Ch 4: Kismayo, Somalia is the Most Valuable Real Estate in the Solar System

So, let’s sum up some of these findings. I think that space travel and space based industry will be larger part of the future of humanity. If that is true, and if finished goods, services, and other commodities are sent into space in a regular and traded fashion, then there are only a few favorable locations on the Earth that are highly suitable for space launches. Considering that sending heavy material into space takes a lot of shipping by water, then these places will have starsheds that are functions of geography and climate, and not as much by politics. The easier and faster it is to get your goods into space, the cheaper it will be, so your choice of starport is set based on where you are standing. As the world’s population grows, primarily in Africa, over the next 80 years, the balance of economic power and output will shift as well. This all makes the tiny town of Kismayo, Somalia the key starport for humanity at the turn of the next century. As land there is currently about $14 per square meter, I’d say that it is the real estate opportunity of the millennium.

Hopefully, as I have walked you through this analysis, you do not think that I am totally crazy. Hopefully, you have some major bones to pick with my analysis, some pertinent points to share. I would really love to hear them! I want to know why I am wrong about this. What could be improved and what could be tweaked.

Still, I hope that I got you thinking about a different kind of future than the one you were envisioning. The world’s economic center in not going to be in the middle of the Atlantic, nor is it going to be the Pacific. It’s the Indian Ocean. The Monsoon market is going to become the center of finance, trade, and money, again. The population of Africa is going to be as much as Asia is today by end of the century. All the people in west and east Africa are going to want to buy cars and washing machines, Cokes and steak dinners, college educations and champagne. They are going to be the ones taking trips to Europe and the USA, and they are going to look up at the night’s sky and see their place among the stars just as the US and the USSR did 60 years ago. They are going to be putting footsteps on the Moon, right along with NASA and the ESA.

If you believe any of my analysis, then the grandsons of Somali Pirates are going to tend to the most important starport in the Solar System. Just as you are reading this, some little boy is being born in somewhere in Jubbaland, and he is going to see his granddaughter ride a rocket to Mars. The language of the stars is not going to be strictly English, nor Russian, nor Chinese. It’s going to be Somali and Swahili too. Just extrapolating out the trends shows us that the world of 2099 is not going to be one of capitalism and communism, of sickles and stars, or of 1st or 3rd worlds. It’s going to be much stranger and different.

The ideas and trends of our western minds are just, well, old. We aren’t taking seriously the incredible drive and youth of Asia and Africa that is hurtling towards us. We need to prepare now for the future in 2099. One that is more African than Western. One where a moon landing is a bi-monthly event (and that is still only 0.05% of the world’s output. Imagine it at .1% or .4% of the GWP). Each side of the Indian Ocean vying for dominance in the space markets of the Sol system. We’d call it trans-atlantic or trans-pacific in the other oceans. Is it trans-indian of trans-indiaic then? We don’t even have a word for that kind of economic world, that’s how behind we are. Again, the world of 2099 is not like this world today and the West is not preparing for this change.

So what should YOU do about this? How should we all prepare for that world, for the world that our children and grandchildren are going to be living in by 2099, just 80 years away?

The first thing to recognize is that Africa and Asia are going to have a lot more people in them that are going to have a lot more money per person than they have today. So, respect that. There are going to a lot more Nigerians than Americans very soon. They are going to be winning World Cups, taking leads in international diplomacy, working in NGOs as partners instead of recipients, and making scientific breakthroughs, just like the West and China are today.

The second thing we can do is invest in them. Many religious organizations give charity to these countries. This is a great a noble thing to do, and these places need the help. But not for much longer. Already, they are coming to the table as investments, not just as charity. They will want to make money with us, together. To build bridges and apartments, they are taking on capital investments already. They will be real players with real interests. And we better treat them as such. We need to treat them as real players at the table now, as they will be the dominant players in 80 years.

