Chapter 22 – Colonial Development
On some low hills to the southwest of First Town, part of the Hexingen Consortium's territory in Tanzania, rows of newly planted sisal shoots were put into the earth. Nearby, farm workers turned over the soil. On both sides of the rows, local Africans pulled European-made iron plows through the ground, opening up the dirt, while the Chinese focused on the soil around the sisal plants. That was careful work; if the locals did it, they might damage the roots, so only the more experienced and precise Chinese farm laborers used hoes to dig gently.
Out on already-finished land, under the guidance of a Spanish agricultural expert employed by the Germans, other locals dug drainage ditches. On slightly higher ground where wheat seedlings had been planted, new irrigation channels were under construction to ensure the crops got enough water.
With more and more Chinese immigrants arriving, farming had expanded considerably. New arrivals were placed under the older settlers—those who'd already been here and gained some experience—involved in opening up more farmland. The Germans acted as leaders, mainly supervising, managing, and providing security. To ward off any troublesome tribes or slave-hunting teams, small squads from the German mercenary corps stayed behind to patrol the surrounding territory. The larger group pushed further inland, mapping the area. They sometimes returned to rest, capturing new laborers in passing and clearing more land around First Town.
First Town was visibly spreading westward; once more people arrived, fresh outposts would appear all across the Tanzanian interior. The team was already planning a second site southwest of First Town, thirteen kilometers along the Little Rhine River. It would be named just as plainly as before—Second Town (Ruvu). They also had plans for a Third Town (Kitonga) north of First Town, about ten kilometers away in a straight line. Once they had enough manpower, construction would start there, too.
Centered on First Town, linked eastward to Dar es Salaam and expanding westward, their embryonic East African colony covered around 150,000 mu of land. Sisal thrives in high temperatures with moderate moisture and evenly distributed rainfall, favoring daytime heat and dryness with lots of sunlight, plus mist or dew at night—just what East Africa offered. During the day, high temperatures and strong sunlight prevailed, while at night, the plateau's thinner air lost heat quickly, so the climate cooled. For this reason, Africa's daily temperature change surpassed its seasonal variation.
Sisal grows best in temperatures around 27–30°C, tolerating up to 40°C or down to 16°C, and it doesn't do well with daily temperature swings above 7–10°C. Yearly rainfall of 1,200–800 mm suits it. Overall, it tolerates poor soil and drought, but not flooding. It prefers loose, well-drained, fertile sandy loam with a low groundwater level; badly drained, constantly damp areas are unsuitable. It also has low resistance to cold, which can cause leaf-spot diseases.
These facts came from a Spanish-speaking agriculture specialist from Mexico hired by Ernst. Sisal is native to the Mexican highlands, later introduced globally by Europeans. The expert, who had farmed sisal in Mexico, lacked much schooling but had a German grandmother, so he spoke German. That made him a good fit for the East African colony. Because the Mexican highlands were somewhat similar to the East African plateau, both near the equator, their climates had parallels—though East Africa lay closer to the equator. Mexico's climate varied widely, from tropical rainforests to tropical deserts, whereas East Africa was somewhat more uniform, mostly tropical savanna south of Ethiopia and Somalia.
Under a corporate management model, the East African colony treated arriving Chinese as employees of the Hexingen Consortium. In practice, the land belonged to the Consortium, which organized these farm workers into groups for systematic land development, assessing each group's productivity to decide how much food they received. Colony managers checked the farmworkers' output, measuring workload, time taken, farmland quality, and how well the crops grew afterward.
In theory, these farmworkers could earn wages, but so far none had been paid. They didn't care much—simply having food was better than what they'd known in the Far East, where many had lost land or gone bankrupt through no fault of their own. Crossing the ocean was their only escape. The colony welcomed people like that because it needed manpower more than anything else.
Comparing the Chinese with the locals, the colonial leadership found that the Chinese worked more efficiently and were easier to manage. Most of the natives had to be supervised with a whip. Part of that was because the Hexingen Consortium forced them to work, but the difference was obvious—on one side, the Chinese toiled diligently without complaint, following orders exactly, while the local people refused to match that pace unless threatened. Over time, the colonial leaders "understood" why their boss had insisted on bringing in Chinese. They really were naturally outstanding workers, no worse than Germans.
The Chinese also had a big appetite. Germans, accustomed to having enough to eat back home, couldn't fathom how strongly these Chinese craved food. In the East African colony, the more work you did, the more you could eat, so they gave their all. With the colony expanding, local wildlife on the savanna suffered heavily: wildebeests, lions, and other big game were hunted by the colonists. Much of that meat wound up in the Chinese workers' bellies—a real feast for people who rarely tasted meat back home. Many had never had more than a drizzle of oil in a year, so being able to eat one's fill here, and occasionally get meat, felt like heaven—despite the grueling labor.
Once basic survival was assured, some families began having children. Indeed, there were Chinese families in the East African colony. The colony welcomed family migration, believing that stable family units supported stable rule. Large clans, though, were excluded—any big extended families or ancestral lineages were refused, as Ernst saw them as destabilizing influences. A clan can unite strongly and cause trouble, plus it tends to stand in the way of fair social development. So from the start, any big clans or lineages had been barred from migrating.
Meanwhile, couples or small families of two or three were warmly accepted. They were granted separate housing. Single men mostly stayed in shared dorms. For now, though, men far outnumbered women, so only a few families had formed, and they were families that arrived married. Taking care of all the single men's marriage prospects down the road would be Ernst's responsibility, but at the moment he had no time for that.
Ernst's attention was focused on industrial growth and the shifting political climate in Europe.
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