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non-European territories with the primary aim of economic exploitation of people, animals, and nature. Although missionary motives and trade were often significant for colonialism, the main focus was always on increasing the wealth of the colonial rulers and their mother countries. The European colonial powers included Spain, Portugal, Italy, Great Britain, France, the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Russia, Sweden, and Denmark-Norway. The age of European colonialism began in the 15th century with Portuguese and Spanish expansion into the Americas and ended in the decades after World War II, when many countries fought for their independence. Thus, former colonies and colonial powers became postcolonial states, meaning states that succeeded a colonial rule.
European foreign rule reached its greatest extent during the phase of „High Imperialism“ (approximately 1870-1914), a period that also includes the German colonial empire. By 1914, over half of the world’s population was under direct colonial influence. Colonialism was accompanied by the ideology of racism, which claimed that white European people were supposedly biologically superior to non-white people. This is also why colonial history is a history of brutal violence. All European colonial powers committed brutal crimes against the native populations, including forced labor, rape, torture, slavery, genocides, and medical experiments on humans. Additionally, there was cultural exploitation and plundering of knowledge that is still felt today.
Even though most former colonies became formally independent states in the 20th century, the structures created resulted in cultural, economic, and political dependencies. The former European colonial powers still attempt to maintain these beneficial dependencies (neocolonialism) and delay the reappraisal of their crimes.
Freely adapted from Schubert, Klaus/Martina Klein: Das Politiklexikon. 7th updated and expanded edition. Bonn: Dietz 2020.

In the 1870s, Chancellor Bismarck opposed German colonies—not for moral reasons, but for strategic ones. Initially, it was primarily private merchants who put pressure on politics, hoping for profitable business from colonial expansion. For instance, the Bremen merchant Adolf Lüderitz acquired parts of South West Africa in 1883, prompting Bismarck in 1884 to place these territories under German protection. Bismarck delegated the authority for trade and
administration of the colonies to private organizations, while the German Empire took on the responsibility of foreign protection. This is why the terms „protectorate,“ „protection treaty,“ and „protection force“ were used. This beginning of German colonial policy quickly led to further land acquisitions, and German ambitions grew.
The European colonial powers were engaged in a „Scramble for Africa,“ which Germany did not want to lose. By 1914, the German colonial empire was the third largest in the world, after the British and French empires. Here is a list of the territories controlled by Germany:

Africa:
•South West Africa (today Namibia)
•East Africa (today Tanzania, Burundi, and part of Rwanda)
•Cameroon
•Togo (including part of present-day Ghana)
Asia:
•Kiautschou and Tsingtau (China)
•New Guinea
•Caroline Islands, Palau, and Mariana Islands (today Micronesia)
•Samoa Islands (today Western Samoa)

During World War I, large parts of the German colonies were conquered by England and France. With the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, Germany formally lost all its colonial territories. In the Weimar Republic, many conservative forces wished to regain the German colonial empire (colonial revisionism).

The former German East Africa was the largest German colony both in terms of area and population, with 7.75 million people. In 1884, the notorious racist Carl Peters, known for his brutality, founded the Society for German Colonization (GfdK). This society undertook an expedition to East Africa, during which it concluded „protection treaties“ with twelve local authorities. Emperor Wilhelm I granted governing authority to the GfdK, which was transformed into a joint-stock company named the German East Africa Company (DOAG).
The conquest of the land began through expeditions and the construction of stations. However, armed resistance movements formed in the coastal cities starting in 1888. The coastal uprising was not violently suppressed until 1890, when it was crushed by a newly formed mercenary force led by Hermann von Wissmann (see Mkwawa Museum Tanzania, mkwawa.com). The private Wissmann force later became the state „Protection Force for German East Africa.“
There were three major rebellions against German rule in the colony, all of which were brutally suppressed: the Coastal Uprising of 1888–1890, the Wahehe Rebellion of 1891–1898, and the Maji Maji Rebellion of 1905–1907.

Linear borders are a hallmark of the territorial state. In Africa, this form of statehood was introduced during the colonial period. This was a novelty, as most pre-colonial African states can be described as personal association states. These states are characterized by the fact that a group of people primarily defines the state, while the territory they inhabit is of secondary importance.
For this reason, pre-colonial Africa had migrating kingdoms that would seek out new settlement areas but would maintain their state form as a personal association. Many of the political challenges faced by African societies today arise from the contradictions between traditional social structures and the territorial and national statehood imposed by Europe.
(Adapted from Christoph Marx 2010: Borders in Africa as Burden and Challenge)