Developing South Africa was also one of Austria's measures for dealing with the agricultural crisis. The newly created jobs could conveniently absorb bankrupt farmers and prevent a wave of unemployment.
Europeans had always been deeply fascinated by gold. Prospecting was the easiest path to getting rich in this era. With good enough luck, one could make a fortune.
Among the earliest Austrians to emigrate to Africa, five out of every ten had made their fortunes through gold mines. Of the other five, another two had provided logistical services for gold mining.
Colonies everywhere lacked immigrants in this era. To stand out amid the fierce competition, publicity was the key.
A beautiful pie in the sky was indispensable. As for whether they could actually find gold mines and strike it rich after arriving? Franz could say with certainty that ninety-nine percent of them would not get rich.
As one joke put it: Two brothers went off in search of gold mines, only to discover upon arrival that they did not know how to prospect at all.
That was the truth. Unless it was an open-pit gold mine with an exceptionally high gold content, obvious at a glance, ordinary people would fail to recognize it even if they stumbled upon one.
Now that gold mines had been discovered, who knew how many prospecting teams were active in South Africa? The powerful figures back home were likewise organizing prospecting teams. If there were gold mines, most would end up in these people's hands.
Had the Vienna Government not introduced a gold mine purchase program, allowing ordinary people who discovered gold mines to sell them directly to the government, they would have lacked the means to mine them even if they found them—and might even have brought fatal disaster upon themselves.
Seeing how enthusiastic