African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 686: Chapter 374: Ivory

The sale of naval ships is actually no different from handling scrap copper and iron; it’s just that in this era, even scrap copper and iron have high value.

Moreover, the ironclad ships armed with weapon systems are the most advanced technological weapons of this era, comparable to aircraft carriers of the past.

After Grand Duke Ferdinand arranges naval-related tasks, Von der Leyen begins to report to Ernst on last year’s ivory business in East Africa.

”The ivory business in East Africa has always been prosperous. Last year, the transaction volume was over forty thousand tusks, with more than twenty thousand stored in inventory, meaning that around ten thousand elephants died under the hunters’ guns in East Africa in 1884.”

The ivory trade has consistently been one of the most vibrant businesses in East Africa. Europeans initially colonized Africa for three things: gold, ivory, and black slaves, hence the existence of terms like Gold Coast and Ivory Coast. In reality, there should also be a ”Black Coast,” but Westerners still prefer to show some semblance of morality.

”How much ivory do we still have in stock?” Ernst asked.

”Over two million tusks still remain, which, at the current annual output, is sufficient for us to export for over a hundred years.”

In the past twenty years, over three million elephants have been hunted in East Africa, averaging over one hundred thousand elephants killed per year. Yet, East Africa’s wild elephant population still numbers at least six million; however, East Africa lacks relevant statistics, so the exact number is difficult to determine.

In the early 19th century, the number of African elephants across the entire continent should have been over 26 million, surpassing the current population of Black people in East Africa, which is indeed exaggerated compared to the mere forty thousand remaining African elephants of the past.

”Last year, the international ivory market wasn’t favorable. Due to an increase in West African ivory supply, we had to slightly lower our ivory prices.”

The competition from West African ivory against East African ivory is straightforward: in recent years, Westerners strengthened their colonial activities in West Africa, coupled with East Africa’s dominance in major material supply areas, leading to a sharp increase in ivory production in West Africa.

Of course, the cost is clear: elephants in West Africa have once again fallen victim to slaughter, following the same fate as their East African counterparts.

Described as falling victim again because the ivory trading center was once on the West African coast. Later, as East Africa’s lands were integrated and developed, with tens of millions of square kilometers owned by East Africa, it became the new world ivory supply center. Currently, the largest ivory trading market is in Mombasa.

East Africa accounts for one-third of Africa, and the desert terrain of North Africa is clearly unsuitable for elephants to live in, so the remaining elephants are mainly in West Africa, Abysinnia, Angola, Mozambique, and Cape Town.

West Africa holds the largest area among them, thus becoming the second largest ivory production area after East Africa. However, West Africa’s colonial history is earlier than that of East Africa, so the wild elephant population was not originally more abundant than in East Africa either.

It was during the seventies, after East Africa rapidly expanded and developed externally, that a large number of wild elephants in East Africa became extinct. Thus, East Africa’s elephant population has been declining rapidly over seventy years.

Nowadays, it’s difficult to say whether West Africa or East Africa has more elephants, but East Africa’s current hunting of elephants has greatly reduced.

In a cynical comment, it’s said that almost all have been killed, especially in the eastern region, where human activity areas have not expanded, and Ernst is unwilling to bother animals further. As for the rapidly developing western region, it’s completely different.

”Find a time to conduct a survey on the elephant herd numbers in East Africa; we need to have a thorough understanding of East Africa’s wild elephants because ivory isn’t an easily replenished resource like scallions,” Ernst commanded.

Elephants have long lifespans and produce only one pair of tusks in their lifetime, so the growth of ivory requires time. African elephants not only exceed Asian elephants in number, tusk production is higher too, as only male Asian elephants have tusks, while both males and females among African elephants do.

The reason Ernst wants to understand the current elephant population in East Africa is not out of compassion but to maintain the ivory business, much like how kangaroos in Australia can be hunted if their numbers grow too large. Given East Africa’s current elephant numbers, as long as they are kept within a reasonable range, stable supply can be guaranteed in the future.

In the past, African countries mostly chose to exploit resources without limits, so the African elephant population has steadily declined without effective restoration.

Ernst now hopes to help other countries progress, so future East Africa can continue to exploit resources sustainably.

”In recent years, increase the ivory stock to three million and maintain annual ivory export volume at around forty thousand tusks while importing the rest from West Africa.”

From West Africa?

”Your Highness, are you sure you didn’t misspeak? Our East Africa is the world’s number one ivory producer; why would we even consider importing ivory from West Africa?”

Ernst replied, ”Because I am not satisfied with the current market dynamics for ivory; East Africa and eventually South Africa need to be unified. Smaller markets can be disregarded, but West Africa poses a competitive threat to us, so we should disrupt this market instead.”

”Speaking frankly, elephants have a very slow growth cycle, yet there is increasing global demand for ivory annually. Based on our experience in East Africa, under large-scale extinction, elephant populations struggle to recover, and may even become irreparable.”

”As a centralized country, East Africa can still adjust policies promptly to ensure that the quantity of African elephants remains within a reasonable range, guaranteeing the sustainability of future ivory production in East Africa.”

”These matters are of little concern to West Africa’s future sovereign nations, which simply seek more profits from West Africa, so over the next twenty to thirty years, West Africa’s elephant herds will face catastrophic setbacks. I predict that by the early 20th century, the number of African elephants in West Africa might halve.”

”Our work in East Africa is to further exacerbate this market trend, while transferring the ivory trade we can secure certain profits, merely adding some transportation costs, but once the northern railway’s western section is completed, it will just be a matter of convenience.”

Ernst’s goal is to accelerate the ivory trade in West Africa, remembering the saying ”no trade, no harm!”

East Africa can achieve this through trade with West African natives, at the cost of cheap industrial goods and food.

Then resell the ivory purchased from West Africa to major ivory-consuming countries in the Far East Empire, ensuring some profit, since there is an overall supply shortfall of ivory.

In the past, people even sought alternatives to ivory by searching for frozen mammoth ivory in Siberia, highlighting the vast market.

”Your Highness, are you suggesting that we store most of our ivory and ensure future elephant habitat?” asked the subordinate, feeling Ernst was somewhat whimsical.

After all, the 19th century bridges the first and second Industrial Revolutions, giving humanity the illusion of future ”man conquering nature.” So now, with Ernst handling matters in this way, most people would view it as a waste of effort.

However, Ernst doesn’t care, knowing that thoughts now differ from 21st-century perspectives, and he isn’t an animal protection activist, merely considering this from an industry viewpoint.

In the 21st century, countries strive in various ways to restore elephant numbers; for East Africa, simply hunting fewer elephants should allow it to monopolize most markets by the end of the next century, thus being very worthwhile.

Currently, East Africa differs from those impoverished African countries of the past, not relying solely on ivory trade for income; ivory revenue constitutes a minor portion of East African national income and is essentially negligible, though single transactions yield higher profits than food or ordinary industrial goods.