Germany's Vanishing Colonies

tween the Cape of Good Hope, Goa, and Calicut, practically the whole of the trade of the east coast of Africa north of th

y subject-excepting religious intolerance, for which nations have contended-had been established for c

e east coast trade, which had always been a valuable one, the A

comparatively late date, when the Powers had already begun to bring under their direct administration lands to whose

orded a much-needed secure place of retreat; but a trade between Zanzibar, India, and

took the form of devastating raids, and their

came under the sway of the Sultans, whose caravans pushed farther and farther into the interior, returni

movement for the suppression of the iniquitous traffic had been on foot from the beginning of the nineteenth century

hich were the Island and Bay of Pemba and Witu, grew and intensified until Great Britain became, as was meet on account o

g in every direction, as British explorers ventured farther and farther into the interior-adventurous s

control whatsoever excepting that exercised by the Arab leaders of marauding and sla

ent, and mapped out the region about Lakes Tanganyika and Victoria and Albert Nyanza; Burton, indeed, penetrat

in the British, and undertaken with no sordid motive; while the r

the mystery of the source of the Nile in Lake Victoria Nyan

before him the attractive idea of a new German Empire, embracing a large portion of Central Africa; and who urged upon his countrymen the desirability of acq

infested with missionaries whose subsequent squabbles about forms and dogmas gave r

g monarch's private venture an enormously successful enterprise-embracing a huge area, taking in from the weste

ed his private concern until his death, when by his will he bequeat

t off along Lake Tanganyika British Central Afri

claimed himself Emperor of the Sahara; but his resources not being quite in p

es on the east coast; and this was being accomplished without much difficulty, accompanied, as h

Nile, and to all intents and purposes taken under

f territory; but the necessity of actually and formally annexing was not apparen

f the trade"; while Germany, which had really only existed since 1871, made the affairs of the Sultan of Zanzibar her business, "because of Germany's interest i

on the release of thousands and thousands of slaves, to whose "masters" she paid large sums as compensation, many industries in her Colonies w

of the German merchants, could not obtain the all-powerful Bismarck's support until their proved value as commercial propositions should justify

r their "spheres of influence" on the east coast, and in 1880 Sir Bartle Frere made strong representations to

to be correct, and the "scramble for Africa" entailed

uena and St Lucia Bay, and pushing inland to girdle Africa with a Ger

e initiatory steps for acquiring oversea territory; and he, with two friends, set out for Zanzibar as

eedings were envelop

ceeded up country and obtained, under the pretext of "autograph collecting," the signatures of Arab and native chiefs to treaties, with which they

Consul, been offered by the Sultan of Zanzibar to Great Britain, who,

ded by treaties bearing the signatures of natives potentates, whic

imed by Bismarck, and instead of supporting the Sultan in his righteous protest our statesmen, having been forestalled, determined to give Germany all assistance to estab

h not disclosing his real designs, which must ha

robi Railway) to the Nile lakes, and that "the project would only receive the support of the Brittanic Government if the latter were assured that it would in

nt; and a formidable German squadron appeared before the Sultan's palace on the 7th August, 1885, and presented an ultimatum, on which the Sultan bowed

y from this date until 1890, when Germany resigned all claims over th

ies of German agents prior to the appointment of a Commission for

iderably earlier than any German grants, our Government agreed to allow all claims to re

f the Commission (1886), a strip of coastline 600 miles in length was left to the Sult

s, was, through an uncalled-for fit of generosity on the part of Great Britain, made over to Germany-a concession which

rictions upon the development of British East Africa, and threat

tain and the upstart Power, Germany, of territory the history of which was permeated by h

er the territory she claimed, she was treated with scant consideration by Great Britain, and no courtesy at all by Germany, who, however, emphatically demonstrated the hopele

atus of Portugal, the latter found her limit of endurance, and developing a fit of naughty petulance, proceeded to bombard for three days several unprotected nat

d their territorial sphere in every direction-a proceeding which evoked a British protest and necessitated a fresh delimitation of boundaries in 1

der the administration of Germany by virtue of a lease from the Sultan. The new area included the ma

