African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 1352: Chapter 357: Emerging Industrial Power (Part 3)

Japan is somewhat special. At present, Japan’s urbanization level has reached about eighteen percent, whereas before 1910, Japan’s urbanization level was less than ten percent. In less than ten years, Japan’s urbanization rate has increased by nearly eight percent, which is a truly terrifying figure.

The reason this figure is said to be terrifying is that Japan’s population has now exceeded fifty million. From a population perspective alone, Japan’s strength surpasses that of Austria-Hungary, as Austria-Hungary is comprised of many nationalities, while Japan is almost entirely made up of the Yamato Race, with only a negligible number of Ainu people living in Hokkaido.

In the previous century, Japan’s population was just over thirty million, so Japan has significantly increased its industrialization while maintaining high population growth. If the French had birth rates like the Japanese, it would probably be Germany that had a headache now.

Of course, the so-called developed countries concept wasn’t proposed until the 1960s in a previous life. Nowadays, countries don’t have this saying. Generally, they use the term industrial powers.

In terms of industrial powers alone, East Africa should have been considered an industrial power as early as the 1890s, even including Russia, the weakest link of imperialism, which could also be given the title of an ”industrial power.”

However, this so-called industrial power mainly refers to countries outside of Europe. If Russia and those industrial countries in Europe claim to be industrial powers, they might just be laughed at.

Thus, Ernst said to the officials of the East African Government, ”From population data and our country’s industrial development, our country has now become a beginner-level industrial power.”

”Among the great powers, we must continue to maintain a humble attitude and actively catch up with Britain, Germany, the United States, and France.”

”Although the size of our industry has already reached the world’s largest and further consolidated this position, the quality of industrial development still falls far short of other great powers.”

”Take the United States, for instance. The size of the Empire is not much larger than that of the United States, but the U.S. urbanization rate is about ten percent ahead of us.”

”And as for how difficult it is to shorten this ten percent gap, I believe you have a sense of it. Our country was long in a phase of rapid development, which greatly improved the level of industrialization.”

”But as the Empire has developed to this day, if we want to proceed further, each step will only be more difficult than before.”

At the beginning of the 20th century, the urbanization rate in East Africa had reached about twenty percent, and now nearly twenty years later, the urbanization level in East Africa has almost doubled.

This is a truly astonishing ”miracle.” If East Africa wants to recreate this ”miracle” in the future, unless it encounters another major historical opportunity like World War I, it will be almost impossible to achieve.

Raising the urbanization level by nearly twenty percent in twenty years is not without precedent, for example, the Soviet Union or the Far East Empire in previous lifetimes.

Of course, the Soviet Union’s third five-year plan was interrupted due to World War II, so it didn’t last twenty years, but it entered a rapid urbanization period again after the war.

Therefore, it can be said that under Ernst’s leadership, the East African Government has already exerted its capabilities to the utmost and seized the opportunity of the Era, achieving today’s accomplishments, elevating East Africa from a semi-industrial country to a beginner-level industrial power.