Chapter 1191 Things are different now
In other words, Brazil is at least 30 years behind East Africa. However, the calculation must not be like this. After all, East Africa has achieved major opportunities through several rounds of world economic crises, two five-year plans, and this time it has achieved overtaking in a corner. , this process is enough for other countries that develop at a normal speed to take hundreds of years.
Today, East Africa views Brazil as the standard by which industrial powers view backward agricultural countries. Although Brazil's industrial scale is not bad compared with other colonies or backward countries, it can only be a general among the dwarfs.
Take Brazil's industry as an example. Most of it is light industry, and most of its heavy industry is mining. Moreover, the Brazilian economy is mainly controlled by foreign capital, so the lifeline of Brazil's industry is not in its own hands.
Rhodes said: "If Mr. Pereira has been to other cities in East Africa, you will understand that what I said is true. The penetration rate of cars in East Africa is astonishing. As long as you are in a city, you can basically see this kind of traffic flow. The scene of weaving.”
“Among our East African cities, Dar es Salaam’s economy ranks first, but the gap between other cities and Dar es Salaam is not big, such as coastal Luanda, Cabinda, Beira, New Hamburg Port City, etc., inland New Frankfurt, Mbeya, Karare and our capital, etc., are all large cities with a population of more than 500,000. "
The only cities in East Africa with a population of more than one million are Dar es Salaam and Mombasa, and both of them only have more than one million. This is far from big cities such as London, New York, and Paris, but there are large cities in East Africa with a population of more than half a million. There are so many cities, probably ranked first in the world.
This larger, medium-sized city is also the main reason why the population growth rate of Dar es Salaam and Mombasa is not as fast as that of other major cities.
East Africa's economy is distributed in a star-studded pattern. Whether along the coast or inland, the economy is relatively balanced, so the East African population naturally does not need to flock to Dar es Salaam and Mombasa.
On the contrary, Brazil is a negative material in this regard. Most of the Brazilian population is concentrated in a few coastal cities such as Rio de Janeiro.
Pereira had no doubts about what Rhodes said, saying: "It is true. Our participants this time mainly arrived in Dar es Salaam through two ways."
"One is like me, taking a ship directly by sea, and the other is through the railway between Cabinda and Luanda. We have already had many companies arrive in Dar es Salaam a few days ago."
There are many Brazilian companies participating in the exhibition this time. They will choose different routes according to the characteristics of their products. If they are not in a hurry, they will naturally choose sea transportation. If they have time requirements, they will go through the East African railway. Some companies will take the same route.
After all, there are many Brazilian companies that deal with East Africa, and most of them operate on the west coast of East Africa. Therefore, when coming to the east coast, it is better to send your own people from the west coast station to bring products to Dar es Salaam for exhibition.
Pereira continued: "After we left South America, we passed directly through the Cape of Good Hope and stayed in Maputo and Beira for a while."
“The development of other cities such as New Hamburg, Travayo, Pemba, Hinde, etc. have amazed us. I used to think that Cape Town was the ceiling of urban development in South Africa until I came to East Africa. , only to realize that Cape Town is probably not even ranked among East African cities.”
Cape Town is the capital of the British South African colony. When it comes to the popularity of southern African cities, I am afraid that many East African cities are not as good as Cape Town. After all, relying on the Cape of Good Hope, a transportation artery, Cape Town was established hundreds of years ago. It's very famous.
Many cities in East Africa do not even have a few years of history. Coupled with the long-term isolation policy, the popularity of many developed cities in the interior of East Africa is even more pitifully low.
But now Cape Town, once the largest city in sub-Saharan Africa, has actually been surpassed by many cities in East Africa, which naturally shows the rapid development of East Africa.
And Pereira said with some bitterness: "Yes! East Africa is definitely a great country. After all, Brazil was established many years earlier than your country, but now it has been left behind by your country and can't even see its shadow." " Cape Town, once the largest city in sub-Saharan Africa, may not be looked down upon by Rhodes, an East African, but Pereira cannot ignore the development of Cape Town.
Because except for the capital Rio de Janeiro, there is no city in Brazil that can be compared with Cape Town. In other words, Cape Town, the colonial capital city, can be ranked second in the country in Brazil.
Therefore, Cape Town's development is actually not bad. On the contrary, due to the rise of East Africa's economy, Cape Town has also received a lot of dividends, because the maritime trade on the east and west coasts of East Africa basically passes through the Cape of Good Hope.
Therefore, the rapid development of economic and trade in East Africa has stimulated the economy of the Cape Town region. Just by providing corresponding services to ships passing through East Africa, you can make a lot of money.
If it were not a British colony, Cape Town might not be inferior to East African cities in urban construction and development.
After all, the British government is not a charity, so the British demands from the South African colonies exceed their investment. This makes Cape Town's urban expansion and infrastructure replacement inadequate.
And because of the threat from East Africa, the South African colonies had to invest their remaining limited resources in the military in exchange for British weapons and equipment and payment of Royal Navy protection fees.
After all, there are a large number of Boers in South Africa, and they may even be Boers who have a blood feud with East Africa, so the relationship between East Africa and South Africa has not been very good over the years.
The border trade between the two countries is almost zero. This is mainly due to the losses suffered by the Boers and the British. In the past, East Africa used economic and trade methods to penetrate the two Boer republics, so each step gained wisdom. Today, the colonial government of South Africa , cutting off land trade with East Africa.
Of course, in the eyes of the East African government, this behavior of the South African colonial government is completely petty. What kind of country is East Africa today?
It is the world's top power, with a land area of tens of millions, a population of over 100 million, an army of more than 400,000, and a navy that ranks among the top five superpowers in the world.
The South African colonies are like little ants in front of East Africa, the kind that can be crushed to death casually. Therefore, the small actions of the South African colonies are completely insignificant in the eyes of the East African government. They are just naval warships walking around the coast of the South African colonies. , is enough to deter it.
Today's South African colonies are completely different from the former Republic of South Africa. The Republic of South Africa is rich in inland resources, so the hinterland economy and population are not small, while the cities and population of the South African colonies are basically distributed in the coastal areas, and because of the Drakensberg Mountains The reason is that there is no hinterland economy and there are only some sporadic pastures in the interior.
Therefore, as long as East Africa attacks the coast of South Africa's colonies, the entire South African economy will be basically finished. The population in its hinterland is basically negligible, and because of East Africa, almost half of its interior is desert or semi-arid area, at most it is Just raise some sheep as a source of East African wool.
But even so, its capital Cape Town is not something that many cities in Brazil, a fake world power, can compete with.
At present, apart from its large land area and rich resources, Brazil basically has nothing to praise, especially its industrial level, which cannot be compared with East Africa.
Pereira now fully agrees with this point. Just looking at the city of Dar es Salaam, its urban construction, industry, transportation and other fields can surpass Rio de Janeiro, which Brazil is proud of. Main street.
(End of chapter)