Two Third Reich letters with 1937 "Winter Welfare - Ships" complete set.
Duas cartas do Terceiro Reich com a série "Auxílio de Inverno - Navios" completa.
Jan 29, 2013
Germany On Stamps: Two Third Reich Letters
Two Third Reich letters with 1937 "Winter Welfare - Ships" complete set.
Duas cartas do Terceiro Reich com a série "Auxílio de Inverno - Navios" completa.
Jan 26, 2013
Germany On Stamps: German Colonies Stamps (Togoland)
New 1915 German Togo (Togoland) Stamps. Those Stamps are from the British occupation of german colonie Togoland during the World War I.
Novos Selos de 1915 do Togo Alemão (Togoland). Estes Selos foram usados durante a ocupação Britânica da colónia alemã do Togo no decurso da Primeira Guerra Mundial.
German On History: German Togo
GERMAN TOGO
(TOGOLAND)
The Togolese Republic, the Togo, is a country in West Africa, bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. It extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, on which the capital Lomé is located. Togo covers an area of approximately 57,000 square kilometres (22,000 sq mi) with a population of approximately 6.7 million. Togo is a tropical, sub-Saharan nation, highly dependent on agriculture, with a climate that provides good growing seasons.
While the official language is French, there are many other languages spoken in Togo, particularly those of the Gbe family.
Togoland was a German protectorate in West Africa from July 5, 1884 to August 26, 1914, encompassing what is now Togo and most of what is now the Volta Region of Ghana. The colony was established during the period generally known as the "Scramble for Africa".
Togo is a member of the United Nations, African Union, Organization of Islamic Cooperation, South Atlantic Peace and Cooperation Zone, La Francophonie and Economic Community of West African States.
History
From the 11th to the 16th century, various tribes entered the region from all directions. From the 16th century to the 18th century, the coastal region was a major trading centre for Europeans in search of slaves, earning Togo and the surrounding region the name "The Slave Coast".
In 1884, the German explorer, medical doctor, imperial consul and commissioner for West Africa Gustav Nachtigal were the driving force toward the establishment of the West African colonies of Togoland and Kamerun. From his base on the Spanish island possession Fernando Po in the Bight of Bonny he travelled extensively on the mainland of Africa.
On 5 July 1884 Nachtigal signed a treaty with the local chief, Mlapa III, in which he declared a German Empire protectorate over a stretch of territory along the Slave Coast on the Bight of Benin. With the small gunboat SMS Möwe at anchor, the imperial flag was raised for the first time on the African continent. Consul Heinrich Ludwig Randad Jr., resident agent of the firm C. Goedelts at Widah, was appointed as the first commissioner for the territory.
Germany gradually extended its control inland. Colonial administrators and settlers brought scientific cultivation to the country's main export crops (cacao, coffee, cotton). The colony's infrastructure was developed to one of the highest levels in Africa. Colonial officials built roads and bridges to the interior mountain ranges and three rail lines from the capital Lomé; along the coast to Aného in 1905, to Palime (modern Kpalimé) in 1907, and the longest line, the Hinterlandbahn to Atakpamé by 1911.
Because it was one of Germany's two self-supporting colonies, Togoland was acknowledged as a small but treasured possession. This would last until the eruption of World War I.
Togoland and the Treaty of Versailles
After calling on the German colony to surrender on 6 August 1914, French and British troops invaded unopposed the next day. No military personnel were stationed in the protectorate. The colony surrendered on 26 August 1914.
On 27 December 1916, Togoland was separated into French and British administrative zones. Following the ratification of the Treaty of Versailles, on 20 July 1922, Togoland formally became a League of Nations Class B mandate divided into French Togoland and British Togoland, covering respectively about two-thirds and one-third of the territory.
The British area of the former German colony was integrated into Ghana in 1957, following a May 1956 plebiscite where 58% of British-area residents voted in favour of joining Ghana upon its independence, rather than remaining under British-administered trusteeship.
