Heligoland–Zanzibar Treaty
The Heligoland–Zanzibar Treaty was an agreement signed on 1 July 1890 between Germany and the United Kingdom.
The accord gave Germany control of the Caprivi Strip, the strategically located archipelago of Heligoland in the North Sea, and the heartland of German East Africa. In return, Germany recognized British authority in Zanzibar. Heligoland was needed to control the new Kiel Canal and the approaches to Germany's North Sea ports. Britain used Zanzibar as a key link in the British control of East Africa.
Terms
Germany gained the islands of Heligoland in the North Sea, originally possession of the dukes of Holstein-Gottorp but since 1814 a British possession, the so-called Caprivi Strip in what is now Namibia, and a free hand to control and acquire the coast of Dar es Salaam that would form the core of German East Africa.In exchange, Germany handed over to Britain the protectorate over the small sultanate of Wituland and parts of East Africa vital for the British to build a railway to Lake Victoria, and pledged not to interfere with British actions vis-à-vis the independent Sultanate of Zanzibar. In addition, the treaty established the German sphere of interest in German South West Africa and settled the borders between German Togoland and the British Gold Coast, as well as between German Kamerun and British Nigeria.
Consequences
Britain divested itself of a naval base which covered the approaches to the main German naval bases in the North Sea. It immediately declared a protectorate over Zanzibar and, in the subsequent 1896 Anglo-Zanzibar War, gained full control of the sultanate.The treaty served German chancellor Leo von Caprivi's aims for a settlement with the British. After the 1884 Berlin Conference, Germany had been losing out in the "Scramble for Africa". The German East Africa Company under Carl Peters had acquired a strip of land on the Tanganyikan coast, but had never had any control over the islands of the Zanzibar sultanate. The treaty gave away no vital German interests, while acquiring Heligoland, an island which was strategically placed for control over the German Bight. With the construction of the Kiel Canal from 1887 onward, control of the German Bight had become essential to Emperor Wilhelm's II plans for expansion of the Imperial Navy. Wilhelm's naval policies aborted an accommodation with the British and ultimately led to a rapprochement between Britain and France, sealed with the Entente cordiale in 1904.
The misleading name for the treaty was introduced by ex-Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, who intended to attack his despised successor Caprivi for concluding an agreement that Bismarck himself had arranged during his incumbency. However, Bismarck's nomenclature implied that Germany had swapped an African empire for tiny Heligoland. This was eagerly adopted by imperialists, who complained about "treason" against German interests. Carl Peters and Alfred Hugenberg appealed for the foundation of the Alldeutscher Verband which took place in 1891.
The people of Heligoland
The people of Heligoland only played a minor role in the negotiations. But according to both the British and German intelligence services there was a high likelihood that the inhabitants did not want to become German citizens. This was reflected by the press, especially the British which criticised the treaty and called for a vote of people on the island to determine their own future.As a result, the treaty ensured that the laws which were already in place persisted and promised a continuation of the islands practices. Until 1918 the inhabitants did not have to pay taxes, exemption from duty until was granted until 1910, and compulsory military service was only applied to those born in 1890 onwards. But the phrasing of those special rights was so vague that the introduction of an income tax and the exemption of voting rights for the inhabitants after World War I lead to desires of autonomy. The island stayed a duty-free zone until today extending the initial grant further than 1910.
In 1914 the people of Heligoland were deported from the island because they were accused of sympathising with the British.
The people of Heligoland are only starting to get attention in newer literature.