African Business Chronicles

Chapter 30 – Dodoma

Dodoma was the first destination assigned to the East Africa Advance Corps' First Team. While the other squads were still on the move, First Team had already begun construction.

Dodoma, which would later become the administrative capital of Tanzania, sits at an elevation of over 1,100 meters. The climate is cool, located near the upper reaches of the Wami River, with gentle hills and varied terrain. In the past, it served as a resting point for trade caravans traveling between the Swahili Coast and Lake Tanganyika. Later, it became an important railway hub, giving it immense geographical value.

Goods unloaded at Dar es Salaam could be transferred through Dodoma and distributed to various colonial outposts, and it could also serve as a waypoint for incoming migrants.

With average annual rainfall around 600mm and temperatures ranging between 15 to 30°C, Dodoma was an ideal place for human settlement.

This gave First Team a great advantage. Before the rainy season hit, they used kerosene lighters made by the Hexingen Company to set controlled fires across the land. Fueled by southeast winds, the fire spread northwest, driving wild animals into a panic. Some that couldn't escape ended up as meat for the soldiers. Roasted with freshly picked wild bananas, the fat sizzled as it cooked over open flames.

The ash left behind from the fire helped neutralize soil acidity. With the land ready, the 500+ migrants traveling with the team began tilling the fields.

Dodoma also had some native tribes, who had long used the area as a marketplace to trade with Arab merchants. When they saw this newly arrived First Team carrying firearms (which the Arabs also had), they naturally became wary of the unknown.

Especially since East Asian faces were a rare sight in these parts. Most local tribes were Bantu peoples who had migrated centuries ago from West Africa. Their dark skin marked them as different from the newly arrived Chinese, whose skin tone fell somewhere between the Bantu and European Germans. Their unfamiliar clothing made them stand out even more from a distance.

Still, First Team had no intention of clashing with the locals—for now, the focus was on building their camp.

Fortunately, East Africa at this time was still sparsely populated. The entire savanna region within modern Tanzania likely had fewer people than the Mongolian steppe. After all, Mongolians raised livestock, while most of these local tribes still relied on hunting and gathering. Low productivity meant they couldn't support large populations.

Arab merchants had long stirred up tribal conflicts, triggering wars and fueling the slave trade. These disruptions had caused East Africa's population to shrink, rather than grow.

In modern times, Tanzania's population passed 50 million largely thanks to colonial efforts by Germany and Britain. While neither power was pure in its intentions, both pulled these "uncivilized" people into the agricultural age.

Once these African countries gained independence, the absence of colonial oversight combined with improvements in productivity caused their populations to explode. In the 1960s, Tanzania had just over 10 million people; by the time Ernst crossed over, that number was nearly 60 million—and rising.

Ernst suspected that in his current era, the entire territory of Tanzania, with its 940,000 square kilometers, might not even have 5 million people.

In the real timeline, German East Africa had just over 7 million people before WWI—even though it included Rwanda and Burundi, which were densely populated.

That's why Ernst was confident about seizing East Africa. He'd seen counties back in his previous life that had nearly a million people—some even more than two million.

Trying to move a whole country's worth of people would sound insane—but moving people from just a few counties? That was possible.

His homeland had a fearsome ability to mobilize its population. Massive projects like the South-North Water Diversion and the Three Gorges Dam were completed in relatively short timeframes. Ernst figured he had decades to work with, so if he spent 30 to 50 years carefully relocating the natives, there would be no ethnic conflict left in East Africa.

As for fusing Chinese and Germans, Ernst saw no issue. He believed this integration could work. After all, places like Brazil—where everyone was equally poor—had no energy to stir up racial division. In contrast, in wealthy countries like the U.S., race was used constantly to shift blame.

Then there was Cuba—a country Ernst admired. Under the same political system, all races lived in harmony. Any other small capitalist country would have descended into chaos.

On the other hand, Yugoslavia was a cautionary tale. Ernst didn't mean to sound biased, but he believed the country's collapse was the fault of its leaders—lost in compromise and liberalism, with no clear stance or direction.

Getting back on topic—Ernst believed he could handle the East Africa situation. Having lived in a nation with 3,000 years of centralized rule and 2,000 years of national unification traditions, he knew a thing or two about control.

Even the Western Zhou's feudal system, in Ernst's eyes, was more centralized than the West. The Zhou royal house remained the nominal ruler. Europe, meanwhile, had too many wannabe Romes—and even after two world wars, couldn't get a real European Union off the ground.

Russia, at least, had some centralizing instinct, which is why the Americans feared it—they knew it could one day unite Europe.

…

Today in Dodoma, the temperature was a pleasant 23°C. The immigrants, most dressed in Prussian military surplus, found the climate ideal—much better than the stuffy heat of First Town.

Still, their commanders remained cautious. Africa, in the eyes of early Europeans, was a cursed land. Tropical diseases were everywhere, which is why most colonists stuck to the coast and avoided the interior.

Ernst took health very seriously. He issued a full set of practical hygiene guidelines:

– Boil water before drinking it.

– Don't eat raw or undercooked wild meat.

– Avoid snakes, frogs, and other animals prone to carrying parasites.

– Disinfect the colony regularly.

– Protect against mosquito bites.

– Manage and recycle waste properly.

These tasks became part of daily routines for colonial officials. Food safety was especially emphasized. Having suffered through famines, these Chinese immigrants would eat almost anything, and Ernst didn't want any "creative" cooking to backfire.

Fortunately, food in East Africa was still abundant. If needed, wild bananas and fruits could stave off hunger. Even large herds of wild animals—zebras, wildebeests—could be hunted in groups.

At night, Dodoma's skies were brilliantly clear, the stars bright and dense. The temperature dropped a little. After a long day of labor, the Chinese settlers lay on their simple wooden beds and drifted peacefully to sleep.

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