Togo gained its independence from France on April 27, 1960. The French-ruled region became the Republic of Togo and is now known as the Togolese Republic. The new state invited the last German governor of Togoland, Duke Adolf Friedrich of Mecklenburg to the country's official independence celebrations.
In 1967, Gnassingbé Eyadéma led a successful military coup, after which he became president. At the time of his death in 2005, Eyadéma was the longest-serving leader in modern African history, after having been president for 38 years. In 2005, his son Faure Gnassingbé was elected president.
Postal history in German Togoland
- German Post Office starting from March 1, 1888.
- The first posts in Togo were established by German traders in the 1880s that operated from the coastal towns and used German West African mail boats.
- Mail entered the German postal system at Hamburg.
- There were 17 German post offices before the 1914 invasion in Togoland.
- The German post office closed with the British and French occupation on August 26, 1914.
Jan 16, 2013
Germany On Stamps: New German East Africa Letter
New East Africa Letter from Belgian Occupation of Ruanda-Urundi territory, during World War I.
Nova Carta da África Oriental Alemã, circulada durante a Ocupação Belga do território do Ruanda-Urundi, na Primeira Guerra Mundial.
Germany On Stamps: German East Africa History
GERMAN EAST AFRICA
(OSTAFRIKA)
German East Africa (German: Deutsch-Ostafrika) was a German colony in East Africa, which included Tanganika (the mainland part of present Tanzania), Ruanda-Urundi (what are now Ruanda and Burundi) and Quionga Triangle.
German Occupation was on February 27, 1885, and ended with Imperial Germany's defeat in World War I. Afterwards the territory was divided between Britain, Belgium and Portugal by a mandate of the League of Nations.
Its area was 994,996 km² (384,170 square miles), nearly three times the size of Germany today.
History
The colony began with Carl Peters, an adventurer who founded the "Society for German Colonization" and signed treaties with several native chieftains on the mainland opposite Zanzibar.
On 3 March 1885, the German government announced it had granted an imperial charter to Peters' company and intended to establish a protectorate in East Africa. Peters recruited specialists who began exploring south to the Rufiji River and north to Witu (Wituland), near Lamu on the coast.
When the Sultan of Zanzibar protested, since he claimed to be ruler on the mainland as well, Bismarck sent five warships, which arrived on 7 August and trained their guns on the Sultan's palace. With the Heligoland-Zanzibar Treaty, the British and Germans agreed to divide the mainland between them, and the Sultan had no option but to agree.
German rule was quickly established over Bagamoyo, Dar es Salaam, and Kilwa, even sending the caravans of Prince, Langheld, Emin Pasha, and Charles Stokes to dominate "the Street of Caravans".
The Abushiri Revolt of 1888 was put down, with British help, in the following year. In 1890, London and Berlin concluded the Heligoland-Zanzibar Treaty, returning Heligoland (seized during the Napoleonic wars) to Germany and deciding on the borders of German East Africa.
Between 1891 and 1894, the Hehe tribe, led by Chief Mkwawa, resisted German expansion. They were defeated as rival tribes supported the Germans. After years of guerrilla warfare, Mkwawa himself was cornered and committed suicide in 1898.
The Maji Maji Rebellion occurred in 1905 and was put down by the governor, Count Gustav Adolf von Götzen. But scandal soon followed, with stories of corruption and brutality, and in 1907 Chancellor Bülow appointed Bernhard Dernburg to reform the colonial administration. It became a model of colonial efficiency and commanded extraordinary loyalty among the natives during the First World War. German colonial administrators relied heavily on native chiefs to keep order and collect taxes.
German East Africa story's in the First World War is essentially the history of the colony's military commander, General Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck, a vibrant officer, who spent the war harrying the forces of the British Empire. Lettow-Vorbeck was acclaimed after the war as one of Germany's heroes, and his Schutztruppe was celebrated as the only colonial German force in the First World War not to have been defeated in open combat. The Askari colonial troops that had fought in the East African campaign were later given pension payments by the Weimar Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany).
