African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 450: Chapter 128: Cholera and Dark Secrets

Malicious competition is bound to happen; such things are quite common during economic crises and might not even be considered serious. Some countries prepare for war when facing economic downturns, but Ernst would not name names.

Since 1870, East Africa has begun shifting its focus from cereal crops to economic crops. Essentially, East African cereal crops are sufficient to support national development, and the continuing drop in grain prices offers little profit. Food production safety is particularly important for a country, which is why East Africa had previously supported food production heavily while reducing support for economic crops.

At this World’s Fair, besides the presence of rulers from various countries, there were also many participants from countries outside Europe, such as the King of Persia, Nasruding, who traveled a great distance supposedly to attend the ”Vienna World’s Fair,” but his actual purpose was to see Princess Sisi, which soon became a topic of jest among the monarchs.

The World’s Fair is a great occasion for showing off, but Ernst had no interest in attending, mainly because of the sudden cholera outbreak in Vienna.

Cholera spreads primarily through water sources and bacteria, something Ernst was well aware of. However, there was no need to shout this to the world, especially since he didn’t understand these things, and no one would likely believe him. It was enough to promote awareness within the company and in East Africa.

The fact proved that this cholera outbreak was not an isolated incident; India, Nanyang, the Far East, the United States, and Europe were all heavily affected, as evidenced by Gorky’s father, who died of cholera this year.

Conversely, East Africa appeared out of place in this global cholera outbreak, as it was the country most attentive to hygiene worldwide at that time.

Besides this reason, East Africa’s isolation also blocked the spread of external diseases. As a country of immigrants, East Africa has maintained measures such as disinfection and quarantine for immigrants at port areas over the years, with foreign epidemic diseases mostly affecting only East Africa’s coastal regions.

The 19th century is often referred to as the ”Century of Cholera,” with cholera becoming the ”world disease” of the 19th century. From the perspective of later generations, there was no place in the 19th-century world that was habitable.

While drinking boiled water and maintaining hygiene meant no cholera outbreaks in East Africa, other diseases were prevalent, with malaria, this old friend, accompanying East Africa for the longest and most frequent time over the years.

Eliminating malaria requires generational efforts, and East Africa has already gotten used to coexisting with malaria. However, although it’s the main epidemic disease in East Africa, its actual outbreak rate is much lower than in other countries at the same latitude, being on par with temperate countries and lower than subtropical and tropical regions.

Just as the Soviet Union used national power to combat the cold in Siberia, East Africa also exerted significant national effort in the health sector.

Mosquitoes and flies are deemed ”the most useless things” in the Kingdom of East Africa, with the Ministry of Health extending its power from the central to the grassroots level, becoming one of East Africa’s most important departments.

Currently, East Africa’s health industry can be said to be completely different from the former Africa. The 21st-century Africa is the world’s most cholera-affected area, but at this time, the world’s most severe cholera period, East Africa has the lowest cholera levels.

An exception is India, which almost never escapes with each global cholera pandemic and remains a severely affected area; in the 21st century, it remains one of India’s persistent issues.

The presence of many monarchs, the cholera epidemic, and the economic crisis all cast a shadow over this Vienna World’s Fair, yet they couldn’t dampen people’s enthusiasm for such an event.

In fact, the biggest negative impact on this Vienna World’s Fair was caused by the hoteliers and restaurateurs in Vienna randomly raising prices; no matter how high the enthusiasm, it couldn’t withstand wallets quickly being drained. Many people who came to Vienna excitedly to participate in the fair fled after experiencing Vienna’s unscrupulous merchants’ ”favors.”

”At this World’s Fair, East Africa won a total of four hundred and forty-one awards, just one more than the United States, ranking eleventh in the world. The United States and Turkey were tied for twelfth. However, an official from the Far East government, the Englishman Bowler, protested to us, claiming we stole their awards.”

”Hmm, why?” Ernst asked.

”Your Highness, some of our East African exhibited products originate from East Africa, so there are many similarities, which is why it caused controversy.”

”Oh, is that the issue! Ignore him!” Ernst said.

The overlap of exhibits between East Africa and the Far East is understandable because some East African products actually originated from the Far East, such as tea and crafts. So many Far East immigrants moved to East Africa, so it’s inevitable that some skills would be passed down to East Africa.

If Bowler wants to protest, let him protest. Ernst is certain no one will pay him any heed since many of the judges at this World’s Fair are ”our own people.”

If East Africa and the Far East have the same exhibits, then the judges would definitely award the prize to East Africa. In fact, the victims are not only the Far East; Japan and Korea are also victims, as Ernst has acquired quite a few good things from both countries.

If some Far Eastern crafts and products were inadvertently brought to East Africa by immigrants and developed there, then Japan and Korea were deliberately brought over by the East African government through planned direct copying and pasting.

The reason why only Bowler protested against East Africa’s actions is that, as an Englishman, he naturally looks down on East Africa’s behavior.

Actually, the Japanese participants were so furious that they almost ground their molars, but out of fear of the West, they did not dare to express it, focusing instead on restraint.

”Mr. Koizumi! Look at this exhibit; it’s clearly our Great Japan’s parquetry. Now it has a new name, something called Zimbabwe Woodwork, and it’s here with great fanfare, even claiming it’s mastered by indigenous tribes of Zimbabwe. This is blatantly shameless piracy, and the worst part is that their exhibit won an award, while our parquetry got nothing.”

”Mr. Gui San, perhaps it’s really just a coincidence. After all, the world is so big; some things are just that incredible.”

”Mr. Koizumi, don’t deceive yourself. If parquetry is a coincidence, then is the folding fan also a coincidence? This East African fan has a style clearly of Japanese flavor. They didn’t even bother to modify the paintings on it! And if I’m not mistaken about the material’s texture, it’s unique to Japan. They might have directly bought fans from Japan and just changed the name for the exhibition.”

This misunderstands East Africa; how could they not modify anything? East Africa would never showcase something without a market and production value. They exhibit what has market potential.

Was there any foul play at this World’s Fair? The answer is yes, and the foul play was significant. Over ninety percent of East African exhibits won awards, surpassing even the United States. Such a scenario would be impossible without foul play.

The reason Austria favored East Africa so much is that Ernst is now a valued guest of the Austrian government. Just solving the steel surplus problem significantly eased the Austrian government’s pressure.

For this, both the Austrian government and the Habsburg family awarded many medals and honors to Constantine and Ernst, while Heixinggen enterprises received numerous titles.

Hence, the judges at the World’s Fair favoring East Africa is understandable. In fact, the prizes won by the Heixinggen consortium at the fair amounted to over seven hundred, and these were not counted under the Kingdom of East Africa but were considered to be exhibits of Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Austria came in first place with over six thousand awards, and Prussia reached over five thousand five hundred awards, second place (historically, Austria 5991, Prussia 5066).

Austria being first speaks volumes, so it’s understandable that the Kingdom of East Africa could still benefit from the situation.