Chapter 280: "The Bagamoyo Shipyard and the Culture Wars"
In Bagamoyo, the construction of the Bagamoyo Shipyard was in progress. The shipyard was planned based on the Venetian shipyard model and the geographical conditions of Bagamoyo Port. It was expected to become the largest shipyard in East Africa and aimed to enhance the region's independent shipbuilding capacity.
Best, a technician from the Venice Shipyard, explained the project to Constantine. He emphasized that the location of the shipyard in Bagamoyo was chosen to avoid occupying the operating space of the port of Dar es Salaam, which played a crucial role in the East African economy. Bagamoyo offered favorable conditions, including good water depth, protection from sea winds by Zanzibar Island, and a sheltered bay on the mainland.
Berster, an Austrian technician from the Trieste shipyard, further explained the shipbuilding industry in East Africa. There were two systems in place: inland shipbuilding relying on lakes and rivers, and coastal shipbuilding. The latter had recently begun with small ship repair factories in Dar es Salaam and Mombasa, focusing on maintenance and small wooden fishing boat production.
Mogadishu also had shipbuilding capabilities, but they lagged in technology. Ernst's plan to copy the Hechingen shipyard to East Africa aimed to address this technological gap. The shipyard in Bagamoyo had been designed to include advanced machinery and expertise transferred from the Venice Shipyard.
Constantine inquired about the world ranking of the ships produced at the Bagamoyo Shipyard once it was completed. Berster explained that the technology would likely be two generations behind European shipyards. The Bagamoyo Shipyard had essentially replicated the Venice Shipyard, including its technology. However, the Venice Shipyard would undergo industrial upgrading with new equipment and technology, benefiting both regions.
Ernst's plan also included relocating Italian workers from the Venice Shipyard to East Africa while recruiting more Germans from Austria to work in Venice. This strategy aimed to increase Austrian influence in Venice and reduce the influence of Italian culture in the region.
The ultimate goal was a culture war strategy to counter the spread of Italian culture in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. By blocking the connection center of Venice and slowly replacing Italians with Austrian countrymen, the cultural imprint of Italians on the Adriatic Sea's east coast could be reduced. This was seen as a long-term effort to alleviate ethnic conflicts in the Austrian region and disrupt the influence of Italian culture.
Ernst believed that this approach would be beneficial for future generations of Austrians and help maintain cultural balance within the empire. However, he acknowledged that such actions might face criticism from post-modern perspectives, but he saw it as part of a larger culture war to reshape cultural influences and maintain stability in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.