African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 664: Chapter 352 Southwest Africa

Whale Bay Port.

The only excellent deep-water port along the East African Atlantic coast. To the north is the East African naval port of Swakopmund, which is also the most isolated base of the East African navy on the mainland.

”Today marks the official completion of the Mangjing Highway, which is of significant importance to Whale Bay Port. It represents smoother transportation between Whale Bay City and the East African inland, paving the way for further development of Whale Bay City in the future.”

The happiest about the opening of the Mangjing Highway is the mayor of Whale Bay City, Yasold, ending the history of no road from the East African inland to Southwest Africa.

The Mangjing Highway starts from the western part of Hohenzollern Province, which is the western end of the East African Central Railway, in Manggu City, passing through Letania Province and finally entering Southwest Africa, reaching Whale Bay City. The entire highway is over 1,300 kilometers long, with more than twenty thousand people involved in its construction.

East Africa currently has no plans to build a railway between Manggu City and Whale Bay Port, mainly because the route is too desolate. Although other regions of East Africa are also sparsely populated, they are nothing compared to Southwest Africa, which was formerly Namibia.

Even though the East African railway hasn’t made much money these past few years, it has facilitated the flow of food, specialty products, minerals, industrial goods, and even population.

But if a railway were built between Manggu City and Whale Bay City, it wouldn’t achieve the same effect, because there are neither people nor industries or agriculture between the two cities.

Therefore, the East African government decided to build only a road to connect Whale Bay Port with the East African interior, which is the most cost-effective and convenient solution.

Although the road condition of Mangjing Highway is quite poor compared to other East African roads, having it is better than not. Previously, reaching Whale Bay from the inland required traversing forests, grasslands, deserts, plateaus, and mountains, with no obvious landmarks, thus always risking getting lost.

With Mangjing Highway, most of these issues are solved. Additionally, since there is not much rainfall in Southwest Africa, the roads don’t require frequent maintenance like in the eastern part of East Africa, with the only focus being the sections passing through desert areas.

”Mayor Yasold, congratulations. In the future, our Swakopmund might also have to borrow your road to contact the interior. Alas, Whale Bay Port is likely to become the number one in Southwest Africa in the future!” The air was thick with a sour note.

The person speaking is the mayor of Swakopmund, Val. Swakopmund is only thirty kilometers from Whale Bay City, and since Mangjing Highway’s endpoint is at Whale Bay, Swakopmund naturally has to accept it. After all, Whale Bay Port has more favorable conditions compared to Swakopmund Port, and it will undoubtedly become the economic center for developing Southwest Africa in the future.

Moreover, Swakopmund Port is a military port, further limiting its future development. Hence, Val is very envious of Yasold, though not jealous, as the two cities have different roles.

”Ha! Mayor Val, you jest. We two are like two peas in a pod, suffering here. After all, everyone knows Southwest Africa has the worst conditions in East Africa, almost resembling exile. You say, why is it that the northern province and Juba province have such better fortune in the same desert?” Yasold diverted the topic.

In the relationship between Whale Bay City and Swakopmund, the dynamic can really be discerned. Swakopmund essentially serves as the armed escort of Whale Bay City.

Of course, the entire 2,000-kilometer coastline of Southwest Africa is within the patrol scope of the Swakopmund naval port. However, Whale Bay Port is right next to Swakopmund.

And along the coast of Southwest Africa, there are only four settlement points. If Whale Bay and Swakopmund are considered together, then only two immigrant settlement points remain along the coast.

These are the mouth of the Orange River and the southern Luderitz, with Luderitz being more desolate, thus remaining merely a post of a few hundred people to prevent anyone from landing through Luderitz Bay.

The total population in these four places basically accounts for 60% of the immigrant population from East Africa in Southwest Africa, which is over 13,000 people, including more than a thousand in the navy and over two thousand in the army, with the general populace being less than ten thousand.

There aren’t many East Africans in Southwest Africa, and the indigenous population is also quite small, initially possibly in the tens of thousands but now probably just over ten thousand. Moreover, those remaining are likely living in the oases in the inland desert, avoiding being captured by East Africa.

In East Africa, there are two places where the indigenous people can’t ever be fully captured: the Congo rainforest and Southwest Africa (including the Kalahari Basin), due to the vastness and harsh environment, East Africa can only eliminate the more conspicuous or unlucky indigenous tribes.

However, this isn’t much of a problem; not many can survive in such harsh environments, just like the Inuit in the Arctic or the Indians in the Amazon rainforest, low birth rates prevail.

Just like Namibia in the previous life, the total national population was only over two million by the 21st century, conspicuously out of place compared to surrounding African countries experiencing explosive population growth—it can’t sustain more people.

Furthermore, the indigenous people of Southwest Africa differ from mainstream African Blacks—the Bantu people. Many indigenous tribes in Southwest Africa belong to the Khoisan people, an independent ancient hominin.

And many of the Khoisan people taken by East Africa have mixed blood with the Bantu people. After all, the Khoisan were at a disadvantage in competition with African Blacks, driven into the South African region.

Even in Southwest Africa, it was inevitable that the more advanced Bantu people occupied some of the better places. East Africa now clears them away, leaving the remaining stragglers as predominantly pure-blooded Khoisan people.

This is scientifically proven from previous life, where about 60%-71% of the South African Black population trace their maternal lineage back to the Khoisan. Obviously, the men were wiped out by the Bantu people.

In Ernst’s view, the few Khoisan remaining in East Africa, as long as they remain in the harsh environment of the Southwest Africa region, are of no concern. It’s much like the Serengeti Nature Reserve in East Africa.

Or, to put it more bluntly, it resembles American Indian reservations or those Canadian and Brazilian laws ”protecting indigenous lifestyles.”

Of course, the main reason is that it’s impossible for East Africa to clear out these small fish and shrimp completely, not even with 21st-century satellites, so as long as they don’t integrate into modern society, there is no issue. After all, the indigenous people of the Amazon rainforest and the Inuit of the Arctic can’t become overwhelming. In such conditions of productivity, they don’t have the means for population explosion.

In reality, had there been no European colonization in Africa, the number of Black people would likely have maintained a certain quantity rather than doubling. After all, Africa is the only continent connected to Eurasia yet has shown no progress for thousands of years.

Back to Swakopmund Port, its garrisoned navy’s main role is to prevent other colonial powers from landing in Southwest Africa. The entire Southwest Africa, with more than one hundred square kilometers, has only a few tens of thousands of people, making the coastal areas full of loopholes. Should an enemy land and attack the East African interior from here, it would catch East Africa completely off guard.

So, the Swakopmund Navy’s role is to prevent the construction of bases along Southwest Africa’s coast and the transport of supplies inland via these coastal bases. Even if they reach the inland of Southwest Africa, it’s a dead end.