African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1614 Summary of the Seventy-Five Chapters
There is no clear boundary between the South Atlantic and the North Atlantic, especially in dangerous areas such as the Suez Canal, the Cape of Good Hope, and the Strait of Malacca.

Therefore, it is impossible for the East African Navy to completely "inland" the South Atlantic and prevent the navies of European and American naval powers from re-entering the South Atlantic.

It can only be said that East Africa, as a country along the South Atlantic coast, has a natural competitive advantage over those countries along the North Atlantic coast in the South Atlantic waters.

Ernst said, "We cannot block communication between the North Atlantic powers and the South American countries, so we must strengthen surveillance of South America to prevent them from siding with other powers and sacrificing the interests of East Africa."

Taurfius nodded and said, “Your Majesty is right. The situation in the South Atlantic is different from that in the Indian Ocean. Although the Indian Ocean has four key nodes—the Suez Canal, the Cape of Good Hope, the Strait of Malacca, and the Sunda Strait—we in East Africa only control one, namely the Sunda Strait.”

"However, we also have contingency plans for the other three places, so that we can blockade the Indian Ocean when necessary and prevent major powers outside the region from entering the Indian Ocean."

The Suez Canal, the Cape of Good Hope, and the Strait of Malacca were nominally controlled by the British, but after so many years of strategic maneuvering in East Africa, the restrictions these three places placed on East Africa have been greatly weakened.

South of the Suez Canal, the East African Navy in the Gulf of Aden could also block the Red Sea passage. West of the Strait of Malacca, East Africa has the Phuket base, which can monitor the western exit of the Strait of Malacca. As for the Cape of Good Hope, other powers could only enter the Indian Ocean by escaping the surveillance of both the East African Atlantic Fleet and the Indian Ocean Fleet.

In addition to East Africa's numerous colonies throughout the Indian Ocean, it's no exaggeration to say that any country that attempts to enter the Indian Ocean and challenge East Africa will be "locked up and beaten."

……

1936 was a significant year for East Africa, as it marked the beginning of the country's eighth five-year plan and the first time Crown Prince Frederick oversaw the formulation of economic development goals for the next five years.

In Rhine, the East African government summarized the achievements of the previous five-year plan.

Director of the National Bureau of Macroeconomic Survey: "During the Seventh Five-Year Plan period, the country's economic development was severely affected by the Great Depression of 1929. Foreign trade and the development of domestic industries were both challenged by the Great Depression."

"However, the Empire withstood the pressure and became one of the few countries in the world that maintained economic growth during the Great Depression, and achieved tremendous economic and industrial development by the end of the Seventh Five-Year Plan."

"During the Seventh Five-Year Plan period, the speed of the Empire's economic and industrial development was second only to the Soviet Union among the world's major powers, far exceeding that of other major world economies, further consolidating East Africa's position as the world's leading industrial power and the world's largest economy. In particular, it widened the gap with the United States in terms of economic size again."

Admittedly, the Soviet Union made remarkable progress in industrialization over the past five years, but due to its weak industrial foundation, it still cannot compare with East Africa or the United States.

East Africa's primary economic benchmark is naturally the United States. In the 1920s, the United States' economic development was in no way inferior to that of East Africa, and it has been closely following East Africa ever since.

However, during the Seventh Five-Year Plan period in East Africa, the US economy was brought back to its original state due to the Great Depression, and was once again pulled behind East Africa.

"By 1935, my country's urbanization rate had reached 49.7 percent, close to 50 percent, which was basically on par with the urbanization levels of major economic powers in Europe and America."

In terms of urbanization, apart from the UK, which has basically achieved urbanization, other European and American countries are only slightly ahead of East Africa.

Including Germany, the United States, and France, their urbanization rates are all above 50%.

Germany's urbanization rate was already close to 70%, but the annexation of Austria-Hungary by Germany lowered this figure.

Meanwhile, East Africa's urbanization rate has reached nearly 50 percent, which means that the total urban population in East Africa is close to 100 million.

This is an astonishing number, considering that in 1935, there were only a handful of countries in the world with a population exceeding 100 million.

"The number of cities in the Empire with a population of over one million has increased to seventeen, firmly ranking first in the world. Among them, Mombasa has a population of over two million four hundred thousand, and Dar es Salaam also has a population of over two million."

Mombasa and Dar es Salaam still maintain a population advantage over other East African cities, both exceeding two million.

In 1935, there were only a dozen or so cities in the world with a population of over two million.

