Chapter 965 The shock of the Germans
That’s why the lack of precious metals in the coastal areas of East Africa made traditional European colonists uninterested in this region, allowing the Hechingen royal family to take advantage.
The most typical negative example is West Africa, which is similar to East Africa. The term Gold Coast means that the place is destined to be impossible to live in.
…
Tirpitz eventually had to take a train from Dar es Salaam to the interior of East Africa, and this inland trip further strengthened Tirpitz’s idea of cooperation with East Africa.
After the capital was moved in East Africa, the original diplomatic work was naturally transferred from the first town to the Rhine City. This meant that diplomats from various countries could only travel as far as the first town, but now they can go deep into the interior of East Africa. observe.
Foreign diplomats can basically only travel by rail from Dar es Salaam on the coast of East Africa to the new capital Rhine, but the total railway distance from Dar es Salaam to Rhine is more than 1,500 kilometers.
The cities, villages, farmland and other reference points along this more than 1,500 kilometers will allow these diplomats to have a clearer understanding of East Africa's national strength.
And this is the case with Tirpitz. Since boarding the train in Dar es Salaam, Tirpitz has been "greedily" observing the East African intelligence along the Central Railway.
"Since we left Dar es Salaam, we have passed through twenty-three towns and more than fifty villages, among which the larger ones include the first town, Morogoro City, Dodoma City...among them There are nearly five or six cities in East Africa judging from their size, and the rest should be towns and villages," Tirpitz said to the entourage.
It is not difficult for Tirpitz to know the names of towns in East Africa. Every station he passes will have the name of the station, which is usually the name of the local town.
Tirpitz's assistant Modford Kiran was also quite shocked and said: "Your Excellency, we have obviously underestimated the country of East Africa. So far, many places in the areas our train has passed through have obviously been developed by East Africa. A large number of farmlands, villages and towns, cities, roads... these all show that East Africa’s development and management of the interior is extremely successful.”
"Their farmland is neatly built and has some perfect supporting water conservancy facilities. Ditches and windmills are very common, and if I read correctly, there may be large machinery such as tractors. I even suspect that the farms in the United States and Europe are at this level. "
As an important equipment for agricultural mechanization in East Africa, tractors are currently very low in popularity. Even so, Modford Kilan still discovered and judged that as a naval personnel, his eyesight is very good.
Of course, Modford Kilan didn’t think much about it. Even if the tractor transitioned from steam engine to internal combustion engine, its specific shape did not change much, so he did not know that all tractors in East Africa were powered by internal combustion engines.
Modford Kilan shook his head and said: "Your Excellency, it is unlikely. East Africa has not occupied areas such as Mozambique and Angola for a long time. It should not meet this standard, and eastern East Africa should be the most developed region in East Africa. It can be seen from the name of the country that this is the land of Longxing in East Africa and has the earliest development time, so it is completely understandable that it can reach the level of Europe and the United States. "
What Assistant Tirpitz said makes sense. Eastern East Africa is indeed at the leading level in the country. However, compared with central and eastern East Africa, it is even worse. The economy and total population of the two places are similar, but other regions are at the same level. There is a big gap between the two regions. Now Tirpitz and his party have followed the train to the city of Iringa in the East African Plateau Province. The train has traveled more than 500 kilometers, which means that it has just transitioned from the East African coastal plain to the East African plateau area.
There is still more than half the distance to the final destination of Rhine City. Although the situation shown along the railway line can give the Germans a certain shock, it is still within everyone's expectations. After all, during the South African War, various countries inferred that the population of East Africa at that time It should exceed 20 million. For a large country with a population of 10 million, it is more reasonable for the coastal and surrounding areas to develop well, but it does not represent the development of East Africa as a whole.
Tirpitz said: “Based on our current observations, East Africa’s development of the interior, especially along the railway lines, is relatively complete. After all, the areas that the railways pass through generally have good economic conditions, and there are many towns along the railway lines. It’s a normal situation, but I don’t know if the same is true in areas other than the railway line.”
There are definitely more towns and cities along the railway. As for the cities and towns outside the railway, unless it is along a river or a highway, the population cannot be so dense. Of course, the farmland area in the eastern region is still very considerable, with both the eastern coastal plain and the southern part of the East African Plateau. It is an important grain production base in East Africa. The number of large-scale farms is similar to that in Eastern Europe in terms of density.
Compared with Central and Western Europe, Eastern Europe has a much lower population density. Although the entire population of Tsarist Russia is over 100 million, the combined population of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Germany in Central Europe alone is nearly 100 million. Therefore, the more densely populated Eastern European part of Tsarist Russia is also It was similar to the central and eastern regions of East Africa, and Tsarist Russia at this time included territories such as Ukraine and Poland.
Next, Tirpitz and others were even more eye-opening along the way. When passing through the urban area of Iringa, they determined that this was also a small and medium-sized city in East Africa. Compared with Dar es Salaam, the third As a town, Dodoma may not be as good as Dodoma, but it is still much larger than the average town.
Next, they encountered two more cities similar in size to Iringa City, until the train entered Mbeya City along the Central Railway.
As soon as they entered the urban area of Mbeya City, the Germans saw how extraordinary this city was. From the naked eye alone, its level was actually higher than Dodoma City and the First Town, which is the same as Dar es Salaam. I'm afraid it's not inferior in comparison.
So much so that Tirpitz and his party mistakenly identified this place as the new capital of East Africa, "Rhine City". After all, it was nearly a thousand kilometers away from the interior of East Africa at this time, and it was difficult for Tirpitz and his party to have a concept of distance.
"Mbeya City is one of the five largest cities in East Africa. It is currently the second largest city in the interior of East Africa. It is not the capital of East Africa. The Rhine City is still more than 600 kilometers away from here." The reception staff in East Africa could only ask Tirpi Ci and his party explained.
“Mbeya City is the provincial capital like Dodoma City, and it is located in the industrial zone of our country. The industry is relatively developed and is not bad compared with some big cities in Europe, so it is not surprising to be mistaken.”
Tirpitz asked: "Isn't the city of the Rhine even bigger?"
“No, although the built-up area of Rhine City is not small, the current population is far from being compared with traditional East African large cities such as Mbeya City. After all, Rhine City is a completely new city.”
Tirpitz was speechless about the East Africans' explanation. To him, any city in East Africa was "new". After all, the country in East Africa has a history of less than 40 years, and the so-called "traditional big cities" were even more inexplicable. , according to East African standards, more than 90% of German cities have a long history.
(End of this chapter)