African Entrepreneurship Record

Regarding the relocation of the new capital, Ernst has always been indecisive. However, this is understandable, as relocating the capital is an important national policy. Moreover, the central region that Ernst is optimistic about is relatively underdeveloped compared to the eastern region. Currently, the forest coverage in the central region exceeds seventy percent, which gives an idea of the local construction situation.

Of course, this data is not from East African statistics, as the current East African government has no leisure to survey the national forest situation. In East Africa, the forest coverage is very high, and even west of the Somali region, large tracts of forest can be found. Presently, the forest resources of the Congo Basin account for more than half of Africa.

Nevertheless, due to development in East Africa, the forest area in East Africa is rapidly decreasing. However, with Africa’s forest resources being nearly undeveloped for thousands of years, East Africa’s development over decades, even a hundred years, may not exhaust them. Even though East Africa cuts down trees, it also plants and introduces some fine tree species.

This practice is very common in East African cities. East African cities generally pay attention to greening, which is extremely different from the current European cities. Therefore, even in Dar es Salaam, many parks, street trees, and green belts can be seen.

The contrast is particularly evident compared to highly industrialized cities like Berlin, where land in the city center is extremely valuable, and there are few green plants. Besides buildings and houses, there are only solitary street lamps by the roadside.

This also makes Europeans who have stayed in Dar es Salaam and Mombasa refer to the two cities as ”Green Cities.” In fact, most East African cities take these two as templates, developing in a similar manner. However, for foreigners, the only East African cities they can name are Dar es Salaam and Mombasa, and if there’s a third, it would be New Hamburg Port.

Maputo is also quite well-known, primarily because it gained temporary fame during the South African War, but its urban construction is vastly different from other East African cities.

In the 19th century, cities mainly focused on the brutal aesthetics of industry. Reinforced concrete and cement appear more pleasing to people nowadays. London, New York, Berlin, and Paris are all like this, making East Africa rather an outlier in contrast.

Of course, Berlin’s environment seems much better than Paris and London because Berlin’s area is large and the population density is much lower than Paris and London.

Just like black smoke in factories, when Ernst sees it, he associates it with ”pollution,” but in the current era, it is seen as the ”breath of industrialization.” The black water flowing in the Seine River of Paris, France, and the Thames River of London, United Kingdom, are even symbols of the ”era of civilization.”

However, any city that has undergone industrialization cannot avoid these issues. East Africa is merely trying to avoid some visible problems. For example, the air in First Town City and Soga City is visibly cleaner than in Dar es Salaam, resembling more of large towns than modern cities of the 19th century.

In addition, the public infrastructure of large cities in East Africa is also more adequate than in other cities, mainly reflected in roads, parks, public toilets, and sewer networks.

Of course, this only applies to several major cities in East Africa. Emerging cities or economically poorer regions are different, but with the passage of time, they will undoubtedly strive to emulate these large cities in the future.

...

August 1893.

Regarding the specific situation in the central region, it’s better to see for oneself, so Ernst decided to tour the central region for an inspection.

As the train started, Ernst’s inspection tour officially began. Heading west along the railway line, the area around First Town City was a familiar scene to Ernst.

In recent years, with the rise of East African national power, the development of the eastern region has become increasingly comprehensive. From First Town City to Morogoro, rice paddies, reservoirs, and villages are everywhere, and relatively smooth roads can be seen. Nowadays, the main trunk roads centered on First Town City have completed the hardening project.

Soon, the train arrived at Morogoro City. Morogoro is the only sizable city between First Town City and Dodoma. Although it cannot compare with the eastern coastal regions, it is a relatively well-developed area in the inland regions.

”Morogoro City is best known for the Central Canal Project. This is the main passing area of the Central Canal’s west line project, and Morogoro has rapidly developed thanks to its local transportation development, including railways, highways, and canals, connecting with eastern city clusters. Situated at the foot of the Uluguru Mountains, it is the agricultural center of the region and one of the nation’s main centers for processing sisal, timber, and rubber...” explained John Lear, the accompanying Minister of Commerce, to Ernst.

Morogoro, as a city under Central Province, holds a relatively prominent position in East Africa as a regional transportation hub. The south is the Uluguru Mountains, to the west is the Udzungwa Mountain at the edge of the East African Plateau, with a plain in between, merging with the East African coastal plain to the north.

So Morogoro has both mountains and water. Due to its location south of the equator, according to the Far East Empire’s saying, it is a typical place of sunny mountains and shadowy waters.

There are some latitude differences between East Africa and the Far East Empire, with most of East Africa located in the southern hemisphere. Therefore, Morogoro’s feng shui is opposite to that of the Far East Empire, while in the territory north of the equator, it is the reverse.

Ernst listened with interest to his subordinate’s introduction. The local development results are evident from the outside. In terms of scale, Morogoro is slightly smaller than First Town City, but not by much. As the administrative center of East Africa, First Town City is not very large and can only be considered a medium-sized city.

Meanwhile, Morogoro mainly focuses on agricultural product processing, with some transportation functions. Therefore, even reaching its current level of development is quite impressive. In terms of scale, Morogoro has developed better than the capitals of many backward provinces in East Africa.

This is understandable. After the canal was connected, Morogoro’s interaction with several eastern cities became closer. Along with rail transportation, Morogoro is about a hundred kilometers away from several eastern cities, a distance that is almost negligible.

Simultaneously, Morogoro is the only city in the western part of Central Province, effectively receiving industrial transfers from the east and concentrating resources in the western part of Central Province. For example, local advantageous crops such as sisal, rubber, and timber are concentrated in Morogoro, initially processed and then sent to the east, especially a large portion of the raw materials for industrial development in Dar es Salaam City come from Morogoro City.

Furthermore, Morogoro’s resources can also be radiated to the west to Dodoma City through the railway. Although Dodoma is not far from Morogoro, the climate conditions are vastly different between the two, particularly regarding rainfall.

Most of Morogoro is located on the windward slope of the southeastern trade winds, thus receiving abundant rainfall, whereas Dodoma City is among the regions with the lowest rainfall in the entire eastern East Africa, and coupled with the plateau climate, the temperature is also lower than Morogoro.

This has made Morogoro one of the largest rubber and timber production sites at the intersection of the East African coastal plain and the East African Plateau.

Additionally, East Africa’s rubber and forestry resources are mainly concentrated in the Congo Basin and its surroundings, deep in the interior. This makes Morogoro and other places the closest rubber-producing area to the eastern coastal region, especially Dar es Salaam.

Along with its restraining position as an important railway passageway between the East African Plateau and the eastern coastal plain, Morogoro’s development potential in the future will not be poor.

It is worth mentioning that East Africa’s first experimental hydroelectric power station was built in Morogoro City, so the future electricity supply of Morogoro City will also rank among the top in East African cities.

Being located at the junction of the East African Plateau and the coastal plain, coupled with significant terrain differences and abundant rainfall, Morogoro has great potential for hydropower in the future. In the past life, the Tanzanian government constructed a large hydropower station nearby to supply Dar es Salaam City.