African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1419: The Superiority of East Africans

Ultimately, the so-called "free trade" still depends on who has the bigger fist to truly enjoy free trade. Britain's own military strength is no longer sufficient to play a leading role in South America, so Britain's market share in South America will gradually shrink.

However, even if we have to wait until Britain's influence completely disappears in South America, it will take some time. At least in this era, the Royal Navy is still the world's most powerful naval force, so Britain can still take the initiative in global affairs.

As workers in the Port of Alexandria, Bessihofen and Michel generally have a better understanding of the economic conditions of the countries and regions around the South Atlantic due to the scope of the Port of Alexandria's business.

Michelle said, "Anyway, apart from the Empire, only Argentina has relatively better conditions along the entire South Atlantic coast."

"Argentina is the world's granary and meat warehouse. Even though the Empire is said to import some grain and meat from Argentina every year, it is difficult to see such imports in our province."

Bessehofen was not surprised at all. He said as a matter of course: "Of course, our province of Letania is also a rich place. The beef, mutton and grain in our province are not much worse than those in Argentina."

The Lethania Province is indeed one of the high-quality agricultural and pastoral production areas in East Africa. Although it was developed relatively late, due to its unique geographical environment and climate, the animal husbandry and grain cultivation here are more advantageous.

This place is originally located in the transition zone between grassland and desert, but compared to the Southwest Province (Namibia) in the south, Letania's climate is more like tropical savannah.

In addition, the local terrain is mainly plateaus and relatively flat, so there are vast areas of high-quality natural pastures in the province of Letania.

The cattle and sheep raised in the Letania Province include not only high-quality breeds introduced from outside, but also local breeds inherited from the original indigenous people. Before East Africa took over this area from Portugal, the local indigenous people's pastoral industry was already relatively prosperous.

As a second-generation immigrant born and raised in the province of Leithania, Bessehofen naturally prefers the local products of his hometown.

However, it should be noted that East Africa occupied the Angola region relatively late, so most of the local residents moved here in the past 30 years. Bessehofen's parents moved here from the east and were considered the earliest residents of Alexandria.

Michel also agreed with Bessihofen. He said: "Argentines make a lot of money by selling beef and grain. This is similar to our province. Agriculture and animal husbandry are relatively developed. However, compared with Argentina, our province's steel industry and industry are what we are most proud of."

"After all, agriculture depends on natural endowments, while industry depends more on human factors."

As one of the top steel-producing provinces in East Africa, the total steel output of Letania Province reached more than 1924 million tons in , and is expected to exceed million tons before the end of the Fifth Five-Year Plan.

What does this mean? To put it simply, the steel production of the province of Leithania alone is basically equivalent to that of France or Russia.

Because of the Russian Labor Party, Russia's data is not transparent, but now the economy in most parts of Russia has recovered to a certain extent, so the current Russian industry should be weaker than that of the Tsarist era, but not too much.

After all, Russia has basically recovered the main industrial areas of the imperial era. In fact, when occupying eastern Ukraine, the main industrial areas of the former imperial Russia had all been controlled by the Russian Labor Party.

During the Russian Empire era, the steel production of France and Russia was basically in a state of competing with each other, so now the steel production capacity of the two countries is approximately close to 4 million tons.

Michelle then said proudly: "Our province can choose not to import any products from Argentina, but Argentina has to import steel from us, so our province is still more powerful."

"Buenos Aires may be the only big city in Argentina that can be boasted about, but there is only one Buenos Aires in Argentina, and it is a super-large international city developed with the efforts of the whole country."

Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina, is, from a comprehensive perspective, one of the most developed cities on the South Atlantic coast of this era.

It is also the only megacity on the South Atlantic coast with a population approaching two million. In comparison, Cabinda and Luanda in East Africa and Rio de Janeiro in Brazil all have a population of around one million.

Although Cabinda and Luanda in East Africa also have their own advantages, Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro are the capitals of Argentina and Brazil respectively, which leads to a high concentration of resources in the two places.

Take areas such as healthcare, education, and finance for example. Cities like Cabinda and Luanda are definitely not as good as them, so the gap does exist.

"However, the development level of other developed cities in Argentina is comparable to that of our city of Alexandria, but the problem is that our city of Alexandria can only rank third in the province," Michel continued.

The development levels of different regions in Argentina are extremely uneven. For example, Buenos Aires has a population of nearly two million, which ranks among the top in the world.

The population of the remaining cities has plummeted. For example, Rosario, the second most populous city in Argentina, has a population of just over 200,000. Kordofan, the third most populous city, has just exceeded 100,000. The population of other cities in Argentina is less than 100,000.

In other words, Buenos Aires is as different from other regions in Argentina as the city is from the countryside.

With the exception of Buenos Aires, cities in Argentina pale in comparison to East African cities.

So Michel said arrogantly: "I heard from the Argentine sailors that in their country, except for Buenos Aires, no city is more developed than Alexandria, whether in terms of population, industry, transportation, urban construction, etc."

“And in heavy industry, especially steel, even their capital, Buenos Aires, is not as good as our province.”

In Michel's opinion, the province of Lethania is only in the middle among the provinces in East Africa, and it is not even among the top three among the western coastal provinces.

Above Letania Province are Congo Province, West Coast Province and Benguela Province, all of which have higher levels of economic development than Letania Province.

However, even the "insignificant" province of Leithania in Michel's eyes is not something that can be easily touched in the South Atlantic coastal area, especially in other countries.

Apart from the capitals and economic centers of each country, no country dares to guarantee that their other cities are more economically developed than the cities in the province of Leitania.

The province of Leitania is unique in the steel industry along the entire South Atlantic coast, and it is no exaggeration to say that it is far ahead.

