African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1591 American Masters
Dahra is already within the North Atlantic, and most importantly, it is located on the eastern coast of the Atlantic Ocean, close to Europe, less than 2,000 kilometers from the Strait of Gibraltar.

Although East Africa also has military bases in Venezuela and is located in the North Atlantic, their role may not be as significant as that of Dahra.

Through Dahla, East Africa can consolidate its interests in Europe. More importantly, it lays the groundwork for future East African expansion into Europe, seizing the initiative, as Europe is a profitable region.

In the western North Atlantic, the situation is completely different. Compared to Europe, North American countries have far less room for maneuver. The United States, Canada, and Mexico basically represent the whole of North America, and the United States' strong national power is sufficient to maintain the overall stability of North America.

In other words, North America is completely dominated by the United States, which is the hegemon of North America, unlike Europe where there are many powerful countries, and East Africa which can take advantage of the situation to sow discord and form alliances.

……

With East Africa's open occupation of Dahla, East African warships and various vessels on the west coast of Africa became more active, and large quantities of building materials, supplies, and workers were continuously transported to Dahla under the escort of East African warships.

At the same time, the United States is also stepping up its investment and construction in Liberia. Some American merchant ships and warships also arrive in Liberia from the direction of Cape Verde, which makes East African and American ships frequently cross the waters off Liberia in the Atlantic Ocean.

Monrovia, the capital of Liberia.

Since 1847, with the help of the United States, Liberia has successfully gained independence from Portugal, and Monrovia is the capital of Liberia.

However, as the "eldest son" nurtured by the United States in Africa, and a rare independent sovereign nation of black people in Africa, Liberia's development is extremely backward. Even its capital, Monrovia, is unremarkable. It can be said that among underdeveloped countries, Liberia belongs to the most backward category.

Even in 1935, Liberia remained a thoroughly backward agricultural country.

It's worth noting that this country was established several decades earlier than East Africa. Starting from 1847, Liberia's history is only about twenty years behind, yet it has already become a century-old "ancient country".

This is understandable, though. As an American-style democracy, Liberia was still engaged in the slave trade until 1930, which is extremely rare in the world.

Prior to 1930, Liberian government officials frequently colluded with foreign plantation owners to send their citizens, mainly from inland indigenous tribes, to plantations in the Spanish colony of Fernandobo (now Spanish Guinea) and surrounding French colonies as indentured laborers.

These laborers suffered inhumane treatment comparable to slavery in their work, including kidnapping, deception, cruel physical punishment, and an extremely high mortality rate.

Like the United States, Liberia suffers from severe racial oppression. American-Liberian Blacks from the United States consider themselves superior and brutally exploit and rule over the native Africans in the interior.

This even caused an international scandal in 1930, but the Americans suppressed the matter at the time.

The attention Americans are paying to Liberia undoubtedly sends a signal that American-born Liberian Blacks, who have had enough of a good life, are about to have even better days ahead!

As for their numerous misdeeds and crimes within Liberia, with the support of the United States, the international community has largely stopped mentioning them.

This is not an exaggeration. In 1930, Liberia's severe racial oppression attracted the attention and investigation of the League of Nations, which triggered strong condemnation from the international community and plunged Liberia into unprecedented isolation and crisis.

Of course, it's just condemnation, since most of the member states of the League of Nations have questionable backgrounds, such as Spain and France, which were deeply involved in the human trafficking of Liberia.

Britain, the United States, and East Africa all had their own colonies, so only Germany was able to stand on the moral high ground and criticize Liberia.

In this timeline, with the intervention of the United States, Liberia's human rights issues were treated leniently, and major world powers had to give the Americans face.

The reason the United States did this was to support Liberia and make it a forward base for confrontation with East Africa.

Port of Monrovia.

Magna, a port construction contractor for Firestone Tire & Rubber Company, and his black foreman Berger are supervising the workers.

Berger was an American-Liberian Black man who carried a whip and directed the skinny native Black laborers to work hard.

"Lazybones, don't you have any strength? Even the donkeys on the construction site are more diligent and hardworking than you!"

"Truru, you bastard, you're slacking off again! If I catch you slacking off again, you'll not only get a beating today, but you won't get dinner either!"

"You dare glare at me? You want a beating?!"

Berger's animalistic roars echoed throughout the construction site. He would often brutally beat any laborers he didn't like. Under his tyranny, the black laborers dared not speak out and were all listlessly busy with their work.

Magna stood to the side, a Cuban cigar dangling from his lips, and said to Berger, “Alright, Berger, don’t get so angry. Killing someone and then having to find new laborers is also a problem.”

After hearing Magna's words, Berger fawned over Magna and said obsequiously, "Mr. Magna, you don't know these bastards. If you don't whip them, they won't even move."

"The construction schedule for the Port of Monrovia is so tight right now, so in order not to delay the progress of the project, we have no choice but to take this extreme measure."

Magna joked, "These people are still your compatriots, so let's be a little more lenient, what do you say?"

Berger's attitude changed instantly at Magna's teasing. He said angrily, "Mr. Magna, you are too kind-hearted. How could these lowly slaves be my compatriots, even though I don't have your noble skin?"

"But I am also a Black person who has been influenced by the great American culture."

Although Berger was annoyed, his anger was directed at the construction workers, not at the real white American in front of him.

For the ruling class in Liberia, namely American-Liberian Blacks, there is a genetically inherited hostage syndrome when facing Americans.

They do not see anything wrong with the discrimination, contempt, or past mistakes made by Americans, and are willing to be subservient, grovel, and fawn over white Americans.

If their American hosts casually offer a compliment, it's considered a great honor. If someone says, "You really look like an American or a white person," that's the highest praise for an American-Liberian Black person, and they could probably grin from ear to ear all day because of that one sentence...

