African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1444 Mombasa Island
Mombasa.

As the second largest city in East Africa, Mombasa is as prosperous as Dar es Salaam, and the gap between the two cities has been narrowing in recent years.

This is also related to the different development paths of the two cities. Although Dar es Salaam is at risk of being surpassed by Mombasa, the cities around Dar es Salaam, including the First Town City, Soga City, and Bagamoyo City, have in fact been connected to Dar es Salaam, and industrial synergy has been basically implemented.

In addition, Pemba Island, Zanzibar Island and Tanga City also belong to the economic circle of Dar es Salaam.

This has led to the emergence of an urban area with Dar es Salaam as its core on the east coast of East Africa, covering an urban population of nearly three million.

Mombasa is a single-core city with a population of about 1.4 million, slightly lower than Dar es Salaam.

Of course, from a national perspective, the population growth rates in Dar es Salaam and Mombasa in recent years are not actually very fast.

Because in the past decade or so, East African countries have focused their investment on the west, while in recent years they have focused on supporting the Great Lakes region and the south.

This pancake-like urban layout has also resulted in the fact that there is no large city with a population of more than two million in East Africa to date.

This is relatively special among the world's major powers. For example, London in the UK has a population of over seven million, New York in the United States has a population of over five million, and Chicago has a population of over two million. Berlin in Germany has a population of nearly four million, and Paris in France has a population of nearly three million. The populations of Vienna in the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Moscow in Russia are both over two million, and the population of Tokyo in Japan is over three and a half million.

The only exception may be Spain. Spain's situation is special and understandable. As a goalkeeper of the great powers, Spain may have had some disputes with Japan at the beginning of this century, but now it has completely fallen behind Japan.

Even the size of the initially unified Italy was slightly larger than that of Spain.

Moreover, Spain was still on the decline in the early 20th century. Its domestic situation continued to be turbulent, and its ethnic and class problems were even more serious than those of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. There was a high probability that a civil war would break out in the future.

From this perspective, among the major world powers, the urban development in East Africa is very unique. After all, East Africa is not a country like Spain that has the will but not the power. If it wants to build a super city, it is not difficult for East Africa.

Compared with other major countries in the world, the biggest feature of East African cities is that there are a large number of medium-sized cities with a population of more than 500,000, and there are also many large cities with a population of over one million. In terms of the number of cities with a population of over 500,000, East Africa even has more cities than any other country.

At the beginning of the 20th century, cities with a population of over 21 were considered "big cities" in many countries, but in East Africa they were only medium-sized cities. Even in the st century, cities with a population of over are not considered small cities.

Some members of the Soviet delegation also came to Mombasa, a large city in East Africa, but their purpose of arriving here was actually to change trains.

Mombasa was not a key target of the Soviet Union's investigation because the city has turned to financial development in recent years, and the Soviet Union obviously did not attach importance to the development of the financial industry. What they needed was industry, especially heavy industry.

But even so, they were still amazed by the development of Dar es Salaam! Some members of the Soviet delegation even watched the city with wide eyes.

“Comrade Karimov, I didn’t expect that Mombasa’s prosperity is even higher than Dar es Salaam. Dar es Salaam and European cities at least have a lot in common in terms of architectural style.”

"Mombasa is more like New York and Chicago in the United States, with skyscrapers everywhere. It's just like a futuristic city in science fiction!"

Mombasa is different from most cities in East Africa. As the financial center of East Africa and a window to the world, a large number of high-rise buildings have been built in the past decade or so.

As the largest city in East Africa that is closest to the Eurasian continent and an important city on the main shipping route of the Indian Ocean, the East African government has a simple idea, which is to let people from the Eurasian continent and all over the world see the strength of East Africa today.

And there is no doubt that this opened the eyes of most of the members of the Soviet delegation that came to Mombasa.

Karimov also responded in amazement: "The materials only say that Mombasa is the second largest city in East Africa, but just from the first impression of its appearance, the level of development of this city is far greater than that of Dar es Salaam."

"Dar es Salaam is more like Moscow and Leningrad, while Mombasa is completely different. I have only seen Manhattan in New York compared to Mombasa in newspapers."

