"Since February this year, ships from the United Kingdom and other countries on the East Africa route have recommended that they call at the port of Natal or Maputo as much as possible, and the government has cooperated with 11 large shipping companies in the world to ensure the safety of the property of British and other citizens in order to deal with possible regional conflicts."

"The British Madim Construction Company plans to invest 120,000 pounds in the first phase of the Maputo Port to improve the service level and port calling capacity of the Port of Maputo for passing ships, Maputo is expected to become a first-class new port in Africa, replacing Dar es Salaam and Mombasa in the region, and building the world-class seaport of 'East Africa'."

At the end of 1879, Britain had shifted its attention to Afghanistan, but had not forgotten to dig a hole in East Africa, and could not count on it militarily, so it naturally wanted to make up for it economically.

There is no doubt that the remaining 70 percent of the value of the Eastern Route, excluding the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, is monopolized by Dar es Salaam and Mombasa, and the latest new Port of Hamburg is also planning to follow the model of two open ports, and the infrastructure of the New Port of Hamburg has the capacity to compare with Maputo and Natal, and there is a tendency to surpass.

Originally, Britain wanted to recruit the French into the group, because the French colony of Madagascar also had considerable influence in the Mozambique Channel.

But the French were not fooled, there was no direct conflict of interests between East Africa and France, and as long as East Africa did not have ideas about Madagascar, then there was a basis for cooperation.

Of course, France cannot have too good relations with East Africa, for one reason, East Africa is a German country, Germany is France's biggest enemy, and the relationship between East Africa and Germany is a major obstacle to East French relations.

Of course, in the final analysis, it is still a relationship of interests, France can not gain anything in East Africa, even if it acts as a thug for Britain, in the end, the benefits will fall into the hands of the British, with this energy, it is better to make West Africa into France's own "East Africa", the birth of East Africa has set a template for France, that is, the West African version of France.

"There is a direct competition between the Port of New Hamburg and Maputo and Natal, so in response to the British plan, we should focus on developing the geographical advantages of the Port of New Hamburg and building it into an excellent port in the southern African region, differentiating the advantages of Maputo and Natal."

Investing in the colonies was a burden for many overlords, especially Maputo and Natal, two potentially loss-making projects.

There are no such concerns about the construction of the new Port of Hamburg in East Africa, after all, South Africa can take advantage of the advantages of the new Port of Hamburg to promote the development of East Africa in all aspects of the region, including population, industry, wool and textiles, and mining.

After all, it is East Africa itself, and sooner or later it will have to be developed, so it doesn't matter if you lose money in the early stage, and in the end it will always be more beneficial than disadvantageous to East Africa.

"Although the British have said that they want to develop Maputo and Natal to divide the economic value of our East African ports, from the actual actions of the United Kingdom, their main goal is to focus on supporting Maputo."

"Maputo should be regarded as the highest ceiling of any port in South Africa, and its scale and natural conditions are better than other ports, so this is why the UK supports Maputo."

"Another reason is that the British investment in Maputo, then Portugal, the suzerainty of Mozambique, will definitely follow up the investment, can share part of the funds for the construction of the port, now the British energy is concentrated in Afghanistan, the rest of the world also spends money, so the joint development of the Maputo port with Portugal is the most cost-effective plan."

"The British plan does have an impact on our economy, but the construction of ports will take time, and Maputo and Natal will not be able to pose a threat to East African ports in the short term."

"Among them, the dominant position of Dar es Salaam and Mombasa ports cannot be replaced by other ports, and we are confident that we still have that."

The economic hinterland of the port of Dar es Salaam and Mombasa is quite extensive, and even the economic hinterland of the new port of Hamburg can reach the original hinterland of the Transvaal Republic, so Maputo and Natal will not be able to surpass East Africa after they are completed.

The main role of the ports of Maputo and Natal is to provide services to passing ships, but some ships are destined for Africa and need African resources and commodities, which Maputo and Natal cannot compare.

For example, animal leather, ivory, mineral resources, etc., East Africa is large and easier to obtain, and the cost is much lower than that of Britain and Portugal, and the railway system of East Africa can transport these resources from the inland to the port areas of East Africa.

This is the confidence of the competition between East African ports and foreign ports such as Maputo, and the construction level of East African ports such as Dar es Salaam and Mombasa is ten years ahead of Maputo and Natal.

Another point is historical reasons, Dar es Salaam and Mombasa are evergreens on the West Indian Ocean route, and have been important port cities in Africa since ancient times, which can only be compared with Mogadishu, but Mogadishu's environment is limited by the desert, so the development is far less than that of Dar es Salaam and Mombasa.

Although Dar es Salaam and Mombasa have developed rapidly in recent years, it can be said that there have been earth-shaking changes from more than ten years ago, but this change is benign for the passing ships, the service level has been improved, the hardware facilities of the port are more perfect, and the types of goods are more complete and the volume is larger.

"We can't let Britain and Portugal do this kind of thing that hurts others and is not good for themselves, since they want to fight us, then we should also say that in the north we have Mogadishu, we have Mombasa and Dar es Salaam, in the south we have the port of New Hamburg, and the port of Soko in the middle can also be opened to foreign ships, and now the railway from Soko to Lake Malawi has been built, so we can take on some of the functions." Ernst finally clapped.

Dar es Salaam and Mombasa have been open ports for more than a decade and have accumulated a lot of experience, so the model of these two ports can also be applied to other ports in East Africa.

East Africa is going to open up in the future, and the new ports of Hamburg and Socco are now in line with this trend.

The meal must be eaten in one bite, the road must be walked step by step, the rhythm must be grasped well, and the initiative from closing the country to opening the door must also be in the hands of East Africa itself.

Instead of being forcibly knocked on the door of the country by Britain and other powers, in fact, if East Africa had not been closed to the outside world, Britain would not have reacted so much to East Africa.

In fact, at the same time, the United States and Germany followed a similar path as East Africa, and the two countries were not free markets, but high tariff barriers to deal with countries such as Britain and France.

But the United States and Germany have already risen, and Britain can't hold it down, so it can only pinch the "soft persimmon" of East Africa first.

The real soft persimmon is actually a country like Brazil, and if it opens its doors widely, then East Africa will become a place where demons dance like Brazil, and there is a risk of being controlled by foreign capital.

Under the closed policy of East Africa, the policies of East Africa can be carried out steadily without the interference of foreign forces, and under this protection, it may indeed be difficult for East Africa to compete with foreign countries when it is opened up in the future, but it will not be violently killed, and as long as it is not violently killed, East Africa has the possibility of becoming a world power.

(End of chapter)