Chapter 971 Economic Situation
The data standards are different, and the conclusions are different, but no matter how it is ranked, East Africa is firmly in the top five. Although the total population of Tsarist Russia is higher than that of East Africa, Ernst believes that compared with the two countries, Tsarist Russia is far inferior to East Africa, especially under the general trend of rapid population growth in East Africa, Tsarist Russia's population advantage will also be replaced by East Africa.
After all, Tsarist Russia has a large population, but Poland, Ukraine, Central Asia and other territories are not stable, with many ethnic groups and prominent contradictions. These populations will even have a negative effect during wartime.
The millions of "gray animals" of Tsarist Russia seem to be very oppressive, but with the current total population of East Africa, it is relatively easy to form an army of millions. At the same time, East Africa does not have the harsh geopolitical environment and prominent contradictions like Tsarist Russia, so East Africa can vigorously develop its economy and is confident that it will achieve an all-round overtaking of Tsarist Russia in the next decade.
In fact, in the future, the key task of the East African government is to make up for the gap between it and the advanced countries in the fields of science and technology and culture. After making up for this shortcoming, East Africa is almost invincible.
This does not mean that the level of development of science and technology culture in East Africa is relatively poor. On the contrary, East Africa is rapidly catching up with European and American countries in the field of science and technology.
At the end of the 19th century, East Africa's domestic science and technology breakthroughs were not inferior, but due to institutional and political reasons, the talents cultivated in East Africa were not active in the international community, which made it easy for people to ignore the development of education and science and technology in East Africa.
Many talents are kept in captivity by East African governments or scientific research institutions. The most typical example is the field of electricity and internal combustion engines. East Africa is as outstanding as the United States and Germany, but in contrast, East African researchers in these two fields are relatively unknown in the international community.
Of course, it is undeniable that in terms of the most cutting-edge basic theoretical talents, the gap between East Africa and other major countries in the world is still significant, but as time goes by, similar talents will emerge as the quality of higher education in East Africa improves.
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With the release of population data, East African senior officials have a clearer understanding of East Africa's development. Population represents the market and labor force. Finding out population data will help the government formulate policies for future development.
Then, the State Planning Commission released the industrial data of East Africa in 1900, and Siwei made a relatively detailed report.
"As of last year, my country's steel production has exceeded 3.2 million tons, pig iron production has exceeded 1.9 million tons, and coal production has exceeded 30 million tons, achieving leapfrog development of the steel industry and ranking among the top in the world."
Although there are no specific data from other countries, the East African government can roughly judge that the East African steel industry is at the forefront of the world, because the East African steel industry has achieved a technological update and has no obvious technological gap with other major countries in the world.
In fact, in 1900, East African steel production was only behind the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom ranked third with a production of nearly 5 million tons, while East Africa ranked fourth, and the fifth was Tsarist Russia, with only more than 2 million tons.
The development of the steel industry in East Africa is inseparable from the leapfrog development of infrastructure construction such as transportation in East Africa. Transportation construction itself has a huge demand for basic raw materials such as steel, and transportation development provides conditions for the integration of the steel industry.
For example, the construction of the Upington Railway has enabled the iron ore in southwestern East Africa to provide a new source of raw materials for the steel mill in Bulawayo, further increasing Bulawayo's steel production.
"In 1900, my country's total railway mileage reached 90,000 kilometers, making it the third largest railway network in the world after Europe and the United States."
This data exceeded the plan of the State Planning Commission, but did not reach the level of 100,000 kilometers mentioned by the Ministry of Railways, but it still reflects the rapid progress of East African railway construction.
In the field of railways, if it is a single European country, it is naturally not comparable to East Africa, but East Africa has a land area of more than 13 million square kilometers, which is nearly the area of India more than the entire European area. Therefore, although East Africa has the second largest railway network in the world, the density is far from enough.
Compared with Europe, the railway construction in America ranks first in the world, among which the United States and Canada have many railways. The United States is the country with the largest railway mileage in the world, with a total mileage of 300,000 kilometers. The railways of the United States alone can be comparable to the entire country, and there are also countries such as Canada and Mexico in America, especially Canada, which is not inferior to European countries at all, reaching nearly 30,000 kilometers.
Moreover, the railway in the United States is still in a stage of rapid development. Before the opening of the Panama Canal and the popularization of automobiles, railways will still be the main mode of transportation of goods between the east and west coasts of the United States.
Therefore, it is unlikely that East Africa will surpass the United States in terms of railway mileage, and Ernst has no such idea. However, this cannot change the fact that the total mileage of East African railways has ranked second in the world, while the Russian Empire, which has the largest land area, has only about 50,000 kilometers.
The development of East African railways is an important factor in promoting the expansion of the steel industry. Similarly, the development of transportation such as shipbuilding, roads, and bridges has greatly promoted the development of the country's high-speed rail industry.
"The textile industry has also made great progress. Compared with 1890, our textile industry has nearly doubled its output, and it is also at the forefront of the world. It has become the world's second largest cotton producer, which provides basic raw materials for the development of my country's textile industry, and at the same time exports a large number of cotton to Europe and other regions."
East Africa has a natural advantage in developing the textile industry, because most areas in East Africa are suitable for cotton planting, including Kisan City in the Congo Basin, which is one of the important cotton textile centers. After the South African War, East Africa also took over a large number of cotton plantations from the Portuguese.
However, in addition to meeting domestic needs, East African cotton is mainly exported to the markets of Central and Eastern European countries such as Germany. Among them, the German cotton textile industry is developing rapidly, and Germany is not a major cotton producing area, so East Africa has become Germany's main cotton supplier, and East Africa can almost meet all of Germany's cotton needs, both in terms of quality and quantity.
"my country is still in a leading position in emerging industries such as electricity, automobiles, and oil. Most of the important export products in my country's economy come from these emerging industries. At the same time, in 1889, a new round of oil and natural gas exploration was launched to provide security for my country's energy sector."
There is no doubt that East Africa's rapidly developing automobile, oil, chemical and other industries all need oil as a basic guarantee, so the East African government, under the instructions of Ernst, has begun a new round of energy surveys.
Among them, the Lake Albert Basin in Uganda in the previous life (called Lake Constantine in East Africa) is the focus of this round of oil exploration. The oil resources here are enough to support East Africa's demand in the next fifty years.
Of course, Ernst does not want to start the oil resources in the Nile Basin in northern East Africa and the oil resources near Cabinda for the time being. Both regions are in border areas and are more likely to cause disputes.
As for the oil near the Lake Albert Basin, there is no such concern. It is located in the Great Lakes region, the core territory of East Africa, and is very safe.
"… As of 1900, the number of enterprises above designated size in my country has reached more than 3,000. These enterprises account for more than 65% of my country's total economic output, and other enterprises, including local small and micro enterprises, joint ventures, etc., have formed the overall economic structure of East Africa."