Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-06-05
GERMANY IN AFRICA
Empires Expansion as a CO.
Ionial Power.
POLICY WELL ESTABLISHED
First Attempts We're Encouraging,
but Success Followed.
AGREEMENT WITH ENGLAND
Some Of the Colonies Now Under Her
Control and Their Varied
Products.

A number OF Washington officials have
been closely following the different moves
made by Germany. according to q Wash
ington diplomat. He said that Germany is
very quiet nowadays, a state very unusual
for her. and 1t means. in his belief. that she
has card up her sleeve to be played at a
propitious moment. He added, too, that
Africa Is likely to be the field chosen by
her. inasmuch as China is for the present
beyond hope
'In the different interviews which The
Star has published" said the diplomat. II
have noticed that no mention has ever been
made of Germany In relation to Africa. OF
course. do not mean to forget Morocco.
but that empire is too near Europe to be
actually Africa. In the diplomatic colonial
pie Africa is about the size of from Liberia
south to Cape Of Good Hope, thence north
east to southern Abyssinia and all inter-
vening territory. Egypt and Tripoli are In
the hands OF France and England, and
therefore excluded from consideration.
Germany tries to approach Menelik
and her relation to her in the triple all-
ance, OF which I shall say something an
other time. The German idea of expan-
sion. as you know. Is bent upon success.
Even in other directions there are signs of
this commercial activity. Recently Ger
man mission was sent to the court of En-
peror Menelik with whom an important
commercial treaty has since been arranged.
Needless to say, Italy took exception to this
step.
1.-The Industrial power Of Germany. the
development of her foreign trade, the I'M
portance of her emigration, her efforts to
extend her influence In all directions-these
indicate the birth of new and greater Ger
many. II the German colonies are OF least
Importance In this tremendous undertaking
it Is nevertheless impossible to overlook
hoy In, ropSidorjpp the aynanSiOn of the
empire.
Colonial Expansion.
However disappointing were her initial
attempts at establishing a foothold in
Africa in 1870 to 1850, her progress four
years later was certainly an achievement.
In 1884 she extended her commercial SUI
premacy to the Kameruns to Augra-
Peguena and to the coast of Guinea. She
also founded In the territory of the Sultan
of Zanzibar the Ostafrikantsche Gesell-
schaft, or East African Association. In
twelve months she had selected and
marked the positions she intended to hold
in that continent. In 1885 the Marshall Is
lands were annexed and occupied. They
became the point Of departure for new an
nexations in the Solomon and Bismarck
al chipelagoes and In New Guinea. In two
years the German colonial empire was es-
tablished. The acquisition in 1897 of Kiao-
Chau, China, and the Mariana, Caroline
ana FdlaO8 1SlaAQS, IN le4tS, was simply aH
extension of this colonial ambition.
1.-The most important of all the German
colonies" explained the informant, rs the
one on the east coast of Africa. In 1885
DIR. Peters, the president of the German
Colonization Society, purchased from the
native chiefs an extent OF territory con-
siderably over one hundred and fifty thou
sand kilometers square. Two years after
ward Germany secured from the Sultan of
Zanzibar the administration and all the
commercial rights of the districts that still
disputed his authority, from Wanga to Ro-
vouma. In this manner seven ports came
under the jurisdiction of Germany. OAR
es-Salen and Bagamays, the latter the
headquarters of the caravan companies.
were two most important acquisitions.
ION June. IA, 1901, an agreement with
England defined the German zone This
now forms a quadrilateral of nearly one
hundred thousand kilometers square, ex-
tending from Lakes Victoria and Tangan-
yika to the sea.
".This vast extent of territory is watered
by the Indian monsoons. 1t rises grad
uaily from the sea to an altitude of over
fifteen thousand feet, and the earth pro-
such as cocoa, bananas. mangoes, sage,
palms. tapioca. rice, cotton, tobacco,
maize and vanilla. Elephant tusks form a
large item as a local product. 1t has been
estimated that two-fifths of the land Is ar
able. The construction of railroad
through the interior is advancing rapidly,
and at Dar-es-Salem a floating dock has
tee immunity from great danger to her
navy in case of trouble with some foreign
nation. 1t is believed by many that Ger
many will make military base of the most
available naval port on the West African
coast.