Upington.
Upington was the second-largest city in New Baden Province in southwestern East Africa. Located on the north bank of the Orange River, it had once been the capital of the Griqualand Republic.
This June, the citizens of Upington received good news. According to unofficial rumors, a railway was going to be built to Upington.
"They're building a railway? Is the news reliable?"
In Upington, cartloads of construction materials were steadily transported in from the east. Thanks to the British having built the Kimberley Railway, many of the raw materials needed for railway construction could be brought over from the vicinity of Kimberley.
"Of course. This railway will start from Bulawayo, pass through Gaborone and Katu, and finally reach Upington."
No wonder the citizens of Upington were so interested in the railway. As a frontier town of East Africa, transportation here had truly been far too inconvenient.
Upington itself lay on the southern border, far from East Africa's political and economic centers. The construction of this railway would greatly improve Upington's transportation capacity.
The Upington Railway mainly passed through eastern New Baden Province, running basically parallel to the Orange River, because the southeastern region of New Baden Province had the best natural conditions and the richest mineral resources in the entire province.
Beyond national defense needs, the most important purpose of constructing the Bua Railway was to transport out New Baden Province's mineral resources.
Most of this railway passed through New Baden Province, with a small section within Matabele Province, before connecting to the Central Railway line in Bulawayo. It ran northeast to southwest and was an important project for East Africa's development of the Kalahari region.
The Kalahari region, centered on the Kalahari Basin, counted as a separate geographical unit within East Africa.
Of course, in the strict sense,