Chapter 901 East Africa Grand Canal Plan
Of course, the construction of the "three ministries" is actually related to the overall international economic development. This means going back to the economic crisis of 1873. From an East African perspective, it seems that the impact of the economic crisis has already ended, or has not happened, and even has a negative impact on East Africa. The positive meaning outweighs the negative meaning.
In fact, the negative impact of the economic crisis of 1873 has continued until now (history 1873-1896). Although it ended in 1879, the world economy and trade subsequently fell into a state of depression. The specific manifestation is that free trade was replaced by trade protectionism. , Europe and the United States have not yet fully recovered from the impact.
A typical example is Russia. After the economic crisis ended, the Russian economy continued to slump. After all, Russia's economic system was the worst among European and American countries. Therefore, even if the economic crisis ended, due to lack of investor confidence, Russia's economic growth was seriously insufficient.
Other countries are doing relatively well, especially Germany and the United States. Their economies have recovered through various economic means. As for Britain and France, they followed the colonial route and transferred the crisis to the colonial areas. This was also one of the inducements of the South African War.
Unfortunately, even through war, Britain failed to pry open the East African market. As a result, Britain could only increase its exploitation of colonies such as India.
However, as time goes by, the economic crisis with the greatest impact in the 19th century will eventually end. It is now 1895, and it will be next year that the economic crisis of 1873 in history ends.
What followed was the "great prosperity" of the world economy that lasted for more than thirty years. Although a "world war" broke out in Central Europe, it made the United States and other countries outside the region make a lot of money.
This is also a huge opportunity for East Africa. Of course, the premise is that it can escape from the next economic crisis early. However, this is too early for East Africa at present. It is unknown whether and when a war can be fought.
What East Africa has to do is to strengthen itself in the next thirty years, under the premise that the international market is good and the war economy demand may be strong due to the European War.
If East Africa wants to get a bigger share of the pie, it must improve its local productivity. Therefore, East Africa must complete the construction of a national market before 1900, boost the level of industrial and agricultural development in East Africa, and compete with other countries in the subsequent period.
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After "encouraging" the transportation and railway departments, the Minister of Water Resources came to Ernst's office non-stop.
Minister of Water Resources Yarsted placed a thick stack of documents on Ernst's desk. It was a huge canal construction plan. The cover of the document had the words "East African Grand Canal" written on it. The "craziness" of this plan can be seen from the name.
“We plan to connect the inland water transport of the four major river basins of the Malagarasi River (the largest river in Plateau Province), Zambezi River, Congo River, and Kwanza River (located in Angola).”
"Well, the idea is very bold!" Ernst could only say this. After all, no one had done this in the previous life, but think about it. In the previous life, Africa had a shattered country structure, and each country also involved countless people. Warlords and tribal forces, even if the productivity level in Africa does not lag behind, cannot accomplish such large projects that require overall planning.
"But what about the feasibility of this plan? I need a satisfactory answer." Ernst asked.
Yasted pushed up his glasses and said calmly: "This plan actually requires our Ministry of Water Resources to have a plan. During the first national water conservancy construction planning period, we had a similar idea, but now Newly added Angola region.”
"In the first national water conservancy construction, we have carried out a relatively thorough and systematic transformation of the central and eastern rivers. During this process, the Ministry of Water Resources and experts obtained complete and detailed information on East African rivers."
“So after fully summarizing, calculating, planning, researching and other processes, we proposed the East African Grand Canal plan.”
"The key to this plan is that the Katanga Plateau is the same as the Biye Plateau. Water flows to lower areas. Therefore, according to the topography, if East Africa wants to connect the four major river basins together, it must rely on topography."
“This can be seen from the origins of East African rivers. Many tributaries of the Congo River and Zambezi River originate from the East African Plateau, Katanga Plateau and Biye Plateau, so the Katanga Plateau is located in the center of the four major river basins. The Hobiye Plateau is the key to realizing mutual navigation between the four major river basins in the central region of East Africa.”
Yasted said a lot, but it is not very complicated. To put it simply, the plateau terrain of East Africa can be regarded as the plains of the Far Eastern Empire. The several plateaus in the middle of the country are actually connected, and East Africa relies on these. River branches in connected areas connect several large rivers.
Just like the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal in the Far Eastern Empire, it passes through the North China Plain and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River Plains, interspersed with some small terrains.
The several plateaus highlighted by Alsid can be regarded as Jiangsu Province. The northern part of Jiangsu Province is the North China Plain, and the southern part belongs to the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River Plain. There is actually no clear boundary between the two.
Of course, the name of the East African Grand Canal sounds very similar to the Far East-Hangzhou Grand Canal, but the two are actually completely different.
After all, the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal has an obvious single waterway, thousands of kilometers long, and East Africa obviously does not have such geographical conditions.
Yasted also explained this: "The East African Grand Canal is not a separate river, but passes through dozens of canals, large and small, and connects the tributaries of these rivers, thus indirectly forming an inland covering the entire central land of East Africa. Shipping network.”
The main rivers in East Africa can be said to flow in their own way. The Zambezi River flows eastward into the Indian Ocean, the Congo River flows westward into the Atlantic Ocean, and the Nile River flows northward into the Mediterranean Sea. The overall river network is scattered.
Therefore, it is impossible to connect the main trunks of these rivers together, but these rivers have thousands of tributaries in addition to the main trunks.
The East African Grand Canal uses these tributaries to achieve the purpose of connecting the East African interior with rivers and seas and reduce inland transportation costs.
"According to our calculations, the actual length of the East African Grand Canal may reach about 1,700 to 2,300 kilometers. The specific value depends on the plan adopted."
"Because the East African Grand Canal plan is actually composed of dozens of small canal plans, there will inevitably be some trade-offs in these small canal plans, leading to changes in data."
The East African Grand Canal Plan is actually more appropriately said to be the East African Canal Network Plan. Water conservancy experts in East Africa have also formulated many alternative plans. Which plan is ultimately adopted depends on the specific construction conditions.
This bold idea for the water conservancy department made Ernst feel that he still had capable people.
The problem of inland shipping in East Africa has always been a concern, but the East African Grand Canal plan cleverly uses the tributaries of the river as support points. Since the main roads cannot be connected, the tributaries are connected together. This is actually a roundabout tactic.
Although the tributaries are in the river and the water volume is slightly less than that of the main river, it would be a blessing for East Africa to realize the interconnection of the inland water transport network.
Small boats are also acceptable for ships that are not too big. After all, even small boats cost much less than roads and railways. If certain factors such as time cost and time cost are not taken into consideration, water transportation must be the preferred option.
"Very good. There are no flaws in this plan as a whole. However, you should also conduct more on-site inspections and compile a summary of possible problems before July this year. Report to me then." Ernst said to Yael. Sid said.
As for fully agreeing with this plan, Ernst chose to play it safe. After all, this plan involved hundreds of large-scale tributary rivers and had a huge impact on the ecological problems in the middle of East Africa.
Of course, ecological issues were not actually Ernst's main concern, and by this logic, no other country should build the canal.
From the 19th to the 20th century, it was actually the peak period of canal construction in various countries, especially the great powers such as Britain, the United States, Germany, and France, but they did not see that the canals they built in previous generations had a great impact on the ecology.
Of course, Ernst could only say sorry for some species that may disappear due to the construction of the canal. After all, the East African government is completely "people-oriented" and economic development is the last word.