During its thirty-year occupation by the Germans, Togoland was held up by many European imperialists as a model colony, primarily because the German regime produced balanced budgets and was devoid of any major wars. To persuade their surrender, the Germans told the Herero they would be allowed to return to their homeland; that they had been pardoned by the Kaiser. 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. 0 … Entrance to this camp was strictly forbidden as it was an extermination camp, unlike the forced labor camps. The geographical limitations of Europe were also a factor. 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. Following World War II, the League of Nations was dissolved in … [26] As the Germans subdued rebellious Africans, their expeditions also resulted in obtaining forced laborers for the coastal plantations. 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. South Western Africa was a German colony from 1884 until 1915. Germany decided to create a colony in East Africa under the leadership of Imperial Chancellor Otto von Bismarckin February 1885. Africa’s diplomatic, strategic and material potential led European Powers to seize the opportunity to exploit a new continent. However, it was a combination of forced labor and excessive taxation imposed on the Togolanders that created these. Orders from the capital may have taken months to reach remote districts and a remote station could expect a visit from a senior official only once a decade. This fear persisted because the Germans never numbered more than 200 white officers and barely enlisted 1,300 Africans as troops. Originally, the Germans used negotiation and bargaining tactics with the Herero for land. By Faith Barasa on March 12 2019 in Society. 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. “A Historiography of German Togoland, or the Rise and Fall of a ‘Model Colony.’”, Bildungskanal. Countries conquered become colonies, all of the main officials … However, at the start of the First World War, the combined forces of the British and the French invaded the colony and the Germans capitulated, after only a few skirmishes, on 26 August 1914. Some saw Germany's behavior in South-West Africa as a precursor of German actions in the Holocaust. [20] The Germans hoped to exploit the natural resources of the region and provide their country with a new market for manufactured goods; Kamerun was never considered to be a settler colony, as the climate was too hostile. [1] Germany had recently unified in 1871 and the rapid industrialization of their society required a steady stream of raw materials. [16] Perhaps this increased German brutality in East Africa, as Europeans would go to extreme measures to ensure their supply of raw materials. [33] Some Germans also argued that the colonial territories which blossomed under their rule were economically ruined after they were expunged. [18] Most companies eventually gave way to governmental authority by the beginning of the 1920s, but the German colonial empire had already collapsed by that point. A large motivator behind African colonization was the desire to spread Christianity throughout the world. This exploration led initially to the establishment of th… However, in order to accomplish these advancements, they needed a source of constant raw material supply. 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. 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. To fix this problem members of the ‘surplus’ population were exported as colonists in Algeria, Tunisisa, South Africa, Namibia, Angola, Mozambique, The primary reason for European colonization of Africa was capitalism. [10] These ‘local compromises’, as they may be called, had common characteristics. Together these four territories constituted Germany's African presence in the age of New Imperialism. The German colony rented slaves to private companies, but some companies were so big that they ran their own concentration camps. The main reason for this is the curriculum of the German educational system. Countries like Great Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, other powers were losing money, and Africa appeared to be a way out of the depression. There were almost no free Herero people after the establishment of the concentration camps; slave labor became part of the colonial economy. [21]  For a period of time, after the Germans declared Kamerun a protectorate, they only had a solidified position on the coast; the Germans had not been successful in opening trade routes in the interior, partly for geographical reasons. These practices were completely at odds with the German and overall European belief that they were superior to Africans and the Germans resented it. [5] The next set of business for the Germans was to impose their rule over the small-scale societies further away from the caravan routes. 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. The extent of the forest prevented the coastal groups from uniting with the Grassfields peoples to stem the German tide. The fact that many countries in Africa still experience high levels of poverty today, often despite the country’s natural riches, is used as proof by many that the colonialization of Africa did more harm than good. German planners anticipated that the fate of their African empire would be settled, if necessary, by wars in Europe, not in Africa itself. The Germans attacked the Herero where they were mainly gathered, right next to the Kalahari Desert. Lv 7. Not all Herero acted against the Germans originally and even expressed their continued loyalty. Why did South Africa colonized Namibia? 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. Because all the good parts of Africa were already taken. Yes, but the precise answer to this depends on how you define “Germany’ and also ‘colonize’. To a smaller extent, Germany and Italy had, too. Most victims of the Shark Island camp were the Nama people; they saw the tragedy that the Herero went through and rebelled against the Germans because of that. 