The German Colonial Experience

Select Documents on German Rule in Africa, China, and the Pacific 1884-1914

Edited by Arthur J. Knoll, Hermann J. Hiery

Publication date:

10 March 2010

Length of book:

564 pages

Publisher

UPA

ISBN-13: 9780761839002

The German Colonial Experience provides readers with an understanding of how the Germans gained, explored, pacified, ruled, and exploited their colonies prior to their loss in World War I. Knoll and Hiery show how Africans, Chinese, and Pacific Islanders reacted to German rule, how the Germans ran the daily affairs of government, their vision for the colonized peoples, and how the colonizers and the colonized perceived one another. In other words, how did German colonial rule actually work? This book intensely scrutinizes colonial documents, most of them in German script, from archives not only in Germany, but also from places such as Australia, New Guinea, and Samoa. Many of these documents have never previously been published, even in the original German.

Chapter 1 Preface
Chapter 2 Introduction
Chapter 3 1. Colonial Agitation and Pre-history
Chapter 4 2. Acquisition of Colonies
Chapter 5 3. Charter Companies
Chapter 6 4. Colonial Military and Police
Chapter 7 5. Governance
Chapter 8 6. Colonial Biographies
Chapter 9 7. Law
Chapter 10 8. Labor
Chapter 11 9. Economy
Chapter 12 10. Infrastructure
Chapter 13 11. Science
Chapter 14 12. Ecology
Chapter 15 13. Religion
Chapter 16 14. Education
Chapter 17 15. Settler Societies and Self-Rule
Chapter 18 18. Viewing the "Other"
Chapter 19 19. Indigenous Responses to Colonial Rule
Chapter 20 20. Judging the German Colonial Performance
Chapter 21 Abbreviations
Chapter 22 Sources for the Documents

A a wide-ranging edition of colonial sources which thoroughly documents German colonial rule in many and varied fields and aspects, such as administration, economy, religion, and science. It includes and integrates new and modern aspects of cultural and social sciences, gender history, and postcolonial studies. Above all, it extensively incorporates indigenous activities, views, and perceptions.