Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2213 Marginalized Zone ([-])

The southwest wind whizzed past, and the land was completely white.The snow field was so quiet that not even a single animal could be seen.It seems that in the coldest month of the year, both people and animals lose interest in outdoor activities, and instead hide in their houses or caves to survive the cold winter.

As local aborigines, the numbers of Ona, Arakalu, and Yagan have declined to a deplorable level over the years.They either went out to seek life, intermarried with people from the east coast, and eventually disappeared into national integration, or joined the army to go out to fight, and finally died on foreign land.The remaining small part, during the decades of rapid population growth on the east coast, has only slowly grown to 2 people, which can be said to have failed.

But these people are often the most stubborn - or the most persistent - they stubbornly guard their own traditions and dignity, living their lives on the ice and snow of Tierra del Fuego.They live almost everywhere on the island. They have amazing endurance and traditional culture inherited by memory. Their days are hard but happy.

However, no one can avoid the impact of modern lifestyle.Even though the tribe has been very closed and refused to modernize, under the subtle influence of decades, they still inevitably "degenerate".There are a lot of modern daily necessities in the tribe, and the originally irregular language of the tribe has also been impacted by the outside world, and a lot of Chinese words have been mixed in, which makes the elders of the tribe worried.

Of course they were lucky.Compared with the Tehuelche and Araucan, their close relatives in the southern cone, at least some of them still stick to their own culture, although this culture is no longer pure.However, those ethnic groups who were hit hard by the East Coast government, naturalized or even migrated overseas did not even retain their memories and testimonies.In the future, they will wear East Coast costumes, speak Chinese, and write Chinese characters. The traditional culture will disappear, and no one will care about their history—the story of the defeated is difficult to write.

At the beginning of this year, a total of [-] ashes were sent back from Europe.These are the natives of Tierra del Fuego who participated in the army's expeditions. They are usually tall and glorious grenadiers in the army. They are majestic, but they are often the priority targets of the enemy, so the casualty rate is very high. Low.

After the ashes are sent back, they will be buried in the cemetery in their hometown on the spot.Tribal elders were also invited to attend the funeral. People still remember that an old gray-haired elder looked at the ashes of the boys, sighed wistfully, and said, "There are too many heroes..."

Undoubtedly, for these elders who stick to traditional culture, it is abominable for any younger generation to be crowned with a halo of heroes: two lines of so-called meritorious deeds, glory made up on bank checks, and local government propaganda value, each of which made the elders sick and panicked.They can foresee that maybe after their death, the tribe will completely disintegrate, and they, a group of people who stick to traditional culture, will only become one of the anecdotes in newspapers and magazines in the future: "A certain year, a certain month, a certain day , the death of the last Ona people marks the complete disappearance of this nation in the long river of history..."

But this is the process of history, independent of anyone's will, cold and cruel!

Compared with the aboriginal group headed by the Ona people on Tierra del Fuego, the more numerous people from the east coast on the island actually have their own troubles.Their trouble is that they are in a forgotten position, and their economic and social development is on the verge of stagnation—well, this may be an exaggeration, but it is really slow—people’s income level is not high, and the construction of spiritual civilization is even worse. It's a mess, in short, it is a typical appearance of a marginal and backward area.

To be fair, the southern part of the southern cone and the area around Tierra del Fuego have been prosperous for a long time in history.At that time, the trade between the two oceans in the Southern Cone was prevalent, and the Fuego and the two oceans railways were still under the jurisdiction of the Southern Railway Company. The goods flowing through the two oceans railways, the Strait of Magellan and Cape Horn every month were countless, and the funds were even more Flow everywhere.At that time, the Southern Railway Company was also kind and invested in the construction of a lot of infrastructure, including the national road system, port terminals, etc. that are now in disrepair on Tierra del Fuego.The Southern Railway Company also created a large number of jobs, such as lumber mills, coal mines, farms, hospitals, cultural companies, breweries, oil mills, seafood processing centers, etc., which brought a lot of job income to the local people and greatly Promoted the development of the local economy.

