German Imperialism in Africa The Distorted Images of Cameroon, Namibia, Tanzania, and Togo

Abstract

What do the four African countries of Togo, Cameroon, Tanzania, and Namibia have in common? I would expect to receive several responses to this question: for example, Togo and Cameroon belong to Francophone Africa, whereas both Tanzania and Namibia belong to Anglophone Africa. Another response might be to cite similarities in culture and beliefs, but one can also cite the differences between western, central, eastern, or southwestern Africa. Although such responses are acceptable, there remains a definite historical link that is the basis for the present discussion: all of the countries were dominated by the Germans from 1884 to 1914 (the beginning of World War I), prior to the colonization of the French and the British. As a matter of fact, Germany was once the thirdlargest colonial power in the world, preceded by England and France. Despite the fact that Germany's colonial period was relatively brief (as compared to that of other European countries), its influence on these four African countries is still very strong. For example, it is little known that in each of these four African countries, there is a minority population of Africans who have both African and German heritages. They were born during the German occupation, their father German and their mother African. Most Afro-Germans have had little or no contact with Germany since the

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