Brutally speaking, what supported the construction of the developed railway network in East Africa wasn't the tracks, the sleepers, and the gravel, but the blood and flesh of Black people and their dense white bones.
From the grasslands of East Africa, to the deserts, and then to the rainforests, beneath almost every section of railway lies countless souls of deceased Black slaves.
The railway, mining, and river digging in the 19th century were all high-risk professions, with an average life expectancy generally below forty years. Even the world's most developed industrial countries at the time couldn't change this situation; strikes and resistance movements among railway workers in various countries were frequent and unstoppable.
