German colonial projects before 1871
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.
Holy Roman Empire (to 1806)
Before 1871 there were many instances of German people migrating to live outside their native land, for example the Volga Germans invited to Russia by Catherine the Great or the Palatines to the American colonies. In addition, some princes of German states were involved in colonial ventures through leasing professional troops for use in the colonies of European powers, such as during the American Revolutionary War. Thus, Charles Eugene, Duke of Württemberg established the Württemberg Cape Regiment for the Dutch East India Company while the princes of Waldeck set up regiments for colonial use and even served in them. Various Hessian regiments also fought with the British during the American War of Independence.In the mid-seventeenth century, the main motivation for German states seeking to establish colonial ventures was to rebuild their economies in the aftermath of the Thirty Years War. With trade and agriculture in many parts of Germany severely affected and the population greatly reduced, the lucrative Atlantic slave trade in particular appeared to offer the prospect of rapid financial recovery. The main inspiration for German state initiatives was the Dutch Republic which had rapidly transformed itself from a minor state to a world commercial and naval power; various German rulers wished to emulate its example.
Little Venice (Venezuela)
The first German colonial project was a private business initiative. Emperor Charles V ruled German territories as well as the Spanish Empire, and he was deeply in debt to the Welser family of Augsburg. In lieu of repayment the Welsers accepted a grant of land on the coast of present-day Venezuela in 1528, which they called "Little Venice". A small number of German settlers and a larger number of slaves were sent to the colony. Most of the Germans died, and the governors devoted most of their energies to expeditions into the interior to search for El Dorado. In 1556, the Spanish crown revoked the Welsers' privilege and resumed control of the territory. The Welsers were treated as heroes in much 19th century German fiction, and regarded as an inspiration for German colonial projects in the 1880s and 1890s.The Hanau-Indies
In 1669 the Dutch West India Company and the County of Hanau entered into a contract leasing a territory of around 100,000 square kilometres between the Orinoco and Amazon rivers in Dutch Guiana to Hanau. This territory was to be many times larger than Hanau itself. The intention was to compensate for the financial hardships of Hanau by achieving a positive trade balance with a colony. The contract secured extensive rights for the Dutch West India Company, including a monopoly on transport with the Hanau-Indies. However, from the outset there was a lack of resources to finance a project in this scale, and a lack of people willing to colonise it. The project ended in a financial fiasco for the county of Hanau. An attempt to sell it to King Charles II was not successful, and the project finally failed due to the outbreak of the Third Anglo-Dutch War the same year.Bavarian projects
In 1657 the Bavarian scholar Johann Joachim Becher published a Call for the Founding of German Overseas Colonies, but this found no immediate support. The Bavarian Elector Ferdinand Maria was interested in a project to colonise New Amsterdam, but after the Dutch Republic ceded the territory to England, the Bavarian scheme was abandoned in 1675. There are accounts that in the early 1730s, there was a plan for the Elector Maximilian II Emanuel to take possession of a tract of land in Guiana on the Barima River to establish a Bavarian colony; however, no documentary evidence of such a plan has ever emerged.Brandenburg-Prussian colonies
Early ventures
The colonial ambitions of Brandenburg-Prussia began under Frederick William the Great Elector who had studied at the Dutch universities of Leyden and the Hague. When Frederick William became elector in 1640, he invited Dutch engineers to Brandenburg, sent Brandenburg engineers to study in the Netherlands, and in 1646 married Luise Henriette of the Dutch House of Orange-Nassau. He engaged former Dutch admiral Aernoult Gijsels van Lier as his advisor and tried to persuade the Holy Roman Emperor and other princes of the empire to participate in the creation of a new East India Company. The Emperor declined as he considered it dangerous to disturb the interest of the other European powers. In 1651, Frederick William agreed to purchase the Danish possessions of Fort Dansborg and Tranquebar in India for 120,000 reichstalers, but as he was ultimately unable to raise this sum, the agreement was cancelled in 1653.Brandenburg slaving