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 German consul, Gustav Nachtigal, declared Kamerun a protectorate of Germany on July 12, 1884. [25] The Germans used these troops to combat many revolts against their rule. Belgian troops move east from the Belgian Congo to occupy (in 1916) Ruanda-Urundi. At the height of colonization, only three sections of the continent had been untouched by European settlers: In the years 1884 and 1885, the Berlin Conference formalized European colonization of Africa. During a period lasting from 1881 to 1914 in what was known as the Scramble for Africa, several European nations took control over areas of the African continent. Spaniards colonized huge parts of South America and as a result most people on the continent speak Spanish today, and the cultures there take a lot from Spanish culture. The Brandenburg African Company was chartered in 1682 and established two small settlements on the Gold Coast of what is today Ghana. [7] By 1914, Tanganyika was divided into 22 administrative districts, and only two of them were still ruled by soldiers. After the war the League of Nations confirms the existing state of affairs, granting Belgium in 1924 a mandate to administer the colony. The population of Rwanda is primarily made up of two ethnic groups, the Tutsi and the Hutu. The Congo was under King Leopold II’s rule (eventually Belgian) and Senegal, Cameroon, and several other colonies in the western Sudan and Central Africa were gained by France. Throughout the colonial period, the societies that had been established in Africa fought hard to fend off their European colonizers. Answer Save. [24] The army in the protectorate remained small because its major task was to suppress scattered African rebellions, not to ward off other Europeans. The Germans encircled the Herero but left one part open for them to escape into the Kalahari, expecting them to die of starvation and thirst. The ultimate goal of Europeans was to establish a market economy and that was done by compelling Africans into a labor pool. Before the Treaty of Versailles was even signed, Great Britain, France, and Japan had total control over the German colonies since 1915, except for East Africa. 6 years ago. 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. Belgium itself had gained independence in 1831 when it broke away from the Netherlands and became a new nation. Eventually, with pressures from inside the German government as more people learned about the brutality, the Kaiser was forced to tell his military to accept the surrender of the Herero. While most German citizens do know that Germany had colonies in Africa, the majority does not know much more than that. By 1900, when the force of the quick colonization was over, the majority of the land in Africa was divided up amongst seven different European colonizing nations: Britain, France, Spain, Germany, Belgium, Italy, and Portugal. Germans met armed resistance from the Bassa-Bakoko, one of the largest ethnic groups of the coastal and northwest Kamerun areas, who staged an armed rebellion trying to halt German inland penetration, but were defeated between 1892 and 1895. Arguably the most brutal camps in Namibia was the one located on Shark Island. [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. In 1865 he succeeded his father, Leopold I, to the Belgian throne. Well, in 1990 the German colony of South Western Africa became announced to be called Namibia. Prior to this time, world superpowers such as Portugal, France, and Britain had already set up colonies in Africa. After the conquest of African decentralized and centralized states, the European powers set about establishing colonial state systems. Yet Germany wanted an empire so they snapped up a few scraps just to spite the UK and France. Soon after the agreement to create an East African colony was reached, the German Kaiser granted imperial protection to the possessions of the German East African Company, which had autonomy in the region. “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. When Germany invades Belgium, at the start of World War I, the Belgians retaliate in a smaller way in central Africa. Life for the African people during colonization was difficult. The company did not waste any time in dispatching eighteen expeditions to make treaties expanding its territories in East Africa, but these moves by the Germans stirred hostility in the region. [38] Negotiation was not an option and the Herero did not see any of this coming; they believed the earlier disputes had been resolved; the Herero moved as far away as possible from the German settlements to try and survive. [35] The Germans realized that Namibia would be perfect for this, and ethnic cleansing was necessary to create the Lebensraum. By 1898, the Germans controlled all of Tanganyika’s main population centers and lines of communication. German colonies comprised territory that makes up 22 countries today, mostly in Africa, including Nigeria, Ghana, and Uganda. Prior to the wave of European colonization, the geography of Africa was generally misunderstood. This was done either by bargaining with African leaders or through warfare. By 1900 much of Africa had been colonized by seven European powers—Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, and Italy. They were invaded and largely occupied by the colonial forces of the Allied Powers during World War I, and in 1919 were transferred from German control by the League of Nations and divided between Belgium, France, Portugal, South Africa and the United Kingdom. [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. 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 Germans also started to treat the Herero harshly, started minor instances of conflict with them, and raped their women; the Herero became convinced that resistance was the only way to combat this. When the Germans were in control of Tanganyika, two broad phases can summarize their rule. [13] However, this was not what happened in other scenarios. 