African Entrepreneurship Record

South Atlantic route, African section.

The Little Hans had just passed the coast of South Angola, followed the Benguela Cold Current, and entered the colonial waters of North Angola controlled by the Portuguese.

The name of the ship shows the past ownership of the ship. This name must be a ship of the German country. Of course, this is only in the past. Now the Little Hans is a wooden sailing merchant ship registered by the Republic of Haiti. The apparent identity of this ship.

"Report to the captain, a British warship has been spotted ahead!"

"Don't panic, first check the people on our ship to see if there is any oversight. Maybe the British warship just passed by here."

Although he said this, Captain Othello still prepared for the worst in his heart. British law enforcement warships are rarely seen on this route.

Soon the British ship on the opposite side signaled, allowing the Little Hans to dock for inspection.

"Captain, what now?"

"Get examined!" Othello ordered.

You can't run away, you can't fight. This slave ship disguised as an armed merchant ship is no match for the ironclad.

The ships currently used to transport slaves in East Africa are relatively backward wooden sail merchant ships, and many of them are second-hand ships purchased by East Africa from around the world.

The slave trade is accompanied by huge risks, especially under the joint attack of the international community, so East Africa, a slave-exporting country, can only keep a low profile. However, under normal circumstances, East Africa has not encountered any targeting in the South Atlantic waters, but today it seems Got into trouble.

Soon, the British warships approached the Haitian merchant ships. In front of the British warships, the Haitian merchant ship looked like a small dot. This was also a flaw of the wooden sail merchant ships. It was difficult to surpass these steel behemoths in size.

The British sailors quickly set up a mysterious ladder and then transitioned to the Little Hans.

"Which of you is the captain of this ship?" asked the Royal Navy sailor.

Othello stepped forward and said, "I am the captain of this ship, Othello."

"Othello?" The Royal Navy sailor looked at the black captain carefully and asked strangely: "Are you black?"

"Yes, I am a Haitian." Othello said with a flattering smile, not daring to look strange at all. His dark face showed a pair of big white teeth, which were very dazzling against the blue sea and sky.

"Haitians? Why is your ship called the Little Hans?"

"The ship was purchased from East Africa, so we didn't change the name, but the sailor and I are both serious Haitians," Othello replied.

"That's really rare!" said the British Royal Marine.

Black captains are indeed uncommon on the ocean. There may be more countries like the United States, but in Africa, where there are the most black people, black people engaged in ocean-going trade are absolutely rare.

In the past, Somalis, Swahili people and some black countries on the Red Sea coast were relatively good at maritime trade, but these countries have long been abolished or colonized by Western colonists led by East Africa.

Othello said: "Of course, we in Haiti are an island country, and the country's main trade relies on shipping, so we have also purchased many ships from the civilized world to develop shipping."

In fact, these cheap merchant ships were donated by East Africa to the Haitians. After all, the slave trade is difficult to do, and the East Africans do not want to do it directly, so it would be much more "harmonious" for Haitians, who are also black, to sell black slaves. .

And now that Haiti itself is the largest exporter of "labor services" in the Americas, this is more reasonable. This is also a development direction of the East African slave trade in recent years.

And Othello is a Haitian businessman who cooperates with East Africa. East Africa ships, and Othello pulls "goods" from East Africa. In this way, Othello can not only obtain an ocean-going ship at a very low cost, although it is only a wooden sailing merchant ship that is being eliminated, But it is also a great wealth for Haitians.

At the same time, "commodities" and "laborers" can be obtained for free through prostitution. In this case, it is equivalent to East Africa giving three cents to the Haitians.

The ship was provided by East Africa, the goods were actually freight paid by East Africa, and the laborers were slaves retired from service in East Africa after their service terms had expired.

Haitians only need to contribute their own efforts to obtain this wealth. At the same time, the people in the sea can continue to sell slaves and goods and make a lot of money.

Under the "tens of billions of subsidies" in East Africa, every Haitian household has naturally lived a prosperous life, and has never returned to the slave economy.

The sailors of the Royal Navy are not interested in these because Haiti was a former French colony and is now independent, so they have no time to investigate in detail where they got these second-hand ships.

He was more interested in whether the ship was a slave ship. This was a requirement from above, so he had to make sure it was foolproof.

"Now we want to check whether your merchant ship, including personnel and cargo, complies with international regulations. Captain Othello, you shouldn't stop it!"

Othello's face looked ugly. Although he could not see any change due to his dark skin, he did not dare to retort and said: "Then please do it! But we are businessmen who do serious business and will never do illegal business."

The British did not believe what Othello said. There was not much clean water on the sea in the 19th century.

Soon, Othello's crew, hijacked by British sailors, took them to carefully observe every place on the ship.

"Captain Othello, why are there so many sailors on your ship? It's obviously overcrowded? A few dozen sailors should be enough. There are almost hundreds of people on this ship, right?"

"Sir, our ships employ more people, but these are all Africans who have obtained our Haitian nationality. Currently, we have many Haitian labor companies in the Americas, and they need a lot of manpower, so we are all legal workers."

On the surface, there shouldn't be any problem with what Othello said. At least in terms of clothing, these people don't look like slaves.

These clothes were naturally distributed in East Africa. After all, the slaves in East Africa contributed their youth. If they can't even wear clothes, then the East Africans are "animals".

"There is also a problem with your cargo. The cargo of a normal merchant ship is not so small. Isn't it a loss for you to take this trip?"

Othello: "Sir, this is because you don't understand the situation in our Haiti. Our Haiti is a notoriously poor country. It has a small land area and not rich products, so there are not many things that can be used for foreign trade, so the volume of freight It's normal to have less, and as you said before, the most important thing on my ship are these new Haitian 'citizens', they are our wealth."

"Are they slaves?"

Othello did not dare to answer, but said righteously: "These are citizens of Haiti who have been naturalized through legal channels. They have identity information issued by our Haitian embassy. Sir, you can't harm us!"

Under the suspicious eyes of the British sailors, Othello asked these people to take out their identification "certificates" issued by the Haitian embassy in East Africa.

The entire inspection passed very thrillingly, and the British warship had to give this "normal trading vessel" a pass.

This is also where East Africans are cunning. Now the slave trade is becoming more and more risky, and slave traders will naturally continue to improve with the development of the times.

Now there are no people leaving East Africa, and the slave trade is disguised as normal "immigration" and "work" and other legal forms. The international community as a whole cannot find fault.

Of course, the fundamental reason why this "advanced" slave trading method was realized was that East Africa paid a lot of costs and did not regard profit as the primary goal.