German Cameroons
| Cameroon | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Kamerun | ||||||||||||||||||||
| German colony | ||||||||||||||||||||
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 Historical German territory projected onto modern-day globe.
Green: Territory comprising German colony of Kamerun. Dark grey: Other German territories. Darkest grey: German Empire. |
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| Capital |
Duala Buea (after 1910) |
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| Languages |
German (official) Basaa · Beti · Duala Other local languages |
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| Government | Colony | |||||||||||||||||||
| Governor | ||||||||||||||||||||
| • | 1884 | Gustav Nachtigal | ||||||||||||||||||
| • | 1887–1906 | Jesko von Puttkamer | ||||||||||||||||||
| • | 1914–1916 | Karl Ebermaier | ||||||||||||||||||
| History | ||||||||||||||||||||
| • | Established | 1884 | ||||||||||||||||||
| • | Disestablished | 1916 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Currency | German gold mark | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Today part of |  Cameroon Central African Republic Chad Gabon Nigeria Congo |
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German Cameroon (German: Kamerun) was an African colony of the German Empire from 1884 to 1916 in the region of today's Republic of Cameroon. German Cameroon also included northern parts of Gabon and the Congo with western parts of the Central African Republic, southwestern parts of Chad and far eastern parts of Nigeria.
The first German trading post in the Duala area (present day Douala) on the Kamerun River delta (present day Wouri River delta) was established in 1868 by the Hamburg trading company C. Woermann. The firm’s 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, Germany and Duala. These companies and others purchased extensive acreage from local chiefs and began systematic plantation operations, including bananas.
By 1884, Adolph Woermann, representing all West African companies as their spokesman, petitioned the imperial foreign office for "protection" by the German Empire. Bismarck, the Imperial Chancellor, sought to utilize the traders on site in governing the region via "chartered companies". However, in response to Bismarck’s proposal, the companies withdrew their petition.
At the core of the commercial interests was pursuit of profitable trading activities under the protection of the Reich, but these entities were determined to stay away from political engagements. Eventually Bismarck yielded to the Woermann position and instructed the admiralty to dispatch a gunboat. As a show of German interest, the small gunboat SMS Möwe arrived in West Africa.
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Wikipedia