4 Answers. Towards the end of the 19 th century European countries such as England, France, Spain, Germany, Belgium, and Italy began colonizing Africa which became known as “The Scramble for Africa”. 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. German East Africa, German Deutsch-Ostafrika, former dependency of imperial Germany, corresponding to present-day Rwanda and Burundi, the continental portion of Tanzania, and a small section of Mozambique.Penetration of the area was begun in 1884 by German commercial agents, and German claims were recognized by the other European powers in the period 1885–94. It was a mixture of nationalism, militarism, and racism that prompted Kaiser Wilhelm II to send a large army to crush the Herero. Colonization became so popular during this period for many reasons. Germany did, in 1885. The Germans offered political and military support for their allies in exchange for the recognition of German authority, provision of labor and building materials, and the use of diplomacy instead of force in settling issues. In fact, it was more of a localized rebellion, but the Germans did not care; they attempted to wipeout as many Herero as possible. [17] However, this was quickly discovered to be inefficient as many of these firms went bankrupt because of mismanagement and African resistance. These German companies operated out of Bremen and Hamburg; the businesses were at the commercial and political frontier of the expanding colonial state. Gol(raw materials), Glory(more land ment more power), and God(convert people to Christianity) ... France, Portugal, Germany and Belgium. Unlike e.g. The Lord Humungus. In fact, European countries competed with one another to see who could attain the most power and growth. 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. By 1900 a significant part of Africa had been colonized by mainly seven European powers—Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, and Italy. It has been argued that the poverty that is still experienced today in many African countries is a lasting effect of colonialism. The African natives were shipped by cattle cars and taken to a place far from public view to be exterminated. In 1884, pursuant to the Berlin Conference, colonies were officially established on the African west coast, often in areas already inhabited by German missionaries and merchants. Suddenly, the barter economy was replaced by a money economy.[27]. [23] Once the protectorate was officially declared, the German military was purposely slow to enlist locals as soldiers lest they acquire too great a proficiency with guns and turn those guns on the whites. By 1900, when the force of the quick colonization was over, the majority of the land in Africa was divided up amongst seven different European colonizing nations: Britain, France, Spain, … Again, much like the ideals behind the colonialism of the Americas, many European colonizers thought that they were doing a favor to those living on the African continent by introducing to them the European way of life, even if it came at the cost of destroying established societies. [42] Great Britain and France had made secret arrangements splitting German territory and the Treaty of Versailles only cemented what had already taken place. Cotton production in German East Africa was administered in a much different manner than in other areas of the continent. This activity led to the depopulation of inland zones. Why Did Europe Colonize Africa? The main goal of the Germans in Namibia was to provide a Lebensraum for its people; more territory that a state believes is needed for its natural development. All maps, graphics, flags, photos and original descriptions © 2021 worldatlas.com, Types Of Crimes By Number Of Offenses In The US, The 10 Biggest Shopping Malls In The World. European powers noticed that many of these raw materials happened to be abundant in Africa. German Desires for Tanganyika and Early Expansion, The consolidation of German rule in Tanganyika, Two broad phases of district administration, German South West Africa and the Herero and Nama Genocide, Laumann, Dennis. Omar Mukhtar: Omar Mukhtar was born to a noble clan in Zanzur, and after his father died, he was adopted by Sharif El Gariani. [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. It is sparsely mentioned in history books. At the time of the Scramble for Africa, major world powers like Great Britain, France, and Spain were competing for power on the European stage. In the 1680s, the Margraviate of Brandenburg, then leading the broader realm of Brandenburg-Prussia, pursued limited imperial efforts in West Africa. For example, Mtinginya of Usongo, a powerful Nyamwezi chief aided the Germans against Isike; but by 1901, he became a potential enemy and when he died a year or two later, his chiefdom was deliberately dismantled. This also feeds the general opinion that German colonial history was only a short perio… Many of the ideologies behind imperialism were discriminatory in nature, using racist beliefs to justify harsh authoritarian leadership styles. While Togoland might have appeared to be "model" to Europeans, Togolanders endured a regime characterized by the aforementioned labor and taxation policies, harsh punishments inflicted by German district officers, grossly inadequate health care and education systems, and prohibition from many commercial activities. History classes do not give much attention to studying the colonial past of Germany. The Germans were aided by the severe ethnic and political fragmentation of the inland groups. The forest aided the Africans in discouraging whites from extending trade activities beyond the coast. Berlin Conference Tasks The initial task of the conference was to agree that the Congo River and Niger River mouths and basins would be considered neutral and open to trade. [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. Prior to colonization, Hutu peoples were typically farmers, while Tutsis were cattle herders. European colonizers were able to attain control over much of Africa through diplomatic pressure, aggressive enticement, and military invasions. 