New Hamburg City.
October 29, 1889.
As the flames of war subsided, East Africa's construction in the south was placed on the agenda. First came the railway from New Hamburg City to Maputo, linking Maputo to East Africa's other cities by rail.
This was the simplest way to connect Maputo with East Africa. A railway of less than four hundred kilometers would be enough to link Maputo, the former capital of the Mozambique colony, into the East African Railway Network.
Of course, Maputo's location would certainly see an east-west railway built in the future, taking on the vital role of an outlet to the sea for central provinces such as Matabele Province.
However, Matabele Province was not actually very interested in Maputo. Its first choice was the Beira region in central Mozambique.
Beira had also been one of Mozambique's important seaports in Ernst's previous life. It lay directly west of Matabele Province and offered the fastest route to the sea for the province.
Maputo lay too far to the south for Matabele Province, while for Hechingen Province, Maputo was not the optimal choice either, with the Drakensberg Mountains standing between them.
Instead, the terrain between southern New Hamburg City and Hechingen Province was relatively flat. The Central Railway would be less difficult to construct there, while connecting Maputo to the East African interior could only wait until the future.
Under present conditions, the party most interested in Maputo was actually the East African Navy. They intended to concentrate New Hamburg City's naval forces in the Maputo area.
The fact that Maputo could become a Portuguese military fortress in the Western Indian Ocean spoke for the importance of its location, while its harbor conditions stood alone among the entire East African eastern coast.
Its economic role was secondary instead. Just as