In 1680, the first slaving ship sailed from Brandenburg to Africa. Lacking a port on the North Sea, the Brandenburgers embarked from Pillau on the Baltic; in 1683, an agreement was signed with the city of Emden giving them access to the North Sea. In 1682, at the suggestion of the Dutch merchant and privateer Benjamin Raule, Frederick William granted a charter to the Brandenburg Africa Company, marking the first organised and sustained attempt by a German state to take part in the Atlantic slave trade. With his state still impoverished after the Thirty Years War, the Elector hoped to replicate the mercantile successes of the Dutch East India Company. In 1683 the red eagle of Brandenburg was hoisted over Cape Three Points in present-day Ghana, and the first "treaties of protection" were signed with local chiefs. In addition, the foundation stone was laid for Fort Groß Friedrichsburg. In 1687, Prussia signed a treaty with the Emir of Trarza which allowed it to use the fort of Arguin for supplies and trading - gum arabic was also an important secondary trade commodity for the Prussians. Other goods traded included ivory, gold and salt.To provide a market for slaves imported from Africa, Frederick William needed a base in the Caribbean. In 1684, Brandenburg-Prussia was denied the purchase of the French islands of Sainte-Croix and Saint-Vincent. In November 1685, after a failed attempt to purchase Saint Thomas from Denmark–Norway, an agreement was reached that allowed the Brandenburg African Company to lease part of Saint Thomas as a base for 30 years, while sovereignty rested with Denmark and administration with the Danish West India Company. Brandenburg-Prussia was allotted an area near the capital city Charlotte Amalie, called Brandenburgery, and other territories named Krum Bay and Bordeaux Estates further west. The first Brandenburg ship arrived at St. Thomas in 1686 with 450 slaves from Groß Friedrichsburg. In 1688, 300 Europeans and several hundred slaves lived on the Brandenburg estates. The demand for slaves on Caribbean plantations always exceeded the capacity of the fleets of European traders to deliver more captives, so there was a reliable market for Prussia to sell slaves. Between 1682 and 1715, the Prussians landed at least 19,240 slaves in the various European colonies in the Caribbean.
Peak trade and decline
Brandenburg-Prussia tried to acquire other Caribbean territories to develop its slave trade. It attempted to take Crab Island in 1687, but the island was also claimed by several other European powers, and when a second expedition in 1692 found the island in Danish hands, the plan was abandoned. In 1689, Brandenburg-Prussia annexed Peter Island, but the small rock proved useless for trade or settlement. In 1691, Brandenburg-Prussia and the Duchy of Courland agreed to partition of Tobago, but since Courland was no longer present on the island which had in the meantime been claimed by England, the agreement was nullified, and negotiations with England yielded nothing. In 1695, Brandenburg-Prussia tried to purchase Tortola, but England rebuffed their offer. Likewise, England declined an offer to purchase Sint Eustatius in 1697.After a short period of prosperity a gradual decline of the colonies began after 1695. The reasons for this lay partly in the limited financial and military resources available to Brandenburg-Prussia, but also in the determination of the French to drive out an effective commercial rival. The BAC never had more than sixteen ships at any time, and between 1693 and 1702, fifteen ships were lost to French attacks. In November 1695, French forces looted the Brandenburg colony on Saint Thomas. In 1731, the Brandenburg-Prussian company on Saint Thomas became insolvent, and abandoned the island in 1735. Their last assets were sold at auction in 1738.
The grandson of Frederick William, King Frederick William I of Prussia, had no personal ties or inclinations to sustain a navy and colonies and focused more on the expansion of the Prussian army, on which the greater part of the financial resources of the Prussian state were spent. In 1717 he revoked the charter of the BAC and by treaties in 1717 and 1720, sold his African colonies to the Dutch West India Company for 7,200 ducats and 12 "Moors". Frederick the Great invested 270,000 taler in the Emden Company, a new Asiatic-Chinese trading company in Emden in 1751, but otherwise took no interest in colonies.
Between 1774 and 1814, Joachim Nettelbeck, a popular hero, made several attempts to persuade Prussia to return to colonial politics. Among other things, he wrote a memorandum recommending the occupation of a not yet colonised coastal strip on the Courantyne River between the Berbice and Suriname. Neither Frederick the Great nor Frederick William II seriously considered Nettelbeck's proposals.