African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1389 Settlement
Ernst supports actions like Kitwe City that can give full play to subjective initiative. Of course, another reason is that Ernst himself is optimistic about the development of the film and television industry.

In recent years, East Africa has already started to lay out its layout for the film and television industry. As long as it controls the mainstream platforms, basically everything will be fine. Not to mention East Africa at home and abroad, the East African government and the Rhine royal family have also controlled a number of influential media mouthpieces in recent years.

Moreover, as an imperialist country in the early 20th century, East Africa did not need to tolerate the infiltration of the United States, the global overlord, into its culture and public opinion industries for the sake of economic development, as later developing countries did.

As the current world hegemon, Britain's control and institutional construction are far from the level of the United States in the past, and Britain has lost the opportunity to go further. Now it can only preserve its own interests as much as possible and maintain and retain the systems and rules that it has formulated in the past that are beneficial to itself.

Unless Britain undergoes another industrial revolution to transform itself, or moves its capital to India, it will be very difficult for Britain to return to its peak. Apart from other things, although India is large in size, the Indian Ocean is no longer a monopoly of Britain, and East Africa now has the ability to curb India's development.

Without overwhelming advantages, how can East Africa call itself a leader and a major power in international affairs in the Indian Ocean region?

As far as the current situation is concerned, it is basically an international consensus that East Africa is the only dominant power in the Indian Ocean. There is even a high probability that East Africa may achieve regional hegemony in the South Atlantic in the future.

This is the geographical advantage of East Africa. Unless third-rate countries like Brazil, India and Argentina can rise, facts from past lives have proved that these countries are only at a mediocre level of development in the world. They are far from being good students, let alone top students like East Africa.

This is not East Africa flattering itself, but rather a recognition by the international community of East Africa's development achievements over the past fifty years.

From an inconspicuous East African colony to the most powerful country on the African continent and to one of the world's top powers, East Africa's success has attracted more attention than other emerging countries such as Germany, the United States and Japan.

This also led to the emergence of the so-called "East African experience" in the international community since some time ago. A very small number of ambitious people hope to replicate the successful experience of East Africa, which has caused chaos in some colonial regions.

However, the only successful ones so far are the Kingdoms of East Africa and South Germany. Leopold II of Belgium was also considered half successful. After all, before his death, the Belgian Congo was completely his private territory.

It was not until the death of Leopold II that the Belgian government officially took over the Belgian Congo.

There is a big difference here. In the past, Belgian Congo was the private territory of Leopold II, so Leopold II could do whatever he wanted in Belgian Congo. The Belgian government, at least Leopold II himself, was a little more humane, but not much.

However, in recent years, the Belgian Congo has begun to become too powerful to be controlled, which is a real headache for the current Belgian government.

……

1922 2 Month 12 Day.

Belgian Congo, Pointe-Noire.

Affected by World War I, Pointe-Noire became more prosperous than before World War I and was in no way inferior to any city in Belgium.

Brussels, the capital of Belgium, suffered the baptism of World War I and has only just cleared the ruins left by the war.

Pointe-Noire was the economic and political center of the Belgian Congo colony, and also had the status of the largest port city in the Belgian Congo colony. This made Pointe-Noire's political status in the Belgian Congo comparable to the sum of the Belgian capital Brussels and the largest port city in the country, Antwerp.

Politically, as a colony, the political center of Belgian Congo was naturally placed on the coast, just like other colonies, which was conducive to the control of the colonial power.

Economically, the Belgian Congo colony reaped a huge war dividend and became a safe haven for Belgian domestic capital during World War I. A large amount of Belgian domestic capital poured into Pointe-Noire and other Belgian Congo colonies.

Finally, there was a massive influx of immigrants. During the war, a large number of Belgians immigrated to the Belgian Congo.

This made the Belgian Congo colony one of the fastest-growing regions in the world during the five years of World War I.

By 1922, the population of Pointe-Noire alone exceeded , most of whom were Belgians who immigrated to the Belgian Congo to escape the war, and the population of the entire Belgian Congo exceeded million.

