African Entrepreneurship Records

Chapter 660 Trade and Industry

The trade between Abyssinia and East Africa has become the sixth major trading country in East Africa in 1882, only after Oman, so East Africa attaches relatively high importance to the Abyssinian Empire. of.

 At present, the five countries that preceded the Abyssinian Empire in East African trade were the Far Eastern Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Germany, Tsarist Russia, and Oman.

Oman is so conspicuous mainly because of the existence of Zanzibar merchants as transit agents. Many East African goods sold to the Arab region are distributed in Oman, radiating to the Middle East, Central Asia, and even parts of Southeast Asia.

 The trade between the Abyssinian Empire and East Africa has also made the border trade of the entire Turkana Province exceed that of the Southern Frontier Province and is currently only behind the Central Province and the Eastern Province.

The outlet of Southern Frontier Province is the New Hamburg Port City, the Central Province has three trading ports of Dar es Salaam, Bagamoyo and Tanga, and the Oriental Province also has the city of Mombasa.

 Hence, the foreign trade volume of the Central Province and the Eastern Province is difficult to be surpassed by other provinces, especially the Central Province, which has three major trade ports.

The economic hinterland behind the New Hamburg Port City in the Southern Frontier Province includes: Southern Frontier Province (Zulu Kingdom), Hechingen Province (Transvaal Republic), Lorraine Province (Kalahari Basin), and New Baden Province (Bechuanaland), part of Matabele Province.

So it is indeed a remarkable achievement for the Turkana Province to surpass the New Hamburg port city of the Southern Frontier Province solely by virtue of its trade with the Abyssinian Empire.

The only pity is that there are more than one trading locations between Turkana Province and the Abyssinian Empire, which are not as unique as New Hamburg Port or Mombasa.

In fact, Dar es Salaam City is even worse than the two, but the Central Province also has Bagamoyo City and Tanga City to share, but Bagamoyo City and Tanga City are in Dar es Salaam. In front of the market, the size is very small.

After all, the scope of influence of Dar es Salaam is not just the Central Province, but the foreign trade of as many as a dozen provinces, all of which require Dar es Salaam to turn around, while Mombasa has a monopoly on the northern industrial belt. Northern Rangeland, Great Lakes and Foreign Trade of the Northwest Territories.

Dar es Salaam, Mombasa and New Hamburg all have vast economic hinterlands and railway transportation, so their development is naturally not slow.

In this comparison, Turkana Province has neither a coast nor a railway to support economic development, and its own population and industry do not have advantages. However, it has developed into the third largest province in foreign trade in East Africa, surpassing the Southern Frontier Province. It is enough to see that the picture Efforts in Alkana Province.

Of course, the role of Egypt in the Abyssinian Empire and the Italian Red Sea coastal colonies cannot be ignored, especially the economic contribution of the Abyssinian Empire to Turkana Province exceeds 40%.

In addition to the surprising trade in Turkana Province, the import and export trade between East Africa and the Far Eastern Empire is also a highlight, that is, surpassing Germany and Austria and becoming East Africa's largest trading partner.

 The Far Eastern Empire became the largest trading country in East Africa in 1881. Before that, the largest trading country in East Africa was the Austro-Hungarian Empire for a long time, and from 1874 to 1878 it was Germany.

From 1874 to 1878, it was the time when the economic crisis was most severe. At that time, the steel trade between East Africa and Germany reached its peak. After the economic crisis passed, the Austro-Hungarian Empire returned to first place, but only two years later. It was officially surpassed by the Far Eastern Empire in just 10 years.

This is also understandable. The Far Eastern Empire’s economy was huge, and the northern market alone was enough for East Africa to absorb. Of course, another important reason was the southern market, which East Africa could not squeeze into.

Furthermore, the prerequisite for East Africa to obtain the northern market of the Far Eastern Empire is cooperation with the two major business groups in the northern Far Eastern Empire, trade exchanges and other means. No British trade in the Far Eastern Empire is free. East Africa imports goods from the Far Eastern Empire every year, mainly agricultural products, handicrafts, and textiles, while the Far Eastern Empire imports food, industrial products, electrical appliances, tropical specialties, etc. from East Africa.

East African industrial products can only take the price route, but the materials used are solid, the production is relatively standardized, and the price/performance ratio is relatively high, but the profits are not ideal.

 The category of electrical appliances is considered to be one of the few key products in East Africa. It is the dominant export commodity in East Africa, so it is divided into a separate sector.

 This is not only reflected in foreign trade, but also from the popularization of electricity in various countries. The development of the electric power industry in East Africa can also be seen. The penetration of electric power in East Africa is second only to the German region and the United States, but the growth rate in East Africa is higher than the two places.

 An important point is that East Africa is large in size. Germany and Austria combined only have more than one million square kilometers, so the upper limit cannot compare with East Africa and the United States.

However, the United States also has its own problems, that is, there are many power companies, and the degree of standardization is not as good as that in East Africa. The standards between various power companies are confusing and incompatible with each other, which is not conducive to the unification and promotion of the power market.

Of course, there are also advantages, that is, it is easy to form competition. In the field of innovation, it is second only to the German region.

The current power industry in East Africa lacks innovation, but the unified government procurement standards have standardized the East African power market and promoted compatibility of power industry standards across the country, which is conducive to the popularization and promotion of the power industry, making East Africa the fastest growing power industry in the world. one of the countries.

As for innovation and competition, it is mainly done in the German region. Hechingen Electric Power Company has a presence in East Africa and the German region at the same time, so that the East African power industry will not be able to stand on one leg.

Furthermore, after the economic crisis in 1873, monopoly organizations emerged in various countries, and this was also true in the electric power industry. Therefore, the disadvantages of East Africa’s electric power industry before have turned into advantages. It can form competitiveness with the power giants in European and American countries and ensure the advantages of East Africa’s electric power industry.

Furthermore, East Africa has the world’s first electric power university, and the Technical University of Darmstadt in Germany introduced Europe’s first electrical engineering program this year. Therefore, the layout of the electric power industry in East Africa is much earlier than that of European and American countries.

Before 1880, the key industries promoted in East Africa were steel and railways. After 1880, it was electricity and automobiles. In the future, East Africa will not lag behind the rest of the world in these two fields, and at the same time, it can ensure the future economic stamina of East Africa.

Of course, the steel and railway industries in East Africa are still on the rise and will continue to grow in the long term. They provide a foundation for the development of the electric power and automobile industries in East Africa and drive the development of the upstream and downstream industrial chains.

For example, the copper mines and rubber required by the electric power industry require railways to be developed from inland, and railway construction is based on the explosion of the steel industry.

In 1882, the seventh largest trading country in East Africa was India. It mainly imported mineral resources such as coal and iron, and also included unique resources such as jute. The industrial development of East Africa and the development of the steel industry in the eastern coastal areas were the catalysts for An important factor in trade between East and India.

The East-India trade broke the British economic blockade on East Africa, successfully reintegrated East Africa into the economic system of the British Empire, and promoted the industrial development of East Africa.

 (End of this chapter)