Greece to roman road

Chapter 10 The Situation in Africa

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"By the way, speaking of slave traders, are the Arab slave traders in the Congo River Basin harassed frequently?" Constantine said to Stanley.

"Why not so often? Europeans go to Africa just to seek money. These Arabs are really vicious. They start from the east coast of Africa, especially Zanzibar Island, which is the base camp of their Arab slave traders. They often explore with us. A team of mercenaries clashed and exchanged fire. When these bastards arrived in the villages of the indigenous Africans, as long as they dared to resist, they would kill all of them, and then kidnap young children and docile women as slaves. Even Catholic missionaries I can’t stand it anymore.” At this point, Stanley seemed to have thought of something interesting and paused.

"If one day you go to southern Africa and see many Christians, don't be surprised. Since the Age of Discovery, European missionaries have been going to southern Africa to preach. You will never guess that their initial missionary work was Technique, haha,” Stanley laughed.

"Preaching techniques?" Nina asked puzzledly, "What other methods can be used to preach? Priests preach the Bible to people who worship God."

"No, no," Stanley was very proud of Nina's failure to guess correctly, and deliberately teased the little girl. "Their initial missionary method was to kidnap local nobles or powerful people, and then preach God to them and wait until they converted. God, let them go, wouldn't it be fun?" Stanley said.

"There are still people preaching like this?" Nina's eyes widened in disbelief.

"By the way, just last year, an expedition led by the Frenchman Brazzah planted the French flag in the north of the Congo River, now called Brazzaville. We showed no sign of weakness and planted the French flag in the south of the Congo River. Kinshasa, planted the flag of the Congolese Council," Stanley said carefully, looking at Constantine.

According to the original plan, Constantine personally notified Stanley in the north of the Congo River, but the guy didn't pay attention and let the French take the lead.

"Hey," Constantine sighed inwardly. Historically, Congo (Bruton) was a colony of the French. However, this situation has not been changed yet.

Of course, it is also possible that Stanley sized up the situation and did not dare to offend the French. Although the French were defeated by the Germans in the Franco-Prussian War, they were still a power that Greece could not provoke.

"How many strongholds and treaties have your expedition built?" Constantine asked.

The basis for various European countries to determine the ownership of colonies is the actual occupation or the agreement signed with the chief. The actual occupation is the business liaison point established by the merchants. The agreement is the various colonial countries either coercion or inducement, the protection agreement signed by the indigenous chief or It's a mandate treaty.

This is the basis for determining the ownership of colonies. For a small country like Greece that depends on others, it may not be possible to get a colony if it has this thing, but if it is not available, it will definitely not be obtained.

"We followed the plan and went up the Congo River. We set up more than a dozen strongholds along the way and signed more than a hundred rights transfer treaties," Stanley replied.

"You need to speed up the progress. Countries are expanding rapidly to Africa. By the way, based on your experience in Africa for so many years, what do you think of the development prospects of the Congo River Basin?" Stanley asked.

After hearing Constantine's question, Stanley frowned and thought.

"If the development prospects you are talking about mean making money, then your Excellency, the Duke, may not be happy to hear my words," Stanley said, touching his chin with his right hand.

"What does this mean?" Stanley's heart tightened. He thought he could hear some inspiring words, but Stanley's words were more like pouring cold water on him.

"The Congo River Basin is densely covered with criss-crossing rivers. Not only the Congo River, but also the many tributaries of the Congo River have abundant rainfall and smooth water flow. This is because the equator passes through the Congo River Basin. As the seasons change, when south of the equator is During the dry season, the rainy season is north of the equator, and vice versa. The tributaries of the Congo River are distributed north and south of the equator. They take turns injecting abundant river water into the downstream Congo River. From my experience, they have very high water transportation. Value,” said Stanley.

Water transportation is the cheapest mode of transportation in any era, bar none.

The waterways formed by the many tributaries of the Congo River are golden trade routes.

"According to what you said, this should be good news, right?" Constantine asked in confusion.

"You are right, but there is a premise. You need huge upfront investment. The railway from Matadi to Kinshasa is an insurmountable hurdle," Stanley replied.

The railway from Matadi to Kinshasa is about 400 kilometers long. You can imagine how difficult it would be to build such a railway in Africa, which is far away from the civilized world.

How difficult it is to build, how expensive it is.

As for why it is from Matadi to Kinshasa, this is because after the ship reaches Africa due to the waterfall area on the lower reaches of the Congo River, it can only reach Matadi as far as it sails inland along the Congo River.

The section of the river from Matadi to Kinshasa is not navigable.

"Building a railway that connects the vast channel network of the Congo River to the mouth of the river where ships can navigate is an essential condition for the development of Congo," Stanley continued.

“As for what resources Congo has, I am not a professional scholar and don’t know. But judging from the level of civilization of the local people, no matter what kind of treasures God has buried in Congo, they are still buried intact in the ground.” Stan Li Dao.

"In other words, so far, I know that you and your father, His Majesty the King, have invested a lot of money, but with all due respect, that is not enough. You must find supporters. Those in your hands Bankers who hold a large amount of capital, or some other powerful people, this is my sincere suggestion," Stanley said, looking at Constantine.

Stanley fully hopes that Constantine will succeed, because the balance of his reward has not yet been paid.

"In other words, the initial investment is very expensive, but there is still a good prospect of profit?" Constantine wanted to know what this old African oilman thought and continued to ask.

"That's right, oh, by the way, I recently heard that an expedition team came to Tanzania," Stanley said.

"There are so many expeditions in Africa, sir," Constantine said nonchalantly.

"This one is different. His leader is called Cameron, who is an Englishman. As for his sponsor, I found out privately," Stanley said here, looking at Constantine, "he is the King of Belgium, Leopold II”.

Hearing this name, Constantine's pupils shrank and he secretly thought, he's still here.

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