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. A key ideology behind imperialism, which in turn informs colonialism, is the idea of racial superiority or cultural superiority. After the first Germans were killed by the Herero, the Germans turned extreme and believed ethnic cleansing was necessary. [39] After the Germans pushed the Herero deeper and deeper into the Kalahari, they created a wall of guard posts to seal them off. Probably the most important was economic as a depression was occurring in Europe. These troops were all that stood between the meagre German administration and the African population. [28] To establish official control of the rest of the region, Germany signed treaties with Great Britain. Much like what occurred in North and South America, European colonizers brought the Christian faith to Africa through missionaries. [15] The ‘cotton gospel’ was received less enthusiastically in Tanganyika than it was in British Uganda. 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). why did Germany colonize Rwanda? Germany lost control of its colonial empire at the beginning of World War I when its colonies were seized by its enemies in the first weeks of the war. [41] Overall, the camps in Namibia provided the blueprint for death camps of 20th century, that Nazi Germany used. The Colonization of Africa was due to a wide range of factors, not only economic and political but also for social, religious, humanitarian and technological reasons, which differed from country to country. [40] However, this was a lie and the Herero that were rounded up were sent to concentration camps. [43] After World War I, Germany did not just lose territory but lost commercial footholds, spheres of influence, and imperialistic ambitions of continued expansion. [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. Throughout this time, Africa was forever changed. The Allies rejected the proposals because the native inhabitants of the German colonies were strongly opposed to being brought under their control again. The prospect of a colony in East Africa was too much to ignore; it was perfect for the continued economic stability and growth of Germany. The second king of Belgium, Leopold II, was a very ambitious man who wanted to personally enrich himself and enhance his country’s prestige by annexing and colonizing lands in Africa. There were many reasons for the colonization of Africa, including economic, political, and religious motives. The Germans forced many Herero into a war they did not want. Both were a major source of unrest everywhere, and have been identified as a chief cause of the uprising in East Africa. Of these 14 nations, France, Germany, Great Britain, and Portugal were the major players in the conference, controlling most of colonial Africa at the time. South Africa, which was a British colony, occupied Walvis Bay in 1878, and the rest of Namibia in 1915. There were several different reasons why European colonizers set their sights on the African continent Some of the most prominent ones are outlined below: The 19th century was home to the industrial revolution, a time when many European nations were flourishing in the technology sector of the time. The Portuguese colonised both Mozambique and Angola, in southern Africa, whilst South-western Africa, along with Tanganyika in East Africa were under German rule. The formation of impressive rail networks and telegraph systems further supported this opinion. [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. The German colonization of Africa took place during two distinct periods. When the company’s agents landed to take over seven coastal towns in the August of 1888, the tension finally escalated into violence. Section three discusses Germany’s role in the European “scramble for Africa” and such developments as the Anglo-Portuguese Treaty of 1884 and the 1884−85 Congress of Berlin. The exploitative nature of the German regime swept the natives of Kamerun into a changed world. To a smaller extent, Germany and Italy had, too. Before it reached that point, the Germans started off slow in Namibia, from a position of relative weakness. Namibia, or South Western Africa has an area of 835,100 kilometers squared. 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]. [37] As the Germans became more determined to take Herero land for Lebensraum, the Herero edged closer to open rebellion and killed a number of Germans as a result of this treatment. Settlements in modern Guinea and Nigeria's Ondo State failed within a year; those in Cameroon, Namibia, Tanzania and Togo quickly grew into lucrative colonies. [2] In a way, this support by the German government completely changed the power and influence the German East African Company had. The Herero hoped for negotiations, but a colonial army arrived instead. [29] The Germans made sure that they had complete control over both Togoland and its inhabitants. Germany decided to create a colony in East Africa under the leadership of Imperial Chancellor Otto von Bismarck in February 1885. [6] Further inland, administration grew outwards from strategic garrisons but was transferred to civilian hands more slowly. The 1880s mark the beginning of the colonial period in African history. Colonialism is the act by which a country or state exerts control and domination over another country or state. [8] The chief characteristic of German rule was the power and autonomy of the district officer; sheer lack of communication dictated this. [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. [11] Moreover, the imposition of tax in 1898 initiated the transition to the second phase of administration whose chief characteristic was the collapse of the compromises made earlier in the decade. However, due to the fact that European powers were disproportionately aided by the products of the industrial revolution, many former empires and kingdoms that had been present in Africa were at a disadvantage and lost to the colonizers.

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