Chapter 432: Three Channels
July 1873.
After more than half a year of hard work, the first section of the Central Canal was fully completed, taking nearly four months longer than the East African government's planned schedule.
This was unavoidable, as the enthusiasm of the natives was truly difficult to fully mobilize. Historically, the period when sub-Saharan Africans achieved their highest labor efficiency was during the era of Western-run slave plantations.
After African nations gained independence, Black-majority countries generally experienced a precipitous decline in productivity. Without external constraints, they reverted to the unrestrained ways of primitive society.
This phenomenon is not unique to Africa. In fact, India and Southeast Asia exhibited similar trends. While the actions of colonizers were unforgivable, in fully colonized regions, labor efficiency likely reached its historical peak.
East Africa's "laborers" faced the same issue. Even with the use of whips and corporal punishment, these "workers" barely reached the level of average, unmotivated laborers.
Excessive beatings only made the "laborers" develop resistance, triggering Stockholm syndrome. While they became more docile and obedient, they also learned to drag out their work as much as possible while "enjoying" the process.
Sometimes, diligence in work cannot be discerned with the naked eye—especially for tasks like digging soil. East African overseers couldn't possibly weigh every shovelful of dirt to ensure it met standards.
In reality, East Africa did implement such measures, albeit through spot checks. Overseers visually inspected the workload of the natives. If a worker was suspected of slacking, work would be halted to measure the amount of soil in their shovel.
A more effective method was the reward-and-punishment system, where "laborers" monitored each other. Workgroups were established, and the lowest-performing group faced elimination.
If a workgroup ranked in the bottom three for three consecutive days, they would be prioritized for sale to the United States or other regions. Conversely, if a group ranked first for three days, they would receive the highest-quality "laborer" meals until another group took the top spot.
This created a vicious cycle: the more diligent "laborers" enjoyed better living conditions, ate more, had more meat, and worked even harder, making it likely they would remain in first place. Meanwhile, other groups struggled to avoid falling into the bottom three.
The reason for this was fear of the unknown. The laborers had no idea where their compatriots, taken away by the Germans, were being sent! How the Germans would punish them! Or whether they would be eaten by the Germans!
While cannibalism was absurd, this was the kind of rumor the natives spread among themselves. Besides the "eaten alive" theory, there were also claims of execution by firing squad, drowning in lakes, or even being skinned alive...
This painted East Africa as a "terrifying" nation—a completely unfounded fear, as Ernst had no peculiar fetish for wearing special leather shoes.
Despite the outlandish rumors, East Africa was happy to let them spread, as the "laborers'" efficiency improved significantly. As for those who were eliminated, they were already aboard ocean-going vessels, leaving East Africa behind.
Due to the economic downturn, East Africa's "slave" trade was also affected. However, high-quality goods were never hard to sell, as demand from the Ottoman Empire remained strong.
American plantation owners, suffering from the agricultural crisis and falling international crop prices, began tightening their belts, abandoning large tracts of land, reducing production, and laying off agricultural workers en masse.
However, while many ordinary farmworkers were dismissed, the imported "East African native laborers" were exempt. As a cheaper alternative to slaves, these laborers were actually more cost-effective.
After all, buying slaves required money. During the slave trade era, the costs of capturing, feeding, transporting, and shipping slaves from Africa to the Americas were all borne by the plantation owners, making slaves expensive.
Plantation owners bought slaves for long-term profits, expecting to recoup their investment with interest over time.
The "East African native laborers" were different. Before the economic crisis, East Africa had charged a nominal fee, but after the crisis hit, to maintain its share of the American market, East Africa began subsidizing the slave trade.
This subsidy was based on the number of "migrants" exported. The primary destination for East Africa's native exports was Haiti. The more natives Haiti accepted, the more money it made. What Haiti did with these natives was none of East Africa's concern.
After accounting for shipping, labor, and food costs, East Africa still had to pay Haiti an additional 200,000 East African Rheinish Guilders annually—a significant sum for Haiti.
Or rather, a significant sum for Haiti's ruling families. These "migrants" could be sent to plantations, resold to the U.S., or, in the most extreme cases, disposed of for pure profit...
In the previous world, Haiti's population exceeded 10 million. Now, it was barely a fraction of that. Even if East Africa dumped all its natives there, Haiti's rulers could handle it, especially with neighboring Dominican Republic absorbing some of the overflow.
Of course, East Africa did not sell the more diligent natives. However, they couldn't stay in East Africa forever, either.
East Africa's solution was to extend the work terms of these productive natives. Once their contracts expired, they were sent to regimes like Msiri's in West Africa—former East African natives who had been expelled.
Msiri, being East African himself, needed manpower to solidify his rule in West Africa—the more, the better. This became another destination for East Africa's natives.
Overall, "retired" laborers in East Africa had three main destinations: Central Asia, the Caribbean coast, and West Africa.
For the laborers, Central Asia was the worst, as Arabs had "special methods" to ensure they could not reproduce.
The Caribbean was a gamble. Those sent to the U.S. might fare slightly better, but those left in Haiti would likely never escape servitude.
Those sent to West African territories ruled by East Africa's "benevolent" native rulers faced a mixed fate. On the positive side, East African laborers were considered high-quality workers. Even if they only farmed, they could generate wealth for rulers like Msiri. Thus, they had two options: farming or joining the military.
Compared to West Africans, East Africa's native rulers trusted their own kin more. As foreign invaders, they were already unpopular in West Africa, and conflicts were frequent. The exported East African natives became their foot soldiers in these power struggles.
Thus, the slave trade intensified conflicts in West Africa, though the overall impact was minimal, at least in terms of population changes.
This was because East Africa's primary exports to West Africa were not male laborers but women and children. Without women, the native population could not grow—a hidden pillar of East Africa's national policy.
After all, East Africa's capacity to export "laborers" was limited, averaging only 200,000–300,000 annually (excluding those who fled or left voluntarily). If international pressure ever forced an end to the slave trade, leaving East Africa stuck with a surplus of male natives, they would die out naturally within a generation—incapable of asexual reproduction.
In reality, East Africa did not engage in outright "massacres," but the annual attrition rate among native laborers was still significant. Thus, disposing of the evidence was a key part of Ernst's cleanup operations.
Burying bodies haphazardly, as in North America, was unacceptable. East Africa preferred cremation, followed by localized burial.
Once reduced to ashes, no future generation would recognize the remains. Cremation was standard practice in East Africa, primarily to prevent disease outbreaks—a politically correct stance at the time.
For East Africa's immigrants, this was tolerable. Those who ventured to East Africa were generally young and healthy, with decades of life ahead of them.
Personally, Ernst opposed cremation on principle—he would never choose it for himself. But given East Africa's poor sanitation and backward medical technology, extreme precautions were understandable.
The policy could always be revoked in 20 or 30 years, by which time East Africa's healthcare standards would have improved.
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