African Entrepreneurship Record

”Count Allen Tal, we must thank Austria-Hungary for mediating in this meeting, which greatly facilitated our work here,” Von der Leyen said to Count Allen Tal.

After concluding the peace talks, Von der Leyen felt very satisfied. East Africa’s fundamental goals were realized, even exceeding East Africa’s expectations.

East Africa’s expectations included both Angola and Mozambique, and once Orange was fully integrated into East Africa’s territory, Von der Leyen and the others would have exceeded their tasks, not to mention securing six million British Pounds in war reparations.

Of course, compared to East Africa’s earlier astronomical demand of over a hundred million British Pounds, six million Pounds is not even a fraction.

However, just getting any money has made the East African government quite satisfied. Earlier, East Africa estimated that the United Kingdom would not give a penny, as being the world’s greatest power, territorial concessions and reparations were unacceptable.

This six million British Pounds was obtained under the guise of East African British Army expenses and medical fees, not as war reparations, as East Africa could not let these prisoners be freeloaders, wasting medical and other resources.

Indeed, this six million Pounds, let alone the British if including the Portuguese forces, could cover the living expenses of the prisoners of the Allied forces in East Africa, totaling nearly two hundred thousand men jointly.

Given East Africa’s status as a backward agricultural nation, the actual cost of living is very low, and there isn’t much cost in caring for prisoners, mainly just medical expenses.

Additionally, East Africa’s income is not limited to these six million Pounds. In Mozambique and Angola, East Africa also gained a significant amount of industry, which, while not currently liquid, will save considerable future development costs.

The Allies left behind a large number of military weapons in East Africa, over 630,000 rifles alone, over a thousand cannons, and countless other pieces of equipment, most of which remain in Angola and Mozambique. Finding suitable buyers could fetch a good price.

The weapons of the Allied forces, especially those from Indian troops, are in relatively good condition, having low wear and can fetch a good price even as second-hand.

However, East Africa’s greatest gain was the more than six million acres of developed land by the Portuguese in Angola and Mozambique.

In this respect, the Portuguese truly lack capability. Six million acres of farmland barely equals Israel’s national farmland area from the previous timeline, considering Angola and Mozambique are not tiny lands, and their water and soil conditions far surpass Israel’s.

The Portuguese have been colonizing Angola and Mozambique for over three hundred years, yet on average developed only about twenty thousand acres of land per year.

Especially in the Mozambique region, the farming conditions in Mozambique rank among the best globally, with only the Great Lakes Region and Nigeria in Africa being comparable.

This shows that the Portuguese genuinely have no interest in ”farming.” Nonetheless, saying the Portuguese dislike developing land is inaccurate; they just preferred high-value economic crops.

In Angola and Mozambique, out of the six million acres of farmland, the vast majority are plantations, primarily slave plantations.

This is also the main reason for the sparse Portuguese population in Angola and Mozambique. After all, Black people could be exploited for free labor, so plantation owners didn’t need to introduce large numbers of their own citizens.

The classic example is Brazil, formerly a Portuguese colony, where the population exceeded that of mainland Portugal. The primary reason for this was Brazil’s lack of labor population, making it a hub for the flourishing slave trade.

Even now, Brazil continues the slave trade, having formally abolished slavery only last May (May 13, 1888).

This was indeed a setback for East Africa, as Brazil had been one of the most significant destinations for East African Black people export, and the war nearly halted the export of slaves to Brazil and other countries.

Now East Africa has gained Angola and Mozambique, lands where the majority of the residents are still Black people, potentially increasing East Africa’s Black population by at least three million.

In effect, recent years of exporting Black people were almost for nothing. Before the war, East Africa’s Black population was roughly eighteen million, and adding the Black people in Mozambique and Angola could bring it back to over twenty million, returning it to 1970s numbers.

Ultimately, the immigration office would deal with this issue, but according to East Africa’s current capacity, the ability to export Black people is improving, especially as foreign immigrant numbers significantly decreased in the 1980s.

Of course, these matters are mere ”happy troubles” for East Africa, which gained nearly a million square kilometers of new territory, not something easily shared with outsiders.

Both Von der Leyen and Herman were in high spirits, which Count Allen Tal deeply envied.

”This time you’ve gained nearly a million square kilometers of territory, almost the size of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. African lands are so easy to acquire!” Count Allen Tal remarked.

Count Herman replied, ”Old friend, you’re overthinking. African lands are of low value. Even if they’re under our control, developing them isn’t easy, and we paid a ’painful’ price to win the South African war, mobilizing over a million people, with astronomical fatalities. The enemy’s forces were nearly double ours, with both the British and Portuguese proving formidable, causing a significant impact on our economy over a year.”

During the entire South African war, East Africa’s civilian and military casualties exceeded forty thousand, with deaths nearing eight thousand, with New Hamburg Port City suffering the most.

While the South African war was massive in scale, its intensity can’t really be compared to wars on the Eurasian continent, except for the British Army, East Africa faced no significant opponents.

Nevertheless, the South African war deserves a place in Africa’s history books. In front of it, the previous continent’s largest-scale Second Congo War pales in comparison.

The Second Congo War saw nine nations and over twenty different armed factions involved, but lacked any substantial power.

Many African nations’ capabilities were inferior, likely even less formidable than today’s Boer Republic. Although the Second Congo War was highly destructive to Congo, resulting in at least five million civilian deaths.

In comparison, the South African war could be called a ”civilized” war. The major reason was the sparse African population at the time. The Second Congo War primarily took place in the Congo Gold region, and at that time, the Congo Gold’s population was perhaps significantly larger than the entire southern Africa combined.

Another reason the South African war saw fewer civilian casualties was that the Allies never penetrated East Africa’s core.

In the 19th century, military discipline and morals were non-existent. Nations like Portugal and the United Kingdom have committed genocidal atrocities.

East Africa’s methods were relatively ”gentle,” yet they controlled without burying, with war impacting in all aspects. Fewer directly died from warfare, but indirect effects impacted many, particularly Black civilians in Angola and Mozambique.

During the war, a large number of Black soldiers carrying firearms fled into Angolan and Mozambican civil areas, causing more devastation to local Black people than the East African Defense Army and Allies.