The German East Africa Defence troops were able to withstand enemy forces for a long time into the war, but German East Africa was nevertheless completely occupied by the allied troops of Anglo-Indians, Belgians and Africans in late 1917.
The Treaty of Versailles broke up the colony, giving as a mandate the north-western area to Belgium as Ruanda-Urundi, the small Quionga Triangle south of the Rovuma River to Portugal to become part of Mozambique, and the remainder to Britain, which named it Tanganyika.
Postal history in German East Africa
German postal services in German East Africa started on October 4, 1890. However, prior to the Heligoland-Zanzibar Treaty, German postal offices were briefly in operation at Lamu in November 22, 1888 to March 31, 1891, and Zanzibar in August 27, 1890 to July 31, 1891. They were only in use for a short time and only had German Empire stamps.
Both postal agencies were given up with the Anglo-German Heligoland-Zanzibar treaty.
Gradually, during World War I, more and more parts of the colony were occupied by British, Belgian and Portuguese forces who issued their own stamps.
EAST AFRICA TERRITORIES AND THE TREATY OF VERSAILLES
With the defeat of Germany in WWI and in accordance with Article 22 of the Treaty of Versailles, the territory of German East Africa was divided and assigned under mandate from the League of Nations, as follows:
- United Kingdom controlled the territory of Tanganyika;
- Belgium gained Ruanda-Urundi in north-western of German East Africa;
- Portugal received the Quionga Triangle.
Tanganyika Territory
After the war had broken out, the British invaded the German East Africa, but were unable to defeat the German Army.
The German leader in East Africa, Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck did not surrender until the German Empire had collapsed.
Hereafter, the League of Nations gave control of the area to the United Kingdom who named their part of the earlier German area Tanganyika. The United Kingdom held Tanganyika as a League of Nations Mandate territory until the end of the Second World War after which it was held as a United Nations Trust Territory.
Brief History
In 1885 Germany declared that it intended to establish a protectorate, named German East Africa in the area, under the leadership of Carl Peters.
When the Sultan of Zanzibar objected, German warships threatened to bombard his palace. Britain and Germany then agreed to divide the mainland into spheres of influence and the Sultan was forced to acquiesce.
After charges of brutality in the repression of the Maji Maji Rebellion of 1905, and reform under the leadership of Bernhard Dernburg in 1907, the colony became a model of colonial efficiency and commanded extraordinary loyalty among the indigenous peoples during the First World War.
The German educational programme for native Africans, including elementary, secondary and vocational schools, was particularly notable, with standards unmatched elsewhere in tropical Africa.
After the defeat of Germany in 1918 in World War I, under the Treaty of Versailles, German East Africa was divided among the victorious powers, with the largest segment being transferred to British control (except Ruanda-Urundi which went to Belgium, and the small territory of the Quionga Triangle, returned to Mozambique, then a Portuguese colony). A new name was needed, and Tanganyika was adopted by the British for all of its part of the territory of German East Africa.
In 1927, Tanganyika entered the Customs Union of Kenya and Uganda, as well as the East African Postal Union, later the East African Posts and Telecommunications Administration.
Cooperation expanded with those countries in a number of ways, leading to the establishment of the East African High Commission (1948–1961) and the East African Common Services Organisation (1961–1967), forerunners of the East African Community.
In 1961 after elections, Tanganyika is no longer a British colony, achieving its independence in December of that year. In 1964 Tanganyika was attached to the Island of Zanzibar to form Tanzania.
Ruanda-Urundi Territory
In the First World War, Ruanda-Urundi was conquered by forces from the Belgian Congo in 1916.
The former German colony was a Belgian suzerainty from 1916 to 1924, a League of Nations Class B Mandate from 1924 to 1945 and then a United Nations trust territory until 1962, when it became the independent states of Rwanda and Burundi.
Brief History
The independent Kingdoms of Rwanda and Burundi were annexed by Germany along with the other states of the Great Lakes region in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Attached to German East Africa, the region only had a minimal German presence.
