African Entrepreneurship Record

Luanda City.

After the baptism of war, Luanda had already become riddled with scars. When East Africa took over Luanda, they immediately began reconstruction work.

”The scale of Luanda’s port is not quite up to standard, yet there’s no value in refurbishing it now. After all, no one can guarantee whether the enemy will harass here or even bombard it. Currently, our naval forces in the South Atlantic are very weak, so there’s no need for large-scale repairs of the cities in the Angola region. It might be completely rebuilt after the war ends,” said engineer John Lowell.

For East Africa, Luanda’s port conditions are better than most ports along the East African coast. The first reason is its large area, unlike Dar es Salaam City and Mombasa, which extend inland. Luanda has a naturally formed giant sandbar extending into the sea, giving it more advantages in versatility over the other two.

However, the drawbacks are also evident; it is far from the main commercial routes. The world’s major trade is still concentrated between the Eurasian continents, and even the Americas cannot break this monopoly in a short time.

Dar es Salaam City and Mombasa City are naturally close to the main routes, while Portuguese-controlled Angola is far inferior to East Africa in terms of population and productivity, leading Luanda’s foreign trade to be notably backward.

An important function of a colony is to provide the sovereign country with markets and raw materials. Clearly, Angola has its natural disadvantage as a market, primarily due to its small population, which, if including the Black people, might still compare to Portugal’s homeland.

However, their consumption ability is too poor. The value created by the local Black people is much less than the plantations and mines built by the Portuguese in Angola. Also, because of the low level of civilization, the former Congo Kingdom was not like the Abyssinian Empire with its large population.

In front of the Abyssinian Empire, a truly ancient African native civilization, other African indigenous countries can only be considered as undeveloped lands.

Though Egypt in North Africa had a glorious past and is relatively advanced now, ancient Egyptian civilization had long been replaced by Arab civilization, as is the case with other North African countries.

Some ancient countries in West Africa were somewhat civilized but were heavily influenced by Arab civilization, making the Abyssinian Empire a better representative of African civilization.

Of course, the level of civilization is only one indicator of Angola’s prosperity. When this indicator is inadequate, Angola’s development is naturally unsatisfactory.

As for the advanced civilization brought by the Portuguese, it is actually colonial culture based on exploitation. As one of the earliest colonial empires, Portugal’s methods are far behind those of Britain and France.

British and French colonies can receive a certain degree of construction, while Portuguese-controlled Angola has not seen much change over hundreds of years.

However, for East Africa, this is a good thing since if Portugal had truly completed the transformation and construction of Angola, it would have been challenging for East Africa to smoothly take over the region.

”Regarding Luanda’s planning, this city will certainly become one of the most important cities on the West Coast in the future. Its future development prospects might not be much inferior to those of Dar es Salaam City and Mombasa City.”

”We lack a direct sea route connecting the North and South Atlantic. Although the conditions at Whale Bay Port have been somewhat poor, Angola’s ports naturally surpass even those on the East Coast, plus the climate is quite pleasant. This will definitely be a focus area for the kingdom’s future development.”

Eugene had no doubts about John Lowell’s words, as John Lowell’s team’s presence was proof enough.

John Lowell had participated in many East African city constructions. He was a well-known city designer in East Africa. Before Angola had even stabilized completely, the kingdom government had already sent him to Luanda for surveys and planning, so the objective was obvious.

He said, ”Mr. John Lowell, another great city may be designed under your hands, congratulations.”

John Lowell was very pleased with the compliments from the security personnel arranged by the government. He said, ”This is also why I originally chose to work in East Africa. The opportunities here are immense, whereas in Europe, with its emphasis on connections and seniority, I couldn’t have achieved such accomplishments.”

After all, most of Europe’s cities are already set, and there’s fierce competition among peers. Despite John Lowell’s talent, being from a civilian background put him at a disadvantage compared to those nobles with connections or family support, but in East Africa, he didn’t have this concern.

John Lowell came to East Africa about thirteen years ago. People like him seeking development opportunities in East Africa were not many, but not few either; it was more a test of individual capability.

John Lowell’s ability to gain official support from East Africa was naturally because several of his works were very satisfactory, including the masterpieces of Jisan City and New Frankfurt City. He also participated in the construction of East African cities led by Dar es Salaam City.

East Africa had new city constructions and expansions of old cities, as well as numerous engineering projects, providing abundant employment opportunities for practitioners from Europe.

John Lowell said, ”Luanda, according to the Portuguese’s plan, was a small to medium-sized city, with a maximum capacity of thirty thousand people based on the current residential areas. However, based on the traces of life in Luanda, it hosted at least seventy to eighty thousand people, which is quite unreasonable.”

Eugene: ”Mr. John Lowell, except for military fortresses, the Portuguese may never have carefully planned the construction of Luanda City. These buildings in the city should have accumulated over time.”

After giving Eugene an approving look, John Lowell said, ”Your observation is sharp. This chaotic urban layout and filthy environment clearly indicate the Portuguese never put much effort initially. Their cities developed more freely, resulting in congestion at the expense of the living environment.”

”My blueprint is to dismantle all these dilapidated structures and, like other East African cities, design the use of urban space more rationally.”

”In particular, the port area and water resources are key points. Luanda was favored by the Portuguese due to its geographical location and port conditions. Similarly, it will also be an important port city for East Africa in the future. Therefore, how to make the port area more closely connected to the city is a crucial direction in the design.”

”As for the water resources, Luanda City’s rainfall is only moderate to low within East Africa, so making reasonable use of its rivers and lakes is essential to meeting Luanda City’s production and living needs.”

Luanda’s annual rainfall is only around 500 millimeters, but this is already more advantageous than Whale Bay Port, enough to satisfy basic agricultural and industrial production.

Most importantly, Luanda City is not short of water sources. The upper streams of its rivers are in areas with relatively abundant rainfall, better meeting Luanda City’s demands.

However, the main reason Luanda City’s rainfall falls short of the West Coast of East Africa is the influence of the Benguela Current, similar to the situation in the Somali region, though the currents in the Somali region change with the seasons, while the Benguela Current only varies in strength.”

Even with the influence of cold currents, Luanda’s rainfall is sufficient to satisfy East Africa. This isn’t the 21st century—the vast industrial production of the 21st century strained water resources; 19th-century industrial scales didn’t consume much water.