German colonial empire
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The German colonial empire — overseas areas dominated by the German Empire or Second Reich — formed in the late 19th century. The victorious powers dissolved and re-assigned this empire in the course of the First World War and of the subsequent peace treaties.
In the Treaties Japan gained the Carolines and Marianas.Great Britain gained German New Guinea, Namibia, and parts of German East Africa. France gained Togo, Cameroons and parts of German East Africa and New Zealand acquired Samoa.
Germany came late to the imperialist "scramble" for remote colonial real-estate: the German states prior to 1870 had retained separate political structures and goals, and German foreign policy up to and including the age of Bismarck concentrated on resolving the "German question" in Europe and securing German interests on that same continent. On the other hand, Germans had traditions of foreign sea-borne trade dating back to the Hansa; a tradition existed of German emigration (particularly eastwards in the direction of Russia and Romania); and North German merchants and missionaries showed lively interest in overseas lands.
Many Germans in the late 19th century viewed colonial acquisitions as the true mark of nationhood achieved, and the demand for colonies went hand-in-hand with dreams of a High Seas navy.
Formal German sovereignty existed in :
- Togo (Togoland): 1884 – 1914
- Cameroons (German: Kamerun): 1884 –
- Western Samoa: 1899 – 1914
- The Caroline Islands (German: Karolinen): 1899 – 1914
- Marianas Islands (German: Marianen): 1899 – 1914
- German New Guinea or Kaiser Wilhelm's Land and nearby islands (German: Deutsch-Neuguinea): 1884 – 1914
- German East Africa (Tanganyika, now part of Tanzania; Rwanda and Burundi): 1885 – c.1917
- South West Africa (modern-day Namibia): 1883 – 1915
Imperial Germany also maintained interests in areas of China:
- The protectorate of Kiao-chau (Kiautschou), including the concession of Tsingtao (German: Tsingtau): 1897 – 1914
- The sphere of influence of Shandong
- The sphere of influence of the Huang He (Hwang-Ho) valley