Chapter 1335 Primary Industrial Power

East Africa also caught up with the good times. In addition to the multipolar structure, it also caught up with the last train of colonialism, the concentrated outbreak of capitalist crises, the outbreak of conflicts between imperialist groups, etc. Being at the forefront of the times is the fundamental reason for East Africa's successful takeoff.

Langfurt continued: "At present, my country's population is mainly concentrated in the areas around the equator, including the central (mainly Zambezi and southern Congo) and Bohemian Industrial Zone (mainly Zimbabwe), the eastern coast (mainly Tanzania and Mozambique coast) and the western coast (mainly Angola coast), accounting for 60% of the national population."

"The next population concentration areas are the Great Lakes region and the south, and finally the north and southwest regions."

"The industrial population is concentrated in the central and southern plateaus and coastal areas of the country, with Rhine City as the center, presenting multiple economic and industrial core areas across the country."

The problem of economic development in East Africa is generally manifested as an imbalance in the north-south direction, which is also the main reason for the focus on the development of the Great Lakes region during the Fourth Five-Year Plan period.

Of course, considering the geographical location, climate conditions and economy, strictly speaking, the Great Lakes region does not really belong to the north, but is the place closest to the north and has development potential.

This is also easy to understand. Just like the western development of the Far East Empire in the previous life, the government actually pays attention to the development of the Guanzhong and Sichuan and Chongqing regions in the economic field.

As a country with a large land area, East Africa must not learn from the current European countries, especially the model of Germany, where all regions are equally benefited, in terms of economic development, nor can it learn from Russia's model of over-concentrating resources in a few regions such as St. Petersburg and Moscow.

European countries have developed economies and relatively balanced economies between regions, but this is determined by historical and political factors.

For example, Germany, although Germany has become a unified country, the powers of the states and free cities unified by Germany are still very large. In addition, the terrain constraints of Germany, especially the basins and river valleys in the southern region, are prone to the concentration of resources, so regional economic and industrial centers such as Munich and Stuttgart have been formed.

Moreover, the large number of countries in Europe has also caused a waste of public resources. Whether it is the United Kingdom, France or Germany and other European countries, their construction is centered on their own country.

As a result, Europe's railways, roads and water networks have formed multiple systems, causing a certain degree of waste, especially for Europe as a whole.

Especially in the border areas of various countries, originally only one railway or road was needed, but due to the different strategies of various countries, duplicate construction may be caused.

And the urban development model of Tsarist Russia is obviously of no learning value to East Africa. After all, except for St. Petersburg and Moscow, and eastern Ukraine, other places in Russia are almost all poor rural areas.

Development is very uneven, which is also an important reason for the collapse of the Russian government. Russia is indeed developed and powerful, but this is based on the fact that most regions and populations have not benefited. Not only have they not benefited, but in order to support the development of industrially developed regions, they have to further drain the backward regions.

In reality, the lower-level workers and farmers in Russia can hardly survive, so they are naturally easily instigated by the Labor Party.

So, although East Africa also focuses on the development of large cities, other regions must also be able to share a sip of soup to balance it.

The multi-economic core of East Africa is just like this. East Africa has not only formed five national industrial areas of "three major and two small" across the country, but also improved the utilization efficiency of public resources under the unified market.

Langfurt said: "From the distribution of registered population in my country, it can be seen that my country has formed multiple key industrial and market clusters under the unified market."

"Just like a big tree and its branches and leaves, under the leadership of the government, we have built a developed and efficient transportation network, with railways, roads and waterways, forming the overall framework of national economic development."

"Relying on this national developed transportation system, we have developed the current "three major and two small" industrial and economic development pattern, thereby driving the development of the national economy. This shows the overall rationality of my country's current population distribution."

The so-called three major and two small is a concept within the East African government, referring to the five national economic and industrial center areas that East Africa focuses on building, namely the Central and Bohemian Industrial Zones centered on the Rhine City, the Eastern Coastal Industrial Belt, the Western Coastal Industrial Belt, the Great Lakes Industrial Zone and the Southern Group Development Zone.