In the First World War, the area was conquered by forces from the Belgian Congo in 1916. The Treaty of Versailles divided German East Africa with the vast majority known as Tanganyika going to Great Britain. The westernmost portion, which was formally referred to as the Belgian Occupied East African Territories went to Belgium. In 1924, as the League of Nations issued a formal mandate that granted Belgium full control over the area. The territory officially became Ruanda-Urundi.
To implement their vision, the Belgians used the indigenous power structure. This consisted of a largely Tutsi ruling class controlling a mostly Hutu population. The Belgian administrators believed in the racial theories of the time and convinced themselves that the Tutsi were racially superior.
While before colonization the Hutu had played an extensive role in governance. The Belgians simplified matters by stratifying the society on racial lines. The anger at the oppression and misrule among the population was largely focused on the Tutsi elite rather than the distant colonial power. These divisions would play an important role in the decades after independence.
After the League of Nations was dissolved, the region became a United Nations trust territory in 1946. This included the promise that the Belgians would prepare the areas for independence, but the Belgians felt the area would take many decades to ready for self rule.
Independence came largely as a result of actions elsewhere. In the 1950s an independence movement arose in the Belgian Congo, and the Belgians became convinced they could no longer control the territory. In 1960, Ruanda-Urundi's larger neighbour gained its independence.
After two more years of hurried preparations the former colony became independent on July 1, 1962, broken up along traditional lines as the independent nations of Rwanda and Burundi. It took two more years before the government of the two became wholly separate.
The Quionga Triangle Territory
The Quionga Triangle (German: Kionga) was a tiny territory on the border between German East Africa (largely overlapping the present-day United Republic of Tanzania) and the Portuguese colony of Portuguese East Africa, present day Republic of Mozambique.
The resurgence of Mozambique, stagnant for centuries, was marked in 1891 by fixing the boundaries of the colony. Faced with the north east and ambitious German colony, Germany signed, with a few days apart, two treaties, which recognize different boundaries at the mouth of the Rovuma River.
Dragged on until lengthy diplomatic negotiations in 1894, the Governor of German East Africa dawn the flag of your country in Quionga Bay, the only town of importance, the so-called triangle Quionga, which had an approximate area of 450 km2 of land valuable for irrigating rice fields and palm trees, valued for covering the south bank of the mouth of the Rovuma, leaving the entrance of the great river border into the hands of Germans.
The Germans established this outpost south of the Rovuma River, giving to Germany the effective control of its mouth into the Indian Ocean.
The declaration of war from Germany to Portugal was known in Mozambique on March 9, 1916. Following the declaration of war, the Portuguese army, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel José Luis Mendes de Moura return to reoccupy the Quionga Triangle. On the day before of the arrival of the Portuguese forces the Germans had abandoned Quionga and passed to the north bank of the Rovuma.
After several failed offensives perpetrated by the Portuguese army against the invading German forces, only with the Armistice of Compiègne, signed on 11 November 1918 between the Allies and Germany, the German came to end hostilities and finish the First World War.
The Portuguese campaign in Mozambique was a considerable portion of the Allies in the struggle for the conquest of German East Africa, although unfavourable circumstances had diminished the brightness of the first operations carried out in Germany by troops improvised, and had undermined the efficiency of Indian troops, hastily recruited and educated, with graduates in large numbers, without colonial experience.
After the First World War, the Treaty of Versailles set the border back along the Rovuma River. The Allies recognized Portugal as the rightful owner of the territory Quionga Triangle, been officially reinstated in Mozambique, September 25, 1919.
With the independence of Mozambique, 25 June 1975, the Triangle Quionga remained under his control as part of the province of Cabo Delgado.
Jan 11, 2013
Stamps of France: Provence
PROVENCE
Provence, Provença in classical norm or Prouvènço in Mistralian norm, is a region of south eastern France on the Mediterranean adjacent to Italy. It is part of the administrative région of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. The traditional region of Provence comprises the départements of Var, Vaucluse, Bouches-du-Rhône, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, Alpes-Maritimes and parts of Hautes-Alpes.