From this perspective alone, the Soviet Union was indeed a great country, after all, its external ideological propaganda encouraged people to stand up and resist the inhumanity of capitalist dog-trainers. However, it is clear that the Soviet idealists were indeed too idealistic. If they lived in the 21st century, they might understand how difficult it is to persuade such "sycophants."

Magna was happy to see the overweight, sugar-obsessed Liberian man in front of him get angry, because his big belly and his expression made him look like a clown from a Broadway comedy.

As an upper-class individual in a backward, slave-owning agricultural country, Berger may not be able to consume as extravagantly as the wealthy in his idealized America, but he does have considerable expertise in overnutrition.

His physique would be considered severely overweight even in the United States. Weighing over 200 pounds, whether he's a strongman or not is unknown, but in terms of weight, he's definitely a "dinosaur standing among chickens."

The contrast is especially striking when compared to the skinny, skeletal Black laborers on the construction site.

To put it bluntly, the fat on his body was earned through the hard work of these native Liberian blacks, who exchanged their hard-earned money for imported American desserts and oils.

His greasy, oversized American suit and his not-so-clean leather shoes made him look particularly clownish, but this was one of Magna's sources of happiness.

After watching Berger's "pig" performance, Magna said with a hint of disdain in his eyes, "The project needs to be accelerated. It's okay if you hire more workers and spend more money, but the Port of Monrovia must be fully completed by April next year."

Magna said it as if it were a very simple matter.

But Berger was troubled: "Mr. Magna, why are you rushing to meet the deadline again? I thought we were fast enough already?"

Magna explained his confusion, saying, "You should have seen recently that the East African Navy is passing through Monrovia much more frequently."

“We have received information that the East Africans have purchased a piece of land from the Spanish, and their influence is once again expanding northward.”

"This may have put some pressure on the government, which has led to a further increase in the importance attached to Monrovia."

The news of East Africa's purchase of Dahra could not be kept secret. France, Britain, and the United States were the most concerned about East Africa's expansion into northwestern Africa.

The former two feared that East Africa might plot against their colonies in Northwest Africa. As time went on, France and Britain also paid increasing attention to their colonies in Northwest Africa.

France needs little introduction; in its colonial empire, North and West Africa have become the core of French overseas interests, surpassing Southeast Asia.

The same applies to Britain's focus on Northwest Africa. Although Britain had many colonies, Canada and Australia became increasingly independent and had objectively broken away from Britain's complete control.

Meanwhile, colonies like India were increasingly resisting Britain.

Therefore, against the backdrop of the continuous weakening of British colonial influence, Northwest Africa became a highly valuable virgin territory in the eyes of Britain.

Britain's colonial activities in Northwest Africa did not last long, and theoretically, without the interference of external forces, the awakening of independence consciousness in these colonies may have taken more than a century.

After all, Britain ruled India for nearly two hundred years, and India was already quite civilized before the British, while the British colonies in West Africa were still in an era of mixed tribes and kingdoms.

Finally, there is the United States. The United States' vigilance towards East Africa is mainly due to East Africa's expansion in the Atlantic Ocean, especially its continuous encroachment on the North Atlantic.

Magna said, "It's barely acceptable for East Africa to consider the South Atlantic as its sphere of influence, but their continued expansion into the North Atlantic is far too greedy."

"There can only be one superpower in the North Atlantic in the future, and the United States is clearly the natural leader of the North Atlantic nations, so the United States has an obligation to maintain the balance of power in the North Atlantic region."

Upon hearing Magna's assertive statement, Berger stepped forward and flattered him, saying, "That's right, Liberia is also an absolute supporter of the United States. In containing East Africa, Liberia will definitely go to great lengths to cooperate with the United States."

Magna was initially quite pleased with his own remarks, but Berger's comments made him feel instantly inferior.

Magna sneered, "Heh, let's hope so! If Liberia can play a role, that would be best."

Liberia could certainly play a role in the US's containment of East Africa, but Magna was thinking about Liberia's location, not the people of Liberia.

For a humanoid creature like Berger, with his greasy hair and big ears, it's a miracle they don't cause trouble for the United States.

Even though Liberia was developed with the support of the United States, Magna looked down on the local Black people, especially those American-Liberian Blacks.

Native Liberian Blacks can at least create value, but these American-born Liberian Blacks are nothing but parasites.

With the support of the United States, they control the government in Liberia, yet they have built the country into a "pigsty." Only a handful of countries in the world can do this, such as Haiti, which is also within the sphere of influence of the United States.

Look at Monrovia, the capital of Liberia. It is already the most "developed," "prosperous," and "modern" region in the entire country, but that was before the Americans arrived to build it in 1934.

Monrovia's total population was less than 20,000, and it had no industry whatsoever, only some simple handicraft workshops. The national economy relied entirely on plantation economy and the slave trade.

Of course, Monrovia's infrastructure is also very poor. Apart from the barely acceptable housing for American-Liberian Blacks, the living quarters for other citizens are simply shacks built with raw plant materials and mud.

In Monrovia, there are no decent roads; they are mostly unpaved dirt roads with uneven surfaces and poor roadbed maintenance. Water and electricity facilities are virtually nonexistent. Only the largest local company, Firestone Tire & Rubber Company, which houses Magna, has running water and electricity.

Therefore, in Magna's eyes, Monrovia did not resemble a national capital at all, but rather a primitive coastal fishing village.

Now that the US government and navy have begun to pay attention to the area, this country, which gained independence in 1847, has begun to undergo some modernization.

For decades prior, the Liberian government's performance was subpar, failing to even reach a passing grade, let alone a zero; their governing ability was even negative.

(End of this chapter)