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Concept
Kamerun
Summary
Kamerun was an African colony of the German Empire from 1884 to 1920 in the region of today's Republic of Cameroon. Kamerun also included northern parts of Gabon and the Congo with western parts of the Central African Republic, southwestern parts of Chad and far northeastern parts of Nigeria.
The first German trading post in the Duala area on the Kamerun River delta was established in 1868 by the Hamburg trading company C. Woermann. The firm's primary agent in Gabon, Johannes Thormählen, expanded activities to the Kamerun River delta. In 1874, together with the Woermann agent in Liberia, Wilhelm Jantzen, the two merchants founded their own company, Jantzen & Thormählen there.
Both of these West Africa houses expanded into shipping with their own sailing ships and steamers and inaugurated scheduled passenger and freight service between Hamburg and Duala. These companies and others obtained extensive acreage from local chiefs and began systematic plantation operations, including bananas. The Cameroon territory was under the informal control of the British Empire throughout the years preceding 1884, with substantial British trading operations as well.
Eventually, these companies would begin agitating for royal protection. By 1884, Adolph Woermann, as spokesman for all West African companies, petitioned the imperial foreign office for "protection" by the German Empire. This, among a number of other factors, led to Imperial Chancellor Otto von Bismarck approving the establishment of a colony.
For many years prior to the 1880's, Bismarck had resisted the idea of colonial ventures in Africa. This was primarily due to Bismarck's focus on shoring up German interests in Europe itself, especially given the lack of a military infrastructure able to protect colonial interests. Moreover, Germany had no need for the resources that a colony might provide, being largely self sufficient, so a colony would only function as an economic drain. This perspective would change in the early 1880s, due to a variety of internal pressures.
Official source
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