One set of people that recognize this are Chinese private and state-sponsored enterprises. Chinese investment in Africa has out competed the West for a few years now. As part of the Chinese Import-Export Bank’s activities, huge infrastructure projects like 500 million-dollar dams, billion-dollar trains, and half billion-dollar commuter systems are now common throughout Africa. They are doing a heck of a job of buying geo-political allies for the next 80 years. The rest of the world is lax if they do not realize what a boom Africa and southern Asia are going to be. (more here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQV_DKQkT8o)

The third and most important thing is to learn and be patient. Here’s an example: Where is the Great Wall of Nigeria and how old is it? I’ll give you a hint: It’s not on dry land. The Great Wall of Nigeria, also called the Great Wall of Lagos, is a few kilometers out into the Atlantic Ocean just to the south of the mouth of the Niger. It’s a land reclamation project, to build more space for the people of Lagos, all safe from the worst climate change and storm surge models. It encompasses about 6,500 square kilometers or about 110 Manhattans. Considering that the population of Lagos in 2099 is set to be 90 million people, three times that of the state of California today, it is actually too little land. They already have skyscrapers on it. Dubai, eat your heart out. (more here: https://www.ekoatlantic.com/)

I imagine that for most readers, this is not something you knew about and you might be a little stunned you missed this. The way to remedy this is education. We have to take the time, and invest in our minds and the future. We have to change our mindset, daily. Now, I know that seems difficult, and not a lot of fun, but it doesn’t have to be homework.

One way to educate and invest in ourselves is to read the most important newspapers of 2099. Now, I know, I don’t have a time machine either. But we can read today’s editions of those newspapers. UNSECO and their ironclad statistics, give a good idea of the largest metros of the year 2099. I’m willing to bet that the largest metros are also going to be a major voice in the world of 2099. Fortunately, most of those metro areas have English language already. Here is a list of the top 25 largest metros on Earth from here to the year 2099 (from Socioeconomic Pathways and Regional Distribution of the World’s 101 Largest Cities Daniel Hoornweg & Kevin Pope January 2014):

2010 2025 2050 2075 2099
Rank City Pop City Pop City Pop City Pop City Pop
1 Tokyo 36.094 Tokyo 36.4 Mumbai 42.404 Kinshasa 58.424 Lagos 88.345
2 Mexico City 20.117 Mumbai 26.385 Delhi 36.157 Mumbai 57.862 Kinshasa 83.494
3 Mumbai 20.072 Delhi 22.498 Dhaka 35.193 Lagos 57.195 Dar Es Salaam 73.678
4 Beijing 19.61 Dhaka 22.015 Kinshasa 35 Delhi 49.338 Mumbai 67.24
5 Sao Paulo 19.582 Sao Paulo 21.428 Kolkata 33.042 Dhaka 46.219 Delhi 57.334
6 New York 19.441 Mexico City 21.009 Lagos 32.63 Kolkata 45.088 Khartoum 56.594
7 Delhi 17.015 New York 20.628 Tokyo 32.622 Karachi 43.374 Niamey 56.149
8 Shanghai 15.789 Kolkata 20.56 Karachi 31.696 Dar Es Salaam 37.485 Dhaka 54.25
9 Kolkata 15.577 Shanghai 19.412 New York 24.769 Cairo 32.999 Kolkata 52.395
10 Dhaka 14.796 Karachi 19.095 Mexico City 24.329 Manila 32.749 Kabul 50.27
11 Buenos Aires 13.089 Kinshasa 16.762 Cairo 24.035 Kabul 32.672 Karachi 49.056
12 Karachi 13.052 Lagos 15.796 Manila 23.545 Khartoum 30.681 Nairobi 46.661
13 Los Angeles 12.773 Cairo 15.561 Sao Paulo 22.825 Tokyo 28.916 Lilongwe 41.379
14 Cairo 12.503 Manila 14.808 Shanghai 21.317 Nairobi 28.415 Blantyre City 40.911
15 Rio De Janeiro 12.171 Beijing 14.545 Lahore 17.449 New York 27.924 Cairo 40.543
16 Manila 11.662 Buenos Aires 13.768 Kabul 17.091 Baghdad 24.388 Kampala 40.136
17 Moscow 11.514  Los Angeles 13.672 Los Angeles 16.416 Mexico City 24.178 Manila 39.959
18 Osaka-Kobe 11.337 Rio De Janeiro 13.413 Chennai 16.278 Lahore 23.878 Lusaka 37.741
19 Istanbul 10.823 Jakarta 12.363 Khartoum 15.995 Addis Ababa 23.709 Mogadishu 36.372
20 Lagos 10.572 Istanbul 12.102 Dar Es Salaam 15.973 Chennai 22.213 Addis Ababa 35.82
21 Seoul 10.039 Guangzhou 11.835 Beijing 15.972 Bangalore 21.314 Baghdad 34.103
22 Paris 9.958 Osaka-Kobe 11.368 Jakarta 15.924 Sao Paulo 21.28 New York 30.193
23 Jakarta 9.703 Moscow 10.526 Bangalore 15.62 Shanghai 21.055 N’djamena 28.815
24 Guangzhou 9.447 Lahore 10.512 Buenos Aires 15.546 Niamey 20.371 Kano 28.277
25 Chicago 9.211 Shenzhen 10.196 Baghdad 15.088 Kampala 20.227 Sana’a 27.213

