African Entrepreneurship Record

December 1892.

"Brother Roger, you are here?" Enders, a member of the Hawaiian Business Association, smiled and led Roger into the house.

"Moore, go make a cup of coffee."

Moore is a servant in Enders's house, a typical black man. Enders hired black people as her servants because they were cost-effective, not only were the prices right, but they could also manage the house in an orderly manner. After hearing the order, Moore honestly did what the master told him to do.

Roger was lying on the sofa, looking quite comfortable. He asked Enders, "Boss Enders, how did you have time to ask me to come here this time? I often invited you in the past, but you were not at home."

"Oh, I'm busy with business. I'm not like you. You have such a big business, so you don't have to work for a while. I was busy with European orders a while ago. The orders were not big, they were all small portions, and the quantity was large. I worked endlessly." Enders said.

"You're kidding. I'm just a small businessman. I haven't had any business recently, so I have time to wander around. I wonder how many people really envy you. Europe has always been generous, and I can only do business in the Far East." In Hawaii, everyone is mainly engaged in the sandalwood business, but the sandalwood business in Hawaii is also on the decline. Think about it, there are only a few small islands here, and no matter how many resources there are, they can't keep up with the speed of decades of logging. As for other places, Hawaii's biggest role is to serve as a berthing place for ships at sea. After all, the Hawaiian Islands are the only decent place in the hinterland of the North Pacific. Of course, this is also the main reason why East Africa is eyeing this place. Hawaii's location is too important, and it would be unreasonable not to intervene. Hawaii is right in the middle of the North Pacific warm current, and East Africa's main way to Alaska is to follow the North Pacific warm current to the west coast of America, and then go north along the Alaska warm current. Ships sailing at sea generally follow the ocean current, which can save a lot of time and cost, especially in the sailing era, this is particularly prominent. The South Ryukyu Islands colony in East Africa is right at the source of the North Pacific warm current, so as long as the Hawaiian land is completed, the traffic between East Africa and Alaska will be stable.

Of course, when the ship returns from Alaska, it will take another route, that is, the Japanese archipelago and the eastern Asian waters.

Generally, most of the goods carried by the returning Alaskan ships are wood and fur. After the sales in Japan and the Far East are completed, they are reloaded and returned to East Africa.

After all, East Africa itself is not short of wood, and fur is not used. East Africa is located in the tropics and does not need fur for heating. Instead, products such as silk are more popular.

Fortunately, the Far East Empire is extremely short of wood, especially in the north, so the empty ship rate of Alaska's merchant ships is not too high when returning.

Of course, in this way, the Alaska route will not make much money in the trade with East Africa, and may even lose money. East Africa has to transport more than 20,000 tons of food to Alaska every year to ensure the normal operation of the Alaska royal territory.

At the beginning, the main reason why Tsarist Russia gave up Alaska was Alaska's poor food self-sufficiency rate.

Moreover, Tsarist Russia itself had a Siberia region, and the Tsar had to exile prisoners continuously to maintain the population, so it was impossible for the Russians to go to Alaska to open up wasteland.

Alaska is not uncultivated. Potatoes, barley, oats and a small amount of drought-resistant vegetables can be grown in the south, but this is a drop in the bucket for the entire Alaska, so East Africa must continue to supply the staple food of the Alaskan people, and on this basis, effectively utilize Alaska's arable land resources.

Of course, if Alaska's mineral resources can be developed, that would be another matter, but does East Africa have the ability to develop Alaska now?

Obviously not. It is certain that if Alaska's mineral development is allowed, the Canadian and American armies will immediately go north, so the people of Alaska can only suffer for a while.

Of course, this is just a joke. The living standard in Alaska is not bad at all. After all, the population is small. As a country with overcapacity in agriculture, East Africa is not short of food. In addition, Alaska is rich in fishery resources, so the living standard of Alaskan residents is quite high in terms of food, clothing, housing and transportation.

And East Africa, or the Hechingen royal family, wants to maintain the rule of Alaska, so it is naturally necessary to ensure the smooth flow between the two places. From East Africa to Alaska, it is mainly sea transportation, so the importance of Hawaii is highlighted again.

This is the same as Ernst's insistence on intervening in the dispute over the Ryukyu Islands. In fact, the ultimate goal is to ensure the safety of Alaska.

If there were no Alaska royal territory, East Africa would not be involved in the muddy water at all, because the South Ryukyu Islands and Kauai Island have no resources. East Africa will not get any actual benefits from occupying the two places, and it may be targeted by Japan and the United States.

Of course, East Africa will definitely not be afraid of the United States and Japan. The East African mainland is far away from the two countries. Even if they devote all their efforts to take East Africa, there is not much good way, but on the contrary, East Africa can control the two countries.

This reflects the geographical advantage of East Africa. World trade is mainly concentrated in the Eurasian continent. It is impossible for the United States and Japan not to go through the Indian Ocean region. In the Indian Ocean region, as long as East Africa does not target the United Kingdom and the United States, no one can do anything to it.

Especially for Japan, the European raw silk market is extremely important to Japan, and the Indian Ocean is the only way for Japanese merchant ships to reach Europe, otherwise they can only go around America. Today, when the Panama Canal is not opened, going around America is too risky and time-consuming.

The construction of railways in the United States in the 19th century was also due to the inconvenience of sea transportation, so they had to connect the east and west coasts by rail, giving birth to the world's largest railway network.

The poor French are still building the Panama Canal, and they simply haven't learned the lesson of the "Suez" Canal. However, France now likes to invest overseas. After all, the cost of industrial production in the country is too high, especially after the loss of Lorraine and Alsace. It is completely unable to compete with Germany, so it is understandable that France has a large investment overseas.

And this set of French practices cannot be said to have no gains. The French colonies in the past were relatively stable because France had a higher level of construction and the colonies received more dividends than the colonies of other countries. Of course, this dividend has nothing to do with the local indigenous people, but mainly the French residents living in the French colonies.

"Brother Roger, you underestimate yourself too much. Everyone knows Roger's name in Hawaii these years. Your industries are almost all over Kauai. With these industries, you are also a big businessman in Hawaii. Unlike me, I can only deal in the sandalwood business. With the depletion of sandalwood resources, I am afraid that I will not be able to do it in a few years. If I change my career at that time, I am afraid that you will need to take care of me." Enders complimented Roger.

Roger's industries are naturally concentrated in Kauai. After all, this is the instruction of the central government, which is conducive to East Africa's control of Kauai secretly.

It is not time to show your cards yet. East Africa can only continue to increase its stake in Kauai. Once the United States makes a move in Hawaii, East Africa will "respond" in time to realize the division of Hawaii between the two countries.

To be honest, Americans did not expect East Africa to be so insidious. In fact, there are three countries that the United States mainly guards against in Hawaii: Britain, France and Japan.

With these three countries sharing the firepower, East Africa, a country far away in Africa, naturally no one cares about it. Moreover, in the mutual competition and vigilance, no one would have thought that East Africa would quietly reach out to Hawaii.