African Entrepreneurship Record

Bagamoyo Port.

Two majestic-looking sail battleships are completing the handover.

"Your Majesty the Grand Duke, these are warships we have drawn from the active warships to support your cause."

Captain Blair of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was in charge of the delivery. He introduced the warship in front of Archduke Ferdinand (Maximiliano I) with a smile on his face.

"Okay, I'm afraid I know them better than you do." Ferdinand, the commander-in-chief of the East African Navy, interrupted Blair unceremoniously.

"When I took office, they were serving in the Austrian Navy. Now they are in East Africa, which is a good place to continue to use their remaining energy."

With that said, Ferdinand boarded one of the ships, with Blair accompanying him.

"It hasn't changed much after so many years, but is this paint newly painted?"

"Yes, these two ships were carefully inspected before leaving the port. The overall performance was still intact, but there were some minor problems accumulated over the years. They were then taken to the Trieste Shipyard for maintenance and some modernizations were installed. facility."

"Franz is not bad. When you go back to report, give him this letter." Ferdinand took out a letter from his arms and handed it to Blair.

"Yes, Your Excellency, I will definitely bring the letter."

The content of the letter was naturally some words of thanks. This time Ferdinand felt sincerely that it was really good to have a good big brother.

After being severely beaten by the Mexicans, Archduke Ferdinand had gone from one extreme to another.

When he was in Mexico, Ferdinand never asked the Austrian royal family for any help. Now Ferdinand said, it smells so good!

With the help of Franz, the East African Navy, two retired warships from the Austro-Hungarian Navy and two antique warships from the Zanzibar Sultanate, instantly looked like it.

"Blair, what do you think the future of the East African Navy will be like?" Ferdinand asked.

"Your Majesty the Grand Duke, I can't say this highly. Well... it has great potential. At least the sea conditions are much better than Austria's."

Blair has little hope for the East African Navy. After all, how can East Africa build a navy if East Africa is so poor? Looking at the two antique warships from the last century in East Africa, Blair felt a little sorry for Ferdinand, the so-called Commander-in-Chief of the East African Navy, but East Africa's The geographical conditions are indeed several times stronger than the "bathtub" at the door of the Austro-Hungarian Navy.

The conditions of Bagamoyo Port are not bad, but because it is very close to Dar es Salaam, it is often ignored by the East African government.

For example, immigration and commercial exports are diverted by the ports of Dar es Salaam and Tanga on both sides, and are not even comparable to the port of Mtwara in the south.

Because Bagamoyo Port has shallow water and Dar es Salaam is a deep-water port, it is difficult for Bagamoyo to compete with Dar es Salaam, while Tanga Port and Mtwara Port are within the region. It is an important port and has no competitors, so it is more important than Bagamoyo, but Bagamoyo also has its advantages.

It is an estuary port, which is on the right bank of the outlet of the Little Rhine River (Ruvot River) in East Africa.

However, the shipping value of the rivers along the East African coast is not high. Several larger rivers are only a few hundred kilometers long, and due to the terrain, only 100 kilometers have shipping conditions.

But the Little Rhine River is strategically important to East Africa. Going upstream from the river mouth can lead directly to the first town and city in the political center of East Africa.

Therefore, the East African Naval Base is located here. It can not only take advantage of the port conditions of Bagamoyo, but also control the outlet of the Little Rhine River. At the same time, it can provide support to the ports on both sides of East Africa. The opposite bank of Bagamoyo is a natural geographical barrier. Gebar Island can withstand some wind and waves from the Indian Ocean. At the same time, if the economy cannot develop, it is better not to develop it. It just serves as a base for the navy.

I have to say that East Africa made the right choice in choosing Maximiliano I as the commander-in-chief of the East African Navy.

After taking office, if we can't get resources from the East African government, we can only turn our attention to Austria. "I am Ferdinand and Franz is giving money!"

This is also the reason why Franz said that Ferdinand and Ernst had learned bad things, but the Austrian Navy itself had no funds, so how could it provide support to Ferdinand.

