Seminar paper from the year 2016 in the subject History - Africa, grade:
2,0, language: English, abstract: In the paper the author wants to
investigate the events of the Herero and Nama revolts of 1904 which lead
to the outbreak of a colonial war, that lastet at least until 1907. Was
it genocide? What qualifies it as such and why is this almost forgotten
by the majority of people? In German historical science, the colonial
history of the country is still a peripheral area. Often this period is
referred to as "history of european expansion" or even "comparative
oversea's history". Although German colonial efforts cannot be compared
to the far-reaching activities of the British Empire, France, Portugal
or Spain and although Germany started relatively late with its
expansion, this doesn't mean that Germany's colonial period can be
played down or be trivialized. In general, the European expansion of the
20th century was not aimed at exploring and friendly cohabitation with
local peoples. The plan was rather to crowd them out, enslave them and
force them to work for the benefits of the newcomers. According to this,
the people in South-West Africa were treated until it amounted to what
is referred to as the "first genocide of the 20th century". Under Reich
Chancellor Bismarck, the aim of the German Empire regarding its colonies
was at first only to constitute a protecting power. This approach was
based on the expectation, that the clamorous colonial lobby, which was
constituted as the "German Colonial Society" in 1887, would stand up for
the development of the new acquired regions. For this reason, the
economic development and parts of the administration was transferred on
terrain-, charter- and commercial companies, that were also left with
establishing an infrastructure there. This was problematic since the
interest of the German settlers in Africa was more on their personal
profits than on a coordinated development of the "new" territory.
Without continuous investm
