African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 896: Chapter 200: Comprehensive East Africanization

Therefore, the early Abyssinia Empire’s perception of East Africa was mainly one of fear and displeasure. There were no fundamental conflicts of interest between the two, as the Abyssinia Empire was fractured after the British expedition, with a strong fear of Westerners.

Meanwhile, East Africa took advantage of Abyssinia’s turbulent period to incorporate its vast southern regions into its territory. It was understandable that the Abyssinians, as the thousand-year overlord of the area, felt a bit unbalanced.

However, the Abyssinia Empire’s behavior towards East Africa was entirely without reproach, as the Abyssinia Empire was merely a regional overlord and had no direct legal claim to the southern lands. Therefore, when Ethiopia’s south was incorporated into East Africa, the Abyssinia Empire could only blame its own inadequacy.

Furthermore, with Italy entering the northeastern region as an external power and contrasting with its old rival, Egypt, East Africa appeared to the Abyssinia Empire as the embodiment of ”great, glorious, and correct,” the ”most adorable” nation in the world, especially after the two countries signed a border delineation agreement.

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Bahir Dar City.

Located south of Tana Lake in the Abyssinia Empire, within the Central Province of the Abyssinia Empire, it quickly became the new political and economic center of the Empire after John IV moved the capital here.

The Central Province of the Abyssinia Empire was formerly the Amhara region, and the creation of this administrative division reflects the ”East Africanization” of the Abyssinia Empire.

Indeed, this so-called Central Province was established in imitation of the Central Province where the East African capital is located, showcasing East Africa’s strong influence in the Abyssinia Empire.

The 19th century was a time when underdeveloped countries learned from the Western world, and East Africa was the learning model for the Abyssinia Empire.

Now, East Africa, in the eyes of the Abyssinia Empire, is synonymous with ”strong, prosperous, and civilized,” as the modern tragedy of the Abyssinia Empire started with the British expedition to the Abyssinia Empire, and after East Africa defeated the mighty United Kingdom in 1890, the impact on the Abyssinia Empire was self-evident.

In addition, East Africa was right next to Abyssinia. Both countries were mainly highland nations with similar climate conditions and political environments. East Africa became the primary learning model for the Abyssinia Empire.

Of course, the fact that both were monarchies was also very important. If they were republics like the United States or France, the Abyssinia Empire’s royal family might lose sleep over it.

As a new city, Bahir Dar everywhere displays the East African style. After John IV moved the capital, East African designers were specifically invited to build it, modeled after Mwanza City in East Africa.

Bahir Dar is located along the banks of Ethiopia’s largest lake, Tana Lake, just like Mwanza City. Therefore, East Africans directly copied the design of Mwanza City to recreate Bahir Dar.

So in Bahir Dar, traces of East Africa are visible everywhere, with public toilets, trash bins, and other basic facilities easily found in the city.

Of course, the most noticeable feature is the occasional car imported from East Africa driving on the road, making Bahir Dar not at all like a traditional African city, but rather a small European or East African town.

However, Bahir Dar, as the capital of the Abyssinia Empire, does not have a high upper limit. Given that the overall state of the Abyssinia Empire is relatively poor, even though it was designed after Mwanza City, the city’s scale falls short of Mwanza City’s standards, so many compromises were made.

For instance, East Africa’s grand road construction plan was greatly reduced in Bahir Dar. However, compared to Europe, Bahir Dar’s roads still appear spacious and clean, with great attention to greenery on both sides.

It is worth mentioning that the Bahir Dar Palace is almost a replica of East Africa’s Sweet Palace, and overall, there is virtually no difference between them.

Sweet Palace itself, in the realm of royal palaces worldwide, is relatively small in scale, as Ernst had never intended to keep East Africa’s capital permanently in First Town. So, to reduce ”waste,” the scale of Sweet Palace is only comparable to that of some small to medium-sized European countries.

This is the reason why the Abyssinia Empire could easily construct the Bahir Dar Palace. However, even though the palace is slightly smaller in scale, it remains an extremely ”grand and magnificent” structure for the Abyssinia Empire.

Furthermore, the widespread use of tap water, telephones, telegraphs, and lighting equipment makes the experience of this palace very strong and modern, without a doubt, these products all come from East African factories.

Besides the palace, all the architectural forms in Bahir Dar City mimic those of East Africa. If not for the dark skin of the Abyssinians and Indians, one wouldn’t be able to tell this place apart from East Africa.

In the southeastern part of Bahir Dar, the first railway of the Abyssinia Empire is under construction, a railway of utmost importance to both the Abyssinia Empire and East Africa.

The railway runs from Agaro in the northwest of Jima City, East Africa, straight to Bahir Dar, the capital of the Abyssinia Empire. Therefore, it is called the Agaro-Bahir Dar Railway, abbreviated as the Ababa Railway by East African railway designers. Of course, that’s East Africa’s name for the railway.

The Abyssinia Empire calls this railway the ”Central Railway.” After losing its eastern territories, the Abyssinia Empire’s land center shifted westward. Indeed, the Ababa Railway is located at the center of the land, making this name appropriate. However, the name is clearly influenced by East Africa’s domestic railway artery, the ”Central Railway.”

As the first railway of the Abyssinia Empire, it was hailed by John IV as a symbol of the ”first step towards modernization” for the Abyssinia Empire.

For East Africa, this railway is the first to be completely constructed abroad by East Africa and built to East African standards; all facilities other than sleepers, ballast, etc., are exported from East Africa.

However, out of national defense considerations, the Abyssinia Empire did not directly connect the railway with East Africa’s Turkana Railway, leaving more than thirty kilometers without a railway line connecting Agaro and Jima City.

Naturally, East Africa does not intend to annex the Abyssinia Empire, as it is one of only two neighboring countries with a population exceeding ten million (the other being Egypt), so East Africa has no interest in Abyssinia’s land.

Another critical reason why the Abyssinia Empire adopted East African-standard railways is that Egypt and Italy both follow British standards, similar to the considerations of Tsarist Russia.

As for East Africa, although it is also a watchful subject, when the ”enemy” is too strong, it no longer matters. East Africa is not a minor country like Italy that can dare to provoke. Even without relying on railways, East Africa can easily conquer the Abyssinia Empire, which the Abyssinia authorities are well aware of, hence their entirely ”submissive” attitude towards East Africa.

Beyond architecture, infrastructure, urban planning, and so on, the Abyssinia Empire learns comprehensively from East Africa, with East Africa’s political system being a focal point of study.

John IV, in particular, greatly envies East Africa’s centralization, as the Abyssinia Empire suffered from warlord separation in previous years.

Thus, after John IV ascended the throne, he was tirelessly focused on centralizing the powers of the Central Government, especially after the Gretti Region, his basic stronghold, was directly threatened by Italy, forcing him to move the capital to Bahir Dar.

Therefore, after moving the capital, John IV comprehensively strengthened Bahir Dar’s domestic status, including constructing the Ababa Railway to draw and balance the tribals near East Africa to prevent them from turning completely towards East Africa.

East Africa has immense influence in the southern part of the Abyssinia Empire, so preventing the southern forces from splitting is one of John IV’s important tasks, which is also related to his origins in the traditional northern aristocracy.

In the past, the core of the Abyssinia Empire was in the north, but after the war with Italy, the northern forces were severely weakened. Now the north is directly on the border, which is one of the important reasons why the formerly insignificant Bahir Dar area was selected as the new capital, concurrently transferring northern aristocratic resources and those of John IV to Bahir Dar.