Province of Hesse.

In fact, Hesse was still the same as the Hexingen Kingdom in the 18th century, just a county of counties, but in 1803 during the rupture of the Holy Roman Empire, Hesse seized the opportunity to achieve territorial expansion, and later Napoleon formed the Henish Confederation, Hesse was promoted to the Grand Duchy by Napoleon, annexed more land, and officially became one of the important states of Germany.

The capital of the Grand Duchy of Hesse is Wiesbaden, but the most famous city in the German state of Hesse was Frankfurt, one of Europe's financial centers.

The Grand Duchy of Hesse, which can literally understand the characteristics of this state, is that there are many forests, three-fifths of the country's land is covered by forests, and it is the most forested place in Germany, with many river valleys and basins.

A large part of the name of the province of Hesse in East Africa is also due to the fact that the natural characteristics of the province of Hesse are similar to those of the Grand Duchy of Hesse, that is, dense forests.

Hesse is located on the eastern edge of the Congolese rainforest and on the western side of the Mitumba Mountains, so the rainfall is abundant, and the mountainous plateau is everywhere, so the forest coverage reaches more than 75%.

It did not reach 90 percent, and that was because the annexation of the southern province of Mitumba gave it a part of the Katanga plateau, which has a typical savannah climate.

At the same time, through the merger of Mitumba Province, Hesse Province has also achieved a border with Lake Solon (Lake Tanganyika), with the Congo River on the west side, the largest river in East Africa, and Lake Tanganyika on the east side, the lake with the most fresh water resources in East Africa, so Hesse Province is quite rich in water resources.

At present, the development of Hesse Province is relatively good among all provinces in East Africa, and the East African Railway Company has also determined the overall plan of the Hesse section of the Central Railway through more than half a year of investigation.

"The Lualaba River (the upper reaches of the Congo River) is more than 1,800 kilometers long, but there are many rapids and waterfalls, and the water transportation conditions are poor, which makes the north-south transportation development of Hesse Province very unsatisfactory, but the east-west traffic through the Great Lakes region, Lake Tanganyika, and Bujumbura City of the railway and external connection, but in this way, it also makes the economy of the entire Hesse Province easy to separate, and at the same time, because of the existence of the Congo rainforest, the hinterland between the north and south of East Africa also lacks a transportation artery connection, which is quite regrettable." East African Railway engineer Bamir said.

If the Lualaba River can be navigable, it will be better, and there is no need to even build the Hesse section of the Central Railway, but because of the topography, the Lualaba River passes through plateaus and plains, so the terrain difference is large, and there are many waterfalls and rapids, which makes the Lualaba River very poor navigable, and the corresponding hydropower resources are very rich.

"The main artery of the Congo River, downstream from Kisangani, the third largest city in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly known as "Stanleyville") to Kinshasa, is a natural waterway that is easily accessible by water, and if it can be connected to the railway, it will also be of great benefit to the development of the Congolese rainforest in East Africa. ”

The city of Kisan was discovered by the Belgian explorer Stanley in the previous life because it was an important point of the border between the Congo and Lualaba rivers.

The Kisangani waterfalls are located here, with navigable sections of the river downstream and the Lualaba River above the waterfalls.

"Therefore, now that the central railway and the north are connected to the grid, a major point of disagreement is whether to pass through Kisan City, if it passes through Kisan City, then the two railway arteries and the Congo River, a waterway connection, will be of great benefit to the development of Kisang, and even the development of Kisan City in the future will not be inferior to that of coastal cities.

And if it does not pass through the city of Kissan, then the Northern Railway will move northward, and the main body will pass through the province of Novobavaria (eastern part of the Azande Oberland), which will certainly be happy to see it. ”

In fact, both of these plans are in line with Ernst's ideas, and in Ernst's view, it is necessary to build, but which one to build first is very particular, and the one that is built first can also be experienced along the line in advance.

Bamir's student, Christian, proposed: "In terms of distance, there is not much difference between the two options, both start from Kisumu and end in Bangui, and the difficulty is similar, the northern route will pass through the Nile Basin, and the southern route will pass through the Congo Basin, both of which will pass through large areas of rainforest and swamps, so the main thing is to consider the economic benefits of the railway, and the sooner you can get the benefits, the better." ”

"It is more reliable to choose the southern route, one is that the economy of Hesse is now more active than that of Novobavaria, and the other is that the Central Railway now passes through Hesse, and the Bujumbura Railway is also a branch of the Central Railway, which overlaps.

So it's better to use the Northern Railway, so that the economy of Hesse can be connected to the two regions at the same time, and I also have an immature idea that in the future, when the economy along the Congo River develops, it will form an important national transportation hub in East Africa in the city of Kissan, and the Northern Route plan will not achieve this effect. Bamir said to Christian.

An important function of the national transport hub is to achieve economic interconnection, which can be greatly strengthened by the Southern Route, the Northern Industrial Belt, the Great Lakes region, the Hesse and the three inland provinces (Hohenzollern, Swabian and Matabele).

Among them, the Northern Industrial Belt has been developing well, especially in the field of light industry, and has made outstanding contributions to East Africa.

The Great Lakes region is an important production base for food and cash crops in East Africa, and it is dependent on the Great Lakes with convenient water transportation and developed fisheries.

Hesse is also a province with large resources, and is also the largest production area of rubber and forestry, and is rich in various mineral resources.

As for the three inland provinces, they are the core areas of East Africa's current development, relying on massive mineral resources and superior natural environment, focusing on building an inland industrial base.

The presence of the Congo River is also taken into account, so that an important transport hub with three lines in one is the city of Kisan, the capital of the province of Hesse.

Of course, the main thing is that Hesse now has industry, compared to Novobavaria, which is much inferior, and the gap between the two provinces is all-round, whether it is population, resources, or others.

An important factor in the construction of railways was to be as close as possible to cities or developed areas, so it was only natural to prefer Hesse.

However, the construction of these two railways is also the most difficult in East Africa, and is not inferior to the Siberian Railway, the two are two extremes, one is a cold climate, and the other is a hot climate.

East Africa has to overcome topographical difficulties, while the Trans-Siberian Railway has to overcome permafrost, but there are many things in common: there are many forests and swamps in the region, and the amount of logging and drainage work alone is not small.

However, on the whole, the difficulty of the Hessian railway is a little lower, because the problem of permafrost is much more difficult to solve than the terrain, and the topography of Hesse is not too complicated, at least compared to other countries, the Mitumba Mountains are not a natural hazard, although they are called mountains, in fact, they are inseparable from the plateau, and the northern part of it is also called the Itumb Mountains or the Itumb Plateau.

(End of chapter)