Brandenburg — after 1701, the Kingdom of Prussia — pursued these colonial efforts until 1721, when Arguin was captured by the French and the Gold Coast settlements were sold to the Dutch Republic. The Brandenburg African Company was chartered in 1682 and established two small settlements on the Gold Coast of what is today Ghana. German frustration from their territories being stolen from them and the extensive amount of reparations they were forced to pay led directly to World War II. [22] After the German navy cemented their control over the Kamerun coast, and further troop landings were made, the Germans were more inclined to move inland. In the 1890’s their aims were military security and political control; to achieve this the Germans used a mixture of violence and alliances with African leaders. Life for the African people during colonization was difficult. The Germans thought the dispossession of their colonies was an injustice, and reiterated their economic need of the colonies, and their duty to civilize the backward races. [10] These ‘local compromises’, as they may be called, had common characteristics. As imperial Germany began creating an overseas empire in the late 19th century, many influential Germans sought to emulate the example of Great Britain, which had built its large and powerful empire in part by promoting the settlement of immigrants from the British Isles to British-controlled territories in other parts of the world, including East Africa and South Africa. German control of Togoland dates back to February 1884 when a group of German soldiers kidnapped chiefs in Anecho, in present-day south-Eastern Togo and forced them into negotiations among the German warship Sophie. [36] The Germans expected to come in and simply begin colonization efforts, but instead they were renting land from the people who they were supposed to be colonizing; a paradoxical relationship. Many of the old African collaborators did not necessarily lose power in this second stage of German administration, but to survive they had to adapt themselves and often reorganize their societies.[14]. European powers noticed that many of these raw materials happened to be abundant in Africa. However, from certain parts of southern Spain you can actually SEE Moroccan, north African land with your naked eye, yet the Spaniards never really tried to colonize that part of the world. [4] Resistance was seen all over German controlled Africa, but the German soldiers and officers came from the best army in the world, so the action of rebelling didn’t have much of a long-term impact. Define direct rule. Namibia, or South Western Africa has an area of 835,100 kilometers squared. Prior to this time, world superpowers such as Portugal, France, and Britain had already set up colonies in Africa. Over a century and a half later, the unified German Empire had emerged as a major world power. Together these four territories constituted Germany's African presence in the age of New Imperialism. Denmark (and Norway, which was at that time part of Denmark) did colonize a small part of East Africa (called the "Danish Gold Coast," today known as Ghana). When Hitler formally renounced "colonies" in 1935, he meant "overseas" colonies, not the "close to home" variety in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. The Germans colonized South West Africa in a different manner than the rest of their holdings. The six principal colonies of German Africa, along with native kingdoms and polities, were the legal precedents for the modern states of Burundi, Cameroon, Namibia, Rwanda, Tanzania and Togo. By 1900 a significant part of Africa had been colonized by mainly seven European powers—Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, and Italy. When the Germans were in control of Tanganyika, two broad phases can summarize their rule. Eventually, the main coastal towns, which were more settled, were converted into headquarters of administration districts, and civilian district officers were appointed. Countries like Great Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, other powers were losing money, and Africa appeared to be a way out of the depression. [32] Germans quickly responded, to defend their honor, by stating that the Africans were more than satisfied with German sovereignty, that they desired nothing more than its continuance. Before that time, what is twenty-first-century Italy consisted of several independent kingdoms. Before it reached that point, the Germans started off slow in Namibia, from a position of relative weakness. 6 years ago. Yes, but the precise answer to this depends on how you define “Germany’ and also ‘colonize’. European nations saw opportunity for new trade routes and potential wealth in some of Africa's natural resources. Moreover, Bismarck was suspect of France and Great Britain’s true intentions in Africa and this only furthered his desire to create an East African colony. The primary reason for European colonization of Africa was capitalism. [34] This tension between the Allied and German governments over German colonies lasted until the outbreak of World War II. In the initial stages of German control of East Africa, private German firms were given autonomy to run the establishment in East Africa. The boldest among them argued that South-West Africa … The history of Namibia has passed through several distinct stages from being colonised in the late nineteenth century to Namibia's independence on 21 March 1990.. From 1884, Namibia was a German colony: German South West Africa.After the First World War, the League of Nations Mandated South Africa to administer the territory. To a smaller extent, Germany and Italy had, too. [43] After World War I, Germany did not just lose territory but lost commercial footholds, spheres of influence, and imperialistic ambitions of continued expansion. [31] A British writer, Albert E Calvert, tried to understand this distinct difference; Calvert argued that the natives of Togoland ended their ‘allegiance’ with the Germans as soon as the Germans were put in a position of pressure, that the terrible treatment they endured under the Germans was the reason for their welcoming of the British and French invasion as well as the joy they exerted after the German surrender. When Germany invades Belgium, at the start of World War I, the Belgians retaliate in a smaller way in central Africa. After diplomacy concluded and the conflicts resulted in