Chapter 143 Slavery Economy

In August, in the Mbeya mining area, indigenous people were tied up with wooden shackles on their feet and carried hoes to clear weeds and gravel on the ground.

Because movement is inconvenient, the efficiency is not high, but the East African guards who supervise from the side are not afraid of inefficiency and bad things.

East Africa didn't expect these natives to be efficient at all. They just set a dead goal every day and that was it.

As for those who can't finish it, of course, stir-fried meat with bamboo whip and reduced food intake are indispensable.

Anyway, the indigenous people do rough work, and East Africa does not expect them to be perfect at all, as long as the quantity is sufficient.

Plowing soil, pulling bricks, digging ditches, chopping down trees... are all skills that can be mastered at first hand. These natives have a rough idea, and it will only take the immigrants from East Africa to refine them later.

Especially in the Mbeya mining area, when the population is very scarce, if East Africa wants to ensure coal production, it is indispensable to use a large number of indigenous people.

There are currently more than 3,000 indigenous workers working in the Mbeya Coal Mine. Although they are workers in name, they are essentially slaves.

In sub-Saharan Africa, there are two civilizations, one is a primitive society, which exists in the form of tribes, and the other is a slave society, which takes the form of a slave kingdom.

East Africa must belong to a slave society, because there are indeed a large number of black slaves in East Africa, and they are an important part of the East African colonial economy.

Before the colonization of East Africa, although there were a large number of slaves in East Africa, the form of civilization was still dominated by primitive tribes.

Therefore, the indigenous people in the Tanganyika area are called Eastern Bantu tribes.

The establishment of colonies in East Africa was tantamount to changing the overall civilization of East Africa from a primitive society to a slave society.

The difference between the two is that the indigenous tribes in East Africa used slaves to trade with the Arabs, even for sacrifices and as food rations.

The East African colonies used slaves for production and construction, turning slaves from commodities (food) into production tools.

And by the time East Africa itself was in a state of transition from slave society to feudal society.

The immigrants from East Africa were all feudal people with strong roots and had not been disturbed by liberal ideas.

The number of black slaves in East Africa is constantly decreasing. At that time, the entire East Africa was dominated by feudal people, so East Africa will at least experience a brief feudal era in the future.

Of course, no matter which stage it enters, the construction of East Africa will inevitably require the vigorous efforts of the indigenous people. Just like the plantation industry in the southern United States, it has become capitalist, and slaves should still be used.

Construction, especially in tropical areas, requires human lives. The East African Plateau is not bad, but other tropical areas are really terrible.

The colonial governments of East Africa knew this very well. Although the coastal areas were developed early (including the construction of the Zanzibar Sultanate), they were really not as livable as the inland areas.

People often had to work under high temperatures, not to mention slaves.

Mbeya is about 1,700 meters above sea level. The higher the altitude, the lower the temperature. So although it is located in the tropics, Mbeya is very cool.

Such good weather is naturally suitable for the indigenous people to work in the mines, and the immigrants do not do nothing. They need to maintain the wooden frames (pit wood) that support the mine tunnels.

To be honest, this is really not a difficult job, but the natives can't do it. They will do it perfunctorily, or pretend to be stupid.

It is as if a small wooden frame support has become a global problem that is difficult for African indigenous people to solve.

In fact, these natives are just impatient. They would rather do the hard, tiring but unskilled physical work than complete the slightly technical work.

This is not nonsense. Before they were captured by the East African colonies, when they were still in a tribal state, they could weave shacks out of branches, carve wood into beautiful sculptures, polish weapons, and make bows and arrows...

But when they fell into the hands of the East African colonies, those innate skills seemed to disappear overnight, and they could only be used as animal power.

In the early days of the East African colonies, some unbelieving administrators tried to use black people to farm the fields (it was still in the east at that time). As a result, the rice seedlings in the paddy fields were staggered and unevenly spaced. This made the Chinese farmers feel distressed and eventually they were all knocked down. Again. (Chinese agricultural personnel encountered a similar situation when they assisted Africa in planting peanuts. They taught them step by step, but the locals could not learn to bury the seeds at the same distance. In the end, our agricultural personnel made a rope with markings, and the Africans followed the instructions on the rope. Mark the peanut seeds properly.)

Agriculture is the primary industry in East Africa, and food production is related to the quality of East Africa's economy, so the indigenous people cannot be allowed to live in such a ruined life.

The jobs of the indigenous people were limited to those that were unskilled and very physically demanding.

For example, when developing fields in East Africa, after burning wasteland, the fields must be plowed. However, the current animal power in East Africa is obviously insufficient, so the indigenous people have become a substitute for animal power.

The indigenous slaves in Mbeya are used as mine carts, and all the raw coal from the mine needs to be carried on the backs of the indigenous slaves.

Even so, the colonial government of East Africa was still worried about these indigenous people and had to inspect the mines every once in a while to prevent the indigenous people from operating illegally in the mine tunnels.

However, when Mbeya coal was transported, these indigenous people were not needed. Instead, oxen and horse-drawn carriages were used to transport the coal to East Africa.

Mbeya's production capacity is actually not high, but compared to the current demand in the East African colonies, it is far too much.

Ernst stored the coal throughout East Africa in case of emergencies, and several steam engine factories in East Africa needed coal as energy source.

Although East Africa is dominated by grasslands, the forest area is not small, so there is no shortage of wood everywhere, which can be used to meet the fuel needs of various places (making fires for cooking, etc.), so the demand for coal is not high.

But the coal dug out by Mbeya could not be wasted, so he simply built warehouses across East Africa to store it.

As for selling to Europe, Germany has no shortage of coal in the Ruhr area, and it will also occupy the shipping capacity originally used for immigration, so it is completely incompatible.

Moreover, some primary factories will be built in East Africa later, and these coals will be indispensable. After the Mbeya coal mine is developed, the East African colonies will no longer import coal mines from Germany to East Africa, saving a lot of money.

Mbeya coal mining mainly uses indigenous slaves, and the cost is very low. They just need to take care of the food.

In addition, there is basically no investment. Many tools are made from local materials, that is, some iron tools are imported from Europe.

In addition to the development of the Mbeya mining area, slaves are widely used in construction and production throughout East Africa, but most of them are used in relatively large-scale projects. After all, immigrants cannot be idle, and many jobs still have to be completed by the immigrants themselves.

For example, in the development of fields, at the beginning of the development, the indigenous people will be used as animal power, but after the fields are developed later, it will be left to the immigrants themselves to complete all the work.

At the same time, immigrants must also accept military service, regularly clean up wild beasts in colonial areas, and participate in colonial expansion tasks.