East Africa's national economy was currently carried chiefly by these seven major urban clusters, and in Ernst's view, East African industry would continue to develop around these seven clusters as its core.
Although East African industries were concentrated in these seven main regions, this also reflected the East African Central Government's coordination of regional economic development.
Though it could not compare with Germany, East Africa's industrial distribution was already relatively balanced compared with that of other great powers. This was also closely tied to the country's terrain, resource distribution, and transportation pattern.
Germany's balanced industrial distribution likewise could not be separated from these factors. Much of German industry was distributed in river valleys and similar terrain, making it impossible to concentrate as it did in the United States or France. Moreover, historical reasons had laid down the overall pattern of its national economy as early as the era when its many states stood side by side.
Although East Africa's overall terrain was relatively flat, it was also divided into several plateaus, coastal plains, and basins. This had produced the current distribution of East Africa's economy and population. However, these regions were relatively moderate in size. The East African Highlands, for instance, covered nearly one million square kilometers; compared with East Africa's territory, that was neither too large nor too small. No geographical unit within East Africa's main territory held an absolute advantage.
In East Africa's early days, development would naturally have been concentrated in the East African Highlands, because its core territory at the time had centered on the Highlands. But as East Africa's territory rapidly expanded, the East African Highlands no longer possessed such conditions.
After analyzing the overall national economic pattern, the Ministry of Transportation and the Ministry of Railways began reviewing the work of their two