Now here is a list of all the unique cities that appear on this list:

Addis Ababa, Baghdad, Bangalore, Beijing, Blantyre City, Buenos Aires, Cairo, Chennai, Chicago, Dar Es Salaam, Delhi, Dhaka, Guangzhou, Istanbul, Jakarta, Kabul, Kampala, Kano, Karachi, Khartoum, Kinshasa, Kolkata, Lagos, Lahore, Lilongwe, Los Angeles, Lusaka, Manila, Mexico City, Mogadishu, Moscow, Mumbai, Nairobi, N’djamena, New York, Niamey, Osaka-Kobe, Paris, Rio De Janeiro, Sana’a, Sao Paulo, Seoul, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Tokyo.

Now here are links to the largest newspapers, mostly in English, in each of those cities:

City URL
Addis Ababa http://capitalethiopia.com/category/news/
Baghdad http://www.thebaghdadpost.com/en/
Bangalore https://vijaykarnataka.indiatimes.com/
Beijing http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/Beijing-News-Update.htm
Blantyre City https://mwnation.com/
Buenos Aires https://www.clarin.com/
Cairo http://english.ahram.org.eg/
Chennai https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai
Chicago http://www.chicagotribune.com/
Dar Es Salaam http://dailynews.co.tz/
Delhi http://www.newdelhitimes.com/
Dhaka https://www.clickittefaq.com/
Guangzhou http://english.gz.gov.cn/
Istanbul http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/
Jakarta http://jakartaglobe.id/
Kabul http://www.bakhtarnews.com.af/eng/
Kampala https://www.newvision.co.ug/
Kano http://triumphnews.org.ng/
Karachi https://www.dawn.com/
Khartoum http://svdaily.net/
Kinshasa http://www.congoindependant.com/
Kolkata https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata
Lagos http://dailytimes.ng/
Lahore https://pakobserver.net/category/lahore/
Lilongwe https://www.times.mw/
Los Angeles http://www.latimes.com/
Lusaka https://www.lusakatimes.com/other-news/
Manila http://manilastandard.net/
Mexico City https://mexiconewsdaily.com/
Mogadishu http://www.jowhar.com/category/english-news
Moscow https://themoscowtimes.com/
Mumbai https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai
Nairobi https://www.nation.co.ke/
N’djamena http://www.afrol.com/countries/chad
New York https://www.nytimes.com/
Niamey http://www.lesahel.org/
Osaka-Kobe http://www.asahi.com/ajw/
Paris https://www.lemonde.fr/
Rio De Janeiro https://oglobo.globo.com/
Sana’a http://www.yemenpost.net/
Sao Paulo https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/internacional/en/
Seoul http://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/
Shanghai https://www.shine.cn/
Shenzhen http://www.szdaily.com/
Tokyo https://www.japantimes.co.jp/

You can pick and choose the cities that you’d like to keep track of. If you are aiming for a 2099 viewpoint then these are the top cities to focus on:

City URL
Lagos http://dailytimes.ng/
Kinshasa http://www.congoindependant.com/
Dar Es Salaam http://dailynews.co.tz/
Mumbai https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai
Delhi http://www.newdelhitimes.com/

We must respect that the world is changing, invest for success in the future that all these new people will be living in, and educate ourselves about the future by keeping a finger on the pulse of some of the largest cities humanity will see.

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