Among countries with cities with populations exceeding two million, only three countries—East Africa, the United States, and Japan—each have two cities with populations exceeding two million: Mombasa and Dar es Salaam in East Africa, New York and Chicago in the United States, and Tokyo and Osaka in Japan.

In fact, among the four cities in the United States and Japan, Osaka, with the lowest population, is close to two million, followed by Chicago with over three million, Tokyo with over six million, and New York with close to seven million. Therefore, the two cities in East Africa cannot be compared with the two most populous cities in the United States and Japan.

Fortunately, East Africa holds an absolute advantage in the number of cities with a population of over one million, reaching an astonishing seventeen. In a few years, it will easily surpass twenty, considering that East Africa's urbanization rate is currently only close to fifty percent, leaving considerable room for growth.

Moreover, one important reason why there are so many cities with populations of over one million in East Africa is that the region's economic development is more balanced. In addition to the two former economic growth poles on the east and west coasts, the development of central and southern East Africa is not much less impressive.

In recent years, with the deregulation of the economy in southern East Africa, the region has become the fastest-growing economy in East Africa.

This is mainly due to three factors. First, the South is the most resource-rich region in East Africa, and it has no shortage of raw materials for the development of various major industries.

Secondly, in recent years, East Africa has been strengthening its trade routes through the Sunda Strait and with Southeast Asia and Australia, which is also a significant benefit to the South.

Finally, there is the South-to-North Water Diversion Project in the south, which solved the water resource problem in the high plateau region of South Africa and promoted the development of inland industries.

These factors combined to lead to rapid economic and industrial development in the south, directly pushing the populations of Maputo and the port of Neue Hamburg into the million-strong club.

"In 1935, the Imperial Steel industry also made a new breakthrough. During the Great Depression, Imperial Steel was one of only two major countries to maintain positive growth. By the end of 1935, Imperial Steel's output had exceeded 60 million tons, far surpassing that of other countries."

"Our production of oil, copper, electricity, cement, and so on ranks first in the world."

"Automobile production has also returned to the world's number one, with an annual output of over four million vehicles, and the scale of the home appliance industry continues to rank first in the world." "The aviation industry, chemical industry, coal mining, shipbuilding, machine tools, etc. are also ranked in the world's first tier."

Before the Seventh Five-Year Plan, the overall quality of East Africa's industry was inferior to that of Germany. However, by the time the Seventh Five-Year Plan was completed, East Africa's industry not only surpassed that of other countries in the world in terms of scale, but its industrial quality was also comparable to that of Germany.

This also means that since the 1920s, East Africa's economic adjustment and industrial upgrading have been basically completed, and East Africa has become the world's largest industrial country and a powerful nation.

Even in some industrial sectors where East Africa is not strong, the gap with the dominant industries of countries like the United States and Germany has been minimized. For example, Germany's machine tool and chemical industries, and Britain's shipbuilding industry. As for the United States, it does not have any major industrial sectors that are completely stronger than those of East Africa.

Even in the areas where the United States has an advantage, it can only compete with East Africa to a draw, each with its own strengths.

Since the Great Depression of 1929, East Africa has seized this window of opportunity to catch up with the United States and Germany in high-end industries and scientific research.

The United States, like East Africa, was originally a major industrial power focused on light industry. However, in the 1920s, East Africa had already turned its wheels around and, taking advantage of the Great Depression, successfully caught up with Europe.

"During the Seventh Five-Year Plan period, the development of the Empire's light industry was also very outstanding. The food industry, textile industry and home appliance industry have reached the world's leading level, and the quality of life of the people has been significantly improved."

"Today, the empire is an industrial power with both light and heavy industries, without any obvious weaknesses, and the tertiary industry is also rising rapidly."

Until the early 20th century, East Africa was a country with a very unbalanced industrial structure, much like the Soviet Union today, with its light industry development lagging behind.

After all, East Africa's market was fully opened only after 1910, and through more than a decade of development, East Africa's light industry has exploded, narrowing the gap with European and American countries.

"During the Seventh Five-Year Plan period, most of my country's major engineering projects, except for the Cabralbasa Hydropower Station, were basically completed, including electrified railways, hydropower projects, overseas railway projects, etc. During the Seventh Five-Year Plan period, the country completed a series of key engineering projects."

"This is also an important reason why the empire escaped the Great Depression and maintained stable economic growth in East Africa."

