However, Italy's development efforts in Ethiopia and Eritrea are indeed quite strong, and this is due to the abundant spillover population, which many European countries cannot learn if they want to.

If Italy had not been redivided by Austria-Hungary, and East Africa had not absorbed its population from the Far East, and Italy had developed African colonies more than a decade earlier, it would have been difficult to say who would have been stronger than East Africa.

"Okay, since we can't determine the pros and cons of this matter now, let's experiment first, just use Darewa City as a pilot, if successful, it can also provide reference and experience for other border areas in the future, and there will not be much loss if it fails, after all, Darewa City is just a small border city, and it will not have much impact on our overall strategy." Ernst eventually ended the controversy.

"The city of Darewa was established as a special administrative city, with border trade as the main development content, as a pilot city in East Africa."

This puts the city of Dredeva back on its track ahead of schedule, but this time the city did not rely on the railway.

"The city of Dredeva is on the south side of the Great Rift Valley, the Dechata River runs through the middle, and the former city of Kefila was originally the local distribution center for agricultural and livestock products, and the fur trade prevailed, so there is still a certain foundation, but the location of the city of Darewa is indeed very unfriendly to our East Africa, especially the poor transportation connectivity, which requires the Northern Province and Turkana Province to reopen the traditional trade routes."

In the past, East Africa used the city of Dredeva as a military stronghold, and it was not just a matter of drawing a circle on the map, but there was an indigenous settlement in the area, that is, the ancient city of Kefila, which was a trade node between the Somali states and the Abyssinian Empire.

The city of Dre Dawa is located on the main transportation route for the Somali and Ethiopian highlands, but the opposite is true for the behemoth of East Africa, which is easily connected to the Abyssinian Empire.

As for Somalia, the Somalia region of East Africa is very different from the traditional Somalia, and it is more accurate to say that the Somalia of East Africa should be the South Somalia region, while many of the northern Somalia regions are not in the hands of East Africa.

For example, the Great Plains of the Afar Lowlands, where the city of Dredeva is located, is located in the Danakil Depression, which is located in the northern Somali region, where the French colony of Djibouti, the British Somaliland colony, and part of the Italian Eritrean colony are located.

The occupation of the Dre Dawa in East Africa is actually of little significance to itself, even if there is no city of Dre Dawa, it will not threaten the security of East Africa, after all, the core area of East Africa is in the East African Plateau and the Southern Plateau region, and the vast land in the middle is not too high in economic value from the perspective of this era.

The main purpose of the city of Dredeva is external strategic deterrence, to the east it can advance to the Gulf of Aden, to the north it can threaten the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and the Red Sea coast, and to the west it can lead to the hinterland of the Abyssinian Empire, so the East African garrison here can achieve the purpose of multi-faceted strikes.

Conversely, if other countries and forces attack the city of Diredawa, East Africa will not be affected at all, but can consume its vital forces here.

The premise is to provide sufficient material support for the local garrison, which is the main reason why the Northern Province gives priority to the supply of grain to the Dere Dawa area.

To put it bluntly, the value of the Gulf of Aden, the Red Sea, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, and the Ethiopian Plateau is higher than that of the city of Dre Dadiwa, and the city of Dre Dawa is tossed, and they can't afford to toss, after all, the city of Dadi is gone, even if it is destroyed by war, it can be rebuilt, and the scale is not large, and the above areas are either related to the main route of world trade, or are important economies in the region.

"Your Royal Highness the Crown Prince, what is the Special Administrative City?"

"You can understand that it has become a key city with important status and functions, but this status and functions are more given through administrative means."

In the past, the city of Darewa was a special administrative city of Ethiopia, which was related to Ethiopia's national conditions.

Because Ethiopia is a rather aggrieved landlocked country, Eritrea has lost all its coastline after its separation, and because of the provocation of the colonizers and historical reasons, the relationship between Eritrea and Ethiopia is on the same footing.

Therefore, Ethiopia's foreign trade is extremely dependent on the port of Djibouti, and the connection between Djibouti and Ethiopia can only rely on the railway to operate, and the city of Dre Dawa is the node of this railway, so the importance of Dre Dawa city to Ethiopia is self-evident, if it is destroyed, it will inevitably cause serious consequences to Ethiopia's import and export trade, and even shut down, so it is easy to understand that Ethiopia set up Dre Dawa City as a special administrative city.

Think of the city of Dredeva as the original Austro-Hungarian Trieste, and is almost the only maritime gateway in the country, although the city of Dredeva is not close to the sea.

Of course, the special administrative cities of East Africa do not have such a high status, and the special administrative city of Dare Wa is just a bad taste of Ernst, in order to collide with the special administrative city of Dire Dawa in Ethiopia in the previous life.

The import and export trade of East Africa mainly depends on the eastern coastal areas, even if the eastern coast does not work, the western part of East Africa and the Atlantic coast can go to sea, and the importance of land import and export trade in the Nile Province and the Southern Frontier Province is far above the city of Dre Dawa, so the economy of the city of Dre Dawa City, East Africa will not be too interested in it at all.

The city of Dredeva wants to fight back unless the Red Sea coast prospers, but this is obviously unlikely, and the Sahara Desert alone is a major obstacle to the local economy.

Of course, it is also possible for the Ethiopian Plateau to develop, not to mention how well it develops, reaching the average national level, it will definitely boost the economic development of the city of Darewa, after all, the Abyssinian Empire is large enough.

In the previous life, Ethiopia had a population of more than 100 million, which was considered a large country in the world, and the population of the Abyssinian Empire in this era was also about 10 million, much larger than many countries, after all, the population of the Ottoman Empire was only about 20 million.

Although the population of East Africa has surpassed that of the Abyssinian Empire, the population density of the two countries is far greater than that of East Africa.

So it's a testament to the fact that the Ethiopian highlands are a good place, with East Africa and Italy each taking a big bite out of it, while Ethiopia's elite region can still support its huge population.

(End of chapter)