Chapter 136 Road
Using the leisure time of the truce, the East African colonies strengthened the roads in the territory.
One is poor and the other is white. That’s not a joke. Other countries want to industrialize, at least they have the accumulation of wealth from the agricultural era, or they have the support of big countries behind them.
Roads, bridges, agricultural irrigation systems, and even canals... These things have been accumulated by other countries and developed colonies for at least a hundred years.
East Africa really had nothing before the colonists came to East Africa. Even the dirt roads were developed by the East African colonies themselves.
The road traffic in East Africa can be imagined. After a rain, it becomes muddy. Fortunately, the grasslands in East Africa are flat and open, and road construction is not difficult.
Those who fought on the front line of the East African road construction army were the indigenous captives, and the East African colonial government was in charge of supervising the work.
Hundreds of thousands of people are working on the front line of road construction at the same time. Although the tools are simple, the roads in East Africa are still skyrocketing at a speed visible to the naked eye by virtue of the number of people.
The food in the East African colony is not bad for the natives. It is high in salt and oil, which ensures that they are full of strength every day.
The amount of food is naturally not much, but it is more stable than hunting for a living, and the wild animals in the East African colonies give these indigenous people extra meals from time to time.
Indigenous people who work hard every day, not only did not get tired, but also looked stronger than before.
In this era, regardless of whether it is a colony or not, employing people to work is a dead end, especially in areas outside Europe.
Such as the development of the Suez Canal, the construction of the American Oceanic Railway... are all built on the bones of the dead. These projects are not only labor-intensive, but also in order to save costs, most workers have extremely poor food, poor taste, food spoilage, and often was skimped.
As for why the indigenous people in East Africa are fattened up, which is completely different from other places, that is not the conscience of the East African colonial government.
It is for the follow-up that these indigenous laborers retired from East Africa can be sold at a good price. These slaves will be given to slave traders in Zanzibar after a period of time.
Just in time, East Africa first harvested the labor value of these indigenous peoples. Like those places in East Africa where the terrain is steep, or the engineering is difficult and the risk factor is high, a large number of indigenous people are used to complete it.
Every construction site in East Africa died a few due to accidents, and the colonial government of East Africa did not feel distressed at all.
The colonial government of East Africa wants to ensure that the food of the natives is not too bad. In addition, at night, the whole of East Africa is dark in the middle of winter, and it is impossible for these natives to work day and night.
The food is not bad, and with enough sleep time, the life of the natives is even more comfortable than hunting on the grasslands. The only disadvantage is that they lose their freedom and are inferior to others.
As we all know, strength comes from training. In the past, these natives had a lot of strength, but their endurance for heavy work was too poor. Hunting all the year round made them more explosive and good at running, but working required waist strength, arm strength, And be patient.
Now, after being cultivated by the East African colonies, they struggle on the construction site every day, which greatly strengthens the obedience and durability of the indigenous people.
So that after the East African colonies sold these retired aborigines to slave traders in the Sultanate of Zanzibar, they received unanimous praise.
The reason is that the customers of the Ottoman Empire, after using these trained natives, were pleasantly surprised to find that they were more usable and obedient than the previous slaves, and they were also healthier and had a lower loss rate.
Of course, to ensure the quality of roads in East Africa, at least to ensure that they are not too bad, indigenous labor alone is not enough.
As mentioned earlier, the aborigines have poor patience and cannot do fine work, so they still have to rely on immigrants on some road sections that require some skills.
Especially bridges and other road sections that need to be strengthened, must be durable, and have technical content. Ordinary immigrants are not enough, so we must find immigrants with relevant experience.
Through the combination of natives and immigrants, the East African colonies realized that the towns in the colonies were connected by roads.
If the current East African roads are used for transportation, there are advantages and disadvantages.
The weather is fine, the road is indeed more comfortable than the grass, but when it rains, it is naturally easier to walk on both sides of the road with turf. Even so, there are not many cases of driving in rainy days, so this road still needs to be repaired .