The Romans made the region into the first Roman province beyond the Alps, their ProvinciaRomana, the origin of its present name.With the breakdown of the Roman Empire in the late 5th century, Provence was successively invaded by the Visigoths, Burgundians, and Ostrogoths. The region came under the rule of the Franks in 536 and was ruled by their Merovingian dynasty, though it was not integrated with the rest of France.
In the 12thcentury, Provençal cities flourished from trade with the Levant and set up autonomous governments called consulates. At the same time, the civilization of the province—in which a language close to Latin was spoken and of which troubadour poetry and examples of early Romanesque architecture were among the outstanding cultural achievements—was at its height.
In 1481 Provence was willed to the king of France, and its union to the crown keeps its administrative autonomy. From the 16thto the 18thcentury, the king's control grew.
With the Revolution, the province completely lost its own political institutions and in 1790 was divided into the départements of Bouches-du-Rhône, Var, and Basses-Alpes (now Alpes-de-Haute-Provence).
Coat-of-Arms
"Azure with a golden fleur de lys and a gules label".
The Provence arms derived from the arms of the Counts of Anjou and Provence.
Stamps of France: Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (Molière)
JEAN-BAPTISTE POQUELIN
(MOLIÈRE)
(15 January 1622 – 17 February 1673)
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, known by his stage name Molière, was a French playwright and actor who are considered to be one of the greatest masters of comedy in Western literature. Among Molière's best-known works are "Le Misanthrope" (The Misanthrope), "Tartuffe ou L'Imposteur" (Tartuffe or the Hypocrite), "L'Avare" (The Miser), "Le Malade imaginaire" (The Imaginary Invalid), and "Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme" (The Bourgeois Gentleman).
Through the patronage of a few aristocrats, including Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, Molière procured a command performance before the King at the Louvre. Performing a classic play by Pierre Corneille and a farce of his own, "Le Docteur amoureux" (The Doctor in Love), Molière was granted the use of "La Salle du Petit-Bourbon" near the Louvre, a spacious room appointed for theatrical performances.
Later, Molière was granted the use of the Palais-Royal. In both locations he found success among the Parisians with plays such as "Les Précieuses ridicules" (The Affected Ladies), "L'École des maris" (The School for Husbands) and "L'École des femmes" (The School for Wives). This royal favour brought a royal pension to his troupe and the title "Troupe du Roi" (The King's Troupe). Molière continued as the official author of court entertainments.
Molière's hard work in so many theatrical capacities began to take its toll on his health and, by 1667, he was forced to take a break from the stage. In 1673, during a production of his final play, "Le Malade imaginaire" (The Imaginary Invalid), Molière, who suffered from pulmonary tuberculosis, was seized by a coughing fit and a haemorrhage while playing the hypochondriac Argan. He finished the performance but collapsed again and died a few hours later.
Jan 8, 2013
Germany On Stamps: German East Africa Postcards
Two new 10 Ct Postcards from Belgian occupation during WWI of German East Africa (Ruanda-Urundi territory).
Dois novos Postais de 10 Ct da ocupação Belga, na Primeira Guerra Mundial, da África Oriental Alemã (no território do Ruanda-Urundi).
Jan 3, 2013
Germany On Stamps: New German Togo Postcard
New Postcard from German Togo (Togoland). This 1916 postcard is from the french occupation of that german colonie during World War I.
Novo postal do Togo Alemão (Togoland). Este postal de 1916 é da ocupação francesa dessa colónia alemã durante a primeira Guerra Mundial.
Germany On Stamps: German Cameroon History
GERMAN CAMEROON
(KAMERUN)
Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in west Central Africa. It extended far into the hinterland, touching Lake Chad in the northeast and in accordance with the German-French agreement, to the Congo in the Southwest. The Cameroon Mountain, one of the highest elevations in West Africa, is located within the territory.
