African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 46: Chapter 42 Immigration Boom

There are many lecturers like Wang Dazhi, who went deep into their hometowns to promote the benefits of the East African colonies and dispel the concerns of the Chinese.

Of course, it was also to find a way for these illiterate and inexperienced suffering people. Without the right channels or someone to guide them, ordinary people wouldn’t easily venture into unfamiliar fields.

Who wants to starve in their hometown? Before, it was because they didn’t know, or lacked the means. Now that they know, as long as there’s food, what does it matter if they sacrifice their lives?

The most exaggerated among them is a lecturer named Zhang Gensheng. His hometown was suffering from a drought, and his return had a strong impact, with villagers from neighboring villages also volunteering to report in.

People suffering from disasters were unaware of the situation in the East African colonies, but judging by Zhang Gensheng’s appearance, he didn’t seem to have suffered. In this era, one could basically determine how well someone was doing by their appearance; most ordinary people had sallow complexions, visible bones, and not a bit of fat.

But when Zhang Gensheng stood there, he embodied the robust state that people of this era aspired to, which represented a full stomach.

Additionally, everyone knew Zhang Gensheng. When the Westerners came here to recruit, times were just bearable. People watched Zhang Gensheng board the ”pirate ship” with amusement, as they couldn’t imagine what good intentions the Western devils could have.

Some even spread rumors that Western devils were man-eating ghouls, and that Zhang Gensheng definitely wouldn’t return. But now, a year later, he was back, and the rumors disappeared on their own.

Seeing the well-dressed and vibrant Zhang Gensheng, the disaster-stricken people naturally asked all sorts of questions. As for his shaved pigtail, people didn’t much care, especially when they noticed the local officials bowing and scraping when he arrived.

This indicated he wasn’t afraid of the authorities. After all, in this era of the Qing Country, only the Revolutionary Party would shave their pigtails, or like the rebels in the south, let their hair down.

Officials would never speak kindly to such people. The measures ranged from immediate imprisonment to execution.

However, Zhang Gensheng clearly did not belong to these two categories, so the familiar villagers inquired about the situation with him, and Zhang Gensheng told them everything he knew.

Upon hearing Zhang Gensheng’s descriptions, the villagers were excited. There was actually such a good opportunity in this world! Naturally, those who couldn’t even eat shared the news fervently.

Soon, neighboring villages also learned of the matter. With strength in numbers, these villagers thought it was best to go to the East African colony together for mutual support.

It’s understandable for these immigrants to think this way, but unfortunately, the East African colony wouldn’t keep them together. They would be scattered and allocated across different parts of the colony, which these villagers naturally wouldn’t know.

As a result, over a thousand people signed up in Zhang Gensheng’s area to go to East Africa that day, presenting quite a challenge for the Jiaozhou Bay staff. After urgently organizing a batch of food and medicine, they managed to arrange for these people.

Thus, they could only report the situation upwards, requesting more ships, while also informing the East African colonies to prepare more rations for receiving this batch of immigrants.

Ernst also bought a batch of grain from Europe and shipped it to East Africa for stockpiling and preparation.

There were more people from the northern Shandong and Zhili areas of Jiaozhou choosing to cross to the East, while to the south, especially at the junction of the Anhui, Henan, and Shandong provinces, people opted for East Africa. Recruiting for the East African colony proved deceptively effective: they provided food on the way to the bay until they reached East Africa where free rations were supplied, but once there, they had to work.

As for those really unwilling to leave their homeland, there was nothing they could do, but they might regret it in the future. Whether East Africa was a paradise didn’t matter; what mattered was that East Asia was hell.

Afterward, according to the population registry of the East African colony, just this action of Chinese nationals returning to persuade immigrants brought more than 50,000 immigrants to the East African colony within the next three months.

The rapidly growing population quickly filled the land blanks in the Marine District of the East African colony. Zanzibar had only tens of thousands of people, while the New Marine District quickly approached 60,000 after this immigration activity.

It was only because Ernst had a large, well-established business that could handle such a short-term influx of 50,000 people!

Another winner from this migration was the Dutch. Ernst signed a long-term agreement with them, and the commissions were basically fixed.

The sudden surge in immigration required temporarily renting more ships from the Dutch, so naturally, prices had to rise.

Afterward, the Dutch fleet was divided into three batches, with visits to the East African colony every six days. After unloading people at Dar es Salaam, they immediately returned to East Asia for the next trip.

Once these immigrants arrived at the East African colony, a portion would be assigned to the western areas under construction, like the Great Lake (Lake Victoria) district and Soron Lake (Lake Tanganyika) district...

Most, however, would initially fill the empty lands in the Marine District. After driving away the natives, the land here had always lain idle.

Now that there were enough people, they immediately organized into groups to enter the interior of the Marine District for reclamation, starting from the north and moving south to the vicinity of the First Town.

The continuous flow of immigrants indeed brought a small shock to the Zanzibarians at Dar es Salaam port. Upon hearing of the turmoil caused by the immigrants, the Sultan of Zanzibar made no move but lay even flatter, indicating that the East African colony had firmly secured its foothold.

