A Deterritorialized History: Investigating German Colonialism ...
A Deterritorialized History: Investigating German Colonialism ...
A Deterritorialized History: Investigating German Colonialism ...
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1908. There were also plans to connect Southwest Africa, Cameroon and areas of west<br />
Africa into a vast <strong>German</strong> Mittelafrika trading bloc. As seen above, the <strong>German</strong><br />
government always retained its rights to further expansion. 62 After the initial acquisition<br />
of territory, the consolidation of existing territory and conquest of further territory<br />
continued throughout the three decades. This expansion highlights the forces driving<br />
<strong>German</strong> colonialism as a whole, leading this study to focus upon colonial expansion as<br />
indicative of the general character of colonialism.<br />
One final theme, inseparable from this continual expansion, was contestation<br />
between <strong>German</strong> and African, ranging from passive negotiation to active rebellion.<br />
Colonial discord was always based on the expansion of territory into foreign dominions<br />
or the consolidation of <strong>German</strong> control over existing territory. The actions of <strong>German</strong><br />
administrators, soldiers and traders frequently caused unrest as indigenous societies<br />
fought the expansive energies of the <strong>German</strong>s. For example, the most severe example of<br />
violence, the wars of 1904-1906 against the pastoralist Herero and Nama tribes, present<br />
colonial resistance and repression in their cruellest shape. Over seventy thousand Herero<br />
were killed in what can now be easily termed genocide. 63 Almost concurrently a peasant<br />
uprising in East Africa known as the Maji Maji War lasted from 1905 until 1907. The<br />
history of <strong>German</strong> colonial conflict, from major actions in 1888-1890, 1889-1894 and<br />
1904-1907 to the many smaller struggles, reveals both the ability of Africans to resist<br />
<strong>German</strong> rule, and the ends to which <strong>German</strong>y was prepared to go to dominate Africa.<br />
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