The German Colonial Society (german: Deutsche Kolonialgesellschaft) (DKG) was a German organisation formed on 19 December 1887 to promote German

colonialism Colonialism is a practice or policy of control by one people or power over other people or areas, often by establishing colonies and generally with the aim of economic dominance. In the process of colonisation, colonisers may impose their reli ...

. The Society was formed through the merger of the (; established in 1882 in

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...

) and the

Society for German Colonization The Society for German Colonization (german: Gesellschaft für Deutsche Kolonisation, GfdK) was founded on 28 March 1884 in Berlin by Carl Peters. Its goal was to accumulate capital for the acquisition of German colonial territories in overseas co ...

(; established in 1884). The Society was headquartered in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

. The German Colonial Society worked in close cooperation with the

Pan-German League The Pan-German League (german: Alldeutscher Verband) was a Pan-German nationalist organization which was officially founded in 1891, a year after the Zanzibar Treaty was signed. Primarily dedicated to the German Question of the time, it held p ...

and became influential in the

German Empire The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...

. Among its leaders were

Hermann, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg , house = Hohenlohe-Langenburg , father = Ernst I, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg , mother = Princess Feodora of Leiningen , birth_date = , birth_place = Langenburg, Kingdom of Württemberg , death_date = , death_place = ...

Carl Peters Carl Peters (27 September 1856 – 10 September 1918), was a German colonial ruler, explorer, politician and author and a major promoter of the establishment of the German colony of East Africa (part of the modern republic Tanzania). Life H ...

and several members of parliament. Upon its formation the Society had approximately 15,000 members and by 1914 the number of members had increased to 42,000. The foremost goal of the Society was to work for a more expansive German colonial policy. From 1916 plans were made for a German colonial empire in Africa, the so-called , as well as annexations in East Asia. After Germany lost its colonies at the end of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, the Society propagated for their reoccupation. The society took over the recently founded in 1900. Affiliated with the society were the (est. 1896), Hauptverband deutscher Flottenvereine im Ausland (est. 1898), and Frauenbund der deutschen Kolonialgesellschaft (est. 1907). When the Nazi party seized power in Germany, it was decided that a new Society under its direct control was to be created. On 13 June 1936, the German Colonial Society was dissolved and colonial propaganda became the task of the .

References

Bibliography

;issued by the society
Deutsche Kolonialzeitung
via

HathiTrust HathiTrust Digital Library is a large-scale collaborative repository of digital content from research libraries including content digitized via Google Books and the Internet Archive digitization initiatives, as well as content digitized locall ...

;about the society * *

External links

Der Bildbestand der Deutschen Kolonialgesellschaft
in the Frankfurt University Library *

Images

File:Siegelmarke Deutsche Kolonialgesellschaft W0205628.jpg, Seal of the Deutsche Kolonialgesellschaft File:1890 Deutsche Kolonialzeitung no1 Berlin.png, ''Deutsche Kolonialzeitung'' (newspaper), 1890, published by the socie

File:Massai.jpg, Portrait of Maasai people, Maasai, circa 1900, from Bildarchiv Deutsche Kolonialgesellschaft (photo archive) {{Authority control Defunct organisations based in Germany 1887 establishments in the German colonial empire Organizations established in 1887 Organizations disestablished in 1936 1936 disestablishments in Germany Organisations based in Berlin Organizations of the German Empire

See also

References

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Images