For example, 52 percent of Dar es Salaam city's coal came from New Hamburg City, 31 percent from India, and the remainder from the Middle East or other parts of East Africa. However, over the past year or two, imported Russian coal had grown rapidly in Dar es Salaam city, mainly coming from eastern Ukraine.
The sources of iron ore were even more outrageous. Forty-seven percent of Dar es Salaam city's iron ore came from India, and 13 percent from the Middle East. Together, the two exceeded East African mainland supplies.
This showed Dar es Salaam city's immense advantage in maritime shipping, while also demonstrating the prosperity of trade between India and Dar es Salaam city.
Most cities along the East African eastern coast valued their trade ties with India. After all, a colossal market with nearly 300 million people, coupled with India's abundant mineral resources, held enormous appeal for East African enterprises, even with the British Colonial Government acting as a middleman taking its cut.
India's conditions were absolutely blessed by nature. Even in the agrarian age, India had been the world's center of agriculture and handicrafts, second only to the Far East Empire.
And for India to have become the world's center of handicrafts in ancient times, it naturally could not have done without its abundant natural resources. Take basic industrial minerals such as coal and iron ore—India possessed highly considerable reserves of them. In the previous life, India, as the world's most populous country, still maintained enormous iron ore exports, which spoke volumes.
Moreover, the maritime shipping advantage between East Africa and India was exceptionally pronounced. With the triple advantages of transportation, resources, and markets combined, it would have been impossible for East Africa-India trade not to flourish.
After 1914, trade between East Africa and India further