"However, the high-rise buildings in Manhattan give people the impression of being a bit monotonous, while the high-rise buildings on Mombasa Island are more refined and staggered, and the architecture is more simple and futuristic."

Manhattan Island in New York and Mombasa Island in Mombasa are both islands. The difference between the two is that Manhattan Island is much larger than Mombasa Island. The former has an area of ​​more than 80 square kilometers, while the latter is only a dozen square kilometers.

Therefore, the available area of ​​Mombasa Island is much smaller than that of Manhattan. This also leads to the fact that a large central park can be built in the center of Manhattan, while the utilization of Mombasa Island in East Africa is relatively tight.

Karimov also mentioned this point: "Manhattan is a complete steel forest. Later, a large-scale park had to be built to make up for this shortcoming, while Mombasa Island is an organic combination of high-rise buildings and green areas."

After all, according to East Africa's usual style, urban parks are an indispensable feature in urban construction. Just like Dar es Salaam, there are countless parks of all sizes.

However, this is not the case in the center of Mombasa, that is, Mombasa Island. On Mombasa Island, in order to improve land utilization efficiency, no park has been built, but the East African government has planted a lot of green plants and flowers in the green belts on the roadside and in the usable space around the buildings.

This makes the skyscrapers in Mombasa look like a city growing in a garden, while Dar es Salaam is more like a forest, and Manhattan, as Karimov said, is a forest built of steel and concrete.

As for Manhattan's Central Park, if there were satellite images of this era, it would look like an ugly patch stuck in the middle of Manhattan.

Karimov's colleague Kaliakin said: "When I was young, I went to the United States for academic exchanges and saw Manhattan in New York. That was during the Russian Empire." "Compared with Manhattan, there is no doubt that the design of Mombasa Island is more attentive, especially in terms of architectural features and the importance attached to the living environment."

"The rich people in Manhattan build skyscrapers, and they love to pursue height, with a typical competitive mentality. After all, people remember the first place more, so Manhattan's skyscrapers are getting higher and higher, constantly breaking records, and they spare no expense. Many workers have lost their lives because of lack of safety protection and fell from heights. I wonder if these skyscrapers in Mombasa are built in the same way."

"However, the architecture on Mombasa Island is indeed more artistic than that in Manhattan. In Manhattan, many high-rise buildings have densely packed small windows, which greatly destroys the beauty. On the other hand, the buildings in Mombasa are mostly decorated with glass and have fewer windows. It feels like living in such a city is more like a city in a science fiction novel."

"Moreover, most of the high-rise buildings in Mombasa have flat roofs, while those in Manhattan are square at the bottom and gradually decrease in size towards the top, like a spire."

Of course, the reason Manhattan's architecture is this way, as Kaliakin said before, is so that the floors can be built higher, making the entire building taller.

This is similar to the 21st century, when some high-rise buildings are equipped with antenna-shaped spires on their roofs to increase their height.

For example, the spire of the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building in the past, accounts for about 30% of the total height of the building, and the construction principle of Manhattan skyscrapers is similar.

This makes many of Manhattan's skyscrapers have pointy tops, which would definitely not be considered beautiful in the 21st century. Of course, in the early 20th century, there was no need to consider so much.

Karimov said: "Whether it is the skyscrapers in the United States or East Africa, they have proved the gap between the Soviet Union and the two countries to a certain extent. After all, if you want to build such buildings, there are certain requirements for materials, funds and technology."

"When our Soviet Union's economy develops well in the future, perhaps we can also build such a city."

Kaliakin was not very interested in such skyscrapers. Instead, he criticized them: "This kind of high-rise building is actually a typical example of a waste of money and manpower. It is just a competition between East Africa and the United States."

"You can imagine how dangerous it is for many unprotected workers to work at height. To be honest, many people would feel terrified just standing in their position. I once learned that almost every skyscraper in Manhattan was built with human lives."

"The situation in Mombasa should be better. After all, it seems that there are fewer high-rise buildings here than in Manhattan. However, a lot of workers must have been sacrificed in the construction of such buildings."

