African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1335 Primary Industrial Power
East Africa also came at a good time. In addition to the multipolar structure, it also caught the last train of colonialism, the concentrated outbreak of the capitalist crisis, the outbreak of conflicts between imperialist groups, etc. Being at the forefront of the times is the basis for East Africa's successful take-off.

Langfurt went on to say: “Currently, our population is mainly concentrated in the equatorial region, including the central (Zambezi and southern Congo) and Bohemian Industrial Zone (Zimbabwe), the eastern coast (Tanzania and Mozambique) and the western coast (Angola), accounting for 60% of the country’s population.”

"The next most populous regions are the Great Lakes region and the South, followed by the North and Southwest."

“The industrial population is concentrated in the central and southern plateaus and coastal areas of the country, with Rhine City as the center, presenting multiple economic and industrial core areas across the country.”

The problems of economic development in East Africa are generally manifested in the imbalance between the north and the south, which is also the main reason for the focus on the development of the Great Lakes region during the Fourth Five-Year Plan period.

Of course, considering the geographical location, climate conditions, economy and other factors, strictly speaking, the Great Lakes region does not really belong to the North, but it is the place closest to the North with development potential.

This is easy to understand. Just like the western development of the Far Eastern Empire in the previous life, the areas where the government really pays attention to economic development are Guanzhong and Sichuan and Chongqing regions.

As a country with a vast land area, East Africa certainly cannot learn from the current European countries, especially the German model of equal distribution of resources in all regions, in terms of economic development. It cannot also learn from the Russian model of concentrating too many resources in a few regions such as St. Petersburg and Moscow.

The economies of European countries are developed and the economies between regions are relatively balanced, but this is determined by historical and political factors.

Take Germany for example. Although Germany has become a unified country, the states and free cities unified by Germany still have great power. In addition, Germany's terrain constraints, especially the basins and river valleys in the southern region, easily lead to the concentration of resources, thus forming regional economic and industrial centers such as Munich and Stuttgart.

Moreover, the large number of countries in Europe has also caused a waste of public resources. Whether it is the United Kingdom, France, Germany or other European countries, their construction is centered on their own country.

As a result, Europe's railway, road and water networks have formed multiple systems, resulting in a certain degree of waste, especially for Europe as a whole.

Especially in the border areas of various countries, originally only one railway or highway is needed, but due to the different strategies of each country, duplicate construction may occur.

The urban development model of Tsarist Russia is obviously of no learning value to East Africa. After all, apart from the areas around St. Petersburg and Moscow, and eastern Ukraine, other parts of Russia are almost all poor rural areas.

Development is very uneven, which is also an important reason for the collapse of the Russian government. Russia is indeed developed and powerful, but this is based on the fact that most regions and population have not benefited. Not only have they not benefited, but in order to support the development of industrially developed regions, they have to further exploit backward regions.

In reality, the lower-class workers and peasants in Russia could barely survive, so they were naturally easily instigated by the Labor Party.

Therefore, although East Africa also focuses on developing large cities, the way to achieve balance is to allow other regions to get a share of the pie.

This is the case with East Africa's multi-economic core. East Africa has not only formed five national industrial regions, namely "three big and two small", across the country, but also improved the utilization efficiency of public resources under a unified large market.

Lang Fuerte said: "From the distribution of registered population in my country, we can see that my country has formed a number of key industrial and market clusters under a unified large market."

"Like a big tree and its branches and leaves, under the leadership of the government, we have built a developed and efficient transportation network, with railways, roads and waterways forming the overall framework for national economic development."

"Relying on this nationally developed transportation system, we have developed the current industrial and economic development pattern of 'three major and two minor', thus driving the development of the national economy. This shows the overall rationality of my country's current population distribution."

The so-called three big and two small is a concept within the East African government. It refers to the five national economic and industrial center areas that East Africa focuses on building. They are the Central and Bohemian Industrial Zones centered on the city of Rhine, the Eastern Coastal Industrial Belt, the Western Coastal Industrial Belt, the Great Lakes Industrial Zone and the Southern Cluster Development Area.

