African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 1204: Chapter 213: A Whole New World

In other words, compared to East Africa, Brazil is at least thirty years behind. However, you cannot simply calculate it this way. After all, East Africa achieved a rapid leap during several rounds of world economic crises, through two five-year plans, and during World War I, a process that would take other normally developing countries over a hundred years.

Today, East Africa views Brazil as an industrial powerhouse observed against a backward agricultural nation. Although Brazil’s industrial size is decent compared to other colonies or backward countries, it’s merely picking a general among dwarfs.

Take Brazil’s industry, for example. Most of it is light industry, with heavy industry mainly being mining. Furthermore, Brazil’s economy is mostly controlled by foreign capital, so the lifeline of Brazilian industry is not in its own hands.

Rhodes said, ”If Mr. Pereira had visited other cities in East Africa, he would understand that what I say is true. The prevalence of cars in East Africa is astonishing. Essentially, in any city, you can see this bustling traffic.”

”In East African cities, although the economy of Dar es Salaam City ranks first, the gap between other cities and Dar es Salaam City is not large. Coastal cities such as Luanda, Cabinda, Bela, New Hamburg Port City, and inland cities like New Frankfurt, Mbeya, Kalaray, and our capital are all major cities with populations over 500,000.”

In East Africa, only Dar es Salaam City and Mombasa City have populations exceeding a million, each just over a million, which is far different from major cities like London, New York, and Paris. However, the number of large cities with populations over 500,000 in East Africa is extraordinarily high, possibly leading the world.

And this significant number of medium-sized cities is also the main reason why the population of Dar es Salaam City and Mombasa City does not grow as fast as the major cities of other powers.

The East African economy presents a scattered star distribution. Whether coastal or inland, the economy is relatively balanced, so naturally, there’s no need for all East Africans to crowd into Dar es Salaam and Mombasa.

On this point, Brazil serves as a contrasting example. The majority of Brazil’s population is concentrated in a few coastal cities like Rio de Janeiro.

Pereira didn’t doubt Rhodes’ words at all. He said, ”Indeed, our conference attendees mostly arrived in Dar es Salaam City through two means.”

”One like me, directly by sea on a ship, and another through the railways of Cabinda and Luanda. Many of our enterprises have already arrived in Dar es Salaam City several days ago.”

Many Brazilian enterprises are attending this exhibition. They choose different paths based on the characteristics of their products. Those in no hurry naturally choose sea transport, while those with time requirements use East African railways, and some enterprises just pass along the way.

After all, many Brazilian enterprises do business in East Africa, with most operating on the West Coast of East Africa. So coming to the East Coast, they might as well directly send their people from their West Coast offices to bring products to Dar es Salaam City for the exhibition.

Pereira continued, ”On this journey, once we left South America, we passed directly through the Cape of Good Hope, stopping in the cities of Maputo and Bela for some time.”

”Cities like New Hamburg Port City, Travay, Pemba, Xinde, and others amazed us. I once thought Cape Town was the pinnacle of urban development in the South African region, but after coming to East Africa, I realized Cape Town might not even rank among East African cities.”

Cape Town is the capital of the United Kingdom’s South African colony. As for the fame of cities in southern Africa, many East African cities might not match Cape Town, which became famous centuries ago due to its location on the traffic artery of the Cape of Good Hope.

Many East African cities haven’t even existed for a few years. Plus, the longstanding isolationist policy means that many developed cities in East Africa’s interior are scarcely known.

In response to Pereira’s praise, Rhodes joked, ”Cape Town’s development over the years isn’t bad, after all, Cape Town was once the largest city in sub-Saharan Africa.”

But now this former sub-Saharan African largest city, Cape Town, is actually surpassed by many East African cities, evidently highlighting East Africa’s rapid development.

Pereira said bitterly, ”Yes! East Africa is definitely a great nation. Our Brazil was established many years before yours, yet now we can’t even see your country’s shadow!”

Rhodes may not see the former sub-Saharan largest city, Cape Town, in his East African eyes, but Pereira cannot ignore Cape Town’s development.

Except for the capital Rio de Janeiro, Brazil has no cities that compare to Cape Town, meaning that as a colonial capital, Cape Town would rank second in Brazil.

So Cape Town’s development is not bad. In fact, due to East Africa’s economic rise, Cape Town has benefited quite a bit, as most of the maritime trade on East Africa’s east and west coasts passes through the Cape of Good Hope.

Thus, East Africa’s rapid economic and trade development indirectly spurred the economic growth of the Cape Town area. Simply providing corresponding services for passing East African ships is highly profitable.

If it weren’t a British colony, Cape Town’s urban construction and development might not fall behind East African cities.

After all, the British government is not a charity, so its extraction from the South African colony exceeds its input, resulting in Cape Town’s urban expansion and infrastructure replacement being inadequate.

Moreover, due to East Africa’s threat, the South African colony has to invest its remaining limited resources into the military to exchange for British weapons and pay the Royal Navy’s protection fees.

After all, there are many Boers in South Africa, perhaps even those with deep hatred towards East Africa, so the relationship between East Africa and South Africa hasn’t been good over the years.

Border trade between the two countries is almost zero, mainly because the Boers and the British have suffered before. East Africa once used economic trade tactics to penetrate the two Boer Republics, so learning a lesson, the South African colonial government now cut off land trade with East Africa.

Of course, in the eyes of the East African Government, the South African colonial government’s behavior is petty. What kind of country is East Africa today?

It is a world-class great power, with a territory of tens of millions, a population of over a hundred million, a military force of more than 400,000, and a navy ranking in the world’s top five in terms of warship numbers.

Opposite East Africa, the South African colony is like a small ant that can be crushed easily, so its little maneuvers aren’t worth mentioning in the eyes of the East African government. Just the navy warships circling the South Africa colony’s coast for intimidation is adequate.

Today, the South African colony is entirely different from the former South African Republic. The South African Republic had rich inland resources, so its hinterland economy and population were substantial. In contrast, the South African colony’s cities and population are mainly along the coast, and because of the Drakensberg Mountains, there’s no hinterland economy; inland, there are just a few scattered ranches.

Therefore, East Africa’s attack on the South African colony’s coast would essentially collapse the entire South African economy. Its hinterland population is almost negligible, and because of East Africa, nearly half its inland is desert or semi-arid, with only some sheep raised, serving as a source of wool for East Africa only.

Nonetheless, even under these conditions, Cape Town is not a city that many of Brazil’s false world powers can touch.

Currently, besides having a large territory and rich resources, Brazil has little to praise, especially its industrial level, which cannot compare with East Africa.

Pereira agrees deeply with this point now. Just looking at Dar es Salaam City, in terms of urban construction, industry, transportation, and other fields, it can surpass Rio de Janeiro, which Brazil prides itself on, by several streets.