African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 1497: Chapter 37: Settling Down (Part 2)

In East Africa in the early 20th century, the old stereotype of a savage land had long since been shed; after all, for it to have become one of the world’s top Great Powers, East Africa’s own territory could not possibly be that far behind.

Moreover, many Belgians were not completely ignorant of the situation in the Belgian Congo. As Belgium’s most important overseas colony, quite a few Belgian companies and personnel frequently traveled back and forth between Belgium and the Congo Colony.

During the war, a number of Belgian shipping companies took up the business of transporting migrants, and these shipping companies had already been the main link for communication and trade between the Belgian Congo Colony and the homeland before the war.

They were much more familiar with the development of the Belgian Congo Colony, and the employees of these shipping companies were naturally mostly Belgians themselves, so for the safety of their families they were quite willing to prepare a few extra tickets.

Compared to ordinary Belgians emigrating to the Belgian Congo Colony, Belgian companies from the homeland flooded into the colony in large numbers during World War I.

Whatever else one might say, the Belgian Congo Colony covered more than 200,000 square kilometers, far larger than the homeland, and its resources were comparatively abundant. Most importantly, it was shielded from the effects of the war.

The most typical case was the massive relocation of Belgian steel firms to the Belgian Congo Colony during the war.

On the one hand, the Belgian Congo Colony possessed rich iron ore deposits, and Belgium was already one of Europe’s most developed steel producers, so many Belgian steel firms had begun laying out operations in the Belgian Congo Colony even before the war.

By the early 20th century, the steel industry had already changed: thanks to technological innovation, iron ore had come to weigh more heavily than coal in determining the steel industry’s fate.

World War I greatly accelerated the transfer of Belgium’s domestic steel industry.

On the other hand, because of the colony’s geographical position, the markets it faced were quite favorable. Besides being close to East Africa’s huge domestic market, steel produced in the Belgian Congo Colony was also well placed for export to West Africa, South America, and other countries.

And the final factor was that labor costs in the Congo Colony were lower than in the homeland. After all, Northwest Europe, where Belgium itself was located, was one of the regions with the highest labor costs in the world.

Thus, moving industry to the Congo offered numerous advantages for Belgian firms, and since it was their own colony, they did not have to worry about being squeezed dry when they went to develop there.

With the influx of people and companies, Black Horn City underwent rapid development during the war, and the Belgian Congo Colony’s level of economic development even surpassed what was normally expected of a colony.

For the most part, colonies were symbols of poverty and backwardness. It is true that the United Kingdom’s colony of Canada had a fairly advanced economy and industrial base, but Canada had been developing for more than a hundred years, and its advantages in resources and natural conditions were simply not comparable to those of the Belgian Congo Colony.

The main reason for this outcome lay in the fact that Belgians did not have as many colonial options as the British; Belgium only possessed this single colony, Congo.

Although Belgium was a small European country, in economic terms at the start of the 20th century it was very much a Great Power, so the spillover of Belgium’s economy into its only colony and the transfer of industries there was extremely intense.

Coupled with the impact of the war, many Belgians who had migrated to the Congo Colony even lost all desire to go back.

”Treden, your family isn’t planning to return to the homeland anymore?” On a street in Black Horn City, Dest asked his old acquaintance Treden when they ran into each other.

Treden’s family had migrated to the Belgian Congo Colony in 1917; this was now their fifth year in the Belgian Congo.

Dest had originally been a fellow townsman of Treden’s; they had already known each other back in Belgium.

”So it’s you! Dest, I haven’t seen you for a while—you look a lot more worn out.”

Dest said, ”Of course I do. The epidemic has only just fully run its course, and the economy is still in the doldrums. Naturally I feel irritable, so my spirits have been poor all along.”

The Belgian Congo Colony was also hit by the epidemic and economic depression. After the war, as Belgium returned to peace, many people chose to go back to the homeland, and this brought about a minor boom in shipping between the Belgian Congo and the homeland. Increased movement of people naturally led to the rapid spread of the plague.

