A Deterritorialized History: Investigating German Colonialism ...

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