African Entrepreneurship Record

Of course, the losses incurred by Germany were a result of government investment, and had little to do with the colonial groups developing Cameroon itself. Early colonial losses were quite normal; a few years ago, the Heixinggen Consortium also had to funnel funds into East Africa, which slowed its own development. Otherwise, its market share in Germany would not have been largely swallowed by the German Electrical Corporation, falling to third place.

Moreover, although Cameroon has a climate similar to East Africa, its tropical savanna regions are inland, while the coastline is unsuitable for development due to its tropical rainforest climate, making it quite different from East Africa. Tanganyika, as the Land of Dragon’s Ascension, even on the coast, has a tropical savanna climate, making it suitable for human habitation.

This is well demonstrated in the Sigmaringen royal territory, which lies in the transitional zone between tropical savanna and tropical desert—a geographical area famously known as the Sahel Zone in the previous world.

The Sahel Zone was a favorable area for the development of civilizations in ancient times. For example, the African Black empires like the Ghana Empire, Songhai Empire, and Mali Empire all emerged in this region. In the Sigmaringen royal territory, there are actually many remnants of these civilizations.

Sigmaringen, however, lacks a natural outlet to the sea; otherwise, its conditions would be much better than those in Cameroon.

The development of tropical rainforest cities is actually quite challenging; East Africa is acutely aware of this. In East Africa, the only typical tropical rainforest cities are Kinshasa and Cabinda, but the population (excluding Black people) in both areas is under ten thousand.

The Hessen Province and its capital, Jisan City (Kisangani), situated in the Congo Basin, are in the transitional zone between tropical rainforest and tropical savanna. The eastern mountainous regions and southern plateau areas are actually very livable. If it weren’t livable, Kisangani in the previous world wouldn’t have temporarily become the capital of Congo Gold, with a population reaching seventy thousand in a bustling city.

There is virtually no population between Kisangani and Kinshasa going west, and Kinshasa’s importance as an East African city lies in its key geographical location as an important transportation hub on the Congo River.

In the previous world, the Belgians developed this area as the capital of their Zaire colony, starting from an outpost, where one could paddle upstream directly from Kinshasa.

Even in the twenty-first century, though Kinshasa has developed into a major African city with a population exceeding one million, its surroundings are still dense with tropical rainforests, similar to Cabinda.

Thus, the difficulty for Germany to develop Cameroon can be imagined. In fact, before Germany, the Portuguese, British, and French had all expanded into Cameroon, and Germany’s ability to overtake them and occupy the region illustrates that the value of Cameroon is not considered particularly significant.

Of course, for Germany, particularly for William II and the new government under Kapyrivi, the status of Cameroon is extraordinarily prominent.

Firstly, both support Germany’s overseas colonial activities, and Cameroon is currently Germany’s largest overseas territory.

Furthermore, to the east of Cameroon lies the Sigmaringen royal territory and East Africa, elevating Cameroon’s status even further.

Anyone with insight knows that opening up a channel of communication between the Three Kingdoms would greatly benefit Germany’s development of Cameroon. After all, Germany’s access to the sea is primarily via the Atlantic Ocean, and Cameroon lies in the South Atlantic, making it the region where Germany can reach East Africa most quickly. Unfortunately, the economic hubs of East Africa are located in the central and eastern regions.

Despite this, in Cameroon’s vicinity, East Africa’s strength is unmatched by Germany. East Africa’s northern railway reaches the western city of Bangui, only about a thousand kilometers from Cameroon’s coast.

Aside from Bangui, the provincial capital of East Azande Province, East Africa also controls sections of the Shari River (a main tributary flowing into Lake Chad) and the eastern parts of the Adamawa Mountains (the watershed of the Shari River and Ubangi River tributaries), thereby geographically bordering Germany.

It’s only that Germany’s development of Cameroon is progressing too slowly; transportation issues prevent effective connections with East Africa and the Sigmaringen royal territory. Cooperation with East Africa and Sigmaringen is essential for Germany to develop Cameroon, which would greatly accelerate the process. Compared to the two nations, Germany’s main population in Africa is too sparse.

