Karl Peters

Carl Peters
Peters about 1895
Born	27 September 1856 Neuhaus, Kingdom of Hanover
Died	10 September 1918 (aged 61) Bad Harzburg, German Empire
Alma mater	University of Göttingen University of Tübingen Frederick William University
Occupation	Explorer, author, colonialist, politician
Known for	Founder of the German East Africa Company

Carl Peters (27 September 1856 – 10 September 1918), was a German colonial ruler, explorer, politician and author, the prime mover behind the foundation of the German colony of East Africa (in today's Tanzania). A proponent of Social Darwinism and the Völkisch movement, his attitude towards the indigenous population made him one of the most controversial colonizers even during his lifetime.

He was born at Neuhaus an der Elbe in the Kingdom of Hanover, the son of a Lutheran clergyman. Peters studied history and philosophy at Göttingen, Tübingen and in Berlin under Heinrich von Treitschke. In 1879 he was awarded a gold medal by the Berlin Frederick William University for his dissertation on the 1177 Treaty of Venice and habilitated with a treatise on Arthur Schopenhauer.

Instead of pursuing the career of a senior teacher, Peters after his studies moved to London where he stayed in the house of his recently widowed maternal uncle Carl Engel on Addison Road. Engel was a distinguished composer and musical essayist, brother-in-law of the ophthalmologist Sir William Bowman, and lived the life of a well-off gentleman. He introduced his nephew into the London society where Peters became acquainted with the British way of life as well as with principles of colonization and imperialism. When he returned to Berlin he founded the Society for German Colonization (Gesellschaft für Deutsche Kolonisation) pressure group for the acquisition of colonies. In the autumn of 1884 he proceeded with two companions to East Africa, and concluded in the name of his society treaties with the chiefs of Useguha, Nguru, Ijsagara and Ukami. Returning to Europe early in 1885, he formed the German East Africa Company.