The country is called "Africa in miniature" for its geological and cultural diversity. Natural features include beaches, deserts, mountains, rainforests, and savannas. Cameroon is home to over 200 different linguistic groups. The country is well known for its native styles of music, particularly makossa and bikutsi, and for its successful national football team. English and French are the official languages.
Cameroon was a Germany colony from July 1884.
History
Portuguese explorers reached the Cameroonian coast in the 15th century and named the area Rio dos Camarões ("River of Prawns"), the name from which Cameroon derives. Fulani soldiers founded the Adamawa Emirate in the north in the 19th century, and various ethnic groups, the Bafut Subdivision (or the Kingdom/ Chiefdom/Fondom of Bafut), of the west and northwest established powerful.
The early European presence in Cameroon was primarily devoted to coastal trade and the acquisition of slaves. The slave trade was largely suppressed by the mid-19th century. Christian missions established a presence in the late 19th century and continue to play a role in Cameroonian life.
On July 12, 1884 Gustav Nachtigal signs a treaty with the Chiefs of Doula on behalf of the German Kaiser Wilhelm. In return for trade advantages the chiefs accept a German protectorate.
On July 5, 1884, all of present-day Cameroon and parts of several of its neighbors became a German colony, Kamerun, with a capital first at Buea and later at Yaoundé.
The Imperial German government made substantial investments in the infrastructure of Cameroon, including the extensive railways, such as the 160-metre single-span railway bridge on the Sanaga South branch.
Hospitals were opened all over the colony, including two major hospitals at Douala, one of which specialized in tropical diseases. However, the indigenous peoples proved reluctant to work on these projects, so the Germans instigated a harsh and unpopular system of forced labor.
Jesko von Puttkamer (a German colonial military chief and nine times governor of Cameroon) was relieved of duty as governor of the colony due to his untoward actions toward the native Cameroonians.
In 1911 at the Treaty of Fez after the Agadir Crisis, France ceded a nearly 300,000 km² portion of the territory of French Equatorial Africa to Cameroon which became Neukamerun, while Germany ceded a smaller area in the north in present day Chad to France.
In World War I the British invaded Cameroon from Nigeria in 1914 in the West Africa campaign, with the last German fort in the country surrendering in February 1916.
Cameroon after the Treaty of Versailles
During World War I, Cameroon was occupied by British, French and Belgian troops. With the end of war, Great Britain and France were mandated by the League of Nations, in 1922, by the Treaty of Versailles, Article 22, with the determination not to see any of them returned to Germany — a guarantee secured by Article 119 - until 27 August 1940.
Cameroon was separated into a British part, Cameroons, and a French Cameroun, which became present Cameroon. The British part was later split in half, with one part joining Nigeria and the other Cameroon. (Kamerun, Nigeria-Ostteil, Tschad-Südwestteil, Zentralafrikanische Republik-Westteil, Republik Kongo-Nordostteil, Gabun-Nordteil).
For all former German territories in West and Central Africa the League of Nations established a second class of Mandates, or Class B Mandates, which were deemed to require a greater level of control by the mandatory power. The mandatory power was forbidden to construct military or naval bases within the mandates.
The French mandate was known as Cameroun and the British territory was administered as two areas, Northern Cameroons and Southern Cameroons. Northern Cameroons consisted of two non-contiguous sections, divided by where the Nigerian and Cameroun borders met.
Cameroon was separated into a British part, Cameroons, and a French Cameroun, which became present Cameroon. The British part was later split in half, with one part joining Nigeria and the other Cameroon. (Kamerun, Nigeria-Ostteil, Tschad-Südwestteil, Zentralafrikanische Republik-Westteil, Republik Kongo-Nordostteil, Gabun-Nordteil).
France gained the larger geographical share, transferred Neukamerun (New Cameroon) back to neighboring French colonies, and ruled the rest from Yaoundé as Cameroun (French Cameroons).
Britain's territory, a strip bordering Nigeria from the sea to Lake Chad was ruled from Lagos as Cameroons (British Cameroons).
