African Entrepreneurship Records

Chapter 883 Comprehensive East Africanization

Therefore, the early Abyssinian Empire’s perception of East Africa was nothing more than fear and dissatisfaction. There was no fundamental conflict of interest. After all, the Abyssinian Empire was torn apart after the British expedition and had a strong fear of Westerners. .

 At the same time, East Africa took advantage of Abyssinia’s turbulent period to incorporate its vast southern area into its territory. As the local hegemon for thousands of years, the Abyssinians should feel a little unbalanced.

However, the Abyssinian Empire cannot be blamed for its behavior towards East Africa. After all, the Abyssinian Empire is only a regional hegemon and has no direct legal ownership of the southern lands. Therefore, southern Ethiopia was annexed to East Africa, and Abyssinian Empire The sub-empire could only hate itself for being useless.

Moreover, with Italy, an extraterritorial force, entering Northeast Africa, and its old enemy Egypt, East Africa seemed to the Abyssinian Empire to be the embodiment of "greatness, light, and righteousness" in the world, and it was the most "lovely" place in the world. countries, especially after the two countries signed a border demarcation agreement.

 …

  Bahir Dar city.

 Located in the south of Lake Tana in the Abyssinian Empire, in the Central Province of the Abyssinian Empire, it quickly became the new political and economic center of the empire since Johannes IV moved the capital there.

 The Central Province of the Abyssinian Empire was the former Amhara state, and the reason for the emergence of the administrative division of the Central Province was the embodiment of the "East Africanization" of the Abyssinian Empire.

Yes, this so-called Central Province was modeled after the Central Province where the capital of East Africa is located. This reflects the strong influence of East Africa in the Abyssinian Empire.

Of course, it is also very important that they are both monarchies. If it were a republic like the United States or France, then the Abyssinian Empire royal family would probably not be able to sleep.

Of course, as the capital of the Abyssinian Empire, the upper limit of Bahir Dar is not high. After all, the Abyssinian Empire as a whole is relatively poor. Therefore, although it is designed according to the city of Mwanza, the scale of the city is still far from that of Mwanza. Wanza City’s standards, so there are more compromises.

Bahir Dar is located on the shores of Lake Tana, the largest lake in Abyssinia, just like Mwanza City. Therefore, East Africans directly copied the design of Mwanza City and copied Bahir Dar.

 The 19th century was an era when backward countries learned from the Western world, and the Abyssinian Empire’s learning template was East Africa.

As a new city, Bahir Dar shows East African style in every aspect. After Johannes IV moved the capital, he specially invited East African designers to build it, and the template was the city of Mwanza in East Africa.

Of course, the most eye-catching thing is the cars imported from East Africa that occasionally drive by on the road. Bahir Dar does not look like a city in a traditional African country at all, but rather a small European or East African city.

In addition, East Africa is right next to Abyssinia. Both countries are plateau-dominated countries with similar climate conditions, relations between the two countries, the peripheral political environment of the Abyssinian Empire, and other reasons. East Africa became Abyssinia. Primary learning object.

 So traces of East Africa can be seen everywhere in Bahir Dar, even public toilets, trash cans and other infrastructure can be seen everywhere in the urban area.

Today, in the eyes of the Abyssinian Empire, East Africa is synonymous with "power, wealth, and civilization." After all, the tragedy of the modern Abyssinian Empire began entirely with the British expedition to the Abyssinian Empire, and in 1890, East Africa After defeating the powerful Britain, one can imagine the shock to the Abyssinian Empire.

For example, the ambitious road construction plans in East Africa have been greatly reduced in Bahir Dar. However, compared with Europe, Bahir Dar's roads still appear spacious and clean, and they also pay attention to greening on both sides of the roads.

 It is worth mentioning that the Bahir Dar Palace is basically a replica of the Swet Palace in East Africa, and there is no difference at all on the whole.