The first three are basically formed, so they are called the three major ones, and the latter two are in the stage of development and construction, so they are called the two small ones.

These five regions, which are the most suitable areas for urban, industrial and agricultural development in East Africa, have superior basic conditions and are relatively favorable in terms of energy, minerals, arable land, water sources, climate, etc.

As a result, these five regions will inevitably become the "five poles" of East African economy in the future, which is also the long-term plan made by Ernst and the East African government for the balanced development of East African economy.

Of course, how to develop East African regions other than these five places? This problem is also easy to solve, because except for these five economic key areas, the population of other places is not large, which means that the overall economic data of non-"two major and three small" areas is not good, but if it is per capita, it is another story.

This is similar to the northwest of the Far East Empire in the past, or today's Siberia in Russia. The conditions seem difficult, but they are only reflected in the climate. In the era of low productivity, there is really no solution, but after the advent of the industrial era, its quality of life may not be worse than other places.

Take the current Siberia in Russia as an example. Siberia is indeed a "bitter and cold place", but the living conditions of the people in Siberia are much better than Ukraine, which has the most fertile land and the warmest climate in Russia.

After all, Siberia is vast and sparsely populated, which provides Siberia with abundant products. In the case of abundant products and sparse population, the population will become a valuable resource.

Moreover, the remoteness and harsh climate of Siberia also made Siberia far away from war before.

Those who are really dissatisfied with the environment in Siberia should be the "political prisoners" who were exiled here by the Tsarist government before.

The ridicule of digging potatoes in Siberia is really unbearable for them, but for the lower-class peasants in Russia before, it was a luxury to have a stable piece of land to dig potatoes.

Of course, Siberia in Russia can only be considered inferior to the top, but better than the bottom. Russia actually implemented a colonial policy in Siberia for a long time, and the living conditions of non-Russians must be miserable.

This is similar to the early days of East Africa. The living conditions of the people in East Africa in the early days were actually not bad, and the reason was that there were still a large number of black slaves under the East African people at that time.

Until East Africa initially completed the industrialization stage, that is, before the completion of the Second Five-Year Plan, the slave economy has always been an important way to ensure the living standards of the people in East Africa.

After the end of the slave economy, remote areas of East Africa, such as the north, have built developed transportation, and the land is vast and sparsely populated, which makes the economic data in the north of East Africa not very good, but the living standards of the people are above the national average.

Although the land in the north is relatively barren, the population is small, and the per capita arable land is more, which can offset the environmental disadvantages. The same is true for resources. The minerals in the north are relatively scarce, but the per capita possession is higher, and the jobs are relatively stable. It is not difficult to maintain a normal standard of living.

If you want better treatment and living conditions, you can only go to the city to roll inward. Both have advantages and disadvantages, and it mainly depends on personal pursuit.

The initial population data of 1918 gave the East African government a reassurance. For a country with a short history like East Africa, the current population growth will not bring too much pressure to the government, but will be an important driving force for economic development.

Moreover, according to Ernst's experience, the pressure faced by the East African government in the future is likely to be the problem of declining population fertility rate. After all, the urbanization level in East Africa may have reached 40% now.

This also means that East Africa can take off the hat of "semi-industrial country" in the past, because the urbanization level of 40% has exceeded the urbanization level of developed countries in this era, which is about 37 to 39%. East Africa is considered to have passed the line, and the average urbanization level in the world is less than 20%.

In addition to several powerful countries, the so-called developed countries in the early 20th century also included small powers with relatively developed economies such as Belgium and the Netherlands.

Of course, East Africa becoming a developed country does not mean that everything is fine. On the contrary, there is still a long way to go, especially the four major countries before East Africa, Britain, Germany, the United States, and France.

Among them, France's urbanization rate should be closest to East Africa. France's urbanization rate is about 46%, while the United States is around 50%, Germany is close to 60%, and the United Kingdom has almost no room for growth, and urbanization is basically completed.

