African Entrepreneurship Record

Rhine Palace.

As the contents of the conversation between Frier and Thomson were made public, the high-ranking officials present from East Africa also began an intense discussion.

Ernst asked, ”What do you think about the French wanting to hand over these four colonies to us?”

Minister of Finance, Logans, said, ”It’s obvious that the French intend to redirect trouble, which may cause us to have disputes with the British in the future.”

”However, the French are quite petty in their dealings; these colonies of theirs are somewhat trivial. Take their three colonies in India for instance, at most they are just three somewhat sizable colonial outposts, narrow in area, and predominantly consisting of enterprises and factories set up by the French.”

”We also can’t deal with these French-established enterprises and factories with a heavy hand, and putting those aside, there is even less we can utilize.”

”Meanwhile, the security of the French colonies in India is also questionable. Previously, the Dutch and the British had seized these areas from the French, only for them to be returned to France for various reasons.”

”Moreover, the port conditions here are not very good. Take the local governance and Galligal as examples; their ports are completely dependent on seawater-accessible rivers, lacking natural harbors, only Yan is slightly better, located in the Godavari River Delta.”

India’s coastline is quite long, even longer than the East African mainland, of course, this is considering the inclusion of areas like the former Myanmar, Bangladesh, and Palestine.

Yet, most of India’s coastline is too straight, lacking conditions for port construction. Taking the East Coast as an example, its straightness is almost comparable to that of the Somali coastline in East Africa.

And after all these years, East Africa has built only two major ports on the Somali coastline: Mogadishu and Kismayo.

East Africa’s infrastructure capabilities clearly far exceed those of India, yet they have not developed many ports on the Somali coastline.

Aside from the arid climate, coastal desert areas, low population, and small economic totality of Somalia, the overly straight coastline is also a significant reason East Africa has found it difficult to develop new ports there.

This is not because East Africa does not value the Somali coastline, after all, Somalia is the northeastern gateway to East Africa, and the East African Navy has always sought to construct a naval port near the Somali coastline.

However, in the absence of natural bays and harbors, Mogadishu has been makeshift, which is the main reason Mogadishu serves as a dual-use port for both military and civilian purposes.

And the conditions of India’s coastline are similar to that of Somalia’s, the only difference is that India’s climate, population, and economic scale are far superior to Somalia’s.

However, Mogadishu and Kismayo could develop primarily by relying on the Shabelle River and Juba River, possessing a significant economic hinterland, in contrast to India, which lacks such regional large rivers.

The Godavari River where Yan is located, does have good conditions; it is the largest river in South Central India, reaching almost to the Indian West Coast, but its navigation conditions are poor.

Originating from the Deccan Plateau, the river flows through regions with significant altitude differences, which is similar to East African rivers, making it suitable for hydroelectric development, but not for navigation.

And India obviously lacks the capability to manage this river, and the British apparently have no plans to do so either, given that if they were to invest, the Heng River Basin and Bangladesh regions offer more value.

Ernst was quite in agreement with Logans’ assessment: ”If these places were without issues, the British would not have allowed the French to control them, and the French would not willingly hand them over to us.”

Logans said, ”Yes, Your Majesty, according to our investigations, the French government doesn’t prioritize this place, treating these three locations at most as supply and docking points for ships trading between France and the East.”

”Local industrial and agricultural sectors are not developed; although the French invested in some enterprises, most are small-scale, with low technological content, mainly focusing on the primary processing of agricultural products.”

Ernst said, ”In that case, do you think the Empire should establish colonies there?”

Frier said, ”Your Majesty, I believe we should take over these three French colonies; although their economic and strategic value to us is limited, they indeed provide an opportunity for us to penetrate India.”

”There is relatively frequent trade between East Africa and India, but this does not change the fact that India is almost entirely controlled by the British; of course, as a British colony, India is not something that should overly concern us.”

”Our greatest concern should be India becoming an independent country again, especially given that over the centuries of British rule, while constantly expanding outward, the whole of India has grown to over three million square kilometers.”

”And India’s natural conditions don’t need much elaboration; its arable land and resource conditions completely have the potential to support it becoming a global power.”

”Moreover, if India becomes an independent and sovereign global power, this poses the greatest threat to East Africa; although India is closer to the Far East Empire and Russia than to us, due to terrain barriers and its unique geographical location, it poses the greatest threat to our Empire.”

Although India is closer to Russia and the Far East Empire, and even directly borders or has client states attached to them, they are separated by highlands and mountains, some of the most formidable terrains in the world.

And India’s territory directly juts into the Indian Ocean, giving India a natural foundation for becoming a great power in the Indian Ocean, which is evident from the very name of the Indian Ocean.

And East Africa, which regards the Indian Ocean as a core interest in maritime strategy, clearly cannot allow a strong nation capable of threatening its dominance in the Indian Ocean to emerge nearby.

While currently, the British have the strength to threaten East Africa in the Indian Ocean, Britain’s core will always remain their homeland, and they do not have the inclination to develop India’s regions along the Indian Ocean as colonies. If they can maintain their colonial rule in India, they will clearly continue to suppress India’s development.

However, the issue with India is that the British cannot maintain their colonial rule in India indefinitely. As the colonial era draws to a close, the East African government shares this understanding.

That is, the colonial costs of overseas colonies are rising, take India for example, the British, despite their efforts to suppress India’s development, have had to rely on the local Indian princes and compradors to maintain their rule in India.

As a result, the power held by India’s indigenous ruling class has only grown, and through collaboration with the British, they have gained technology, industrial, and military capabilities.

This is evident from India’s industrial development; although under British rule, India’s industry must rely on Britain’s industrial system to exist, even incomplete industry is still industry.

In a world where many countries lack industrial capacity, India’s possession of some industry already puts it far ahead of its neighboring countries.

Moreover, to cut costs and minimize risks, British enterprises will not fully comply with the government’s arrangements. Take the cotton textile industry, for example; the British government naturally hopes India will grow cotton, while domestically they focus on textile production.

However, this requires enterprises to bear additional transport costs, labor costs, and risks. After all, the distance from India to mainland Britain is not short, and transporting cotton to Britain for processing before shipping it back to India for sale is seen by many enterprises as a redundant operation.

Thus, more and more enterprises have chosen to directly build textile mills in India for local production and sales over the years.

And Britain’s industrialization is complete; domestic labor costs are high, making Indian labor decidedly cheaper. Additionally, because it is a colony, exploiting them is not a concern for rebellion.

With the rise of the Labor Party in Europe, and the growing awareness among Europe’s lower class citizens, worker strikes, factory riots, and even revolts like those in Russia to overthrow current capitalist regimes have become common.