Chapter 171： Developments in 1868

Chapter 171 Developments in 1868

December 28, 1868.

The statistical data of East Africa this year has also slowly come out, because of the growth of various data, geographical expansion, population growth, industry addition and other factors, the statistical process is also much slower than the previous two years.

The immigrant population could previously be simply calculated directly from the files in the harbor area, because each immigrant would be registered when they landed.

This year, this model will not work, because of the outbreak of the number of newborns, which need to be reported from every place in East Africa and verified by relevant personnel.

By the end of November 1868, the population of the entire East African colony was more than 1.75 million, close to 2 million.

It took nearly three years to reach this level, although it is an exaggeration, but East Africa has indeed achieved it. After all, no one in this era has taken the initiative to recruit immigrants as much as East Africa.

The journey from the immigrants to East Africa was almost covered by the East African colonies, and all the freight and food were provided by the Hexingen consortium.

1.75 million is the total number of immigrants and newborns in East Africa. It does not include the indigenous people in East Africa. The number of indigenous people should hover between 1.3 million and 1.5 million. There are many projects in East Africa and the demand for labor is large. East Africa should go to the west to catch more. When it was young, the number of slaves continued to decrease, and a batch was sent away every day at the port of Dar es Salaam.

The number of slaves is so large that it is almost one to one with the native population. Even the southern United States does not have such a terrifying ratio. Therefore, it is ridiculous to worry about the lack of labor in the East African colonies, and East Africa is not a fool.

In this way, Ernst was still restrained. After all, East Africa immigrated from all over the world to enrich the strength of East Africa, not to support a bunch of uncles. Therefore, the East African colonies still squeezed the value of immigrants as much as possible, instead of letting black people The slaves did all the work.

Throughout 1868, the expansion of the East African colony was not very prominent, because the opponent was too weak, and the area of ​​​​the northwest region was not large compared with East Africa. As for northern Kenya, although it was also developed this year, it was less difficult.

Because this is the sphere of influence of the Sultanate of Zanzibar. Although the Sultanate of Zanzibar did not actually rule this place, the local tribes and northern forces have basically been beaten by the Sultanate of Zanzibar.

Including the Gradi Sultanate in the Somali region, it was also a younger brother during the Oman Empire, and it was only separated from the control of the Oman Empire more than ten years ago.

According to the normal historical trajectory, within a few years, the Sultanate of Zanzibar (the Oman Empire consists of two parts, Muscat and Zanzibar, after which the Sultanate of Zanzibar became independent and belonged to the royal family) will be re-established. Turned the Gradi Sultanate state back into its vassal.

It can be said that the emergence of the East African colony temporarily rescued the plight of the Grady Sultanate and avoided its annexation by the Zanzibar Sultanate.

In the northern part of East Africa, apart from Sultan Gradi, there is also the traditional overlord of East Africa, Ethiopia. However, this year, the Abyssinian Empire in Ethiopia was beaten up by the British, and the emperor committed suicide.

So the development of the northern part of Kenya is very smooth, and the population is less populated than the south, so it is easier to colonize and develop.

The Northwest Territory and northern Kenya make the territory of East Africa reach more than two million square kilometers (excluding the water area such as Lake Victoria).

In terms of industry, East Africa is still negligible. To be honest, the dozens of factories and workshops in East Africa are not enough to be seen in a feudal country, let alone compared with European countries.

Taking Prussia 20 years ago as an example, there were more than 78,000 large and small workshops and factories, and more than 550,000 workers. The horror of Prussia after the integration of the North German Federation can be imagined.

So agriculture is still as stable as Mount Tai in the industrial structure of the East African colonies.

As of November 26, 1868, the East African colonies had opened up a total of 20.4 million mu of arable land, and the per capita planting area was about 12.75 mu (excluding slaves and recent immigrants to East Africa).

Among them, the rice planting area has not increased much, with a total of 1.1 million mu. The new development is mainly in eastern Kenya and the vicinity of the Great Lakes (Lake Victoria), and the expected output can reach 220 million jin.

The wheat planting area is about 6.6 million mu, or about 440,000 hectares, which has almost quadrupled. The expected output is more than 1 billion catties, or about one million tons.

This year, corn planting has made a breakthrough. As the main ration of livestock and slaves, the planting area has reached more than 5 million mu, or more than 300,000 hectares.

In addition, the sorghum and millet planting area has reached more than 2 million mu.

Among them, sorghum is one of the native species in Africa, which is very suitable for planting, mainly as a supplement to corn.

Corn, millet and sorghum are easier to take care of than rice and wheat, especially sorghum. In East Africa, it relies on the method of wide planting and low harvest, and it is almost enough to spread it on the ground.

The above are the main food crops in East Africa. Among them, rice, wheat and millet are the main rations of East Africans, while corn and sorghum are mainly used for indigenous people and livestock. Except for these crops, the rest of the land is used for planting cash crops.

Sisal is still the largest economic crop in East Africa, followed by soybeans and coffee. In addition, there are large-scale peanuts, sesame, rubber, cloves, cotton, tea and other crops.