What Kaliakin said is absolutely correct. In the early 20th century, the process of building skyscrapers was inevitably accompanied by various safety hazards.

While the situation in East Africa is much better than in the United States, it is impossible to avoid casualties. After all, many parts of high-rise buildings cannot be assisted by machinery due to their height and location, and have to rely on manpower to complete, such as the transportation of steel and cement in some special locations.

If this is the case in East Africa, the situation in the United States will be even worse, because East Africa still has the constraints of government laws and regulations and personnel supervision, while the United States can basically do whatever it wants because it has money. Therefore, even though the mortality rate in skyscraper construction is very high, there are still a large number of American workers who choose to take risks in exchange for meager rewards.

Karimov defended himself: "Of course I am not saying that the Soviet Union should build like the United States and East Africa. After all, the lives of workers are far more important than these steel bars and concrete."

"However, we can definitely build high-rise buildings with a safer and more rigorous attitude, such as taking good protective measures for workers, not pursuing construction deadlines, and strengthening supervision."

"Moreover, building these high-rise buildings is not entirely a bad thing. High-rise buildings are conducive to saving land resources and increasing land use efficiency. Therefore, in the future, our Soviet Union must also develop in this direction."

"Moreover, the construction of high-rise buildings in the Soviet Union must be fundamentally different from that in capitalist countries such as East Africa and the United States. In the Soviet Union, all property belongs to the working people, while in the United States and East Africa, it is for comparison and enjoyment."

"These high-rise buildings in Mombasa are probably only affordable for the rich, but in the future we want to make it possible for ordinary people in the Soviet Union to live in high-rise buildings."

After listening to Karimov's explanation, Kaliakin agreed with him: "We really can't throw the baby out with the bathwater. After all, high-rise buildings can also be used to serve the Soviet people. Maybe in the future, everyone will live in such buildings."

At the beginning of the 20th century, due to the scarcity of high-rise buildings, many people did not recognize their shortcomings. At least in the eyes of many Soviet people, the houses of the future should be dominated by high-rise buildings. They could not imagine that in the 21st century, the hollowing out of cities in Europe and the United States would cause high-rise buildings in urban areas to become "slums."

Anyway, as far as Ernst is concerned, his attitude towards high-rise buildings is limited development, so the construction of East African cities in this area is obviously not as good as that of American cities such as New York and Chicago.

The reason why Mombasa was able to lift the ban was due to its task of building a world financial center. Since 1910, in the past decade or so, Mombasa has finally built a complex of high-rise buildings with shocking effects.

Although it is far behind the United States in terms of both quantity and overall height, apart from the United States, no country in the world has surpassed East Africa in the field of high-rise buildings.

Especially for citizens of any country other than the United States, the high-rise buildings in Mombasa are enough to impress them.

Today, a large number of financial institutions and companies in East Africa have settled in Mombasa. At the same time, Mombasa has also attracted a large amount of foreign capital and enterprises. Especially in the Indian Ocean region, Mombasa has become an unshakable regional financial center.

At the same time, Mombasa can also effectively radiate to Europe, the Far East, Oceania and other regions, which makes the gap between Mombasa and London and New York in the financial industry narrow rapidly.

London and New York have advantages in the Atlantic Ocean, while Mombasa has advantages in the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. Unless the United States also builds a financial center on the west coast to compete with East Africa in the Pacific Ocean, the United States' influence on the Pacific Ocean does not actually have a clear advantage over East Africa.

This can be seen from the colonies. East Africa has colonies and spheres of influence in the Pacific region, even more than the United States, especially in Southeast Asia. However, the influence of the two countries in the Far East is only about the same. Therefore, overall, East Africa has more advantages.

Mombasa's geographical location is also slightly stronger than London and New York. After all, the Indian Ocean is surrounded by Eurasia, Africa and Oceania, not to mention that the competition in the Atlantic Ocean is more intense. London and New York, Paris, and even Berlin, Luanda and other cities are in competition, while Mombasa has almost no rivals in the Indian Ocean. The only city that can compete with Mombasa's financial status is Dar es Salaam in East Africa.

(End of this chapter)