Chapter 1068 The World is Shocked
Looking at the population data and urban development level of East Africa at the end of 1909, the performance of the East African government is quite good.
There is no doubt that in terms of population, East Africa has become an absolutely unignorable "superpower" in the world today. It is not uncommon for countries with a population of more than 100 million in the past, but now East Africa can be said to represent one twentieth of the human race.
Regarding this population situation, the East African government is no longer the same as in the past. It no longer needs to hide it. The fact that the population of East Africa has exceeded 100 million is expected to spread all over the world soon.
In the past, East Africa paid more attention to confidentiality of its population data due to national security and development strategies. Before the 1990s, this practice did bring favorable effects to East Africa at that time, and even affected the direction of the South African War to a certain extent.
However, after the 1990s, this practice no longer played a big role, especially after the explosive growth of industry and agriculture in East Africa and the rapid increase in foreign trade, countries have already had psychological expectations of whether East Africa is a world power.
Of course, even if most countries are bold, their guesses tend to be conservative. The history of East Africa is too short. Generally, the population data of East Africa is mainly based on Brazil.
In 1900, the population of Brazil was only more than 18 million, less than a quarter of the population of East Africa at that time, so it is conceivable that most countries in the world will have a large deviation in their estimates of the population of East Africa.
Of course, the population situation cannot be kept strictly confidential, but the East African government has never made a statement to the outside world, so the outside world's statements are relatively confusing.
Now the reason why the East African government has changed its attitude, or an important reason why Ernst has changed his attitude, is to adapt to the international environment. In view of the increasingly tense international situation and the increasingly turbulent world situation, the whole world is like a powder keg filled with gunpowder. The announcement of the population situation in East Africa at this time is conducive to stabilizing the people's hearts while allowing East Africa to take the initiative in the international community.
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December 3, 1909.
Metternich Street is also the diplomatic embassy district of East Africa. It is located in the southeast of the Rhine city. As a country without a solid foundation, East Africa naturally borrowed many German celebrities to name East Africa.
In the field of German diplomacy, the most famous are undoubtedly Metternich and Bismarck. The reason why East Africa uses Metternich's name is because this person died early.
Metternich died in 1859, and the East African colony appeared on the world stage for the first time a few years later, so there is almost no intersection between the two.
As a diplomatic genius like Bismarck, Metternich's character evaluation is relatively neutral. Unlike Bismarck, who left a deep impression of "iron and blood" on the world, the German unification process led by him is very similar to "gambling" in a certain sense, especially the Franco-Prussian War. If an accident occurs, there will be no powerful Germany today.
Moreover, Bismarck is a completely modern figure for East Africa. He lived until 1898, and the East African government is unlikely to use Bismarck's name to name the foreign embassy area of the country.
The official evaluation of Metternich in East Africa is very positive, especially the affirmation of his diplomatic ability, which is different from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Although Metternich was a major political figure in the Austrian Empire, the predecessor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, his policies as the Prime Minister of the Empire in his later years were quite controversial in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, especially for Austria. Metternich was even the sinner who ruined the Austrian Empire to a certain extent.
Of course, for East Africa, Metternich is not too controversial. He can be said to be one of the main makers of the world order in the early and mid-19th century. Relying on a balanced foreign policy, the Austrian Empire at that time became the main executor of the European order.
However, even though Metternich has a diplomatic talent that is no less than Bismarck, he has too many shortcomings in other aspects, especially in government governance, so that he is easy to be defeated when encountering barbarians like Napoleon and Prussian barbarians who like to use fists to reason. Therefore, Metternich's achievements as the Imperial Foreign Minister are indisputable, but he is not suitable to be the supreme leader.
Metternich Street, as a place where foreign diplomatic embassies in East Africa gather, is also an information intersection area, especially for diplomats from various countries, who obtain first-hand information on domestic politics in East Africa here.
Today is the third morning of the East African Government Population Conference. German Ambassador to East Africa Boers came to the newsstand on Metternich Street as usual to buy the latest "Imperial Daily".
However, the content of the Rhine Imperial Daily today attracted Boers' great attention.
Just look at the big words on the front page of the "Imperial Daily": "Our population has officially exceeded 100 million, and East Africa is taking a step further towards becoming a world power..."
Boers held the newspaper in his hand and fell into deep thought. This is really a shocking news.
In fact, diplomats like Boers can still obtain a lot of real information from various bits and pieces obtained in East Africa, but intelligence work in East Africa has never been easy, at least more difficult than in most countries in the world. This is the common understanding of diplomats from all over the world.
"This is the first time that the East African government has officially announced the population situation. A population of 100 million, I can't believe that this is an African country. Although I have previously predicted that the population of East Africa is in the tens of millions, it seems that I am still too conservative!" Boers thought to himself.
However, he quickly realized that such important information should be sent back to China as soon as possible. Judging from this population data alone, Germany's political attitude towards East Africa should have changed. Thinking of this, Boers put the newspaper in his arms and hurried to the German Embassy.
Soon, the diplomats of the United Kingdom, the United States, France and other countries in East Africa reacted slowly and understood the importance of this information. As these diplomats sent the population information of East Africa back to China, the news that the population of East Africa exceeded 100 million quickly spread to the world.
It is no exaggeration to say that the news that the population of East Africa exceeded 100 million has greatly shocked the world, because there were only three countries in the world with a population of over 100 million before, and most people thought that the fourth country with a population of over 100 million might be the United States, but they did not expect that the "unknown" East Africa could emerge as a dark horse.
After all, the United States has a large population base and a "long" history. At least compared with East Africa, the United States is considered an "ancient civilization", so East Africa, a country with only half a century of history, can become the fourth country with a population of over 100 million. It is simply unimaginable. In contrast, immigrant countries such as Brazil or the United States should be ashamed.
Of course, now that accurate information about the population of East Africa has been obtained, governments around the world have to reconsider their diplomatic relations with East Africa.
After all, too much of anything will cause trouble, not to mention so many people, even 100 million pigs will have a major impact on the ecology.
With a population of over 100 million, it is no exaggeration to say that in the eyes of governments around the world, East Africa has become the "second Tsarist Russia" when considering its military strength, industrial capacity and land conditions.
This judgment obviously does not fully understand East Africa. After all, the current national conditions in East Africa are not comparable to the messy Tsarist Russia. If the development factors of the times are excluded, it is no exaggeration to say that East Africa's current national strength can completely compete with the initially completed Soviet Union.
As long as East Africa's industry does not decline, then when the Soviet Union is born, East Africa's industrial strength will definitely be above that of the Soviet Union.
However, the "underestimation" of East Africa by various countries is also more in line with Ernst's psychological expectations. At this time, East Africa does not want to get involved in the chaotic international situation.
The official population data is released to make other countries behave themselves. Under certain conditions, a larger population means a greater potential for war. The current population size of East Africa alone is enough to make most countries in the world consider their own strength and whether they can offend the superpower of East Africa.