As the former capital of the Matabele Kingdom and now the second largest city in Matabele Province, Bulawayo city had developed at a remarkable pace.
Its basic conditions had already been quite favorable, and the Central Railway passing through it had created excellent transportation conditions for its development.
In his previous life, Bulawayo had been renowned for industry and was Zimbabwe's largest manufacturing center. Its industries included steelmaking, machinery manufacturing, food processing, textiles, fertilizer, daily-use chemicals, and more. This array alone showed Bulawayo's economic standing in Zimbabwe; after all, industry was exceedingly rare for African nations.
The key factors that had forged Bulawayo's industrial status in Zimbabwe were its historical legacy, transportation advantages, and abundant mineral resources.
After East Africa occupied Bulawayo, it inherited most of the city's assets. However, the principal assets left behind locally by the Ndebele people were still houses, which solved East Africa's early housing needs for resettling its population. As for the Ndebele treasury, it had long since been handed over to East Africa's national treasury, mainly consisting of gold, other precious metals, and gemstones. There were other items as well, but East Africa had no use for them.
The whole world shared the same fondness for gold, and the Ndebele people were no exception. The Matabele Kingdom's treasury was also East Africa's greatest harvest since it began colonizing Africa. After all, the Matabele Kingdom had covered a vast territory and accumulated immense wealth.
East Africa had previously eliminated quite a few indigenous states, but most had not accumulated wealth comparable to that of historically long-standing Zimbabwe. Others had migrated their entire nations, taking with them the wealth amassed over generations, such as Msiri's regime and the former states of the Great Lakes region around Lake Victoria.
Zimbabwe's history had gaps between dynasties, but that