Chapter 537 The past seventies
“Prince Karl! Welcome to East Africa.” Constantine stepped forward and said.
“Long time no see, Your Majesty Constantine, you are still so energetic.”
Prince Karl gave Constantine a hug and now addressed Constantine a notch higher, and now Constantine was king.
“Uncle Carl!”
“Haha, Ernst, I haven’t seen you for a few years, and now you are more mature!”
For Sigmaringen, the royal family of Hechingen still attaches great importance to it. As the saying goes, if you are rich and noble, don't forget each other. The same is true for the relationship between Hechingen and Sigmaringen.
“Leopold, is he still in Germany?”
“Yes, he still holds an important position in the German army, and I, an old guy, will explore the way for him so that Sigmaringen can ensure the formation of three fulcrums in Romania, Germany and Africa.”
The achievements of the Hechingen royal family in Africa have made Sigmaringen completely unable to sit still, so at the invitation of the Hechingen royal family, Prince Carl personally came to East Africa to discuss matters related to Sigmaringen's colonization of Africa.
Unlike the royal family of Hechingen, because Prince Carl's sons are relatively old, there is no need to support Ernst, who has no foundation, in Germany like Constantine did, so this time Prince Carl came directly to East Africa. The successor Leopold ensured Sigmaringen's status and influence in Germany.
Germany is still Sigmaringen’s retreat. If the African colonial plan fails, it can still fall back, and Sigmaringen’s confidence in colonizing Africa is Romania.
"Let's go back to the palace first and let you settle down. After all, the climate in East Africa is different from that in Germany, especially this season, so get used to it first." Constantine said to Prince Karl.
It is still winter in Germany, and East Africa near the equator is relatively hot, so you should take some time off when you first arrive in East Africa.
However, the climate in Africa is quite suitable for elderly people like Constantine and Prince Carl, because the elderly like warmth, and East Africa meets this condition.
Just like the elderly people from the Far East who like to retire in Panzhihua, or the elderly people in the United States who migrate from the Northeast to the South.
Prince Carl and Constantine and his son, the three then took a carriage to the Svet Palace, and Prince Carl finally saw the political center of this huge country in East Africa.
"It is no exaggeration to say that today's first towns are no different from Berlin and Vienna when we were young. At that time, there were not many cities in Germany with a population of more than 100,000. I want to know the current population of first towns. How much has been achieved?”
“The population of the first town is about 150,000. If calculated based on household registration, it should be over 100,000.” Ernst answered Prince Carl’s question. He was relatively familiar with this aspect of data.
“When I came here, I landed from Dar es Salaam. I heard that Dar es Salaam is the largest city in East Africa. Is this correct?”
"Uncle Carl, if you include the new city, then it must be. Dar es Salaam has two urban areas, and the total urban population is about 300,000."
Constantine: "Old man, East Africa is now a big country in the world in terms of land area and population, so it is not an exaggeration to have several big cities. As for black people, there are quite a few in East Africa, but we and the United States The attitude towards black people is different, so it’s not easy to see black people in Central Province.”
The construction of various projects in the Central Province has been completed long ago, so there are no big projects for the time being. In addition, the Central Province was the first to implement the policy of replacing slaves with animals, so now the Central Province can only be seen more in the Dar es Salaam slave market. of black people. The more than 100,000 black soldiers left over from the last East-Portuguese War have not yet been sold out. Among them, the Ottoman Empire has the largest order, which can be directly sent to the front line for use. There are about 50,000 to 60,000, and there are also 20,000 to 30,000 sent to the United States.
Constantine’s words made Prince Karl understand that the number of non-black people in East Africa must be quite large now, otherwise it would be impossible for East Africa not to use black people.
Of course, black slaves were used in East Africa, but black slaves are now mainly concentrated in other areas to contribute to East Africa's agriculture and infrastructure. However, even if the Central Province is de-slavery, it is not a small progress.
“Can you reveal the number of people who have immigrated to East Africa over the years?”
Prince Karl still wanted to find out this, but he felt unhappy. However, the population of East Africa has always been the highest level of state secrets, so Constantine glanced at Ernst and asked him to answer this question.
Ernst understood and said: "Uncle Carl, we don't have detailed statistics on this, but there should be a few million, maybe more than seven or eight million. After all, East African immigrants have been immigrated for more than ten years, and we have only recently started counting. Population data, so we don’t know much about it yet.”
It will take two or three months for the census to be completely completed, but the total number of people has already been calculated. Now it is time to count the area and other data on the population, that is, characteristics and details.
It's not that Ernst deliberately hid it from Prince Carl, but the fewer people who know about this kind of thing, the better. If word gets out that the population of East Africa reaches more than 30 million, close to 35 million, many people may not be able to sleep. I feel that if black people are included in the figure, it will directly exceed the 50 million mark.
Although Ernst provided Prince Carl with a greatly discounted fake data, this data still shocked Prince Carl.
Seven to eight million people can be considered a medium-sized country in Europe. After all, a country with a population of over 10 million is considered a large country in Europe. A population of seven to eight million is already larger than most European countries.
“You have now surpassed Bavaria? It’s unbelievable!”
The population of Bavaria should be between 400 and 6 million, but it certainly does not exceed 6 million, so 78 million is indeed larger than the population of Bavaria.
“The past few years have also come at a good time. One is that the birth rate in Germany and Europe has greatly increased. In the past few years, there has been an economic crisis, so we have seized the opportunity to acquire a large number of people from Europe.”
The actual data is definitely more than that. During the entire economic crisis, East Africa immigrated about six to seven million people from all over the world. It is worth mentioning that the economic crisis of 1873 is still not over completely, but the impact is not as great as it was at the beginning. Now the center of the economic crisis It was the United Kingdom. According to the original transmission path, the epidemic broke out in Austria and then developed in Germany. The United States suffered the most, and the United Kingdom ended.
Although the economic crisis in Europe is generally over, the economy is still in a state of depression compared with before. According to previous experience, this state of depression is likely to continue until the beginning of the twentieth century, also known as chronic economic depression.
The biggest beneficiary of this long-term depression is East Africa, which has prepared in advance. Not only has it introduced a large number of people and machinery and equipment, but the biggest achievement has been the completion of the basic defense and military industry, the East African railway network, the shipbuilding industry, and the electric power industry. , the steel industry and the completion of a large number of infrastructure construction, as well as the purchase of a powerful East African navy.
It is worth mentioning that the introduction of a large number of talents in East Africa was also accomplished through the economic crisis. A large number of companies in Europe and the United States went bankrupt, providing opportunities for the development of East Africa. This is also the reason why areas such as the power industry in East Africa can start.
The entire 1870s was also the decade of fastest development in East Africa, almost directly pulling Sub-Saharan Africa, a region with no industrial and agricultural foundation at all, into an agricultural society and the most rudimentary industrial society.
This is not a leap from zero to one, but a direct leap from zero to two and a half, that is, a direct leap from primitive society to the transitional stage from feudal agricultural society to primary industrial society, omitting the intermediate slavery society and feudal society.
Of course, slavery and feudalism also existed in East Africa, and primitive society also existed in the west. The current East Africa can be called a living fossil of human society, and various stages of human society can be fully examined.
(End of this chapter)