The German Colonial Empire
Grimmer-Solem, Erik (2008). "The German Colonial Empire". In Stearns, Peter N. (ed.). The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern World. 3. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 129–137.
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Abstract: Around the sametime that German influence was growing in Samoa,the New Guinea ConsortiumQaterrenamed the New Guinea Company) was formed by the prominent German bankers Adolf von Hansemann (1826-1903) and Gerson von Bleichrridei (1822-1893)'-the latter Bismarck's private banker-with the aim of developing plantations on the northeastern part of the island of New Guinea. In 1883 this territory was claimed and in the autumn of 1884 it gained Reich protection. The company was given a concessionto administer New Guinea and the New Britain Archipelago. To this was then added a series of islands in Micronesia including the Marshall Islands, which were administered by the Jaluit Company. Negotiations with the British in 1885 affirmed Germany's claim over northeastern New Guinea (renamed Kaiser Wilhelmsland), the New Britain Archipelago (renamed the Bismarck Archipelago), and the Marshall Islands. In 1899 the Caroline, Mariana, and Palau islands were purchasedfrom Spain and added to this sprawling oceanic empire. However, by then the New Guinea Company had failed to developviable plantations in New Guinea producing only tensions with the indigenous population over land and the treatment of plantation workers. Thus the Reich was forcedto administer these territories asa colony starting in 1899. The first governor, Albert Hahl (186& 1945), addressedthese problems by protecting existing native land claims, regulating plantation woik, encouraging native cash crop production and improving medical care and schooling. Before 1914 New Guinea showed remarkable increases in exports of copra, rubber, guttapercha, and phosphates,but the colony was only ever a tiny componentof German overall trade. New Guineawas seizedby Australia during World War I and was administered as a League of Nations mandate thereafter...
Extra details:
DOI: 10.2307/203204 MAG: 2167442228 CorpusID: 147214748 OpenAlex: W2334683895
