew members.
“In the trade between East Africa and Paraguay, Asunción, the capital of Paraguay, and Oriental, the second largest city in Paraguay, are our main destinations. In the future, you will most likely run ships in these two cities and Wandering between East Africa. "
"Captain, is there anything special about Dongfang City?" Someone asked, mainly because there is also a Dongfang City on Pemba Island in the Indian Ocean.
Captain Creed explained: "The Oriental City in Paraguay is on the Paraná River. In the local language, it should be called Ciudad del Este, but Ciudad del Este means Oriental City. As for our domestic Oriental City is in the Indian Ocean. The concepts of the two are completely different. As a small country, Paraguay has a small population and a small economy. Therefore, our trade with Paraguay is mainly carried out through Asuncion and Oriental City, two cities that are barely qualified in size. .”
Although Paraguay's economy and population have emerged from the shadow of the war, it cannot change the actual national conditions of Paraguay's small country. Today, Paraguay's population is only more than 700,000, of which only Asuncion and Oriental City have a population of more than 50,000.
“Asunción is the capital of Paraguay, and across the river is Argentina, so Asunción is actually an important trade node city between East Africa, Paraguay, and Argentina.”
In fact, Asunción Originally it was not across the river from Argentina, but after the Paraguay War, the south bank of the Paraguay River was ceded to Argentina, and the other side of the river was actually the former Paraguayan territory.
However, after the Paraguay War, the population of Paraguay was almost wiped out, so there were not many Paraguayans in the ceded territory. Now the population of Paraguay is mainly Italian, Indian, and Paraguayan. Three major ethnic groups of people live together.
Captain Creed continued: "Compared to this, Oriental City is even more incredible. Oriental City is located at the confluence of the Parana River and the Iguazu River, next to Argentina and Brazil. The three countries are surrounded by Divided by the Paraná River and the Iguazu River, this geographical location is destined to have prosperous business and trade. On the other side of the Oriental City are the Iguazú Falls City in Brazil and Port Iguazu in Argentina.”
Therefore, as long as East Africa transports goods to Oriental City in Paraguay, it will have the opportunity to sell these goods to Brazil and Argentina. Of course, this is basically the job of Paraguayans.
Paraguayans acted as second-hand dealers and made a lot of money. This is one of the main reasons for the rapid economic recovery and accelerated development of Asuncion and Oriental City.
“Paraguay is the earliest window for trade between East Africa and South America. It has made a great contribution to the export of East African commodities and is also a testimony of the friendship between the two countries.” Captain Creed said in a rather proud tone.
While talking, Captain Creed's fleet has completed the diversion, and Captain Creed's Caguan has also sailed into the Paraguay River with the other three ships. From here on, it also means The fleet officially entered the national border between Paraguay and Argentina.
Of course, the fleet did not arrive directly at Asunción, but stopped at the Port of Formosa in Argentina, which was the former territory of Paraguay. Founded in 1879 by Argentines.
While East African merchant ships are one of Argentina's main sources of imported goods in the Formosa region, the East African Paraguayan trade commercial fleet has only one merchant ship left here. After all, Formosa is just a small border town in Argentina. Its purchasing power is completely incomparable to Asunción, the capital of Paraguay, and their products are not easy to cash out.
The main export commodities of Argentina and Paraguay are agricultural products such as beef and wheat, and East Africa itself is a major agricultural and animal husbandry country, so East Africa's trade activity within the region is not too high.
However, due to the unique geographical environment, the quality of beef and wheat in Paraguay and Argentina is higher than that in East Africa. Under this situation, East Africa still has a certain demand for its agricultural products.
The East African commercial fleet exports local beef and other agricultural products directly to Europe, or transports them back to the mainland, thereby earning small profits.
Soon, the East African Paraguayan commercial fleet arrived in Asunción. As the East African merchant ships entered the port, many Paraguayan businessmen had already stopped and waited.
The main commodities imported from East Africa to Paraguay are textiles, electrical equipment, and automobiles. Of course, the sales volume of the latter two is not too prominent. At this time, automobiles were considered luxury goods, and Paraguay, a country with a small country and a small population, only had a handful of them. Only the upper-class population can grit their teeth and consume. As for the sales of electrical equipment, it is not much better. After all, Europe, the United States and East Africa have a long way to go to popularize electricity, not to mention fringe countries in South America like Paraguay.
Of course, Paraguay's market is still a small market. During Lopez's period, Paraguay had laid telegraphs and built railways, so the locals were relatively receptive to new things.
It’s just that the Paraguay War interrupted Paraguay’s development path, including the most “developed” industry in South America. After that, East Africa and the Austro-Hungarian Empire squeezed into the Paraguay market.
Forty percent of Paraguay's power equipment now comes from East Africa, followed by France and finally the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Before the Paraguay War, Paraguay's largest trading partner was France. Lopez graduated from France and regarded Napoleon as his idol. After Lopez's death, the Paraguayan government's policies still changed, which allowed East Africa to gain admission. .
But it was not East Africa that did business with Paraguay, but the Hechingen Consortium. East Africa did not have this ability at the time.
Later, as East Africa's economic and industrial strength strengthened, it began to use the Hechingen Consortium's trade channels to gradually accumulate the scale of trade with Paraguay.
After entering the 1990s, with the rapid development of East African industry, East African industrial products can now compete with other countries even if they are not sold at a reduced price in Paraguay. Among them, power equipment and automobiles are Paraguay’s priorities. In these two areas, East African manufacturing is a high-end product that is highly competitive in the global market.
Of course, in the 19th century, no matter how bad a country was, there was no shortage of markets if it worked hard to develop industry. In the 19th century, industrial production capacity was limited, and the demand for industrial products was very strong.
Although Paraguay is a small country with a small population, it has strong per capita consumption power. After the Paraguay War, in order to quickly restore the country's economy and population, Paraguay's economic policies were loose. The original social class was also broken due to the war, so ordinary people had many opportunities, even if If you only develop agriculture, your income will be considerable.
Coupled with the increase in Italian immigrants, Paraguay has provided a rich industrial and commercial population. This has made Paraguay's economic development relatively good today, and its industrial and agricultural fields have even reached a higher level than before the war.
After all, many Italian immigrants who fled to Paraguay came from Venice, a relatively developed area in Italy, and Venice itself is an area with a strong industrial and commercial atmosphere.
(End of this chapter)