CHAPTER 550: CHAPTER 228: THE PAST 1970S

"Prince Karl! Welcome to East Africa," Constantine stepped forward and said.

"Long time no see, King Constantine, you still look full of energy."

Prince Karl gave Constantine a hug, and now addressed him one level higher, as Constantine has become a king.

"Uncle Karl!"

"Haha, Ernst, it’s been a few years and now you’re even more mature!"

The Heixinggen royal family still places significant importance on Sigmaringen, just as the saying goes, "Do not forget each other when wealthy," so too with the relationship between Heixinggen and Sigmaringen.

"Is Leopold still in Germany?"

"Yes, he still holds a key position in the German army, and I’m this old fellow exploring the path for him, so that Sigmaringen can ensure its foothold in Romania, Germany, and Africa."

The achievements of the Heixinggen royal family in Africa have already made Sigmaringen restless, so at the invitation of the Heixinggen royal family, Prince Karl has personally come to East Africa to discuss matters related to Sigmaringen’s colonization of Africa.

Unlike the Heixinggen royal family, because Prince Karl’s sons are relatively older, there’s no need like before to support Ernst in Germany, who had no foundation, so this time Prince Karl came directly to East Africa, while the heir Leopold ensures Sigmaringen’s status and influence in Germany.

Germany is still a fallback for Sigmaringen now, and if the African colonial plan fails, they can retreat, while Romania provides Sigmaringen with the confidence to colonize Africa.

"Let’s head back to the palace first to get you settled. After all, the climate in East Africa is different from Germany, especially in this season, so you need to acclimatize first," Constantine said to Prince Karl.

Germany is currently in winter, whereas near the equator in East Africa, it’s quite hot, so acclimatization is necessary upon arrival.

However, such a climate in Africa is quite suitable for elderly people like Constantine and Prince Karl for retirement, because the elderly enjoy warmth, and East Africa meets this condition.

It’s similar to how elderly people from the Far East like to retire in Pan Zhihua or how American elderly migrate from the northeast to the south.

Prince Karl, with Constantine and his son, subsequently took a carriage to the Sweet Palace, and thus Prince Karl finally witnessed the political center of this vast country of East Africa.

"It’s not an exaggeration to say that First Town now is no different from Berlin or Vienna in our youth. Back then, there weren’t many cities in the German region with a population exceeding a hundred thousand, I wonder what the population of First Town has reached now?"

"The population of First Town is around one hundred and fifty thousand, if calculated according to the census, it should be just over one hundred thousand," Ernst responded to Prince Karl’s question, being the one more familiar with such data.

"When I came, I disembarked at Dar es Salaam City. I heard that Dar es Salaam City is the largest city in East Africa; is this true?"

"Uncle Karl, if we include the new city, then yes, Dar es Salaam City has two urban areas, with a total population of about three hundred thousand."

"It seems the number of people you’ve migrated over these years must be staggering, I haven’t seen many Black people, I thought it would at least be like the United States!"

Constantine: "Old friend, now East Africa is considered a major power globally, both in terms of land area and population, so having a few big cities is not surprising. As for Black people, there are quite a few in East Africa, but our attitude towards Black people is different from that of the United States, so it’s not as easy to see Black people in the Central Province."

The various engineering projects in the Central Province have long been completed, so there are no major projects for now, and with the early implementation of the policy to replace slaves with livestock, one can now only see more Black people in the Dar es Salaam slave market within the Central Province.

The last East-Portuguese War left behind over a hundred thousand Black soldiers that are still not all sold, among them, most of the orders are from the Ottoman Empire, which can be directly taken to the front lines, with about fifty to sixty thousand, and there are also some twenty to thirty thousand sent to the United States.

Constantine’s words made Prince Karl understand that there must be a considerable non-Black population in East Africa now, otherwise, it would be impossible for East Africa not to use Black people.

East Africa does indeed use Black slaves, but now they are mainly concentrated in other areas contributing to East Africa’s agriculture and infrastructure, but even if the Central Province alone has completed de-slave-ification, it is still no small progress.

"Can you reveal how many people you’ve immigrated to East Africa over these years?"

Prince Karl still wanted to clarify this point, as it made him uneasy otherwise, however, the population number of East Africa has always been a top-level state secret, so Constantine glanced at Ernst, letting him answer the question.

Ernst understood implicitly and said, "Uncle Karl, we don’t have a detailed count in this regard, but there should be several million, possibly exceeding seven or eight million, since East Africa’s immigration has been ongoing for over a decade, and we only recently started compiling population data, so we are not very knowledgeable in this aspect."

It will still take another two to three months to thoroughly complete the population census, but the total number has long been calculated, and now the focus is on regional statistics and other population data, that is, the characteristics and details.

It wasn’t that Ernst intentionally withheld information from Prince Karl, but the fewer people who know about it the better. If it were to be known that East Africa’s population has reached over thirty million, close to thirty-five million, many would probably lose sleep, with the number breaking through fifty million if including Black people.

Although Ernst provided Prince Karl with a highly discounted false figure, even this figure still shocked Prince Karl.

Seven to eight million is already considered a medium-sized population for a European nation, as surpassing ten million is considered a populous country in Europe, and a scale of seven to eight million has already exceeded most European countries.

"Have you already surpassed Bavaria now? Incredible!"

The population of Bavaria should be between four to six million, but surely not exceeding six million, so indeed seven to eight million is more than Bavaria’s population.

"These past years have been fortunate times; one is that the birth rate in the German region and Europe has greatly increased, and it just happened to coincide with the economic crisis in previous years, which allowed us to seize the opportunity to bring in a large population from Europe."

The actual data must be more than that; during the entire economic crisis, East Africa alone immigrated about six to seven million people from around the world. It is worth mentioning that the economic crisis that started in 1873 hasn’t fully ended yet, although its impact is no longer as significant as before, now with the crisis centered in the United Kingdom, following the original transmission path from its outbreak in Austria, then Germany developed, the United States suffered the most, and the United Kingdom concluded it.

Although Europe’s economic crisis has mostly ended, its economy is still in a depressed state compared to before, and according to past life experiences, this depression might continue into the early 20th century, known as the chronic economic depression.

The greatest beneficiary of this long-term depression is East Africa, which was prepared in advance, not only did it introduce a large population and mechanical equipment, but the biggest achievement is having completed the basic national defense military industry, the East African railway network, shipbuilding industry, electric power industry, steel industry, and numerous infrastructure constructions, as well as acquiring a powerful East African navy.

It is also worth mentioning that East Africa’s substantial talent introduction was also completed through the economic crisis, as a large number of companies and enterprises in Europe and America went bankrupt, providing an opportunity for East African development, which is also the reason that East Africa could start its electric power industries and other fields.

The entire 1870s was also the fastest developing decade for East Africa, virtually pulling sub-Saharan Africa, a region totally devoid of agricultural and industrial foundations, directly into an agricultural society and the most primitive form of industrial society.

This wasn’t just jumping from zero to one, but directly from zero to two point five, transitioning directly from a primitive society to a feudal agricultural society towards a nascent industrial society, skipping over the intermediary slave system and feudal society.

Of course, East Africa also has slavery and feudal systems, and the primitive society indeed exists in the west. The current East Africa can completely be called a living fossil of human society, allowing for a full examination of every stage of human society.