The first three are basically formed, so they are called the three major ones, and the last two are in the development and construction stage, so they are called the two small ones.

These five regions, which are the most suitable areas for urban, industrial and agricultural development in East Africa, have superior basic conditions and are relatively favorable in terms of energy, minerals, arable land, water resources and climate.

Therefore, these five regions will inevitably become the "five poles" of the East African economy in the future. This is also the long-term plan made by Ernst and the East African government for the balanced development of the East African economy.

Of course, how will East Africa develop outside these five places? This problem is also easy to solve, because apart from these five economically important areas, the population in other places is not large, which means that the overall economic data of non-"two big and three small" areas is not good, but if it is per capita, it is another story.

This is similar to the northwest of the Far East Empire in the past, or today's Siberia in Russia. The conditions seem harsh, but that is only in terms of climate. In an era of low productivity, it was indeed unsolvable. However, after the advent of the industrial age, the quality of life there may not be worse than other places.

Take Siberia in Russia today for example. Siberia is indeed a "bitter and cold place", but the living conditions of the Siberian people are much better than those in Ukraine, where the land is the most fertile and the climate is the warmest in Russia.

After all, Siberia is vast and sparsely populated, which provides it with abundant resources. When resources are abundant and the population is sparse, the population becomes a valuable resource.

Moreover, Siberia's remoteness and harsh climate have kept it away from wars before.

It should be said that the people who were truly dissatisfied with the Siberian environment were the "political prisoners" who were previously exiled here by the Tsarist government.

The ridicule of digging potatoes in Siberia was indeed unbearable for them, but for the lower-class peasants in Russia in the past, having a stable piece of land to dig potatoes was a luxury.

Of course, Siberia can only be considered as inferior to the best in Russia but better than the worst. Russia has actually been implementing a colonial policy in Siberia for a long time, and the living conditions of non-Russians must have been miserable.

This is similar to the early days in East Africa. The living conditions of the people in early East Africa were actually not bad. The reason was that there were a large number of black slaves under the people of East Africa at that time.

The slave economy was an important way to ensure the living standards of East African citizens until East Africa initially completed its industrialization stage, that is, around the completion of the Second Five-Year Plan.

After the end of the slave economy, remote areas of East Africa, such as the northern region, have built developed transportation. Coupled with the vast land and sparse population, although the economic data in northern East Africa is not very good, the living standards of the people are above the national average. Although the land in the north is relatively barren, the population is small and the per capita arable land is more, which can offset the environmental disadvantages. The same is true for resources. Minerals in the north are relatively scarce, but the per capita possession is higher, and jobs are relatively stable, so it is not difficult to maintain a normal standard of living.

If you want better treatment and living conditions, you can only move to the city. Both have their pros and cons, and it mainly depends on your personal pursuits.

The preliminary population statistics of 1918 gave the East African government a reassurance. For a country with a short history like East Africa, the current population growth will not bring too much pressure to the government. Instead, it is an important driving force for promoting economic development.

Moreover, according to Ernst's experience, the pressure that East African governments will face in the future is likely to be the problem of declining fertility rates. After all, the urbanization level in East Africa may have reached 40 percent.

This also means that East Africa can shed the label of a "semi-industrial country" because its urbanization level of 40% has already exceeded that of developed countries of this era, which is about 37 to 39%. East Africa has barely passed the mark, while the world's average urbanization level is less than 20%.

The so-called developed countries in the early 20th century, in addition to several powerful countries, also included small powers with relatively developed economies such as Belgium and the Netherlands.

Of course, East Africa becoming a developed country does not mean that everything is fine. On the contrary, there is still a long way to go, especially for the four major countries ahead of East Africa: Britain, Germany, the United States and France.

Among them, France's urbanization rate should be closest to East Africa. France's urbanization rate is around 46%, while the United States is around 50%, Germany is close to 60%, and the United Kingdom has almost no room for growth, and urbanization is basically completed.

