Chapter 627 Special Administrative City

However, Italy's development efforts in Ethiopia and Eritrea are indeed quite strong. This is still due to the rich spillover population. Many European countries cannot learn from them even if they want to.

If Italy had not been re-divided by the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and East Africa had not absorbed people from the Far East, and Italy had developed African colonies more than ten years earlier, it is really hard to say who would be stronger compared to East Africa.

"Okay, since we can't determine the pros and cons of this matter now, let's experiment first. Dire Dawa City can be used as a pilot. If it succeeds, it can also provide reference and experience to other border areas in the future. If it fails, There won’t be much loss, after all, Dire Dawa is just a small border town and it won’t have much impact on our overall strategy.” Ernst finally ended the debate.

"Dire Dawa City was established as a special administrative city, with border trade as the main development content, as a pilot city in East Africa."

This allowed Dire Dawa City to return to its development track ahead of schedule, but this time Dire Dawa City did not rely on railways.

"The city of Dire Dawa is on the south side of the Great Rift Valley in East Africa, with the Dechata River passing through the middle. The former city of Kefila was originally a distribution center for local agricultural and livestock products. The fur trade was prevalent, so it still has a certain foundation. , but the location of Dire Dawa City is indeed very unfriendly to us in East Africa, especially the poor transportation connectivity, which requires the Northern Province and Turkana Province to re-open traditional trade routes."

In the past, East Africa used the city of Dire Dawa as a military stronghold. Naturally, it was not solved by just drawing a circle on the map. Instead, there were indigenous settlements in the area, namely the ancient city of Kefila, which was the center of the Somali countries and the Abyssinians. A trade node between Asian empires.

The city of Dire Dawa is right on the main transportation route for Somalia and the Ethiopian plateau, but it is just the opposite for the behemoth of East Africa, because the connection between East Africa's Turkana Province and the Abyssinian Empire is very convenient.

As for the Somali region, the Somali region in East Africa is very different from Somalia in the traditional sense. To be more precise, Somalia in East Africa should be the southern Somali region, while many northern Somali regions are not in the hands of East Africa.

For example, the great Afar lowland plain where Dire Dawa city is located, also known as the Danakil Depression, is in northern Somalia, the French Djibouti colony in the north, the British Somaliland colony, and parts of the Italian Eritrean colony. here.

East Africa's occupation of Dire Dawa actually has little significance for itself. Even without the city of Dire Dawa, it will not threaten the security of East Africa. After all, the core area of ​​East Africa is in the East African Plateau and the Southern Plateau, and the vast land in the middle is based on the situation of this era. From a visual point of view, the economic value is not too high.

The main purpose of the city of Dire Dawa is external strategic deterrence. To the east it can approach the Gulf of Aden, to the north it can threaten the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and the Red Sea coast, and to the west it can lead to the hinterland of the Abyssinian Empire. Therefore, East African troops can be stationed here. Achieve the purpose of multi-faceted attack.

In turn, if other countries and forces attack the city of Dire Dawa, East Africa will not be affected at all. Instead, it can consume its effective forces here.

The premise is to provide sufficient material support to the local garrison. This is also the main reason why Northern Province gives priority to food supply to Dire Dawa.

To put it bluntly, the value of the Gulf of Aden, the Red Sea, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, and the Ethiopian Plateau are all higher than that of Dire Dawa City. Dire Dawa City can afford to pay for it, but they cannot afford it. After all, Dire Dawa City will be gone if it is gone. No more, even if it is destroyed in the war, it can be rebuilt, the scale is not large, and the above areas are either related to the main routes of world trade, or are important economies in the region.

"Your Highness the Crown Prince, what is a special administrative city?"

"You can understand it becoming a key city with important status and functions, but this status and functions are given more through administrative means."

In its previous life, Dire Dawa City was a special administrative city of Ethiopia, which is related to Ethiopia's national conditions.

Because Ethiopia is a quite aggrieved landlocked country, Eritrea lost its entire coastline after the separation from it. Moreover, due to colonial instigation and historical reasons, the relationship between Eritrea and Ethiopia is on fire and water.

Therefore, Ethiopia's foreign trade is extremely dependent on Djibouti's ports, and the connection between Djibouti and Ethiopia can only rely on railways, and Dire Dawa is the node of this railway, so the importance of Dire Dawa to Ethiopia is self-evident. , if it is destroyed, it will inevitably have serious consequences or even shut down Ethiopia's import and export trade. Therefore, it is easy to understand that Ethiopia has established Dire Dawa City as a special administrative city.

Just think of Dire Dawa as Trieste, the original historical Austro-Hungarian Empire. It is almost the only maritime gateway in the country, although Dire Dawa is not close to the sea.

Of course, the special administrative cities in East Africa do not have such a high status. The Dire Dawa Special Administrative City is just a prank of Ernst, in order to compete with the Dire Dawa Special Administrative City in Ethiopia in his previous life.

East Africa's import and export trade mainly relies on the eastern coastal area. Even if the eastern coast is not feasible, there are still Atlantic coastal areas in western East Africa that can go to sea. The land import and export trade of the Nile Province, the Southern Frontier Province and other regions are also far more important than Germany. Above Dire Dawa City, East Africa will not be too optimistic about the economy of Dire Dawa City.

The city of Dire Dawa wants to counterattack unless the economy along the Red Sea coast prospers, but this is obviously unlikely. The Sahara Desert alone is a major obstacle to local economic development.

Of course, it is also possible for the Ethiopian Plateau to develop. No matter how good the development is, if it reaches the average national level, it will definitely boost the economic development of Dire Dawa City. After all, the Abyssinian Empire is large enough.

In the previous life, Ethiopia had a population of over 100 million, making it a populous country in the world. At this time, the population of the Abyssinian Empire was around 10 million, which was much larger than many countries. After all, the Ottoman Empire only had a population of two people. Around tens of millions.

Although the current population of East Africa has surpassed that of the Abyssinian Empire, the population density of the two countries is far higher than that of the Abyssinian Empire.

So this also proves that the Ethiopian plateau is indeed a good place. East Africa and Italy have taken a big bite from it, and the essence of Ethiopia can still support its huge population.