The German colonial empire existed between 1880 to 1920, majorly in Africa and some territories and islands in Oceania. There were few territories in China and South America and few islands in the Caribbean as well, but the major influence of German colonization was in Africa. The following were the African colonies in its German spellings:
- Togohinterland / Gurma und Gando - the original kingdoms that today are part of Nigeria. This was the Togo Hinterland Expedition, 1884-95.
- Kapitaï und Koba - also known as Colinsland, one of the earliest expeditions of Germany in west Africa. Today, they form part of Guinea.
- Mahinland - short-lived territory in today's Nigeria, transferred to Britain in 1885.
- Kamerun - The German Cameroon which had massively changing boundaries. This post shall discuss about it in detail.
- Nokki - a short-lived colony at the border of Angola and DRC, it was given by Germany to Portugal in 1885.
- Schutzgebiet Togo / Togoland - today's Togo that was a German colony between 1884 to 1914.
- Deutsch Südwestafrika - German Southwest Africa, today's Namibia. A German colony between 1884 to 1915.
- Pondoland - today's EmaMpondweni in South Africa. An unsuccessful attempt of a German colony was made in 1884.
- Deutsch Ostafrika - German East Africa, today's mainland Tanzania along with Rwanda and Burundi. Zanzibar was not included. It existed between 1885 to 1919.
- Wituland - German protectorate of Witu, in Kenya between 1885 to 1890.
Other proposed colonies (and failed) expeditions were to colonize southwest Madagascar, coast of Somalia, northern strip of Mozambique (to be called as Nyassaland), Santa Lucia Bay (in South Africa), Katanga province (of today's DRC) and Comoros (as Komoren). In the 18th century, there were also short-lived German colonies of Brandenburg-Prussia such as Groß Friedrichsburg (in Ghana) and Whydah (in Benin). But the one colony that went through drastic territorial changes, was Kamerun or as how its called today - Cameroon.
Origin of colonization in Cameroon
In 1858 a British missionary settlement at the coastal port of Victoria (Ambas Valley) started the history of colonial Cameroon. But it was the German occupation in 1884 that would mark the rest of its colonial history. The predecessor to modern Cameroon was the Kingdom of Bamum that is also name of a town in southwest region. The initial German occupation was just along the coast adjoining Bight of Biafra. The word 'Cameroon' is pretty new and even the German pronunciation 'Kamerun' is actually derived from a Portuguese term Rio de Camarões, which means 'shrimp river'. Older maps doesn't even have the name 'Cameroon' or even 'Kamerun', instead it is shown as part of Kingdom of Biafra.
Formation of German Kamerun
Home to several indigenous tribes such as Bokoko, Bule, Njema-Njema, Mabea, Ewunsog, Bati, Tikar etc., the land is flooded with Bantu, Bantoid and Adamawa-Ubangi speaking tribes. Even on modern maps, one can find these names with prominence to Adamawa region that extends from Nigeria to Central African Republic. Like any other carving out of African state, Kamerun's boundaries were straight lines with a 'duck beak' shape near Lake Tsade or Tschad (which now is a shrunk Lake Chad).
Boundary exchange post First World War
The boundary exchanges took place in 1911 when new regions carved out from French Equatorial Africa - Neu Kamerun-Ost (New Cameroon East) and Neu Kamerun-Süd (New Cameroon South) were added making Kamerun's new map as a bloated region bridging west and southern Africa. Post first World War these territories were given back to the French and instead the German Kamerun was shrunk at its western border into two regions - Northern Cameroons and Southern Cameroons. These territories were British occupations that later became part of Nigeria and the remaining Kamerun was now called as French Occupied Territories of Former Cameroon. The name later changed to Cameroon Territories in 1921. Coming to the times of second World War, something interesting occurred which isn't much talked when it comes to the country's history.
The proposed Jewish settlement
Kristallnacht was the precursor to the Nazi holocaust that occurred in Germany, Austria and Sudetenland (in Czechia) on 9th-10th October 1938. Among many reasons, one key fact was the failure of the Évian Conference at Évian-les-Bains (in France) that was held in July 1938. The topic of discussion was resettlement of Jewish population who were under brutal subjugation of Nazi Germany lead by Adolf Hitler. Among many locations, the former German colonies of Africa were considered to be safe-haven for the Jews before Palestine was finalized. Cameroons, was one of them. And not just at the conference, but a renowned American businessman William Randolph Hearst (the 1941 classic Citizen Kane is inspired by his character) also made a plan for Jewish settlement proposing Cameroons, Tanganyika (today's mainland Tanzania), Togoland (today's Togo) and Southwest Africa (today's Namibia). The plan was published in a 1938 edition of Los Angeles Examiner and described Cameroons as:
An added interesting information to this; these former German colonies were not the only proposed lands for a new Jewish state. Uganda, Madagascar, British Guiana, Fugu (in Japan), Port Darvey (in Australia), Ethiopia and Somalia, Ararat City (in USA near Niagara river) and a Jewish Autonomous Oblast in USSR were also proposed Jewish settlements before Israel was carved out of Palestine in 1947.
Independent Cameroon
Cameroon got independence in 1960 and after uniting with Southern Cameroons (which was a British territory) in 1961, the Federal Republic of Cameroon was born. It changed to United Republic of Cameroon in 1972 and finally to Republic of Cameroon in 1984.
Below here is map of Kamerun of 1906 when it was still a German colony and much before the chaos.
@mapsbysagar
@mapsbysagar
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