For Angolan agriculture, the East African government's main task had previously been restoring production at local plantations and farms. That goal had now been achieved. After the Portuguese withdrew, East Africa had spent four years restoring order to local agriculture.
What followed was the resolution of public security issues. To put it bluntly, it meant recapturing the black slaves who had fled across Angola during the war and sending them back to work on plantations and farms.
While restoring production, East Africa also simultaneously restored Angola's original commodity export markets. Otherwise, if agricultural products were produced with nowhere to sell them, the East African government would have worked for nothing.
East Africa's response was to advance both domestic and foreign markets at the same time. One approach was to restore the commodity sales channels formerly used by the Portuguese in Angola, but due to the relationship between the two countries, progress on that front was limited.
East Africa therefore urgently needed to develop new shipping markets, and Germany naturally became the focus. By sea, East Africa's West Coast offered the fastest route to Germany.
Originally, East African ports had been concentrated in the east, so direct maritime trade between East Africa and Germany had to detour through the Strait of Gibraltar. Otherwise, goods could only be transferred through the Austro-Hungarian Empire's railways.
After ports were added on the West Coast, East African vessels could sail directly to Germany's Atlantic ports, such as Bremen and Hamburg, or enter Baltic Sea ports through the Skagerrak Strait or, in the future, Germany's Kiel Canal.
At this time, the Kiel Canal had not yet opened. Construction on the Kiel Canal had begun before the South African War, in 1887. Based on the current pace of construction, it would not open until at least next