African Entrepreneurship Record

August 19, 1914.

Pointe-Noire.

The outbreak of the European war and the invasion of Germany brought great trouble to Belgium, and as a Belgian colony, the Belgian Congo also ushered in a rare opportunity.

The situation of the Belgian Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo under the Belgian colony in the previous life can be said to be very different.

Now Leopold II has long passed away, and the ruling power of the Congo colony has also been taken over by the Belgian government. It has changed from a place where Leopold II made money to a colony that has been initially developed.

On the one hand, the population of the Belgian Congo is small, and the black natives were basically "extinct" by the scourge during the reign of Leopold II. On the other hand, the conditions here are much better than those in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the previous life.

Although the Democratic Republic of the Congo is much larger than the Congo Free State, it has only one outlet that cannot be fully utilized, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo is deep inland and too large, which makes it difficult to develop. For a small European country like Belgium, the difficulty level of developing a colony of more than two million square kilometers is completely different from that of a colony of only more than 200,000 square kilometers.

Moreover, the discovery and development of local iron ore has raised the Belgian government's attention to the Congo colony to a higher level. After all, Belgium is famous for its steel industry and is one of the few steel powers in Europe. The development of the Belgian Congo is of great significance to the development of the Belgian steel industry.

In addition to iron ore, the Congo colony is also rich in other resources, at least for Belgium. The export of potash from the Congo colony alone can bring a lot of revenue to the Belgian government.

Mineral exports have become the pillar industry of the Belgian Congo. Because of its developed local industry and its proximity to East Africa, the first industrial power in Africa, the Belgian Congo has never lacked a market.

At the same time, the development of agriculture in the Belgian Congo is also promising. Although Leopold II was cruel, it must be said that during his reign, the blood and sweat of black people were used to lay the foundation for the initial development of agriculture in the local area.

Belgium is originally a high-latitude country. Even though the warm and humid air currents in the Atlantic make Belgium quite livable, it is impossible to develop tropical agriculture.

The Belgian Congo provides this opportunity. The Belgian Congo can develop almost most tropical agricultural products to meet the needs of Belgium.

This enabled Belgium to obtain a stable supply of tropical agricultural products, such as rubber, coffee, and sugar, which were basically self-sufficient.

After the death of Leopold II, the Belgian government also changed some of its extreme policies towards Belgian Congo. From the past simple plundering of the local area, it began to make some large-scale investments and encouraged its immigrants to develop the Congo colony.

This was also a last resort. Belgian Congo had already shown great value, and with the giant country of East Africa next to it, the Belgian government certainly could not simply believe in the guarantee of the East African government.

So starting from 1908, in just five years, the Belgian government successively immigrated nearly 130,000 Belgians to the local area. In the era of Leopold II, the Belgian population of the entire Belgian Congo was less than 30,000.

The influx of Belgians has further developed the local economy, and a large number of agricultural products and plantations have been developed. At the same time, a number of small and medium-sized enterprises have been established, mainly engaged in mining, agricultural product processing and import and export trade.

Before the outbreak of World War I, the entire Belgian Congo had already shown a vibrant vitality, and the quality of economic development even exceeded that of Argentina.

This also provided a basis for Belgian immigrants. When World War I broke out, Belgium was affected by the war, and a large number of Belgians chose to go to the Belgian Congo to avoid the war.

Pointe-Noire has become one of the main destinations for Belgian refugees. Today, the development of Pointe-Noire is not inferior to most cities in Belgium.

In 1913, the population of Pointe-Noire had reached 130,000. It was the political and economic center of the entire Belgian Congo. It was also a big city in Belgium. The total population of the entire Belgian Congo had exceeded 600,000, of which more than 400,000 were Chinese immigrants, nearly 200,000 Belgians, and the rest were mostly East Africans.

In the Port of Pointe-Noire, ships surged, and a large number of ships carried the goods of the Belgian Congo to Belgium or East Africa every day.

However, the Port of Pointe-Noire has ushered in new changes. Many Belgians with their families took their luggage to Pointe-Noire to seek refuge.

At the dock of Pointe-Noire, Hermann was looking for his target with his wife and three children.

"Hermann, is that you?" At this time, a strong man squeezed out of the crowd and shouted at De Croo.

The man came over carrying a wooden sign, which had De Croo's name, Herman De Croo.

"Are you Hughes?" De Croo was a little unsure when he saw the man.

"It's me, brother. How are you? I can't recognize you. Have you become darker and stronger?"

Hughes De Croo is Herman's younger brother, but the image of Hughes is quite different from that in Herman's memory.

Hughes in Herman's memory was definitely not strong. He remembered that when he was in Belgium, Hughes was thin because of poor nutrition, and his skin was not as dark as it is now. Hughes even looked a little delicate before leaving Belgium.

However, now Hughes looks like a strong tendon, with a strange short-sleeved shirt, and the lines of his two arms are fully displayed under the scorching sun. He wears shorts and a pair of sandals. If it weren't for the familiar voice, he would never think that this person is his younger brother.

As if he could see through his brother's thoughts, Hughes said a little embarrassedly: "I have changed a lot in appearance in the Belgian Congo in the past few years, but it is mainly because the environment here is different from that in my hometown."

In fact, compared to my hometown, the Belgian Congo is definitely a good place for ordinary Belgians to live, except for the climate here. Of course, the climate in Pointe-Noire is still good.

Although this is a tropical area and is adjacent to the tropical rainforest climate area, the Benguela cold current along the coast keeps the temperature in Pointe-Noire at more than 20 degrees, but the sun is a bit scorching.

And Herman continued to ask: "Your clothes are a bit strange. Do people in the tropics dress like this?"

Herman's impression of the tropics is that it is hot, so he can't accept his brother's clothes for the time being, but he also noticed that most of the locals dress like this.

Hughes said: "This is East African short sleeves and shorts. East Africans usually wear this, so we wear it too. It should be comfortable to wear this in Europe in summer, but cultural differences make this kind of clothing popular only in East Africa and surrounding areas for the time being."

Europe and many temperate countries do not have this kind of clothing, which is actually in line with common sense. After all, the temperature of the earth is far less than that of Ernst's previous life. This has to mention the Little Ice Age, which not only had a huge impact on the Far East, but Europe also experienced a Little Ice Age that lasted for hundreds of years.

So in this era, especially in temperate regions such as Europe and East Asia, people generally wore thicker clothes than Ernst in his previous life. Of course, East Africa, as a tropical region, plus the influence of Ernst, was much more casual in terms of clothing than Europe. They dressed in whatever was comfortable. This situation also affected the areas around East Africa.

After all, East Africa is a textile powerhouse, and East African clothing habits will also flow to these regions with trade, and the Belgian Congo is such a case. Many East African industrial products are popular in the Belgian Congo. After all, the freight for a piece of clothing shipped from Belgium is not cheap, and the trade between East Africa and Belgian Congo is quite frequent. There are many borders between the two countries, and there are many border trade markets, so the living habits of Belgian Congo are also rapidly becoming East African.

Hughes said: "Your suit looks quite different here. You can tell at a glance that you just came from Europe. Compared with the mainland, Belgian Congo has its own culture and living habits. Many things here are similar to those in East Africa. You should be able to get used to it after living there for a while."

"And if you ask me, whether you can go back to Europe is another matter. I feel that this place is no worse than the mainland. Basically, there is nothing missing. There are many opportunities now. Many local nobles and businessmen are increasing their investment here. If it can be developed to the level of Cabinda, it will basically be no different from Europe:"