The trade between Abyssinia and East Africa, in 1882, had become the sixth major trading country in East Africa, only after Oman, so East Africa attached great importance to the Abyssinian Empire.

At present, the trade in East Africa precedes the Abyssinian Empire in the Far Eastern Empire, Austria-Hungary, Germany, Tsarist Russia, and Oman.

Oman is so conspicuous, mainly because of the existence of Zanzibar merchants as transit merchants, many goods sold from East Africa to the Arab region are distributed in Oman, radiating to the Middle East, Central Asia, and even parts of Southeast Asia.

And the trade between the Abyssinian Empire and East Africa also made the border trade of the entire province of Turkana surpass that of the Southern Frontier Province, and is currently only after the Central Province and the Eastern Province.

The southern frontier province has the port of New Hamburg at the mouth of the sea, the central province has the three trading ports of Dar es Salaam, Bagamoyo and Tanga, and the eastern province also has the city of Mombasa.

Therefore, it is difficult for the foreign trade volume of the Central Province and the Eastern Province to be surpassed by other provinces, especially the Central Province, which has three major trading ports.

The economic hinterland behind the city of Neuhamburg in the Southern Territory includes the following provinces: Southern Frontier (Zulu Kingdom), Heshingen Province (Transvaal Republic), Lorraine Province (Kalahari Basin), Novobaden Province (Bechuana) Province, and part of Matabele Province.

So it was a remarkable achievement for Turkana to surpass the southern frontier province of New Hamburg by virtue of trade with the Abyssinian Empire alone.

The only pity is that there is more than one trading place between the province of Turkana and the Abyssinian Empire, that is, the border trading city, which is not as unique as the port of New Hamburg or Mombasa.

In fact, the city of Dar es Salaam is more than the two, but the central province also has the cities of Bagamoyo and Tanga, but the cities of Bagamoyo and Tanga are very small in front of Dar es Salaam.

After all, the influence of Dar es Salaam is not limited to the central province, but to as many as a dozen provinces, and the foreign trade of more than a dozen provinces requires the turnover of Dar es Salaam, while Mombasa has a monopoly on the foreign trade of the northern industrial belt, the northern pastures, the Great Lakes region and the northwest region.

The cities of Dar es Salaam, Mombasa, and the Port of New Hamburg all have vast economic hinterlands and rail transportation, so they are naturally not slow to develop.

In this comparison, Turkana Province is not a coastal province, does not have railways to support economic development, and does not have an advantage in population and industry, but has developed into the third largest province in East Africa in foreign trade, surpassing the Southern Frontier Province, which is enough to see the efforts of Turkana Province.

Of course, the role of the Abyssinian Empire and the Italian colonies on the Red Sea coast, Egypt could not be ignored, especially the Abyssinian Empire's contribution to the economy of the province of Turkana was more than forty percent.

In addition to the surprising trade of Turkana Province, the import and export trade between East Africa and the Far Eastern Empire is also a major highlight, that is, it has surpassed Germany and Austria to become the largest trading partner of East Africa.

The Far Eastern Empire became the largest trading nation in East Africa in 1881, and before that, the largest trading nation in East Africa was Austria-Hungary for a long time, and Germany from 1874 to 1878.

The period from 1874 to 1878 was the height of the economic crisis, when the steel trade between East Africa and Germany alone reached its peak, and after the economic crisis passed, Austria-Hungary returned to the first place, but was officially surpassed by the Far Eastern Empire after only two years.

This is also understandable, the economy of the Far Eastern Empire is very large, and the northern market alone is enough for East Africa to digest, of course, there is another important reason that the southern market, East Africa cannot squeeze in.

Moreover, the premise for East Africa to obtain the northern market of the Far Eastern Empire was to cooperate with the two major commercial blocs in the northern part of the Far Eastern Empire, trade exchange and other means, and there was no free trade between the British in the Far Eastern Empire.

East Africa imports goods from the Far Eastern Empire every year, mainly agricultural products, handicraft products, textiles, while the Far Eastern Empire imports grain, industrial goods, electrical appliances, tropical specialties, etc. from East Africa.

The industrial products of East Africa can only take the price route, but the materials are solid, the production is relatively standardized, and the cost performance is still relatively high, but the profit is not ideal.

The category of electrical appliances is a rare fist product in East Africa, and it is the dominant export commodity of East Africa, so it is divided into a separate section.

This is not only reflected in foreign trade, but also in the development of East Africa's power industry, which is second only to Germany and the United States, but the growth rate is higher than that of the two places.

One of the important points is that East Africa is large, and Germany and Austria together are only more than one million square kilometers, so the upper limit is not comparable to East Africa and the United States.

However, the United States also has its own problems, that is, there are many power companies, the degree of standardization is not as good as that of East Africa, and the standards between various power companies are relatively chaotic and incompatible with each other, which is not conducive to the unification and promotion of the electricity market.

Of course, there is also the advantage that it is easy to compete, second only to the German region in the field of innovation.

At present, the innovation of the power industry in East Africa is insufficient, but the government's unified procurement standards make the East African power market standardized, and the compatibility of power industry standards is promoted between the whole country, which is conducive to the popularization and promotion of the power industry, so East Africa has become one of the countries with the fastest development rate of the power industry in the world.

As for innovation and competition, it is mainly done in the German region, and the Hexingen Power Company, which has a layout in East Africa and Germany at the same time, will not make the East African power industry walk on one leg.

Moreover, after the economic crisis in 1873, monopolies rose in various countries, and the same is true in the power industry, so the disadvantages of the power industry in East Africa have become advantages, which can form a competitive advantage with the power giants of European and American countries to ensure the advantages of the power industry in East Africa.

Moreover, East Africa has the world's first electric power university, and this year the Technical University of Darmstadt in Germany introduced the first electrical engineering study in Europe, so the layout of the power industry in East Africa is much earlier than that of European and American countries.

Before 1880, East Africa's key industries were steel and railways, and after 1880, electricity and automobiles, and in the future, East Africa would not lag behind the rest of the world in these two fields, and at the same time ensure the future economic vitality of East Africa.

Of course, the steel and railway industries are still on the rise in East Africa and have been growing for a long time, which in turn provides a foundation for the development of the power and automobile industries in East Africa, driving the development of upstream and downstream industrial chains.

For example, copper ore and rubber, which are needed for the power industry, need railways to be developed from the interior, and railway construction is based on the explosion of the steel industry.

In 1882, the seventh largest trading country in East Africa was India, mainly imported, mainly based on mineral resources such as coal and iron, and at the same time included unique resources such as jute, the industrial development of East Africa, and the development of iron and steel industry in the eastern coastal areas were important factors to promote trade between East and India.

The East-India trade broke the British economic blockade of East Africa, successfully re-integrated East Africa into the economic system of the British Empire, and promoted the industrial development of East Africa.

(End of chapter)