Compared with Zimbabwe, the Katanga Plateau (Zambia and southern Congo) was actually the heartland of East Africa's territory. However, its mineral resources were rather lopsided: its copper reserves ranked among the world's best, while its other mineral resources were far too scarce by comparison.
Even so, Katanga's coal and iron resources were still considerably stronger than those of eastern East Africa, though they too were concentrated around the border with Zimbabwe. This distribution made it clear that most of the Kingdom of East Africa's coal and iron ore resources were naturally concentrated in southern Africa.
Just as the British had said during the First World War in Ernst's previous life, the Germans' colonies were nothing but rotten land. In later generations, East Africa's overall level of development also lagged behind North Africa, West Africa, and Southern Africa, only faring somewhat better than Central Africa.
Therefore, Ernst said, "While constructing the Central Railway, we must also develop the Katanga region at the same time. We must achieve economic integration with the eastern region before the Matabele Plateau does and narrow the gap between the two places."
"Katanga's copper resources will be the focus of our development. We must build a core competitive advantage around the copper mines."
"I believe no one here is unfamiliar with the importance of copper. At present, it is the world's second most consumed metal after steel, and it is also one of East Africa's strengths."
"And copper mining and utilization cannot do without railway support. Our demand for copper is enormous, so the construction of the Central Railway is of great significance to the development of Katanga's copper mines."
In the original course of history, Europe had been the world's principal supplier of copper from the seventeenth through the nineteenth centuries. Yet Europe's demand for copper