This is actually easy to understand. Although Belgium is an inconspicuous small country in Europe, its population density is astonishingly high. The total population of this tiny country exceeds seven million.

During World War I, Belgium was the front line of the repeated struggle between the two major camps, and the war was particularly fierce, which led to a large outflow of population from Belgium. The Belgian Congo colony, as an overseas territory of the country, became the first choice for many people.

Thanks to the rapid development of the Belgian Congo colony at the beginning of this century, before the wave of local colonization came, the Belgian Congo colony still had a very good impression in the hearts of Belgians.

Moreover, they ran to the Belgian Congo colony to escape the war. Even if the situation in the Belgian Congo colony was different from what they had imagined, there was still East Africa as an alternative option.

East Africa in the early 20th century had long since gotten rid of the stereotype of a barren land. After all, if East Africa could become one of the world's top powers, how could it be that much worse?

Moreover, many Belgians were not completely ignorant of the situation in the Belgian Congo. As Belgium's most important overseas colony, there were many Belgian companies and personnel who frequently traveled between Belgium and the Congo colony.

During the war, many Belgian shipping companies started immigration businesses. These shipping companies were the main bridges of communication and trade between the pre-war Belgian Congo colony and the mainland.

They also had a better understanding of the development of the Belgian Congo colony, and the employees of these shipping companies were naturally basically their own people, so for the sake of their families' safety, they were willing to prepare a few more tickets.

Compared with ordinary Belgians who immigrated to the Belgian Congo colony, Belgian local companies poured into the Belgian Congo colony in large numbers during World War I.

No matter what, the Belgian Congo colony covers an area of ​​more than 200,000 square kilometers, which is much larger than the mainland, and it is also rich in resources. Most importantly, it will not be affected by war.

The most typical example is that a large number of Belgian steel companies moved to the Belgian Congo colony during the war.

On the one hand, the Belgian Congo colony has rich iron ore resources, and Belgium is one of the countries with the most developed steel industry in Europe. Therefore, before the war, many Belgian steel companies had already laid out their plans in the Belgian Congo colony. After all, the steel industry had changed in the early 20th century. Due to technological innovation, the impact of iron ore on the steel industry exceeded that of coal mines.

World War I greatly accelerated the transfer of Belgium's domestic steel industry.

On the other hand, due to its geographical location, the Belgian Congo colony also faced a very good market. In addition to being close to the large market of East Africa, the steel produced in the Belgian Congo colony was also conducive to export to West Africa, South America and other countries.

The last point is that the labor cost in the Congo colony is lower than that in the mainland. After all, the northwestern European region where Belgium is located is one of the regions with the highest labor costs in the world.

Therefore, the transfer of industries to Congo has many advantages for Belgian local companies. Moreover, as a colony of their own, they do not need to worry about being wiped out when developing in Congo.

Therefore, with the influx of a large number of people and enterprises, the city of Pointe-Noire developed rapidly during World War I, and the Belgian Congo colony even exceeded the level of economic development that a colony should have.

After all, most of the time, colonies are symbols of poverty and backwardness. Although the industry and economy of Britain's Canadian colony are quite developed, Canada has been developing for hundreds of years, and its advantages in resources and natural conditions are simply not comparable to those of the Congo colony.

The main reason for this result is that the Belgians did not have as many choices as the British. After all, Belgium only had one colony, Congo.

Although Belgium is a small country in Europe, in terms of economy, it was a real big country in the early 20th century. Therefore, the economic spillover and industrial transfer of Belgium to its only colony were also exaggerated.

Coupled with the impact of the previous world war, many immigrants to Belgium in the Congo colony were no longer willing to leave.

"Treden, aren't you and your family planning to return to your homeland?" Dist asked his old acquaintance Treden when he met him on the streets of Blackhorn City.

The Treden family immigrated to the Belgian Congo colony in 1917, and this is their fifth year in the Belgian Congo.

Dist is originally a fellow villager of Treden, and they knew each other when they were in Belgium.