Belgium lay right next to France, which at the time was one of the areas hardest hit by the epidemic. Belgium itself was also a major disaster zone, and many sailors working the routes brought European influenza to the Belgian Congo.

This understandably made those Belgians who had already decided to settle in the Belgian Congo curse in their hearts; from their perspective, the virus had been brought over from the homeland.

Treden said, ”That’s right. We had barely managed to settle down in the Congo when we were hit by the epidemic and the economic slump. For ordinary people like us, that’s really bad news.”

”So your family really isn’t thinking of going back to Belgium?” Dest asked.

Treden replied, ”Where did you hear that I planned on going back to Belgium? Ship tickets aren’t cheap, and we don’t intend to throw away money like that. Besides, life here in the Congo is already very good; there’s no need to return to that land of sorrow called Belgium. For all we know, our old home is already nothing but a pile of rubble.”

Dest teased him, ”Wasn’t it you yourself who said, when you first came to the Belgian Congo, that you’d go back to Belgium after the war?”

Back then, Treden had indeed said such things—under normal circumstances, who would willingly go and stay in a colony for no reason?

But times change. When he said that, Treden’s impression of the Congo Colony was that it was poor and backward, good only as a temporary refuge; after the war he would take his family back to the glamorous, economically advanced Belgium.

Yet once he actually arrived in Black Horn City, Treden realized his previous ideas had been wrong. The Congo Colony was nowhere near as backward as he had imagined; on the contrary, it was quite prosperous, and even compared to the homeland, it was not far behind.

Of course, when he first came to Black Horn City, Treden still longed for Belgium, but as time passed he eventually let go of that idea. No one had expected the war to drag on for another two years, and when it finally ended, a plague swept across the land.

Although the Congo was also affected by the epidemic, compared to the situation in Belgium, it was nothing more than a minor episode.

Beyond that, during these years in the Congo, Treden and his family had fully integrated into local life. If they went back to the homeland, work and housing would both be problems. So by now, Treden was already, in every practical sense, a Congo man.

Treden said to Dest, ”You and I both know what things are like in the homeland. Even if the situation here in the Congo isn’t ideal, it’s only worse back home. And I personally think the homeland faces the risk of future wars. The world war has only paused, not ended, and Belgium’s location is simply too dangerous; it’s nowhere near as safe as the Congo.”

”Belgium is wedged between the United Kingdom, France, and Germany. Relations among those three are tangled and they act with extreme arrogance. Belgium itself is a juicy morsel, so the risk of war is very high—as history has already shown.”

”Now look at the Congo. It only has East Africa as a neighbor. As long as East Africa doesn’t invade, the Congo is very safe. And even if East Africa were really to set its sights on the Congo, the intensity of any war would surely be far lower than in Europe.”

The reason Treden spoke this way was that he believed if East Africa really did invade the Congo, the Congo would most likely surrender outright. In Europe, Belgium could at least survive in the cracks between Great Powers, but in Africa the Congo would have no choice at all; it would have to throw itself completely into East Africa’s arms.

Treden continued, ”Besides, the opportunities here in the Congo are greater than in the homeland, and the level of economic development is no worse. Going back now would mean starting over from scratch. I’d have to be out of my mind to choose that. It’s quite comfortable just staying here in the Congo.”

His words did resonate with Dest. Dest said, ”You’re right. In fact, in terms of economic standards, the Congo basically doesn’t fall short of the homeland in any respect except sheer size—for now.”

This was only natural: Belgium’s homeland population was over seven million, while the Congo had just over one million; the homeland had six times the population of the Congo, and the Congo was only a colony of Belgium.

But this did not in the least stop ordinary Belgians in the Belgian Congo from enjoying a standard of living that was scarcely lower than in the homeland. Moreover, the Belgian Congo Colony offered them a sense of security the homeland could no longer provide, so many chose to settle here permanently.