The Svet Palace itself is relatively small among the palaces in the world. After all, Ernst had no intention of placing the capital of East Africa in the first town from the beginning. Therefore, in order to reduce "waste", the size of the Svet Palace is only that of some middle-sized European palaces. Small country size. This is also the reason why the Abyssinian Empire can easily build the Bahir Dar Palace. However, although the palace is a bit smaller, it is still an extremely "magnificent" building for the Abyssinian Empire.

Furthermore, the popularity of running water, telephones, telegraphs, and lighting equipment has given this palace a strong sense of experience and a modern atmosphere. There is no doubt that these products come from factories in East Africa.

Except for the Royal Palace, the architectural forms of Bahir Dar City are all imitated in East African forms. If it were not for the darker skin of the Abyssinians and Indians, you would not be able to tell that there is any difference between this place and East Africa.

 In the southeast of Bahir Dar, the first railway in the Abyssinian Empire is being built. This railway is extremely important to both the Abyssinian Empire and East Africa.

The railway runs from Agaro in the northwest of the city of Jimma in East Africa to Bahir Dar, the capital of the Abyssinian Empire. Therefore, it is called the Agaro-Bahir Dar Railway by East African railway designers, or the A-Pakistan Railway for short. Of course, this is The name given to the railway in East Africa.

The Abyssinian Empire called the railway the "Central Railway". After the loss of its eastern territory, the center of the Abyssinian Empire's territory shifted westward. The Abyssinian-Pakistan Railway is indeed located in the center of the territory, so there is no need to call it this way. The problem, however, is that the name is obviously still influenced by the "Central Railway", the domestic railway artery in East Africa.

As the first railway in the Abyssinian Empire, it was called by Johannes IV as the symbol of "the first step in the modernization of the Abyssinian Empire".

As for East Africa, this railway is the first foreign railway to be entirely built by East Africa and constructed in accordance with East African standards. The railway is exactly the same as the domestic standards in East Africa. All facilities except sleepers, gravel and other local materials are used. Exported domestically from East Africa.

Of course, due to national defense and security considerations in the Abyssinian Empire, the railway was not directly connected to the Turkana Railway in East Africa, so there was no railway connection for more than 30 kilometers from Agaro to Jimma.

Of course, East Africa has no idea of ​​annexing the Abyssinian Empire. After all, this is one of the only countries around East Africa with a population of more than 10 million (the other is Egypt), so East Africa cannot be interested in the Abyssinian land. .

 There is another important reason why the Abyssinian Empire adopted the East African Standard Railway, that is, Egypt and Italy both adopted British standards, so they also had considerations similar to those of Tsarist Russia.

As for East Africa, although it is also an object of caution, when the "enemy" is too strong, this is not a problem. East Africa is not something that a small country like Italy can touch. The Abyssinian Empire can easily be defeated even without relying on railways. Destroying the country clearly knew this, so the Abyssinian Empire authorities adopted a completely "submissive" attitude towards East Africa.

In addition to architecture, infrastructure, urban planning, etc., the Abyssinian Empire comprehensively studied East Africa. The political system of East Africa was also the focus of the Abyssinian Empire's study.

Especially Johannes IV was very envious of the centralized power in East Africa. In the past few years, the Abyssinian Empire suffered from warlord rule.

So after Johannes IV came to power, he has been busy concentrating the power of the central government, especially after his basic base, the Grati region, was directly threatened by Italy and was forced to move the capital to Bahir Dar.

 So after Johannes IV moved the capital, he comprehensively strengthened Bahir Dar's status in the country, including the construction of the Afghanistan-Pakistan Railway, in order to win over and check the tribal forces close to East Africa and prevent them from completely falling to East Africa.

East Africa has a huge influence in the southern part of the Abyssinian Empire, so preventing the southern power from splitting is one of the important tasks of Johannes IV. This is also related to the fact that he was born in a traditional family in the north.

In the past, the core of the Abyssinian Empire was the north. However, after the war with Italy, the northern power was severely weakened. Now the north has directly become the border. This is how Bahir Dar, an area that had no sense of existence, became a new area. One of the important reasons for the capital was that along with the northern gatekeepers and Johannes IV, the northern resources were concentrated on Bahir Dar.

 (End of this chapter)