African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1623 A Benchmark City in South America
As expected, the grain storage plan was approved by Ernst. Others may not know, but Ernst was very clear that from the beginning, Ernst had only one imagined enemy in his mind: Japan.

Japan simply does not have the capacity for sustained warfare, and by the time Japan launches its attack on East Africa, it will likely be the end of World War II.

As for the risk of the grain storage plan, namely that Japan might occupy and acquire the strategic grain reserves built in East Africa, Ernst believed that it was acceptable.

East Africa, Rhine City.

Looking at the documents sent back by the Governor General's Office of Alaska, Ernst said to Crown Prince Friedrich, "If we can save most of the Alaskan people from this catastrophe by feeding future war criminals, then we can accept losing more food."

For a major agricultural country like East Africa, food is not a scarce resource, especially given the current persistently low international food prices and the oversupply.

International food prices have bottomed out, reaching their lowest point two years ago, around 1933 to 1934. Although they have rebounded somewhat, they are still unprofitable. A new round of growth may only begin after the full outbreak of World War II.

Crown Prince Frederick then suggested, "Food itself is also a powerful tool for the Empire to manipulate international politics. Alaska is currently facing a significant shortage, and we can purchase it from countries that are pro-Imperial."

“Especially in South American countries, Uruguay and Paraguay are important food producers. We can take these two countries into consideration and use this deal to test the attitudes of countries such as Brazil, Argentina, and South Africa.”

Within the sphere of influence of East Africa, only two countries have the capacity for large-scale grain exports: Uruguay and Paraguay.

As for the West Asia, North Africa, and East Africa, all of them were places where food production could not meet their needs. The self-sufficiency rate in Southeast Asia was relatively high, but still quite limited.

The fact that East Africa has become a major food producer and exporter is itself a very extreme case.

Brazil is the country with the most similar national conditions to East Africa, but Brazilian agriculture is heavily reliant on cash crops and the population is concentrated in cities, which prevents the potential of Brazilian inland agriculture from being realized.

The key turning point for Brazil's transformation into a major global food producer was the relocation of its capital to Brasilia in the 20s, which marked a shift in the country's strategic focus from the coast to the inland.

In contrast, East Africa's development path was completely different. During the colonial era, East Africa attached great importance to the inland population transfer and quickly established a stable economic cycle and secured its borders through large-scale immigration. Then, it used this as a base to accelerate its expansion to the surrounding areas.

At the same time, East African immigrants were mainly agricultural groups. Whether they were German, Slavic, or from the Far Eastern Empire, they basically came from the rural areas of these regions.

Therefore, East Africans were born with the talent of "farming", which made early East Africa a "farming and war-oriented" political entity.

The characteristics of immigrant groups obviously have a significant impact on a country's economic development.

Brazil lacks this "gene," which is why Japanese immigrants played a significant role in Brazil's agricultural rise in the 1970s.

Therefore, in the 19th and early 20th centuries, East Africa, as a "major tropical food producer," was a very rare phenomenon, with only India being comparable.

However, India is a major producer of tropical food, but not a natural major exporter of food. Although its food exports are not low, they are based on the extreme exploitation of its own agricultural population.

Major tropical agricultural countries like India, Mexico, and Brazil are typical "starving agricultural exporters."

While countries like Argentina and Australia are somewhat tropical, their main agricultural production areas are more in line with the "subtropical" category.

Uruguay and Paraguay are also located in subtropical climate zones, which is why the two countries have the conditions for food production and export. If this natural factor were not taken into account, it would be impossible for them to do so given their backward economic structure and governance model.

Crown Prince Frederick said, "In recent years, our economic ties with several small countries in central South America have become increasingly deep, especially after the completion of the Asunción-Lima railway, which has allowed us to establish a main trade axis between South America and East Africa in the central region."

"It is also one of the core areas of our interests in South America, so East Africa should provide appropriate support to Paraguay and Uruguay."

The Asunción-Lima Railway is an important overseas railway project in East Africa during the Seventh Five-Year Plan period. It and the North African Railway are both strategic projects in East Africa.

