African Entrepreneurship Record-Chapter 843 - 47: Reservoir

"Currently, Sigmaringen has a population of about seven hundred thousand, while the white immigrants are less than fifty thousand, and the Chinese exceed sixty thousand."

"You in East Africa have already taken the cream of the crop, and we in Sigmaringen can't recruit many Germans, not even Romanians showing much interest in developing Chad."

No wonder Prince Karl is excited; although there's a bit of complaint, Ernst can understand Prince Karl's feelings. It mainly has to do with the allure of wealth, since the Sigmaringen royal territory is now starting to 'profit.'

Sigmaringen's investment in the Chad region has spanned several years, and now the royal domain of Sigmaringen has considerable scale.

Of course, the royal territory of Sigmaringen can't compare to East Africa, but within the world's colonies, it holds a significant position. The area alone covers nearly more than one million square kilometers, much larger than the colonies of countries like Belgium and Italy in Africa. Only East Africa, France, and the United Kingdom can overshadow the Sigmaringen royal territory in Africa.

Benefiting from the big tree's shade, with support from East Africa, the strongest nation in Africa, Sigmaringen secured unimaginable profits with minimal investment.

The biggest investment was the western segment of East Africa's Northern Railway, but the major portion of the Northern Railway was primarily borne by East Africa, so Sigmaringen benefited from East Africa's goodwill.

After the Northern Railway was connected, Sigmaringen's royal population surged, with vast migrations through East Africa's Northern Railway eventually entering the Chad region.

Of course, as Prince Karl mentioned, the main problem for Sigmaringen is the difficulty in attracting German populations. It has to rely on East Africa's leftovers; currently, there are even many East Africans serving as officials in the government of Sigmaringen's royal territory.

This is unavoidable, since Sigmaringen's immigrants are primarily from the Far East Empire, so the experience in managing the Chinese naturally needs to be imparted to the Sigmaringen royal territory by the East African government.

Ernst said, "Uncle Karl, the development of the Sigmaringen royal territory is indeed unexpected. If the Berlin Conference hadn't divided the colonial landscape of the West African region prematurely, perhaps Sigmaringen could have replicated the glory of our Heixinggen Royal Family in East and Southern Africa. However, your entry into Africa was far too late. If it had been a decade or so earlier, I believe you would have surpassed East Africa by now."

Ernst speaks with some basis; back then, the Sigmaringen royal family was much stronger than the Heixinggen royal family. Sigmaringen was much larger than Heixinggen, economically developed, and later secured Romania's rule with the help of Napoleon III, nearly becoming the new master of Spain.

So, if Sigmaringen had developed colonies in Africa ten years earlier, it might not have been inferior to East Africa. Of course, this is just theoretical. Ernst's greatest wealth actually comes from the experience and knowledge of his past life. Without this foundation, East Africa could not have developed this quickly. Just the spread of malaria alone would have caused huge problems if Ernst didn't address it.

Prince Karl said, "Alas, it seems promising, but Sigmaringen's royal territory's transportation system is a major issue. Chad is located inland in Africa, too far from the coast, and much of the land is actually desert. If not for its large size and Lake Chad providing ample water, Chad wouldn't even compare to Belgium's or Italy's African colonies."

From an environmental perspective, Ernst doesn't think highly of Chad, but it depends on the comparison. The Southwest region of Italy's Red Sea Colony does have favorable natural conditions, but other regions are mostly desert. As for Belgian Congo, it's primarily a green desert with a tropical rainforest climate.

Of course, just the fact that these two places have ports already dwarfs the Sigmaringen royal territory. However, with the current support of the Northern Railway, the gap in transportation is not apparent, like Belgium's Black Horn Port, with its advantageous natural conditions but very low development.

In this aspect, Italy is slightly better because Italy is a country with a population overflow, providing a certain economic support with its population. Thus, the Italian Red Sea Colony is currently well-developed, especially in these years of rapid development after the truce with the Abyssinia Empire.

The Kingdom of Italy's investment in the construction of the Red Sea Colony far exceeds that of the past, being treated as a home project. In the future, if the Red Sea Colony becomes independent, it should be considered a decently sized country in Africa.

The Italian population in the Red Sea Colony is currently estimated to be between seven to eight hundred thousand, comparable to Sigmaringen's royal territory, significantly alleviating the social conflicts in the Kingdom of Italy.

Ernst: "What Sigmaringen should do now is actively establish contact with the German Cameroon Colony. However, the Cameroon Colony is only along the coast, and the difficulty of connecting the two is estimated to be very high."

The Cameroon Colony is the fastest pathway for Sigmaringen to gain a sea outlet, and its greatest advantage lies in it being a German colony. Nowadays, the Heixinggen, Sigmaringen, and Prussian royal houses have achieved remarkable accomplishments in their respective fields.

The Heixinggen Royal Family established the East African Kingdom, dominating Southern Africa and securing a great power position after the South African War. Sigmaringen holds Romania and the Sigmaringen royal territory, with a land area exceeding a million square kilometers and a ruling population reaching the millions.

The Hohenzollern family is unusually strong at this time, and culturally, everyone is German. Of course, Sigmaringen is slightly special. Romania has its own historical and ethnic cultural traits, and the main population of the Sigmaringen royal territory is predominantly Chinese.

In these regions, Romanians have a favorable impression of Germans, and the Sigmaringen royal territory primarily follows German culture.

However, the German population in Sigmaringen is so low that Prince Karl has to complain to Ernst at the Sweet Palace.

Of course, this doesn't concern Ernst, because his vision for the Sigmaringen royal territory is as a population buffer zone. Whether it's whites or Chinese does not matter, as long as it's not Black people or green populations, it's acceptable.

The deep impression left by the European refugee crisis and racial issues in the United States in Ernst's previous life made it imperative for East Africa's future development to take proactive measures, establishing population reservoirs around East Africa.

This is also the main reason why Ernst can tolerate and even support Italy and Belgium's colonial presence in northern East Africa. If no nation were to colonize northern East Africa, Ernst would take over the surrounding lands and establish a feudal system, creating a region devoid of Black and green populations to block direct ties between North, West, and East Africa.

Moreover, having Italy and Belgium undertake this project maximizes efficiency, as both countries might be small but have significant populations.

East Africa itself has vast undeveloped areas and is incapable of further expanding into West and North Africa, as expansion into these regions would easily instigate hostility from the International Community.

Take Tsarist Russia, for example. A vast expanse of permafrost and frigid regions in the east remains undeveloped in the 19th century. Excluding these areas, Europe's core regions cover only a few million square kilometers, and the land conditions in Tsarist Russia's European parts aren't ideal, with independence risks in regions like Ukraine and Poland.

Indeed, if you compared effective national territories, the United States and East Africa face more envy than Tsarist Russia. You can see this from the development and migration in East Africa, where, aside from Southwest Africa, other regions have conditions for agricultural development. Even in the Congo Basin, a significant portion is suitable for agriculture, but East Africa has abundant fertile land and doesn't need to develop areas with poorer conditions.