German victory, their regime used bands of gunmen to maintain authority over local leaders. [44] The Germans put forward two proposals for colonial settlement: first, that a special committee, who would at least hear Germany’s side of the issue, handle the matter; and second, that Germany be allowed to administer her former colonies. [30] The Togolanders were beyond thankful to be freed from German rule, this conflicted with the previously-held contention among many European imperialists that Togoland was a model colony. A large motivator behind African colonization was the desire to spread Christianity throughout the world. After the conquest of African decentralized and centralized states, the European powers set about establishing colonial state systems. Unification brought Italians together as one people and created a sense of shared national identity—as Italians rather than as Florentines or Neapolitans—including a feeling of common national destiny. Arguably the most brutal camps in Namibia was the one located on Shark Island. Resisting made the percentage of survival much less for Africans and brutality became synonymous with German imperialism in Africa. Five years later, a treaty with the king of Arguin in Mauritania established a protectorate over that island, and Brandenburg occupied an abandoned fort originally constructed there by Portugal. Britain, Germany didn't have enough of a navy to support overseas colonies, but had an army that was more than willing to annex adjacent territories. What countries did Italy colonize in Africa? [24] The army in the protectorate remained small because its major task was to suppress scattered African rebellions, not to ward off other Europeans. Prior to this time, world superpowers such as Portugal, France, and Britain had already set up colonies in Africa. The idea of separating people out from typical society and killing them as quick as possibly was probably born on Shark Island. In fact, it was more of a localized rebellion, but the Germans did not care; they attempted to wipeout as many Herero as possible. [42] Great Britain and France had made secret arrangements splitting German territory and the Treaty of Versailles only cemented what had already taken place. Why Did Europe Colonize Africa? [26] As the Germans subdued rebellious Africans, their expeditions also resulted in obtaining forced laborers for the coastal plantations. The Germans were aided by the severe ethnic and political fragmentation of the inland groups. Germany decided to create a colony in East Africa under the leadership of Imperial Chancellor Otto von Bismarckin February 1885. History classes do not give much attention to studying the colonial past of Germany. [12] The old compromises collapsed because the increase in German military strength made them less dependent on local allies and while earlier officers often welcomed their collaborators’ power, later ones suspected it. The formation of impressive rail networks and telegraph systems further supported this opinion. The amount of land that each country owned was considered to be a great indicator of power, with every state wanting to do better than their neighbor. Africa’s diplomatic, strategic and material potential led European Powers to seize the opportunity to exploit a new continent. This lack of attention in schools implies that this is not an important period in German history. [2] In a way, this support by the German government completely changed the power and influence the German East African Company had. Key Terms Social As a side effect of the Industrial Revolution unemployment, poverty, and homelessness had become prevalent throughout Europe. “Namibia: Genocide and the Second Reich (BBC).”, Flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–1950), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=German_colonization_of_Africa&oldid=1000276871, Articles containing Spanish-language text, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 14 January 2021, at 12:57. Why did South Africa colonized Namibia? By European standards, Italy is a young country, having become unified as one nation only in 1861. This activity led to the depopulation of inland zones. The Herero were beaten, overworked, and starved to death by the army of the Second Reich, this became the first genocide of the twentieth century. Well, in 1990 the German colony of South Western Africa became announced to be called Namibia. Parts of contemporary Chad, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, the Central African Republic and the Republic of the Congo were also under the control of German Africa at various points during its existence. Lv 7. Entrance to this camp was strictly forbidden as it was an extermination camp, unlike the forced labor camps. The following year gunboats were dispatched to East Africa to contest the Sultan of Zanzibar's claims of sovereignty over the mainland in what is today Tanzania. “A Historiography of German Togoland, or the Rise and Fall of a ‘Model Colony.’”, Bildungskanal. German South West Africa, German Deutsch-Südwestafrika, a former German colony (1884–1919) that is now the nation of Namibia, in southwestern Africa.In 1883 Franz Adolf Lüderitz, a merchant from Bremen, Germany, established a trading post in southwest Africa at Angra Pequena, which he renamed Lüderitzbucht.He also acquired the adjacent coastal area, which he named Lüderitzland. This also feeds the general opinion that German colonial history was only a short perio… [35] The Germans realized that Namibia would be perfect for this, and ethnic cleansing was necessary to create the Lebensraum. Colonialism is the act by which a country or state exerts control and domination over another country or state. The treaty only further confirmed that “Germany renounced to the Allied and Associated powers all rights and titles to her overseas territories”. [29] The Germans made sure that they had complete control over both Togoland and its inhabitants. [17] However, this was quickly discovered to be inefficient as many of these firms went bankrupt because of mismanagement and African resistance. After the conquest of African decentralized and centralized states, the European powers set about establishing colonial state systems. Gol(raw materials), Glory(more land ment more power), and God(convert people to Christianity) ... France, Portugal, Germany and Belgium. 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