A Deterritorialized History: Investigating German Colonialism ...
A Deterritorialized History: Investigating German Colonialism ...
A Deterritorialized History: Investigating German Colonialism ...
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profits. The expansion of colonial business was therefore premised upon a forecast of<br />
future gain.<br />
An idea of transformation over time is critical to understanding economics in the<br />
colonial expansion. Despite its early beginnings, <strong>German</strong> commerce was not fast to<br />
invest in colonial enterprises and trade. 7 Early economic colonialism was a product of<br />
contemporary fears of protected markets, over-production, surplus population and<br />
economic depression. But as ideas of free-trade capitalism gained ground, the expansion<br />
of commerce in the colonies assumed greater precedence. With the death of Bismarck’s<br />
utopian dreams of laissez-faire colonialism, businesses were more eager to participate in<br />
government-secured and subsidized business in the colonies. 8 Additionally, in the<br />
twentieth century, bigger conglomerates and cartels like the DKG and the Kharaskhoma<br />
Syndicate staked far larger claims in the financing of colonial expansion than the smaller<br />
companies of the nineteenth century. 9 Yet in the aggregate, the colonies saw a steady<br />
decline in profits after the actual acquisition of territory as the costs of administering the<br />
colonies rose. The growth of colonial cartels after 1900 may also indicate a reason why<br />
<strong>German</strong>y’s colonies were so singularly unsuccessful, since simply more money was<br />
squandered in larger monopolies. These alterations over time disclose the difficulties<br />
inherent in the monolithic and static vision of economics over a thirty year period that<br />
frequently colour older colonial histories.<br />
Nonetheless, there were several continuities in relations between the government<br />
and <strong>German</strong> colonial businesses that perennially facilitated commercial expansion.<br />
Mercantilist goals of material autarky, larger world markets for <strong>German</strong> goods, continued<br />
access to precious resources, a cheap labour force and the desire to expand profits<br />
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