The two railways started construction at almost the same time and were completed in the same period. The North African Railway was more difficult, but it was completed so quickly because East Africa had a stronger role in the project, especially in the East African section and the Darfur section, which was basically completed by the East African Railway Company and its workers.

While the construction conditions for the Asunción-Lima railway were better than those for the North African Railway, many workers were recruited locally, and the engineering equipment was also procured and transported from East Africa. Furthermore, coordination among Paraguay, Bolivia, and Peru was involved, so the progress was slightly slower than that of the North African Railway.

"This newly built railway can also be put to good use, allowing other countries to see tangible benefits and expanding the future empire's influence in South America."

If the East African government places an order, food from Uruguay and Paraguay can travel along the Asunción-Lima route to ports along the Pacific coast, and then be transported to Alaska.

This undoubtedly increased the income of both countries and also proved the driving effect of the Asunción-Lima railway on the countries along the route.

Bolivia and Peru may not benefit from this opportunity because their main industries are mining and export, and their food production is far less than that of Uruguay and Paraguay.

Of course, the Asunción-Lima railway is also clearly beneficial to the long-term development of both countries.

Ernst agreed with Crown Prince Friedrich's suggestion, saying, "The amount of food Alaska is importing this time is not small. Even if Uruguay and Paraguay were combined, they could not meet such a large demand."

"As for the empire's homeland, we already have our own agricultural development strategy, so we are not in a hurry to take such a big piece of the pie all at once."

Food production in East Africa is typically planned, while the cultivation of cash crops is more market-driven.

Therefore, transporting large quantities of food from East Africa to Alaska is not necessarily a good thing, as it could disrupt government plans for East Africa's original food crops.

Of course, East Africa doesn't rely on this food source itself, nor would it benefit major grain-exporting countries like Britain and the United States. Although importing grain from the United States and Canada to Alaska is more cost-effective, using it as a bargaining chip in negotiations with some small and medium-sized countries is perfectly appropriate.

……

Paraguay, Asunción. Thanks to the Paraguayan government's long-standing and unwavering development strategy of aligning itself with East Africa, the capital city of Asunción has undergone rapid development in recent years.

According to statistics from 1930, Asunción's population exceeded 200,000 for the first time, and it has continued to grow, now likely reaching over 200,000.

A population of over 200,000 in the capital city is not particularly outstanding on a global scale, but it is a crucial figure for Paraguay, a small country, representing Asunción's economic vitality and future development prospects.

It's important to know that in the previous life, Asunción's total population barely exceeded 120,000 in the late 1930s, and in 1935, it may have just exceeded 100,000. This means that in this timeline, Asunción's population is at least twice that of the same period in the previous life.

During the same period, there were fewer than ten cities in South America with a population exceeding 200,000. Brazil had the most, with five cities having a population of over 200,000, followed by Argentina with three, and the other countries on the list each had one.

In other words, a city with a population of over 200,000 is definitely considered a "large city" in South America, and Asunción has successfully entered the ranks of "large cities" in terms of population, and by quite a few.

For example, Bogotá in Colombia and Caracas in Venezuela have populations that hover around the 200,000 mark.

In addition to its stable population, Asunción is clearly stronger in terms of economic and other data, after all, Asunción is a "benchmark" city developed with the support of East Africa.

Uruguayan businessman Baltasar has a deep understanding of Asunción's development: "Paraguay is developing rapidly now and has completely recovered from the pain of the war in the last century."

"Especially in recent years, Asunción's economic development has been second to none in South America. Now that the Asunción-Lima railway is completed, it may not be a problem for Asunción to completely surpass Montevideo in the next two or three decades."

Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay, is now far ahead of Asunción, a rising star, in terms of economic output and population alone.

After all, Montevideo has a long history of development, and Asunción suffered great devastation from war in the last century, with the entire country almost being hollowed out.

At the same time, Montevideo, as a port city, has inherent advantages in economic development.

