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.

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