Naturally, Germany has also considered importing population from the Far East Empire to aid in developing Cameroon, but Germany is not Sigmaringen. Sigmaringen replicated the East African model in developing the Chad region, using East Africa as a blueprint.

On the flip side, East Africa’s support for the Sigmaringen royal territory came with binding conditions.

Germany, evidently, finds it difficult to accept these conditions. For instance, the introduction of Chinese immigrants seems less feasible to Germany compared to capturing indigenous Black people inland and then developing Cameroon. After all, even Chinese immigrants require investments of time and money.

Moreover, Germany’s colonial activities in Cameroon relied on supporting the local Black forces, which greatly contrasts with East Africa and Sigmaringen’s approaches.

East Africa and Sigmaringen took a much more aggressive approach, securing every inch of their land through military conquest. Sigmaringen’s royal territory was somewhat unique, prompting them to enlist the East African Defense Army as a proxy.

Furthermore, the Three Kingdoms have entirely different orientations towards Africa. East Africa views African lands as national territory, and Sigmaringen’s royal territory is not far behind. Leopold, having lost the Spanish crown, considers establishing a base in Africa as a considerable achievement. However, Germany’s view of Cameroon’s positioning is purely colonial; development outweighs plunder. Yet, since the conditions for plunder haven’t matured, the returns do not yet match the investments.

Using Black people for mining and plantation work poses no major issues, but further development of Africa purely relying on Black people is unrealistic. The cost of re-education is evidently less convenient compared to introducing Chinese immigrants.

Of course, if German people could be recruited, it would be ideal. The problem is that with the country’s economic growth, Germany has ended its era of large-scale emigration. Even Sigmaringen struggles to recruit within Germany.

Thus, Cameroon naturally remains in a middling position, not significantly different from other West African colonies.

As the driver of Germany’s ”New Course,” Kapyrivi views East Africa as the key to breaking the stalemate. Solving the East African puzzle also resolves issues in the Sigmaringen royal territory.

One of Kapyrivi’s reasons for coming to East Africa was his desire to turn Cameroon into an exemplary colony, which requires Cameroon to deliver results. However, the main focus is on cooperation with East Africa, overshadowing the relatively smaller concerns surrounding Cameroon.

Subsequent discussions between the two governments centered on economic cooperation, much of it revolving around East Africa opening its markets to secure German support in technology, capital, and human resources.

East Africa aims to prioritize obtaining technological support in the chemical field because Germany currently leads the world in chemistry. Without substantial changes in German land, German agriculture has developed rapidly, with production comparable to Tsarist Russia, thanks to the chemical industry. This is precisely what East Africa lacks.

Additionally, Germany holds technological advantages in steel, railway, and other industrial fields, whereas many traditional industrial factories in East Africa continue to utilize German technology from the 1870s.

Lastly, Ernst places significant importance on academic exchanges and talent cooperation mechanisms. German higher education is currently booming, and this is particularly enticing for Ernst.

As part of the trade-off, East Africa mainly opens parts of its markets to German industrial goods and exports some critical industrial raw materials to Germany, especially non-ferrous and rare metals.

On December 13, 1891, East Africa and Germany officially signed the ”Black-German Economic Cooperation Development Agreement,” engaging in limited cooperation in the economic realm.

The main reason for the limited scope of cooperation lies in the considerable differences between the two countries. First, East Africa is politically conservative, and second, there are competitive aspects in certain areas between East Africa and Germany, especially in agriculture. It should be noted that the Junker aristocracy is Germany’s primary political force, and they oppose the unrestricted entry of a major agricultural player like East Africa into the German market, similar to their opposition to Tsarist Russia’s cooperation with Germany.

However, the cooperation between the two countries yielded significant results. East Africa has multiple options, and although the grain sector sets East Africa in conflict with the Junker aristocratic group, East Africa remains one of the most important producers of economic crops worldwide. Rubber, cotton, coffee, and tea, among other (sub)tropical crops, address Germany’s shortcomings.