African Business Chronicles

Chapter 81: Coal Mines

Tanzania does have some coal resources, but not much. They are mainly distributed in the southern highlands, with estimated reserves of about a billion tons, mostly high-quality low-sulfur coal. This amount is not particularly outstanding in Africa, and it can't compare to the world's major coal-producing regions.

Originally, Ernst didn't plan to develop Tanzania's limited coal resources so early. However, considering the future development of agriculture in East Africa, he changed his mind and decided to begin extraction ahead of schedule.

Developing agriculture inevitably leads to agricultural product processing, which in East Africa cannot rely on manual labor. If indigenous people were used, it would go against Ernst's principles. Once they're re-rooted, it's easy to bring them in but hard to get them out.

Furthermore, agricultural processing is a basic industrial activity. Ernst didn't even want to teach the natives farming, let alone industrial skills.

In his previous life, Africa's population boom was largely due to European colonists teaching the natives agriculture. For example, in pre-colonial Tanzania, which survived mainly through hunting, the population remained low. But after German and British colonization and the rise of plantations, the native population soared from a few million to sixty million in two centuries.

Before that, Zanzibar was already colonizing eastern East Africa. But its slave-based economy had a net negative effect on native population growth. Zanzibar didn't need the locals to farm; it just wanted their bodies. So it fueled tribal wars to capture slaves, making that its main profit source.

In such an environment, native populations in East Africa declined steadily. Even in regions like Somalia and Ethiopia—under Arab influence—the trend was the same.

Thus, Ernst is determined to avoid the "teach a man to fish" approach. Labor-intensive, low-skill, heavy work like road building, canal digging, and mining can be assigned to the natives.

Processing agricultural products in the colony would increase profits and simplify transport. However, immigrants in East Africa are still a scarce resource—the total immigrant population barely exceeds 200,000.

That's why machines must be imported from Europe to handle processing. And those machines need coal-powered energy. Importing coal from Europe is not practical.

Therefore, developing Tanzania's domestic coal resources is essential.

Mbeya, the capital of the Upper Lake Malawi region, is one of the future core mining areas of Tanzania, with gold, coal, and iron deposits.

In this world, gold is still the most attractive resource for colonizers. Many colonies were founded because of it.

Mbeya was designated by Ernst himself as the capital of this region, based on its importance in his previous life. No major resources had been discovered there before.

Now, after an on-site survey conducted by Ernst's team, the local mineral potential has been revealed.

If another colonial power had found these resources, it would've sparked a frenzy. But the East African colonial government had already fully secured the region.

The colony is run in a semi-militarized manner, with no currency and no free market economy—making it easy to control resources.

Mbeya is located inland, making it easy to control information and hard for rival colonizers to access. Even if they found out, they couldn't easily cross the colony's interior to seize it.

Unlike California, where everyone could join the gold rush, all wealth in East Africa is under the control of the Hohenzollern Consortium.

Thus, Mbeya's resources are quietly being exploited. The coal and iron will be used locally for development, while the gold will go directly into the Hohenzollern Bank.

In this era, mining is pure manual labor. The natives captured by the colonial government are now put to use.

They are driven into the mines with basic tools and minimal safety measures, working day and night.

The colony currently has a large surplus of native labor. Until a more definite plan is in place for their use, most are assigned to infrastructure projects like roads and irrigation.

To connect cities, towns, and villages, the colony plans to build about 10,000 kilometers of roads this year, using its hundreds of thousands of native laborers.

These roads won't be paved with concrete or asphalt, but simple gravel paths. Even so, it's a large-scale project by the standards of this era.

East Africa started from scratch. Apart from a few roads built by the Zanzibar Sultanate along the coast, the vast interior had no proper roads before the colonial government took over.

In a tropical savanna like East Africa, roads might have been irrelevant to the natives. But for the colony, roads are essential for administration—even just for transporting food.

Right now, the colony is heavily developing animal-drawn transport like carts and wagons. So even simple roads are necessary. In the rainy season, wheels sink into mud without them, rendering travel impossible.

Transporting mineral resources also depends on these gravel roads.

Currently, the colony can't afford to build railways. Coal and iron will have to be moved by animal-drawn carts.

It's not a matter of funding. Railway lines could pay for themselves just by developing the surrounding resources. The real issue is a labor shortage.

The colony only recently expelled most of the native population and has captured just a few hundred thousand as forced laborers.

It's not that they don't want more—it's that East Africa can't feed more people.

Even for natives, food supply barely meets the minimal survival needs. Feeding hundreds of thousands is already a heavy burden.

After meeting the dietary needs of immigrants and providing starter grain and seeds, the remaining food—originally meant for export—is now used to feed the natives building the roads.

As a result, exports have dropped significantly, with most food being consumed domestically.

Labor is limited. While roads are being built, there's no capacity for other major projects. Even irrigation efforts happening alongside road construction mostly rely on immigrant labor.

Only after a basic road network is completed will Ernst consider launching other major projects. As for the natives, they remain an abundant labor pool. The eight northwestern kingdoms are still there—and future development in East Africa will certainly require their manpower.

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