"It's you! Dist. I haven't seen you for a while. You look much more haggard."

Dist said: "That's natural. The epidemic has just ended and the economy is in recession. Of course I feel irritable, so I'm not in a good mood."

The Belgian Congo colony was also affected by the epidemic and economic depression. After all, after the war, Belgium returned to peace and many people chose to return to their homeland, which led to a small peak in shipping between the Belgian Congo and the mainland. The increase in personnel exchanges naturally led to the rapid spread of the plague.

Belgium is adjacent to France, which was severely affected by the plague at that time. Of course, Belgium was also severely affected by the plague at that time, and many sailors brought the European flu to the Belgian Congo.

This really made some Belgians who had already decided to settle in the Belgian Congo angry. After all, from their perspective, the virus was spread from their local area.

Treden said: "It is true. We finally settled down in Congo, but were affected by the epidemic and economic depression. This is really not good news for ordinary people like us."

"So your family doesn't plan to return to Belgium?" asked Diest.

Treden said, "How did you hear that I was planning to go back to Belgium? The boat ticket is not cheap, and my family doesn't want to spend that money. Besides, life in Congo is pretty good now. There's no need to go back to that sad place in Belgium. Maybe our original home is now a pile of rubble."

Diest said, "When you first came to the Belgian Congo, you said you would return to Belgium after the war."

Treden did say this back then. After all, under normal circumstances, who would be willing to stay in the colony for no reason?
However, times have changed. When he said that, Treden's impression of the Congo colony was that it was poor and backward and could only serve as a temporary stopover. After the war, Treden would have to take his family back to the glamorous and economically developed Belgium.

However, after arriving in Pointe Noire, Treden discovered that his previous ideas were wrong. The Congo colony was not as backward as he had imagined. Instead, it was quite prosperous and not much different from the mainland.

Of course, when he first arrived in Pointe Noire, Treden still missed Belgium, but as time went by, Treden finally gave up the idea, because no one could have imagined that the war would last for another two years, and when the war ended, a plague swept in again.

Although Congo was also affected by the plague, it was nothing compared to Belgium itself.

In addition, during the past few years in Congo, Treden and his family have completely integrated into the country. If they return to their homeland, work and housing will be a problem, so now Treden has become a complete Congolese.

Treden said to Dist: "You and I are both aware of the situation in the mainland. Although the situation in Congo is not good, the mainland will only be worse. Moreover, I privately believe that there is still a risk of war in the mainland in the future. After all, the world war has only stopped. Belgium is in a too dangerous position and is far less safe than Congo."

"Belgium is sandwiched between Britain, France and Germany, and the relations between these three countries are complicated and extremely domineering. Belgium is also a piece of fat meat, so the risk of war is too great, and this has been the case throughout history."

"Looking at Congo, it only has one neighbor, East Africa. As long as East Africa does not invade here, Congo will be very safe. And even if East Africa really has ideas about Congo, the intensity of the war will definitely be much smaller than that in Europe."

The reason why Treden said this is because he believes that if East Africa really invades Congo, Congo will most likely surrender directly. Belgium can still survive in the cracks in Europe, but Congo has no choice in Africa and can only completely turn to East Africa.

Treden went on to say, "Besides, Congo has more opportunities than mainland China, and its economic development is no worse than mainland China. Going back to mainland China at this time means starting over. Unless I have a problem with my brain, I will choose the former. It's quite comfortable to stay in Congo."

This remark resonated with Dist, who said, "That's true. In fact, Congo's economic level is basically not bad except that its size is temporarily not as large as that of China."

This is very normal. The population of Belgium is over seven million, while that of Congo is only over one million. The population of Belgium is six times that of Congo, not to mention that Congo is just a colony of Belgium.

However, these did not affect the quality of life of ordinary Belgians in the Belgian Congo at all. It was not much different from that in their homeland. Moreover, the Belgian Congo colony could provide them with a sense of security that their homeland could not provide, so many people chose to settle there.

(End of this chapter)