France's urbanization level is relatively low among the big countries. After all, France has long been a traditional power in Europe and even the world.

However, this is understandable. Since the Franco-Prussian War, France's industrial development has been relatively slow. Of course, this is mainly compared with other industrial countries, especially France's opponent Germany. France has not recovered so far, which can also show why France has such great hostility towards Germany.

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It can be said that the Franco-Prussian War interrupted the entire French national destiny, so that the current urbanization level of France has even been approached by East Africa, a country with only more than half a century of history.

In addition to several major powers, a few small European countries such as Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Sweden are also likely to be above East Africa, but there is no specific data for them, so they can only be speculated.

Of course, Sweden should be considered a medium-sized country in Europe, and the reason why East Africa judges that Sweden's urbanization and industrialization are higher than East Africa is that since the 1970s, Sweden's economic development has been higher than the average level of Western Europe. Sweden itself used to have a good foundation, and it could even compete with Russia in the past, so Sweden must have a certain industrial foundation.

In addition to the above countries, the reason why East Africa's urbanization level can pass the line is naturally inseparable from the contrast of other countries, such as Japan, Spain, Russia, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Among these countries, the Austro-Hungarian Empire had the highest urbanization level before the war, but it only reached about 25%.

Japan is quite special. At present, Japan's urbanization level has reached about 18%. Before 1910, Japan's urbanization level was only less than 10%. In less than ten years, Japan's urbanization rate has increased by nearly 10%. Eight percent is a very scary number.

The reason why this number is scary is that Japan's population has exceeded 50 million. Judging from the population alone, Japan's strength is even greater than that of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. After all, the Austro-Hungarian Empire has many ethnic groups, and Japan is almost all Yamato. Only Hokkaido is home to a pitifully small number of Ainu people (also known as Ezo).

In the last century, Japan's population was only over 30 million, so Japan has greatly improved its industrialization while maintaining high population growth. If French citizens had the same fertility level as the Japanese, they would probably have a headache now. Germany.

Of course, the so-called developed countries were a concept that was only proposed in the 1960s. Today, countries around the world do not use this term, and generally use the term industrial power.

If we look at industrial powers alone, as early as the 1990s, East Africa should be considered an industrial power, and Russia, the weakest link in imperialism, could also be called an "industrial power."

Of course, this so-called industrial power is mainly aimed at countries outside of Europe. If Russia and other industrial countries in Europe said that they were industrial powers, they would probably be laughed at.

Therefore, Ernst told East African government officials: "Judging from population data and our country's industrial development, our country has now become a primary industrial power."

"Among the big countries, we still need to maintain a humble attitude and actively catch up with the four countries of Britain, Germany, the United States and France."

"Although our country's industrial volume has reached the first place in the world and has further consolidated this position, the quality of industrial development is still far behind that of other major countries."

"Take the United States as an example. The size of the empire is not much larger than that of the United States, but the urbanization rate of the United States is about ten percent ahead of ours."

"You must also be aware of how difficult it is to shorten this 10 percent gap. In the past, our country was in a stage of rapid development for a long time, which led to a substantial increase in the level of industrialization."

"However, as the empire has developed to this day, and we want to go further, every step will only be more difficult than the past."

At the beginning of the 20th century, the urbanization rate in East Africa had reached about 20%. Today, nearly two decades have passed, and the urbanization level in East Africa has almost doubled.

This is a very astonishing "miracle", and if East Africa wants to repeat this "miracle" in the future, it will be almost impossible to achieve it unless it encounters another major historical opportunity like World War I.

The level of urbanization increased by nearly 20% in twenty years. This speed is not without examples, such as the Soviet Union or the Far Eastern Empire in the past.

Of course, the Soviet Union's Third Five-Year Plan was interrupted by World War II and did not last for twenty years. However, it entered a period of rapid urbanization after the war.

Therefore, it can be said that the East African government under the leadership of Ernst has maximized its capabilities and achieved today's results by taking advantage of the opportunities of the times, turning East Africa from a semi-industrial country into a primary industrial power.