On 13 December 1946 Cameroon was transformed into United Nations Trust Territories, again a British and a French Trust.
The Union des Populations du Cameroun political party advocated independence but was outlawed by France in the 1950s.
In 1960, the French administered part of Cameroon became independent as the Republic of Cameroun. The southern part of British Cameroons merged with it in 1961 to form the Federal Republic of Cameroon.
The country was renamed the United Republic of Cameroon in 1972 and the Republic of Cameroon in 1984.
Postal history in German Cameroon
German Post Office starting from February 1, 1887.
Postal service was very limited after the occupation of Duala in late September 1914. Mailings were censored; various censors are known from the war period. War post cancellations, especially with censors, are generally in demand and rare.
In 1916, the German garrison evacuates the Yaoundé fortress and flees into the neighboring Spanish colony of Rio Muni.
Germany On Stamps: German Colonies General History
GERMAN COLONIES
German colonies are the territories of which were in colonial dependence on the German Empire or its constituent states. In different historical periods, the colonies of Germany were territories in Africa, Asia, South America and Oceania.
Unlike other European countries, who had began a policy of colonization in the XVI century, the German colonial empire was an overseas domain formed in the late 19th century as part of the German Empire. Short-lived colonial efforts by individual German states had occurred in preceding centuries, but Imperial Germany's colonial efforts began in 1884.
Although most of Germany's African and Pacific colonies were occupied by the Empire's enemies in the first weeks of World War I, the German colonial empire officially ended with the effective date of the Treaty of Versailles on 10 January 1920 after its defeat in the war.
German Unification
Until unification, the German states had not been able to concentrate on the development of a navy, and this essentially had precluded German participation in earlier imperialist scrambles for remote colonial territory — their so-called "place in the sun".
On the other hand, Germans had traditions of foreign sea-borne trade dating back to the Hanseatic League; a tradition existed of German emigration, North German merchants and missionaries showed interest in overseas engagements. These trading houses conducted themselves as successful "Privatkolonisatoren" (independent colonizers) and concluded treaties and land purchases in Africa and the Pacific with chiefs or other tribal leaders. These early agreements with local entities, however, later formed the basis for annexation treaties, diplomatic support and military protection by the German Empire.
Germany starts the Colonization
Many Germans in the late 19th century viewed colonial acquisitions as a true indication of nationality expansion.
Bismarck and many deputies in the Reichstag had no interest in colonial conquests merely to acquire square miles of territory.
Initially, Chancellor Otto von Bismarck was not a colonial expansionist. His preoccupation was the unification of Germany and its attaining a preeminent role in European politics.
Following the unification of Germany in 1871, the issue of colonies began to preoccupy German society and leadership, and various lobbying groups exerted pressure on the government to be proactive in the acquisition of colonies in Africa, arguing that Germany needed colonies to maintain its economic preeminence. The leading lobbying groups, formed after the unification, included the West German Society for Colonization and Export (1881) and the Central Association for Commercial Geography and the Promotion of German Interests Abroad (1878).
In 1884, Bismarck consented to the acquisition of colonies by the German Empire, in order to protect trade, to safeguard raw materials and export markets and to take opportunities for capital investment, among other reasons.
Bismarck was a pragmatist. However, his drive to acquire colonies in Africa was largely a function of economic considerations in the emerging imperial world order, European diplomacy and domestic politics. It's against this backdrop that Germany hosted the International Berlin Conference of 1884–1885. The conference constituted a watershed in African history, for it sanctioned European claims in Africa, though with the caveat that those powers that claimed possessions in Africa had to manifest a physical occupation of their areas for their claims to be legitimate.
This caveat was instrumental in the subsequent partition and physical occupation of Africa. Germany acquired South West Africa (present-day Namibia), German East Africa (present-day mainland Tanzania, Rwanda, and Burundi), Togo, and Cameroon.