The fact that the construction of the Kabra Basa hydroelectric power station was not completed during the Seventh Five-Year Plan period was entirely within the expectations of the East African government. After all, before the implementation of this project, East Africa's plan was not to complete it during the Seventh Five-Year Plan period, but to continue until the Eighth Five-Year Plan period.

According to the current construction progress of the Cabrabasa Hydropower Station, it will be completed in another two or three years.

During the Seventh Five-Year Plan period, overseas engineering projects were a key development direction for East Africa, with the North African Railway being a prime example. At the same time, East Africa also constructed numerous infrastructure projects in its overseas colonies and South America.

"Overall, the Empire's Seventh Five-Year Plan was basically completed smoothly, successfully enabling the Empire's industry and economy to reach a new level in terms of overall quality."

"It solidified the empire's position as the world's leading industrial power, achieved high-quality economic development, and made up for almost all the shortcomings in the industrial sector."

"This enabled the Empire's industrial and economic development to remain the second fastest in the world, second only to the Soviet Union."

The Soviet Union's current development speed is entirely based on its weak foundation, which makes it easier to achieve results. East African governments are not too worried about this, after all, this is the path East Africa has taken before.

However, the speed of Soviet industrial development had a profound impact on other capitalist countries, especially Germany. If it hadn't annexed Austria-Hungary, Germany probably wouldn't have been able to sleep soundly next to the Soviet Union.

Crown Prince Frederick summarized at this time: "The period of the Seventh Five-Year Plan was a relatively difficult period for the development of the Empire's economy and industry. We faced enormous external pressure, especially the turmoil in the world situation, which caused the Empire to lose many overseas markets. At the same time, the Empire was also affected by the global economic crisis."

During the Seventh Five-Year Plan period, due to the turmoil in Europe, especially the turmoil in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, East Africa directly lost Central and Eastern Europe, which was originally its most important overseas market. In addition, the development of Soviet industry also led to a significant decrease in the proportion of industrial products imported by the Soviet Union from East Africa.

In addition, the global economic crisis of 1929 caused the entire world market to shrink significantly.

Therefore, the enormous external pressure mentioned by Crown Prince Frederick is quite objective. Geopolitical changes and economic crises have made East Africa a major victim, as its overseas exports have been severely damaged, given that it is the world's largest industrial nation.

Crown Prince Frederick continued, "However, we withstood the headwinds of the world economy, actively sought new overseas markets, and actively transformed domestic industries and developed the domestic consumer market. Through these measures, we maintained the steady economic growth of the Empire during the Seventh Five-Year Plan period."

"This is an achievement to be proud of, but we cannot be complacent because we may face even more severe external challenges during the Eighth Five-Year Plan period."

It could be a challenge or an opportunity. If the world situation does not change fundamentally during the Eighth Five-Year Plan period, it will certainly be unfavorable to East Africa. This means that other powers will be able to free up their resources to compete with East Africa, and the world market, which was originally divided into several parts, will not be able to be reintegrated.

If World War II had broken out during the Eighth Five-Year Plan period, East Africa would likely have been able to profit from human suffering, just as it did during World War I. Therefore, East African governments would certainly have hoped to replicate the economic development opportunities of the World War I era.

Crown Prince Frederick said, "During the Eighth Five period, the Empire will continue to increase its maintenance and investment in overseas markets, and carry out cooperation and exchanges with markets in South America, West Africa, Southeast Asia, North Africa, and the Middle East to consolidate the Empire's position in the world market."

"At the same time, we will expand into the three major markets of North America, Europe, and the Far East as much as possible, so as to provide a solid foundation for the development of the Empire's economy during the Eighth Five-Year Plan period."

The reason why the three major markets of North America, Europe and the Far East are special is that in recent years, East Africa's share in these three markets has been shrinking. This is not a problem of East Africa itself, but rather that other powers in these three regions have been undermining East Africa's "free trade" with these regions through improper means.

North America, needless to say, is represented by the United States. East Africa holds an advantageous position in industrial competition with the United States, so the United States has become more aggressive than in the previous life. After all, there were no countries like East Africa in the previous life. The United States had a great advantage in the world industry and even resorted to shameless tactics. With the existence of East Africa, its behavior has become even more unbearable.

In Europe, Britain, France, and Germany divided their respective economic spheres of influence, while the Soviet Union went so far as to implement economic isolationism.

The Far East was a region where Japan nibbled away at markets through war, such as the northeastern region, which was relatively well-developed within the Far Eastern Empire.

(End of this chapter)