It is the most important steel production center and the most important steel export area in the entire South Atlantic coast. Basically, most countries along the South Atlantic coast import steel from the province of Letania. Of course, there are some exceptions, such as the Belgian Autonomous Territory of Congo or some colonies of Britain and France in West Africa.

Belgium itself is a major steel-producing country, with an annual output of more than 2 million tons, and its colony, the Autonomous Region of Congo, is a newly emerging steel industry base, so in addition to being self-sufficient, it can also export.

However, Britain and France do not import large quantities of steel products from East Africa, mainly due to trade protectionism considerations.

After all, if we really talk about cost-effectiveness, importing steel from East Africa to meet the development of the colonies, whether in terms of price or transportation costs, East African steel is definitely more cost-effective.

However, East Africa still reached deep into the "forbidden zones" of the two countries through indirect means, especially France's colonies in West Africa. Although they restricted steel imports from East Africa, France's steel was extremely dependent on Belgium.

After losing Lorraine and Alsace, not only did France's domestic industrial development need to be supplemented by Belgium's steel industry, but France's West African colonies also needed to import steel from Belgium's colonies in Africa to meet the needs of colonial construction.

Although France's steel production is not small, it is difficult to meet domestic demand, let alone support the colonies.

Therefore, Belgium became the best choice for meeting the steel needs of France's West African colonies. However, the steel companies built in the Congo Autonomous Region have shares from East Africa, so the steel imported by France from Belgium still cannot get rid of the shadow of East Africa.

In comparison, the situation in the UK is much better. After all, the UK has many colonies, and colonies with advanced industrial development such as Canada serve as an important supplement.

However, Britain, France and Belgium were able to be independent of East Africa because they were important industrial countries themselves, while other countries and regions along the South Atlantic coast inevitably chose to place orders with East Africa.

Argentina and Brazil are both major importers of East African steel. Even the colonies of Spain and Portugal import steel from East Africa. The steel products of the Letania Province are even sold through the Strait of Magellan to countries such as Chile and Peru on the Pacific coast, or go north to the Caribbean coast and are sold to Colombia, Venezuela and other places.

Argentina, a rich South American country that both Bessihofen and Michel agree on, even ranks first in terms of the total amount of steel imported from East Africa each year.

This is also the reason why Michel said before that the province of Letania can not import any products from Argentina, but Argentina has to import steel from the province of Letania.

Argentina's industrial base is very weak, which is particularly prominent in the field of heavy industry, especially in the most basic heavy industry production sector such as steel, where Argentina's base is basically zero.

Argentina has only a small amount of light industry to speak of, such as textiles and food processing, while heavy industry and most industrial products are almost entirely dependent on imports.

Take Argentina’s railways for example. Although Argentina’s railway network is the most densely populated and developed in the entire Latin American region, many of the industrial materials used in its railway construction are imported, such as rails, locomotives, various railway equipment, etc.

Michel said: "Argentina's level of industrial development is completely disproportionate to its level of wealth. It should be regarded as one of the few regions in the world that has a developed economy without relying on industry."

"This is God feeding the Argentines, not entirely the result of their efforts. Take the development of animal husbandry for example. Argentines put cattle and sheep on the land and they can grow on their own without much management. This is similar to the situation in Australia. It is a truly enviable natural environment."

This is because the ecosystems of Australia and Argentina are fundamentally different from those of East Africa.

The development of animal husbandry in East Africa is destined to require more effort than in Argentina and Australia, and the reason for this result is the lack of large beasts in Argentina and Australia.

Because South America and Australia are relatively isolated from other continents geographically, the evolution of their ecosystems is very different from that of other continents.

Especially in Australia, the lack of top predators has led to the rampant proliferation of feral cats, dogs and rabbits.

The most threatening creature in Australia is probably the saltwater crocodile, but the saltwater crocodile basically moves in the water and does not have much impact on the terrestrial ecosystem.

The only Tasmanian tiger that Australia can boast of on land is basically on the verge of extinction in Australia, and the possibility of introducing it from East African zoos in the future cannot be ruled out.

There are more large beasts in Argentina than in Australia, but they are basically insignificant.

On the other hand, in East Africa, if East Africans dared to let their livestock roam free and did not keep an eye on them, the lions, leopards and hyenas on the African grasslands would have a feast to their eyes.

It is no wonder that Michelle said that Argentina was blessed by God. From this perspective, the same is true for Australia.

Back then, just to seize more living space from wild beasts and eliminate potential dangers, East Africa had flooded the entire land with blood several times, and packed up many wild animals and local indigenous peoples and sent them to God.

Bessihofen nodded and said, "There's no point in being envious. After all, Argentina's land is there. Since they have grabbed it, they can naturally enjoy the benefits."

"To put it bluntly, our land in East Africa was also stolen, but the conditions are not as good as those in Argentina. However, it is precisely because of the difference in environment that we in East Africa have worked harder to make progress."

"It has become the only industrial country in the entire southern hemisphere and one of the world's great powers. In contrast, Brazil, Argentina and Australia also have the foundation of being great powers, but they are just resting on the laurels of their predecessors."

"From this perspective, our country is far greater than theirs, and this greatness is the result of our own efforts, which cannot be easily taken away by anyone."

"Argentina's current prosperity is like a mirage. Without a strong industry, it will always be a vassal in the international community. Once someone has intentions, Argentina's road to prosperity will be easily cut off."

"Argentina's industry is extremely irrational. In this era of industrialization, if Argentina cannot transform its economic structure in time, it will most likely be destroyed by a wave on the coast in the future."

The exchanges between Bessehofen and Michel were full of the superiority of being citizens of the empire, which was one of the spiritual gifts that East Africa could offer to its citizens.

(End of this chapter)