But the departure of the Southern Railway Company put an end to all this, and the island of Tierra del Fuego and the railway subsidiary were handed over to the country as a whole.The focus of the country's development is not here, no one spends a lot of money to invest in local construction, and various facilities are slowly aging.However, after the Southern Railway Company decided to go to the Far East to build railways, it began to sell a large number of its properties to raise money. There were local state-owned capital, but more businessmen from the north.These businessmen usually live in big cities such as Dongfang County, Qingdao County, and Pingan County. The inflow of large sums of money, the overall financial situation has deteriorated sharply.

We only need to go to Ningnan, Shanhou and other counties to have a look.A large number of local buildings are shrouded in a nostalgic rust color, and it seems that a good era full of engineering and infrastructure booms has gone.Residents miss the good old days when they were swept away. Some elderly people told people over and over again about the gratifying situation when they were young, which caused the young people to scold the businessmen from the north and curse them as vampires, regardless of the local area. people's livelihood.

The government survived the daily diatribe because, subsidized by the central government, they started distributing cheap charcoal on a ticket basis to city dwellers to keep them warm in the harsh winters, saving them a bit of prestige.But other things the government has said have still left local residents slandered, such as calls for a shift in thinking and a focus on fishing, seafood processing and tourism.Especially in the tourism industry, they negotiated with the state-owned Dongfang Hotel Group and got their promise to double their investment on the existing basis to build more holiday manors, sanatoriums and ordinary hotels to deepen the development of the local tourism industry.

But the local people did not buy it.They ignore the fact that there are only Heijindao Coal Mine and Snow Mountain Beer remaining as decent local enterprises. Income, not that goddamn servitor tourism.What they don't realize—or realize, but don't want to admit—is that beech wood is losing money because of cheap competition from Peru and New Spain; So-so, but with the influx of North American and Chilean goods, they were also affected badly; not to mention seafood, with the transfer of the company's registration place, they couldn't get any benefits at all. It is not their dominant industry; Snow Mountain Beer is still barely supported, because some old leaders of the army like to drink this kind of beer, which has led a large group of people to drink it, but their business philosophy is relatively backward, and it is hard to say what will happen in the future .

In short, in Tierra del Fuego and the southern part of the Southern Cone, the local industry has basically been in a state of continuous decline following the departure of the Southern Railway Company.Funds continue to flow out, and talents are looking for other high-level branches. If the geographical location is not so important, and if it guards the throat of communication between the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean, the speed of decline here may be even faster.

Restoring the former industrial prosperity is just a delusion after all!

Someone once wrote a short article in a magazine describing his energy for going to Tierra del Fuego.He was in a tavern and found that every afternoon there were many elderly men sitting silently on the bar, their legs spread wide, their knees on the bar, and a glass of beer was clutched tightly in their hands, as if it was a bar. If he let go of the handle, it would immediately fall to the ground.The eyes of those people were very wet with alcohol, and they were still a little confused. The surrounding skin was blown by the most violent wind and snow into a rough pale color, just like the social and economic development status of Tierra del Fuego. For exclamation.

The future of a fringe area like Tierra del Fuego will ultimately depend on two factors.One is to find out your own positioning, that is, what industry do you want to develop in the future?We must make good use of our comparative advantages!If you want to develop the tourism industry, you should develop it well. The mountains and rivers are beautiful here, and the geographical location is key. In summer, it can still attract many wealthy people from the north to come to travel.Especially when large steamships began to spread slowly, the frequency of coastal liners increased greatly, and the cost of people's travel was greatly reduced. There are still many people who are willing to travel to Tierra del Fuego. After all, there is the southernmost land and sea on this planet. .

If you want to develop high-end leather manufacturing, then the chaotic sea animal skin trading market really needs to be rectified.Some black sheep inside have greatly damaged the reputation of this originally very professional and high-end market, causing many merchants to leave.Fortunately, it is still too late to standardize the market order and crack down on black sheep, then scientifically develop the sea animal hunting and breeding industry, introduce advanced technology, and launch a new leather tanning and processing production line, so that it is possible to win in the fierce market competition. the cake, even the biggest one!

The development of marginal areas is not easy. There are some natural endowments, so let's cherish them!

(End of this chapter)