African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 1281: Chapter 290: Population Distribution

Today, the Renshaw Fowa River is exceptionally turbulent, the rushing water spewing out from the sluice gates of the Fuwa Dam, creating huge waves that fiercely crash onto the river surface before rolling southwards.

Led by security personnel and reservoir management staff, Maxim and his companions ascended above the Fuwa Dam.

”The Fowa River Reservoir is the largest water source in the surrounding area. To maintain water quality, industrial zones are only built along the downstream banks of the Renshaw Fowa River.”

”And around the reservoir, apart from the urban area of Rhein City to the west, there are few residential areas. Buildings around the Fowa River Reservoir include only the palace, parks, gardens, some government institutions, and parts of the reservoir management agencies.”

”The government-built water diversion facilities continuously supply lake water to cities and farms, establishing a developed water network on the western side...”

The reservoir manager explained the relevant details of the Fowa River Reservoir to the four guests seriously and earnestly.

”Once the Fowa River Hydroelectric Power Station was completed, the power supply of Rhein City was ensured, with surplus electricity supplied to neighboring areas annually.”

”Downstream of the power station, the southwestern area is the Southwest Industrial Zone of Rhein City, concentrating textile mills, dyeing factories, paper mills, etc.”

”Fully utilizing the cheap resources such as electricity, water, and forest here, the east is undeveloped primitive forest, and the Rhein City—Kilimane railway runs through the forest.”

As they spoke, a train from the east, billowing smoke, passed through below, allowing the four of them to overlook the distant scenery.

Prince Maxim interjected: ”That is our widely equipped East African diesel locomotive, which has largely replaced traditional steam locomotives and runs across East Africa.”

Diesel locomotives are a notable feature of East African railways, although they exist in the railway systems of other countries, their proliferation is far less than in East Africa.

Princess Anastasia remarked: ”When we traveled from Dar es Salaam City to Rhein City, the train we took was likely towed by such a locomotive, and compared to steam locomotives, its smoke was significantly less.”

Prince Maxim confidently replied: ”Certainly, the combustion efficiency of the internal combustion engine is much higher than that of steam engines, so naturally less smoke is produced. Currently, diesel is primarily used for the diesel locomotive heads on East African railways, generating electricity to drive the engine, thus providing power to the train.”

Aleksey said: ”In Russia, our trains mostly still use steam locomotives, running like a moving chimney, especially in winter, when the snow-covered terrain provides a contrast to the surroundings.”

As Prince Maxim listened to Crown Prince Aleksey’s description, he somewhat wistfully said: ”That must be spectacular; we hardly ever see snow in East Africa, except for some snowy mountains and the southern mountainous areas, most places don’t witness even a single snowflake.”

”However, I’ve heard that in some exceptional years, due to extreme weather, snow might fall in certain special regions, though the probability is very low, and even when it does occur, the snow is just a thin cover.”

Though aligned with the equator, East African countries do not entirely lack winter; indeed, in winter, some high-altitude areas can be quite cold, especially at night.

Princess Maria, interested in the curious fact about snow in East Africa, commented: ”I always thought a tropical country like East Africa never experiences snow!”

Prince Maxim said: ”Even at the hottest equatorial regions, one can witness snow scenery as long as the conditions are met, although it’s something most people rarely get to see.”

”In the southern part of the Empire’s Prussian Province, Mount Kilimanjaro is indeed a snowy mountain. From the plains between the mountains, you can see the snow-capped summit of Mount Kilimanjaro at a glance; it is also East Africa’s highest peak, over 5,800 meters, and the tallest mountain on the African Continent, also a volcano.”

This was news to the three guests from Russia, since generally, an African remote peak wouldn’t be something they’d focus on.

Moreover, East Africa just opened up a few years ago, many geographic data haven’t even flowed abroad, although in recent years some European explorers and geographers have entered East Africa for exploration.

But time has made a difference, since East Africa, while historically practicing a form of isolated self-governance, has an extensive study into its domestic geography.

Additionally, exploring East Africa no longer holds the same appeal; European explorers once found Africa fascinating due to its mystique, danger, and thrill.

But since East Africa truly opened its doors, particularly after 1910, developed transportation has made most places in East Africa accessible, except for harsh extremes like the Congo rainforest, and the southwest deserts.

Even some parts of the Congo rainforest and southwest deserts have already been explored by East Africa.

Mount Kilimanjaro, a focal point in East African geographical education, has become a popular destination for many East African tourists, featuring connected roads, railways, and even tourist attractions, hotels, and service zones built by East Africa.

This development in transportation and other infrastructure has disappointed many adventurers hoping for an exhilarating journey in East Africa, as they seek the thrill of measuring and conquering uncharted lands and natural spectacles but ultimately find tourism which is not their pursuit.

Thus, adventuring in East Africa loses to drifting in the Amazon rainforest in South America, since with comparable area, South America has a much lower population density than East Africa and far more unexplored and undeveloped regions.

Considering both regions’ rainforests, East Africa’s Cabinda, Kinshasa, and Jisan City are typical rainforest cities, and they are merely the major cities, while Cabinda is an international metropolis, with more small cities and villages developed by East Africa in the Congo rainforest.

Conversely, the Amazon rainforest counts few cities known by name, the largest country in the region, Brazil, has a total population of only over twenty million, almost entirely clustered in the southeastern corner where Rio de Janeiro is located.

In contrast, East Africa’s population exceeds one hundred million, and furthermore, under a long-term planned economic state, East Africa attaches great importance to the coordinated development and exploitation of regions, making its population distribution much more even compared to South America.

East Africa’s land area slightly surpasses that of Europe, while Europe’s total population is just over four hundred million, meaning East Africa’s population density is roughly a quarter of Europe’s.

Considering Europe’s population density ranks among the most congested globally, only behind the Far East and South Asia. Particularly in Western Europe, nearly every place is a great power with a population surpassing tens of millions, even countries like the Netherlands, Belgium, Portugal, and Denmark easily break past millions into tens of millions, although this has severely strained Europe’s resources, otherwise World War I wouldn’t have occurred.

Thus, from this perspective, East Africa has already preliminarily escaped the embarrassment of having vast lands sparsely populated, and with long-term planned economic strategies, further promotes East Africa’s regional development.

After all, through administrative means, even in Siberia’s frigid wilderness can potatoes be cultivated, so East Africa’s development of the Congo rainforest and southwestern desert through various methods is no surprise.

However, cities in East Africa mainly distribute around the outskirts of the Congo rainforest, barely reaching its deep areas, contrasting with the almost entirely undeveloped Amazon rainforest, already considered quite impressive.

In reality, the major limitation on developing the Congo rainforest in East Africa is agriculture, as its land here is the most infertile, with extremely poor grain yields.

Although food crops are not the primary focus for East Africa in the Congo rainforest, but rather rubber, fruits, timber, and other tropical economic crops.

In conclusion, there are indeed many uncharted places in East Africa now, yet they essentially lack notable features, certainly not the adventurer’s paradise. These places aren’t unique to East Africa, as even Europe has plenty of such, greatly diminishing European adventurers’ enthusiasm for exploring East Africa.