In establishing formal institutions and structures in support of colonial governance in these newly acquired territories, Germany's policy was characterized by ruthlessness, a policy of racial supremacy and economic dispossession of the indigenous populations. These features became more pronounced in colonies to which Germans emigrated and sought to establish a homeland.
German South West Africa best exemplifies a colonial situation in which race constituted a group identity that had certain predetermined advantages.
GERMAN IMPERIAL COLONIES
These are colonies settled and controlled by the German Empire, from 1884 to 1919.
In Africa:
German African protectorates:
- German East Africa (Deutsch-Ostafrika):
- Tanganyika - Which in 1962 became independent and in 1964 joined with former British protectorate of the sultanate of Zanzibar to form present-day Tanzania;
- Ruanda-Urundi - (1885–1917) - Now Rwanda and Burundi;
- Wituland - (1885–1890) - Since 1890 in Kenya;
- Kionga Triangle - Since 1920 (earlier occupied) in Portuguese Mozambique.
- German Southwest Africa (Deutsch-Südwestafrika) - Now Namibia (except then-British Walvis Bay) and part of Botswana (Südrand des Caprivi-Zipfels)
- German West Africa (Deutsch-Westafrika) - Existed as one unit only for two or three years, then split into two colonies due to distances:
- Kamerun - (1884–1914) - After World War I, separated into a British part, Cameroons, and a French Cameroun, which became present Cameroon. The British part was later split in half, with one part joining Nigeria and the other Cameroon (Kamerun, Nigeria-Ostteil, Tschad-Südwestteil, Zentralafrikanische Republik-Westteil, Republik Kongo-Nordostteil, Gabun-Nordteil);
- Togoland - (1884–1914) - After World War I it was separated into two parts: a British part (Ghana-Westteil), which joined Ghana, and a French one, which became Togo.
In the Pacific:
- German New Guinea (Deutsch-Neuguinea) - From 1884 to 1914;
- Kaiser-Wilhelmsland;
- Bismarck Archipelago (Bismarck-Archipel);
- German Solomon Islands or Northern Solomon Islands (Salomonen or Nördliche Salomon-Inseln) - From 1885 to 1899;
- Bougainville Island (Bougainville-Insel) - From 1888 to 1919;
- Nauru - From 1888 to 1919;
- Marshall Islands (Marschall-Inseln) - From 1885 to 1919;
- Mariana Islands (Marianen) - Now Northern Mariana Islands, from 1899 to 1919;
- Caroline Islands (Karolinen) - Now Federated States of Micronesia and Palau, from 1899 to 1919;
- German Samoa (Deutsch-Samoa) - Now Samoa, from 1899 to 1914.
In China:
German concessions in China leased to it by the Qing Dynasty.
- Jiaozhou Bay concession (Deutsch-Kiautschou) - From 1898 to 1914;
- Tsingtao - From 1898 to 1914;
- Chefoo - Now Yantai, from 1898(?) to 1918;
- Tientsin - From July 1900 to August 15, 1902.
In America:
- The German Caribbean - was colonized briefly in the 19th century.
German Post Offices Abroad:
The German Foreign Post Offices was mainly established to protect the trade interests of locally based German business people, in politically autonomous countries which had no governmentally organized postal system of their own and witch were not affiliated with the Universal Postal Union (UPU).
German Posts Offices:
- Turkey - In March 1, 1870 to September 30, 1914;
- China - From August 16, 1886 to March 16, 1917;
- Morocco - From December 20, 1899 to August 5, 1914 in the French area. From June 1919 in the Spanish area, Tangier to August 18, 1919.
Jan 1, 2013
Germany On Stamps: German Cameroon Stamps
New German Cameroon Stamps. These stamps are from british occupation of the territory, at World War I (1915).The overprint "C.E.F." means (Cameroons Expeditionary Forces).
Novos selos dos Camarões Alemão. estes selos foram usados durante a ocupação britânica durante a Primeira Guerra Mundial (1915). A impressão sobreposta "C.E.F." significa"Forças Expedicionárias nos Camarões" (Cameroons Expeditionary Forces).