The status of sisal is being overtaken by soybeans, because soybeans, as nitrogen-fixing plants, are crops for rotation and will be mixed with wheat.

Although the coffee planting area is not small, the harvest is still far away.

What is interesting is that many commercial crops are mainly distributed in the Great Lakes region, such as rubber, which is currently distributed along the coast of the Great Lakes and near the rivers in the Great Lakes Basin.

Tanzania is suitable for rubber plantation as a tropical area, but the premise is to ensure water supply, and East Africa is actually not short of water, but it is less water than tropical rainforest areas.

In the previous life, Africa was the second largest producer of rubber after Southeast Asia, while Tanzania ranked among the top ten rubber planters in Africa.

However, because the Tanzanian government does not pay much attention to rubber planting, the planting technology is updated slowly, and the local people are not keen on taking care of this responsible crop. As a result, the production cost of rubber in East Africa is much higher than that in Southeast Asia, and even needs to be imported from Southeast Asia, while Tanzania In fact, it is completely possible to achieve self-sufficiency in rubber plantation. (From the data report of East African General Tire from 1978 to 1991, the company has a local rubber plantation in Tanzania)

So the main factor restricting East African agriculture is the uneven distribution of precipitation in time and space. Just like in East African wheat-growing areas, water sources are mainly used to ensure the priority of wheat and other food crops, while in the more water-scarce north, millet and sorghum are widely planted.

Many commercial crops require a lot of water during the growth period, and the Great Lakes region and the eastern coastal plain are the places with the most abundant precipitation in East Africa.

Especially the newly occupied land in the Great Lakes region, the Mitumba Mountains, on the west side of which is the Congo Basin, with more abundant precipitation.

Of course, some commercial crops do not require much water and are suitable for dry land cultivation, such as cotton and sesame.

The development of so much land requires the extensive use of slaves and advanced ironware. Although East Africa cannot achieve the level of mechanization in Europe, it is still good compared to other regions.

Importing iron farm tools from Europe was a big expense for the East African colonies. This also caused East Africa to prioritize almost all available funds on iron imports. Even in order to ensure the priority of farm tools, many families in East Africa did not even have an iron pot. Clay cookers and ovens are popular, and tableware is mostly wooden.

The amount of iron ore mining in East Africa is quite small, and it is only a subsidiary product of coal mining. There is not even a modern steel factory in East Africa, and it only relies on the traditional kilns and a few small iron workshops left by the Sultanate of Zanzibar in the east. (blacksmith shop).

Of course, it’s not that East Africa doesn’t want to build steel factories. The problem is how to bring in the machines. In this era, steel factories are definitely the king’s industry, which determines the level of development of a country.

If you want to introduce it, the price is very high. The most uncomfortable thing is that the traffic conditions in East Africa are still at the level of people dragging horses.

The coal and iron resources in East Africa are distributed inland. In this era, steel plants were built near resource areas and were resource-oriented. For example, the Ruhr area was built on coal mines.

Unlike the previous life, 21 is actually market-oriented. The Far Eastern powers built many large iron and steel factories in the coastal areas. Coal and iron resources rely on seaborne imports, and at the same time, it is convenient for products to be sold all over the world by sea.

So Ernst has not built a steel factory in East Africa until now, and the coal produced by slaves in East Africa is only provided to a few factories that use steam as power, so there is still a lot of surplus. With a small amount, even pushing with a trolley can support the operation of the East African factory, not to mention that there are such things as horse-drawn carts in the world.

The only industrial advantage of East Africa and the backward countries of the time is that there are several factories using steam engines that are distributed along the coast, including the only steam engine used for drainage in the Mwanza coal mine.

Except for a few primary agricultural product processing factories (sisal, tobacco, flour, etc.), the rest of East Africa are slightly larger "factories" and workshops, relying purely on manpower. For example, the ship engines used by the Mwanza Shipyard are shipped from Germany , while the rest of the hull is handcrafted.

In other words, how developed the East African handicraft industry is depends entirely on how developed the Sultanate of Zanzibar is along the coast of East Africa. It is a pity that the economic center of the Sultanate of Zanzibar has always been on Zanzibar Island. Special did not copy Zanzibar Island, after all, it is necessary to leave a way for the Sultanate of Zanzibar (the most important thing is that the Sultanate of Zanzibar has connections with the United Kingdom, and the British supported Oman to compete with Portugal and other countries during the Oman Empire era ).

Of course, there is also a military factory in East Africa, which is considered the most advanced industry in East Africa, but it is still at the stage of repairing broken guns in East Africa and making improvised explosives to produce bullets.

Compared to industry, East Africa's agriculture is really good. It can export while meeting local needs.

But this is based on the premise that East Africa is vast and sparsely populated and the slavery economy is prevalent, not how high the level of agricultural productivity in East Africa is. East Africa's agricultural productivity is at the middle level in the world. Windmills, advanced farm tools, fertilizers and science Comprehensive applications such as cultivation methods have made East Africa the leader among backward countries and regions.

(end of this chapter)