Montevideo currently has a population of over 500,000, around 600,000 to 700,000, which is more than twice that of Asunción. In the entire South American region, Montevideo's population ranks among the top five.

But the fact that Baltasar is now worried that Montevideo will be overtaken by Asunción shows his optimism about Paraguay.

His son, Bloom, also said at this time: "Asunción should be the only newly emerging major city in South America to experience economic growth against the trend during the economic crisis. In the past few years, it has developed rapidly, as if it has taken a tonic."

"This is indeed a rather strange phenomenon, but just by looking at the urban development of Asunción, you can see that the Paraguayan government's governance capabilities have improved in recent years, and it is clearly more orderly and planned than our Montevideo."

Asunción's rapid development, or rather, the dramatic changes that took place in the city, began precisely after the 1930s.

Although Asunción's economic growth was quite good during the golden age of global economic development in the 1920s, its economy was still in its infancy and it was catching up with other South American cities, so its urban development level was not outstanding.

As for why such a dramatic change occurred in the 1930s, it was partly due to Asunción's large enough population and partly due to the profound influence of East Africa.

Baltasar stated, "Although East Africa had already established relatively close ties with Paraguay by the end of the 19th century, it was only after the 20th century that East Africa truly began to vigorously support Paraguay, especially after World War I, when this support was significantly strengthened."

"In addition, Paraguay had just emerged from the shadow of war, and its population and industry had recovered to some extent, so East Africa's assistance to Asunción began to take effect."

"In the 1930s, due to its close economic ties with East Africa, Asunción's economy took off, after all, East Africa was one of the world's most powerful countries that was least affected by the economic crisis."

It must be said that Baltasar's deduction is quite reasonable. Before the 19th century, East Africa had already made contact with the Paraguayan government and had relatively deep cooperation.

However, before the 19th century, East Africa itself had not yet fully developed, let alone drive the development of an overseas country in South America.

At the same time, before the 19th century, Paraguay could not be supported by itself due to the Paraguayan War. It also suffered from a lack of population and the continued influence of foreign powers, especially Britain, Argentina and Brazil.

Therefore, although East Africa wanted to bring Paraguay under its control at the time, it also had to consider the influence of countries such as Britain. Moreover, Argentina and Brazil were also developing well at the time. Although East Africa had the initial foundation to become a powerful nation by the end of the 19th century, it could not play a significant role in South America.

World War I was a key turning point in the relationship between East Africa and Paraguay. Because of the outbreak of the war, Britain was tied down by Europe, while East Africa, which had already completed two industrialization programs and become a primary industrial power, took over the dominance of Paraguay and other South American regions.

Paraguay thus became a political and economic vassal of East Africa, riding the wave of East Africa's rapid economic development.

After the Chaco War, Paraguay became even more closely integrated with East Africa, including in military and cultural aspects. This was further compounded by East Africa's increasing focus on South America and its efforts to expand into overseas markets.

Therefore, in the late 1920s, Paraguay was selected by East Africa, and Asunción became the "model city" for East Africa's South America-East Africa cooperation.

This is clearly reflected in the urban development of Asunción. If Baltasar and his son had visited East Africa, they would have noticed the striking similarities between Asunción's urban development and that of East Africa.

Some East African businessmen have even begun to refer to Asunción as "Little Luanda of South America," which is a great affirmation of Asunción's development.

After all, Luanda is a well-known city in the South Atlantic, recognized as one of the four major developed cities on the South Atlantic coast, and a famous international metropolis.

These four cities are Luanda, Cabinda, Buenos Aires, and Rio de Janeiro. Apart from Luanda and Cabinda, Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro, as the capitals of Argentina and Brazil respectively, are the pinnacle of South American cities.

Argentina and Brazil are both regional powers, so it's not surprising that their capitals are highly prosperous. Even so, Luanda and Cabinda have stronger overall strength and are more developed in industry, technology, education, and healthcare.

Asunción's reputation as the "Little Luanda of South America" ​​testifies to its development in recent years, and this title is being accepted by more and more Paraguayans.

(End of this chapter)