Chapter 38: reclamation
Chapter 38 Reclamation
When the fierce battle between Prussia and Austria was in full swing, all the aborigines had been expelled from the coastal area of the East African colony. Except for the slave traders who sold them to Zanzibar, some of them were left for heavy manual work, and the rest were redistributed to themselves. The weapon was later released.
These exiled aborigines are certainly not out of kindness from the East African colonies. They have been frightened by the military power in the coastal area, so naturally they dare not come back here, so they can only go west or north. It is bound to encounter other indigenous tribes, who have weapons in their hands but have no land or food. Naturally, other tribes will have conflicts. At that time, they will fight to the death.
It is also unknown whether the aborigines who have lost their tribe can survive. In short, it is just one thing, reducing the number of aborigines.
It is impossible to plant all the new land with crops, but the surrounding areas of the new base can be developed first.
Most of these are places with sufficient water sources, which can provide a stable water supply for production and life. Although the rainwater in the coastal area is also relatively abundant, the current East African colonies have a small population and not much land. You only need to find a river without looking at the sky. Have a meal.
The Binhai District is currently the most eastern division. Because it is close to the Indian Ocean, the climate is relatively hot and humid, so it is very suitable for rice cultivation.
These newly developed lands naturally tend to choose rice as the staple food. If the temperature of wheat is too high, it will reduce production, so it is suitable for planting in the western plateau.
And the precipitation in the west of the East African colony is relatively less, which is suitable for the growth of crops with strong drought resistance such as wheat and millet.
Sisal is currently the biggest fist product of the colony. East Africa is suitable for planting many tropical cash crops, such as cotton, banana, rubber and coffee...
However, sisal grows best here, and there is a market for it. The competition of other commercial crops is fierce.
In addition, cloves are also an important crop in the colonies. The Sultanate of Zanzibar is famous for its rich cloves, so the coastal areas near the Sultanate of Zanzibar have not spared the cultivation of cloves.
The output of cloves is relatively low, so sales are not a problem. The Dutch fleet can be used to transport these cloves directly back to Europe for sale.
Nowadays, the East African colonies have begun to use horses and cattle to cultivate land. With the increase of new horses, supporting farming facilities have also been arranged.
Now the colonies have begun to use horses for communications. News that could only be sent back from various strongholds in the past one or two months can now be sent back within a week or two.
East African colonies also began to explore further afield with the help of horses, including intelligence in areas such as Kenya and Zimbabwe.
Europe is prevalent in horse farming, which makes Europe not as scarce as war horses in ancient East Asia. Horse farming has made horses a necessary production tool, and the people are motivated to raise horses.
At the same time, European cattle are not so important, and they become a common food on the table, so Europeans like to eat beef and drink milk.
This is also related to the fact that Europeans do not know how to handle ingredients. For example, Europeans do not know how to castrate boars, resulting in a strong smell of pork, which can only be covered up by the strong smell of spices.
Of course, Europe does not eat much pork now, only the German region eats a little more. In the future when Germany is unified, the number will further increase.
Beef only needs simple processing, and the taste is good. It is naturally favored by Europeans. A piece of butter and a little salt can get a simple and delicious steak.
In the East African colonies, Ernst naturally chose horse farming, and cattle were mainly used to raise meat. The Maasai of later generations are nomadic people in East Africa, and they make a living by herding cattle.
Mandatory use of horse farming will inevitably increase the demand for horses, and as an important means of transportation, horses can improve the transportation capacity of the East African colonies.
After all, there is basically no infrastructure in the East African colonies, and they are still on foot. Only a few Germans are equipped with military horses for passage.
Combined with the flat and open terrain of East Africa, it is very suitable for horses to gallop. In short, the more horses needed, the better.
Manda, the northernmost part of the Binhai District, can now see the smoke from the kitchen, and the immigrants began to light a fire to cook.
The nearby fields have almost been cultivated, and the water trucks are used to pump the river water into the rice fields, and the entire land is staggered.
The scale of these paddy fields is relatively large, and horse plowing is used to plow the land. Of course, some of them are completed by indigenous people as power.
Part of it has been planted with seedlings, and some will take time. To the east is a hill that is used to grow sisal.
Rows of sisal are covered with hills from top to bottom. From a distance, they look like tea gardens in East Asia, surrounded by low mountains and hills, which is quite spectacular.
The recent weather conditions in the Binhai area are also good. The time of rain is relatively stable, and it is rare to be out of time.
This is also a benefit of the Indian Ocean. It is well known that the El Niño and La Niña phenomena in the Pacific Ocean are relatively significant, which will exacerbate climate fluctuations in East Asia.
Although the Indian Ocean is also affected, it is not prominent. In addition to being affected by the equator and the plateau, the climate in East Africa is mainly affected by the transfer of the trade wind belt. Every year, the southward or northward movement of the trade wind belt will bring a certain amount of rain to East Africa.
This has resulted in two rainy seasons a year in East Africa. At the same time, the coast of East Africa is also affected by ocean currents, especially in the coastal area.
If there is no Somali cold current, the precipitation along the coast of East Africa will definitely increase, forming orographic rain similar to that of northeast India.
The stability of the climate in the East African colonies has also led to the orderly progress of agricultural production. The colonies already have a relatively mature agricultural calendar, which can be used to guide the arrangement of new immigrants to participate in agricultural production.
Currently affected by the turmoil in East Asia, the number of immigrants coming to the East African colonies to develop is also increasing rapidly, especially in the north.
Affected by the impact of going to the east of the Guandong, residents in the north now have two choices, one is to develop overseas, and the other is to develop in the northeast.
If you want to go overseas, then East Africa is currently the best option, because Ernst's deployment was relatively early, and the northern region was not exposed to the outside world as early as the south, so Ernst's immigrant network in the north is larger and more complex. Mature.
The southern region, especially the southeast coast, has more channels. Some people choose to develop in Southeast Asia, and the second destination is the Americas.
Therefore, immigrants from the south are relatively united overseas, but internal fighting is also quite serious, because they also gather together overseas to form strongholds similar to Chinatown, and fighting with weapons is a characteristic of southern clans, and their interests overlap more seriously overseas. If he eats more, he will eat less, so the fire is not more than domestic.
This is also one of the reasons why Ernst did not dare to choose immigrants from the south. He only has to farm honestly, not to be a moth, especially to form a group. Although the number of Chinese immigrants in the East African colonies is currently the largest, there is no leader, and they are scattered. Stuart is satisfied.
In the German region of Europe, when Prussia and Austria were fighting fiercely, the East African colonies were peaceful, and everyone was contributing to the cause of development.
House construction, farmland development, construction of water canals, new roads, animal husbandry, an East African colony with agriculture as its core is rapidly being built.
(end of this chapter)