Oh, it is no longer right to call the Austrian Navy anymore. It should be called the Austro-Hungarian Navy. In 1867, when the Austrian Empire was renamed the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the navy also changed its name.

Facing His Majesty the Emperor's inquiry, the Austro-Hungarian Navy stated that we are willing to support Ferdinand's two brig warships free of charge, and at the same time, we can send a group of young heroes as consultants to help Archduke Ferdinand build an East African naval force.

A brig is a sailing ship with two masts and a square sail. In the age of sail, brigs were widely used as warships and commercial ships due to their fast speed and maneuverability.

Nineteenth-century pine brigs were generally designed to last 20 years, and many actually lasted even longer.

The two ships given to East Africa by the Austro-Hungarian Navy were built around 1840. The Austro-Hungarian Navy had long wanted to decommission these two old ships, and they didn’t know where to throw them. East Africa just happened to take over. Since the emperor wanted If you want to take care of your younger brother, then our navy will give these two warships to East Africa, and be tougher next time when it comes to military spending.

As for young heroes, they were naturally inexperienced or marginalized young officers of the Austro-Hungarian Navy. For them, being sent to East Africa was no different from being exiled.

All in all, the attitude of the Austro-Hungarian Navy and the East African government is the same. It is easy to talk about money, and we can give away ships and talents for free.

The Austro-Hungarian Navy was squeezed into the narrow Adriatic Gulf. Such a geographical location meant that the Austro-Hungarian Empire was not very interested in the navy. However, Italy next door helped the Austro-Hungarian Navy. In order to cope with the unification, In Italy, the Austro-Hungarian Navy has had a relatively better life in recent years. Since 1861, the Austrian Navy has entered the ironclad era, and now it is the Austro-Hungarian Navy.

"You are right, but potential is just potential after all. Without the support of a strong country, no matter how good the conditions are, they will be wasted." Ferdinand said.

"Don't worry, Your Excellency, I am personally optimistic about East Africa. In the future, with the help of Austria, East Africa may not be able to catch up with Europe, but it should still be able to develop well in Africa." Blair said cautiously.

In this era, Europeans have been deepening the impression that Europe is the center of the world, and the only country overseas that can be compared with Europe is the United States. Therefore, Blair added the word Africa before developing well, and the reason why he said that development in Africa is not yet good. Yes, that's because there is another semi-modern country in Africa - Egypt.

The Egyptian naval strength during Ali's era was considerable even in Europe. At its peak, it had 32 warships. Although Egypt has declined now, it is not the number one military power in Africa that can be compared with East Africa.

Speaking of the army alone, the number of East African armies before the reform was very close to that of Egypt. However, after the reform, the number of armies was basically cut in half, and the size of the army alone cannot be compared with Egypt.

Moreover, Egypt has the ability to produce its own equipment. Although it has now become mainly imported due to British and French colonization, the military industry system still exists.

Blair escorted the warship through the Suez Canal, the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, and finally to East Africa.

He had seen some cities in Egypt, but in East Africa he only went to Mombasa once to replenish supplies, and then went to Bagamoyo. Mombasa was quite prosperous, but Bagamoyo was too lonely.

Therefore, Blair concluded that there is a significant gap between East Africa and Egypt, so it may be difficult to become the number one in Africa.

Blair has never heard of any civilized countries in Africa other than Egypt. The Ottoman Empire does not count. After all, the main ones are in the Middle East and Europe.

In fact, this is not to blame Bagamoyo. After all, immigration and exports are in the free port of Dar es Salaam next door, so it seems to be very popular.

Historically, Bagamoyo was glorious for a period of time when Germany colonized the area, but later the Germans also found that the conditions in Dar es Salaam were better, and they turned their attention to the development of Dar es Salaam. Bagamoyo It was mentioned again that a certain big country in the 21st century is engaged in the One Belt and One Road initiative. It feels a little bit hungry. The credit of African countries is not high. The conditions of Bagamoyo Port can only be considered average, but there is no other choice. After all, the Indian Ocean The excellent ports along the coast are controlled by Western or pro-Western forces.