Wild North America 1846

Chapter 657 The Loss of Panama

Author: Portuguese toothless

Chapter 657 The Loss of Panama

The provinces in Central America include Costa Rica, Central Plains, Panama, Zhennan and Fuyuan. After more than ten to twenty years of development, the total population of the region has reached 3.77 million, and is still growing every year.

Higher speed growth.

some of

The province with the oldest development history, the most maturity and the largest population is the province of Panama. The province has two major cities, Panama and Colon, and 31 towns, with a total population of more than 1.31 million people.

Only the largest city, Panama, had a population of more than 710,000 at the end of the period, ranking among the first-class large cities in the empire.

The news of the official opening of the Nicaragua Canal is a powerful medicine for the economic development of Central Plains Province, especially Huwan City, which has entered the fast lane of rapid development.

In just over 10 years, it has rapidly developed from a remote small city to a medium-sized city with a population of more than 300,000, and its future development prospects are bright because of its important geographical advantages.

But for the province of Panama, it was a complete disaster.

The official opening of the Nicaragua Canal caused the status of Panama's land transshipment ports to plummet. Hundreds of trading firms, transportation companies, warehousing companies and shops that relied on rail transshipment have closed down, and a large number of urban residents have lost their livelihood jobs.

Nowadays, in both Panama City and Colon City, there is a wave of transfer to Lake Bay City. Many powerful foreign trade firms have restarted their efforts in Lake Bay City, and more businesses are following them, attracting many local residents to move out.

move.

The mountains of materials that were originally piled up at the transfer terminals have disappeared, and a large number of warehouses are vacant. The mule and horse shops and transport truck shops that used to be prosperous are now depleted, even worse than during the economic crisis.

The convenience of water-land transportation is far less than that of canal navigation. Ships on the east and west coasts of North America can pass through the Nicaragua Canal and travel smoothly between ports, saving time, effort and cost.

If a Panamanian freighter with a carrying capacity of 30,000 tons is transported through Panama, it will need to issue more than 20 fully loaded trains, and it will take at least a week from loading and unloading to transportation.

Nowadays, the Nicaragua Canal saves two loading and unloading processes and eliminates the short-distance railway transportation process. From Los Angeles on the west coast, you can go directly to major ports on the east coast and even Europe.

The alternative economy of the international conference center, trade and tourism city planned by the imperial government for Panama could not make up for the loss of the hot business of the pillar waterway transportation in a short time, and depression scenes could be seen everywhere in Panama and Cologne.

The imperial government thought of many ways, but these two cities, whose main industries were land transportation, were still declining at a speed visible to the naked eye.

to this situation

Emperor Richard had no choice. After all, the impact of the Nicaragua Canal was too great. It was a world-class water conservancy project that could change the geostrategic situation. Panama was a disaster.

After the canal was opened

Taking advantage of the free time before the Panama Summit was held, Emperor Richard toured the Central American provinces with great interest, visited many towns and villages, and conducted an in-depth inspection of the local economic development.

Overall, it's quite satisfactory.

The natural conditions in Central America are quite superior. Although it is close to the equator, it has a typical oceanic island climate, with abundant sunshine and rain, a cool and pleasant climate, and unique conditions for the development of agriculture and animal husbandry.

In particular, the rice produced in Central America is as famous as the Oregon rice in the north. It is the two famous high-quality rice producing areas in the empire, and its output and quality are both excellent.

besides

The vigorously developed natural rubber forests have entered the tapping period in patches, which has provided local plantation owners with a stable income all year round and is one of the specialty products of the region.

The third item is the cane sugar industry. During the Cuban Civil War, cane sugar exports shrank significantly. Central American cane sugar replaced Cuba's export share and grew rapidly, becoming a representative cash crop.

Overall

The economic development level of various regions in Central America is slightly lower than that of the developed regions in the central, northern and western parts of the empire, mainly due to the low level of industrial development and insufficient industrialization.

The local industries are mainly sugar mills, rubber mills, rice mills, oil mills, flour mills, food processing plants, cement plants, brick kilns and quarries, etc., mainly in the food processing and building materials industries.

This is also due to the empire's long-term policy of "strong branches and weak branches", and is not considered a mistake.

The empire's home territory has always been in North America, where the strong trunk of the empire lies. Industrial development has blossomed in the north, central and west, and continues to advance in depth.

A series of universities, research institutes, steel and chemical companies were successively established in major cities in the empire, forming the largest and most complete industrial system in the world today and forming the powerful backbone of the Tang Empire.

Regions such as Central America, South America and overseas provinces have been intentionally or unintentionally ignored in the wave of industrial development.

We can only say that this is due to development policies, rather than mistakes in government work.

(End of chapter)