Chapter 374: Chapter 53: Million Acres of Rubber Forest
"Huff... huff... huff..."
White steam sprayed from the cylinders under the car, like a thick plume hitting both sides of the track. Some parts of the locomotive head started to operate, producing a ticking sound, huff... As the last pressure released, the chimney, which had been emitting wisps of smoke, suddenly erupted with intense and dense black smoke.
A huge white steam shot straight up beside the chimney, followed by a sharp whistle, "Woo... woo... woo... woo... woo... woo..." like the scream of a monster.
The people guarding both sides of the railway were awakened by this deafening sound, the final exhaust was expelled from the locomotive’s front, the wheels began to turn, the chimney fully exerted its power, and accompanied by the "huff huff" sound, streams of black smoke were pushed out of the towering black chimney.
"Clank... clank... clank..." Constantine moved on the tracks, the massive steel hubs pressing against the rails emitted a huge sound.
The train departed from Dar es Salaam station, continuously accelerating towards First Town station.
"Your Majesty, Constantine’s maximum speed can reach fifty-seven kilometers per hour, but for the stability and comfort of this journey, we will proceed towards First Town at a pace of forty kilometers per hour," a technician in the carriage explained to Constantine.
Constantine glanced at his watch and said, "So, in one and a half hours, we can return to First Town?"
"Yes, Your Majesty."
The carriage Constantine was riding in was specially ordered from Austria, its interior decor quite luxurious, and not much different from that of other European monarchs. The highlight was the lighting throughout the carriage, and the coffee maker in the water room was the latest product from Heixinggen Daily Necessities Company, powered by electricity. A small internal combustion engine was responsible for supplying electricity. This was so luxurious that when craftsmen from Austria built this carriage, they thought it was meant for the Habsburg royal family.
The train sped across the East African plains, the scenery on both sides rapidly receding outside the windows, as it passed near villages it caught the attention of East African farmers.
"Moore, look, there’s a huge monster running on that thing called a railroad..."
This was the first time many East Africans saw a train, even Austrian immigrants were not exempt. Immigrants arriving in East Africa had inevitably traveled by large ships, but not necessarily by train; even if there was a train station in Trieste, they might not have personally encountered one.
While the train traversed the countryside, it indeed gave most residents along the line a very shocking sensation, but eventually, they would become numb to the trains passing by almost daily. Currently, for most people, it was an entirely exhilarating experience; even in Africa, there were trains, was Africa still Africa?
The impact was huge, completely changing the image and status of the East African Kingdom in the minds of residents. Most people came to East Africa because they had nowhere else to turn, hoping to make a living in East Africa, while various rumors about Africa on the European continent were deeply entrenched as stereotypes in the minds of Europeans. Now, those stereotypes were shattered by the train; it wasn’t that the African continent was ineffective, but rather the people.
In comparison, the Far East immigrants were a bit better; at least before the East African Kingdom recruited them, they had no concept of Africa’s existence. Some of them might have heard of Korea, Japan, An Nan, these dependent states, and little beyond Siam, India, etc. Only sailors, pirate merchants, Far East officials, and very learned individuals who spent long periods at sea might know of Africa.
...
Hesse Province and Mitomba Province are primarily located between Soron Lake (Lake Tanganyika) and the Congo River, and the Mitumba Mountains traverse both provinces.
These two provinces were incorporated into the East African Kingdom not long ago, half a year earlier than Zambia and a group of highlands to the west, but the total population of both provinces only reached over seventy thousand, not even comparable to a city like Dar es Salaam. This was not due to poor conditions here, but because the priority of Zimbabwe and Zambia was higher than this area.
In the former life, the most developed Katanga Province (part), South Kivu Province, and North Kivu Province (all) were within the range of these two provinces.
Although the economy of the Democratic Republic of the Congo cannot be described as poor in the entire African region but rather extremely poor, even with abundant mineral resources, its development level is far behind that of Tanzania across a lake, and even Rwanda, a purely agricultural small nation with no resources whatsoever, has long encroached on its territory; Rwanda covets Congo’s rich mineral resources, which is precisely the junction of East Africa’s Hesse Province and Mitomba Province now.
Moreover, Uganda, Burundi, Chad, Namibia... all have ambitions for Congo, in other words, even dogs can slap Congo twice.
Of course, this is also related to Congo’s terrain; the central Congo Basin is a vast rainforest that resembles a large uninhabited area, and Kinshasa, the capital of Congo, is in a small corner in the southwest. Combined with backward transportation and execution ability, it has very little control over the eastern territory.
In the former life, most of Congo’s mineral resources are now concentrated on East African Kingdom territory, most famously the copper mines of the Katanga Plateau.
The regions of Hesse Province and Mitomba Province are also extremely rich in mineral resources; however, considering the current transportation conditions and population size of the two provinces, it is uncertain when these mineral resources might be developed.
Since the mineral resources have not been developed, the economic development of these two provinces has returned to the old mode of the East African Kingdom, focusing on agricultural resource development.
To make full use of the population and climate, terrain, Ernst decided to build the largest rubber plantation in the East African Kingdom locally.
Previously, East Africa had already planted rubber trees near the Great Lakes Region, though not on a large scale, at least Ernst felt it wasn’t large enough, so starting this year, Ernst plans to expand the rubber planting area in Hesse Province and Mitomba Province.
Within East African Kingdom, the most suitable places for planting rubber trees are here and in the southern part of the Ethiopian plateau, and the area near the Mitumba Mountains has more obvious advantages than the southern part of the Ethiopian plateau.
This area is next to the Congo Basin, while also facing the Atlantic’s moist air slope, making it the richest in rainfall resources, and the equator runs through it, with temperatures much higher than the Ethiopian plateau (mainly due to altitude impact).
Rubber trees are most afraid of drought and cold, which is why most of the East African plateau is unsuitable for rubber planting, mainly due to rainfall factors; meanwhile, the world’s rubber planting most suitable range is about between 17 degrees north and south latitude.
In the former life, there was only one unique area which was the Far East region from 18 to 24 degrees north latitude, where they successfully planted rubber trees on a large scale, overturning the myth of the "restricted zone" for rubber planting.
Among the suitable areas for rubber cultivation in East Africa, Hesse Province has the most favorable conditions because it is the lowest terrain, with the northern end already part of the Congo Basin, predominated by plain terrain, containing large patches of rainforest, which are very suitable for rubber cultivation.
According to East Africa’s accumulated rubber planting experience, if all inhabitants of Hesse Province and Mitomba Province are used to plant rubber, they can manage a maximum of two million acres.
This is an ideal state, so Ernst cut the task in half, intending to open one million acres of rubber plantation in the two provinces first.
This task is entirely feasible, with each person just managing an average of 14 acres of rubber forest, approximately four to six hundred trees, and Ernst doesn’t need them to be involved in food production, given the current surplus grain status in East Africa, which can be supplied by the neighboring Great Lakes Region.
The market for rubber is huge; planting as much as possible is not a concern, anyway, it’s just a bunch of trees, and the maturity period for rubber trees requires at least six years, setting up in advance can save a lot in the future, always let the market wait for the trees rather than the trees wait for the market.