"insurrection" amongst the natives; and the assistance of the Imperial (German) Government was invok

ive revolt, and having enlisted a thousand or more ex-British askaris (native soldiers) and Zulus, he proceeded to slay, b

ners of plantations and trading stations, and these fled f

connection with the "insurrection," but pleaded that it was a movement organ

operation was sought by Germany in her need, of dispatching a fleet which united wit

n of the slave trade and the protection of German interests in East

humanity, the Germans, on their own admission, were larg

shed, made their position unquestionably secure by purchasing from the Sultan, in the name of the German East Africa Society

d by the fact that the Reichstag voted ten and a half million marks partly for the purpose of paying

lonies, comprising an area double the size of Germany itself, 387,000 square miles. On the north th

ical, and in parts on the coast there are dense mangro

interior where the Tanganyika plateau forms a

e majestic peak of Kilima 'Njaro on the borders of British East Afric

f plantations; for, as in the other German Colonies, there are no settlers in the true sense, although

there are, as elsewhere along the coast, a great many Banyans or Indian traders

o principal tribes being the Urundi with 1,500

ere were abundant natural resources and a dense native populatio

State, which by international agreement was open to Free Trade. They went so far indeed as to offer to take the Congo Free State under "protection" when

erritory Germany, with her trade methods, began

iously appointed steamers to stop goods from going to Zanzibar and being handled twice. In the way German traders

le a line of steamers started to circumnavigate Africa, going down the west coast to Ca

trade in her hands, and the German description of Dar-es-Salaam as the metropol

had formed to the building of Government offices and residences, and the imposi

uniformed in khaki, were armed with the most modern guns and rifles. They constituted a

the Arabs made a condition of slavery quite a natural existence, they we

e; the country was intersected in every direction by paths six feet wide for machela[F] travelling,

f food were everywhere fixed by tariff. German home methods were applied everywh

ace") was made the capital, and from here t

while the entrance is between coral reefs, the passage through which is in some places not much over fifty

ive botanical garden, electric light, and a powerful wireless installation. The

shed on energetically. The territory is eminently suited for the cultivation of tropical agricultural products,

ropean plantations are huge farms in the lower-lying country; and though on the slopes of Kili

ir titles might not be recognised, as the natives' claim to land had not yet been adjudicated-which means, of course, that, as else

rom actual to semi-slave labour, are principally coffee, rubber, co

ubber, palm-oil, copra, and dairy products. They have been encouraged in every way to increase their production of raw materials by

is a falsely reasoned and falsely proved humanitarianism which seeks to take no cognisance of the education of the native for manual work. Work is pro

the negro, regarded in conjunction with the fr

f about 250,000 acres-of which 80,000 were planted with rubber, 50,000 with si

en place to sisal; and in 1913 the value of sisal hemp exported

is difficult and the treatment of the leaves equally so, but millions of plants now exist in both German and British East Africa. The exportation of si

owing is chiefly in the hands of the whites-not solely in the natives

d a set-back in the economi

states the number of rubber trees plante

to the plantation. The costs often amount to about ￡2, 10s. per head before work is begun, and the rate of wages is high-about 16s. 6d. per month for a Wanyamwezi tapper. Owing to a slight rise in the price of rubber, tapping has been resumed by some of the planters, and there is a mo

ut down the rubber trees to make room for other crops. The Colonial Economic Committee is taking steps to introduce

ough there are several smaller ones in Usambara. Most of the planters wash the r

ls sent in by Europeans and natives alike are cut through the middle

icles also jointly produc

ew wild and is now extensively cultivated-

ndigenous plants. The wild coffee has a small misshapen bean, but is excellently flavoured, the quality of th

are hides and skins, coming chiefly from the district round Lake Victoria and from the provi

ss, and are well watered with perennial streams, which might

s in the main grows too coarse for any

he natives, but the Germans turned the hides to p

aded cattle from the natives at prices averaging about 40s., and managed to return with large herds of the quaint "hump-backed"

d strong donkey is plentiful; and these are most useful for transport work, being able it see

exclusively a native industry, and the exp

ive hands, the nuts being collected from the wild pa

ed cocoa-nut palm cultivation, but the millio

the wax of wild bees is also collected by the natives in the forests,

conomic resources, as in collecting wild rubber the vines are

baobab (cream of tartar tree), cazou, the nuts of which are largely

as large forests of cedar exist an

for minerals is not encouraged, gold in payable quantities has been discovered and wo

ns on the Tanganyika railway about 124 miles from Da

to secure. In time this should prove one of the principal industries, as the deposit appears to be unlimited. The int

w materials, the Germans looked upon their East A

Colony, and to hold at Dar-es-Salaam an exhibition for the whole country, to be con

vities extending over a fortnight were arranged for. German firms were to have sent a large number of exhibits, and numbe

s-Salaam and proceeded to destroy the powerful wireless station, and

the K?nigsberg while the former was at

rwards discovered by H.M.S. Chatham hiding in shoal water, sheltered from view by dense

ing's African Rifles, whose headquarters are Zanzibar, proceeded from