Besides, these roads are in poor condition now, can they be upgraded in the future? Not to mention, the roads in Mbeya-Dar es Salaam are already undergoing sandstone transformation.
The coal mines in Mbeya need to be transported by vehicles to provide energy for the few factories in East Africa, so the roadbed of the road must be stronger than ordinary roads.
In addition, the upper coastal area and the central area, these areas with early development time are also upgrading roads, as for other areas, the problem of availability must be resolved first.
During the truce, the main roads fortified in the East African colonies were the road from the coast to Mwanza, and the repair of a simple dirt road from the Great Lakes to the newly occupied area.
During the war, the long supply lines and poor road conditions caused the East African colonies to suffer.
The war is only halfway through, and there are four stronger northern countries behind, so make full preparations to avoid overturning.
Although Ernst looked down on the aborigines, the aborigines can sometimes explode with great power. There are many cases in history where backward forces defeated advanced forces.
So every battle should be carefully prepared. If the British and Portuguese were to fight this war, they would definitely not be as safe as Ernst.
More than 10,000 East African colonial troops (including militia) with modern military weapons are enough to fight a small-scale war on the European battlefield.
And it is enough to pose a serious threat to some small countries, such as Greece and other Balkan countries, with a population of only one million, and some armies with only tens of thousands, not to mention some weaker countries, such as many small countries in Germany. state.
So East Africa has definitely done its best to treat these indigenous countries. The Sultanate of Zanzibar did not enjoy this treatment.
The Sultanate of Zanzibar has only a few hundred thousand people. Once East Africa puts its troops invading the northwest in front of the Sultanate of Zanzibar, it will be full of deterrence.
The East African colony can pull up a team of 70,000 to 80,000 people who are temporarily out of production in the whole of East Africa in a short period of time, and put them in the whole of Africa. Currently, only Egypt can do it.
That's why Ernst dared to say that he was based in Africa. As for why it didn't attract the attention of other forces.
That is because the colonists of other countries did not go deep into the interior, so they did not know the details of East Africa. In addition, East Africa is the only place that Europe must pass through to India and the Far East. Dar es Salaam and Mombasa have a large number of merchant ships every day dock.
It is normal for people to come and go, and it is not unexpected for immigrants to land in East Africa, and besides the East African colonies themselves, who is free to count how many people have immigrated from East Africa.
After all, everyone recruits people to their own colonies, but the East African colonies only recruit a little more, and the East African colonies are fully closed management, and Zanzibar businessmen can only do business in the Dar es Salaam market. Currently, there is no Any other forces that have gone deep into the interior of East Africa to investigate the situation can at most simply judge through a few ports in East Africa.
But from the coastal point of view, East Africa and the Portuguese Mozambique colony are similar, so naturally there is nothing to worry about.
The Portuguese who really bordered East Africa have only seen a few villages in East Africa. The border between the west and East Africa is its subordinate indigenous forces, and most of the two colonies are separated by the Ruvuma River. I can't figure it out either.
As for the Arabs, the Sultanate of Zanzibar who is more familiar with East Africa is now trapped on the island.
Egypt’s Sudan (South Sudan) is very close to Omorat in East Africa, but there are many indigenous nomadic forces in the middle, and Egypt’s control over South Sudan is too weak (South Sudan is all black).
Of course, the geographical location in East Africa is not bad, especially Dar es Salaam is an important port of call along the Indian Ocean coast.
But Britain and France are clear about the completion of the Suez Canal, and Britain has Cape Town, France has Madagascar, and both countries have their own footholds in the Indian Ocean, so Dar es Salaam is not so important .
What's more, ports such as Dar es Salaam are now armed with artillery and turned into iron kings. Therefore, combining various factors, East Africa can stand alone.
If East Africa really wants to be targeted by other countries, of course there is a way, that is to develop the mineral resources in East Africa on a large scale and realize them.
(end of this chapter)