France's urbanization level is relatively low among major countries. After all, France has long been a traditional power in Europe and even the world.

But this is understandable. Since the Franco-Prussian War, France's industrial development has been relatively slow. Of course, this is mainly compared with other industrial countries, especially France's rival Germany. France has not recovered until now. This also shows why France has such great hostility towards Germany.

It can be said that the Franco-Prussian War interrupted the entire destiny of France, so that today France's urbanization level has even been approached by a country in East Africa with only more than half a century of history.

In addition to a few major powers, a few small European countries such as Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, etc. are also likely to be above East Africa, but there is no specific data for them, so we can only speculate.

Of course, Sweden should be considered a medium-sized country in Europe. The reason why East Africa judges that Sweden's urbanization and industrialization are higher than East Africa is that since the 1970s, Sweden's economic development has been higher than the average level of Western Europe. Sweden itself had a good financial foundation in the past, and going back further, it could even compete with Russia, so Sweden must have a certain industrial foundation.

In addition to the above-mentioned countries, the reason why East Africa's urbanization level can pass the line is naturally inseparable from the contrast of other countries, such as Japan, Spain, Russia, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, etc.

Among these countries, the Austro-Hungarian Empire had the highest level of urbanization before the war, but it was only about 25%.

Japan is a special case. Its current urbanization level has reached about 1910%. Before , Japan's urbanization level was less than %. In less than ten years, Japan's urbanization rate has increased by nearly %, which is a very scary number.

The reason why this number is scary is that Japan's population has now exceeded 50 million. Judging from the population alone, Japan's strength is even greater than that of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. After all, the Austro-Hungarian Empire had many ethnic groups, while Japan is almost entirely made up of Yamato people. Only Hokkaido has a pitifully small number of Ainu people (also known as Ezo).

In the last century, Japan's population was only over 30 million, so Japan significantly increased its industrialization while maintaining high population growth. If French citizens had the same fertility level as the Japanese, Germany would probably be the one having a headache now.

Of course, the so-called developed countries is a concept that was only proposed in the 20s. Nowadays, countries around the world do not have this term, and generally use the term industrial powers.

If we only talk about industrial powers, East Africa should have been considered an industrial power as early as the 1990s, and Russia, the weakest link in imperialism, could also be dubbed an "industrial power."

Of course, this so-called industrial power is mainly aimed at countries outside Europe. If Russia and other industrial countries in Europe say that they are industrial powers, they will probably be laughed at.

Therefore, Ernst told East African government officials: "Judging from the population data and the industrial development of our country, our country has now become a primary industrial power."

"Among the big countries, we still need to maintain a humble attitude and actively catch up with the UK, Germany, the US and France."

"Although my country's industrial scale has reached the world's first place and has further consolidated this position, the quality of its industrial development is still far behind other major countries."

"Take the United States for example. The size of the empire is not much larger than that of the United States, but the urbanization rate of the United States is about 10% ahead of ours."

"I'm sure you all know how difficult it is to narrow this 10% gap. In the past, my country was in a period of rapid development for a long time, which led to a significant increase in the level of industrialization."

"However, as the empire has grown to this day, we want to go further, and each step will only be more difficult than the past."

At the beginning of the 20th century, the urbanization rate in East Africa had reached about percent. Nearly years have passed since then, and the urbanization level in East Africa has almost doubled.

This is a very amazing "miracle", and it is almost impossible for East Africa to repeat this "miracle" in the future unless it encounters another major historical opportunity like World War I.

In twenty years, the urbanization level has increased by nearly 20%. This speed is not unheard of, such as the Soviet Union or the Far East Empire in the past.

Of course, the Soviet Union’s third five-year plan was interrupted due to World War II, so it did not last for twenty years, but it entered a stage of rapid urbanization for a period of time after the war.

Therefore, it can be said that the East African government under the leadership of Ernst has exerted its capabilities to the extreme, and with the help of the opportunities of the times, it has achieved today's results, transforming East Africa from a semi-industrial country into a primary industrial power.

(End of this chapter)