page_title: German colonial projects before 1871
section_title: Expanding trade and the navy
hierarchical_section_title: German colonial projects before 1871 / German Confederation (1806-1871) / Expanding trade and the navy
caption_attribution_description: English: As file
context_page_description: When the German Empire came into existence in 1871, none of its constituent states had any overseas colonies. Only after the Berlin Conference in 1884 did Germany begin to acquire new overseas possessions, but it had a much longer relationship with colonialism dating back to the 1520s. Before the end of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, various German states established chartered companies to set up trading posts; in some instances they also sought direct territorial and administrative control over these. After 1806, attempts at securing possession of territories overseas were abandoned; instead, private trading companies took the lead in the Pacific while joint-stock companies and colonial associations initiated projects elsewhere, although many never progressed beyond the planning stage.
context_section_description: German colonial policy after 1848 was driven by commercial considerations. Unlike neighbouring countries, there was no strong impetus towards missionary activities or the Germanisation of indigenous peoples as an inherent good. 
  In the 1850s and 1860s, the first German commercial enterprises were established in Africa, Samoa and the north-eastern part of New Guinea. For example, in 1855 J.C. Godeffroy & Sohn expanded its business into the Pacific. Its Valparaiso agent August Unshelm sailed to the Samoan Islands, following which German influence expanded with plantations for coconut, cacao and hevea rubber, especially on the island of Upolu where German firms monopolised copra and cocoa bean processing. In 1865 J.C. Godeffroy & Sohn obtained a 25-year lease to the eastern islet of Niuoku of Nukulaelae Atoll (in modern Tuvalu). These commercial ventures later formed the basis for annexations under the German Empire, but before 1871 the government maintained a firm policy of avoiding colonial expansion.
  The Austrian government maintained a similar stance against the establishment of colonies. In 1857 Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian of Austria sent the "SMS Novara" on a scientific expedition to sail around the world. In February 1858, the Novara reached Car Nicobar. The expedition leader Karl von Scherzer then began promoting the idea of a renewed Austrian colonisation plan, which the government rejected.
  Proposals for Germany to take various territories continued to appear periodically, including one for the annexation of Formosa and another for a renewed settlement of Germans under colonial government in the Nicobar Islands, but all such initiatives were repeatedly rebuffed by the German government on the grounds of expense and a desire not to antagonise Britain. For example, German traders in Fiji put forward a proposal for the annexation of the islands, but Bismarck rejected it in March 1870 although he did appoint a consul.
  The establishment of the Imperial fleet eventually created a naval power that would be able to enforce colonial aspirations. In 1848 both the Hamburg Naval Commission and Prince Adalbert of Prussia as head of the Technical Naval Commission in his "Memorandum on the formation of a German fleet" called for the establishment of German fleet bases around the world to protect German trade. With the dissolution of the empire the following year, these colonial ambitions could not be realised, but in 1867 Adalbert of Prussia became commander of the Navy of the North German Confederation and began setting up the overseas naval stations planned in 1848, thereby finally providing the required military infrastructure for the future acquisition of German colonies.
caption: German Consulate in Apia, Samoa
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