Even if Zanzibar and Portugal united, they couldn’t shake the East African colony’s rule locally. Previously relying on military threats was only a temporary strategy, but now with a growing population, there was genuine long-term peace and stability.

With the help of these immigrants, the Marine District formed over a hundred villages, each roughly several hundred people in scale. Three points due to the population expansion were elevated to town-level administrative districts, with each town-level administrative district housing one to two thousand people.

As soon as these towns’ populations increase a bit more, Ernst plans to relocate some basic primary industry there to form embryonic cities with some industrial presence.

Moreover, this batch of immigrants was no longer dominated by individuals; due to natural disasters, some small families collectively came to East Africa to make a living.

For convenient governance and management, these immigrants were dispersed, with immigrants from different regions mixed together to form new villages.

Therefore, even the dialects of residents in these new villages might differ, and everyone was unfamiliar, naturally increasing their reliance on colonial coordination and management.

Brand new iron farming tools were distributed among these immigrants. Armed with production tools, the immigrants worked enthusiastically, aided by advanced tools, a few captured natives, and equines and cattle.

The immigrants developed nearly 500,000 acres of land, accounting for 10% of the total land area of the Marine District, and 30% of the arable land, 70% of which is irrigated arable land.

The paddy area reached 200,000 acres, with an expected single-season yield of 30 million kilograms of rice. After deducting rations (one pound of rice produces approximately six taels of rice), there would still be 8 million pounds surplus. The other land was planted with sisal and other crops.

The grain is reserved for further immigration and expansion needs, so there are no plans to export it. The value brought by sisal exports, 5% of which is used to distribute wages to colonial immigrants and management personnel, isn’t needed by colonial residents, as East Africa lacks entertainment and other consumption venues, so Ernst doesn’t need to give them much pay, mainly as a symbolic gesture.

In this way, the land each immigrant had to cultivate in the East African colony was more than eight acres, resulting in considerable physical labor. However, Ernst didn’t shortchange them on rations, nearly matching the average staple grain consumption in future generations, so Ernst felt no burden even if he didn’t pay them wages.

After all, in the Far East, you’d toil to death and still not get a bite to eat, whereas in the East African colony, although still tiring, the food was far superior to that in any current region of East Asia.

Additionally, despite the large amount of land cleared, the intensity wasn’t as great as imagined. For example, the tools, these farming tools from Europe were of much higher quality than those in the Far East, and the use of animals combined with native labor and collective operations reduced labor intensity.

And there was no need for the meticulous farming like in the Far East, as pesticides and fertilizers were imported from Europe, and farmland management was relatively rough.

To increase the immigrants’ production enthusiasm, the colony also established an effective system of rewards and punishments: work well and you’ll eat well, especially in the case of meat distribution; work poorly, and you might go hungry and need to do compulsory labor as punishment.

During the slack season, the East African colony’s Marine District organized the construction of 196 kilometers of primitive dirt roads, roughly connecting the six most important towns in the Marine District.

By the end of October 1866, the total number of new and old immigrants, together with the Germans, exceeded 97,000 in the entire Tanganyika part of the East African colony, and the basic control of important locations and land was established.

In comparison to these populations with the large number of natives, the East African colony had firmly achieved the strategy of encircling the countryside (tribes) with cities (towns).

No matter how much Zanzibar and Portugal united, they could no longer shake East Africa’s dominance in the region. Initially using military threats was only a temporary measure, but now with the growing population, it is indeed a true foundation for long-term stability.

With the aid of these immigrants, over a hundred villages were formed in the Marine District, each with a population of several hundred. The three later constructed strongholds were upgraded to three town-level administrative districts due to population expansion, each with one to two thousand people.

As the population of these towns further increases, Ernst plans to establish some simple primary industries here to form nascent cities with some industry presence.

Additionally, this wave of immigrants was not primarily individuals, but also small families affected by natural disasters seeking sustenance in East Africa.

To facilitate governance and management, these immigrants were dispersed and mixed together to form new villages across different regions.

So the residents of these new villages might even speak different dialects, and being unfamiliar with each other naturally increased their reliance on the coordinated management of the colony.

Brand new iron tools were distributed to these immigrants, who, equipped with production tools, worked with great enthusiasm, using advanced tools and some captured natives, along with horses and cattle.

The immigrants developed nearly 500,000 acres of land, accounting for 10% of the total land area of the Marine District, transforming it into arable land, with 70% of that being irrigable area.

Now the area of rice paddies has reached 500,000 acres, producing approximately 30 million catties of rice, leaving a surplus of 3,000,000 kilograms of rice after ration deductions (one catty of rice generates about six-tenths of a catty of cooked rice). The value generated by these sisal exports, 5% of which is used to distribute among the colonial immigrants and administrative staff as wages, is partly symbolic as the colony’s residents don’t really use it much. After all, East Africa has no potential as a paradise, now it’s just important that it’s not hell like East Asia.

The increasing influx of immigrants from the Far East continues to provide the conditions needed for the further expansion of the East African colony.

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