A Deterritorialized History: Investigating German Colonialism ...
A Deterritorialized History: Investigating German Colonialism ...
A Deterritorialized History: Investigating German Colonialism ...
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period of thorough ambivalence to guarded acceptance and finally considerable<br />
enthusiasm in the new colonies. In the broader <strong>German</strong> population, the colonies<br />
remained peripheral issues until the shock of the colonial uprisings in the early twentieth<br />
century. After the revolts and the massive expenditures on their repression, the African<br />
colonies definitively entered <strong>German</strong> society. The subsequent reforms to the colonial<br />
system instigated by the Deutsche Zentrumspartei (hereafter Zentrum) and<br />
Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands (hereafter SPD) established a new direction in<br />
colonial policy. In the aftermath of the disclosure of a range of scandals over the<br />
administration of the colonies and the “Hottentot” election of 1907, the governing parties<br />
maintained their hold on power, but with significant changes to the colonial system. The<br />
reforms were led by State Secretary Bernhard Dernburg, who immediately restructured<br />
the colonial economies and improved the treatment of indigenous peoples. The reforms<br />
to the colonial system persisted until the beginning of the world war.<br />
Along with diversity and change, the theme of continual expansion stands out.<br />
While the initial colonies were acquired between 1884 and 1890, there was a recurrent<br />
momentum of expansion into the African interior and further along the coast. Though the<br />
boundaries of the respective European spheres of influence had been established at the<br />
1884 Berlin Conference, the expansion of <strong>German</strong> control into further areas of the<br />
African hinterland was to continue for the following three decades. Both the Colonial<br />
Department or Kolonial-Abteilung (hereafter K-A) and its 1907 successor, the Imperial<br />
Colonial Office or Reichskolonialamt (hereafter RKA), worked to increase the size of its<br />
colonies by annexing contiguous territory. 61 <strong>German</strong>y also expressed significant interest<br />
in acquiring more land in the Niger district from either France or Britain from 1889 to<br />
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