Kamerun

[cj]

what were the decisive battles in the Camaroon campaign? I also heard that some Germans escaped into Spanish territory with mobile radio equipment, but that seems unlikely to me, anyone know?

hope this is as big as the Kamina topic

[Scarlett]

You are right, the main force of the German Schutztruppe (95 officers, 450 German NCOs and soldiers
and about 5,000 askaris) crossed over to Rio Muni between February 6 and 9, 1916.

This was a long and rather complex campaign on several fronts.
It is not peanuts like Kamina.
It cannot be easily explained here in detail.
I recommend you to read first a book, for instance
Byron Farwell "The Great War in Africa" (40 pages about the Cameroon Campaign).
Then we could go into the details.

[Peter H]

Kamerun was called the "Prussia of Africa" for some reason.I think it was seen as a prestigious possession as such.

A brief description of the war there:

http://www.zum.de/psm/imperialismus/kol ... tlas7e.php

[Dave Bender]

Duala is the best harbor in West Africa. Arable land is a relatively good 12.5%. Kamerun had great potential for economic growth. Just look at modern day Cameroon in comparison to her African neighbors.

[Peter H]

The West is promoting logging,hence more roads into the forests,hence the growth in the consumption of 'bush meat':

http://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/article.asp?ID=53


Wildlife also suffered in the colonial period:

http://www.conservationandsociety.org/cs_3_2_407.pdf

During 1896 and 1905, Kamerun (Cameroon) ranked first among the German colonies in terms of its exports: rubber, palm produce, cocoa and ivory. The European demand for ivory was notorious: ‘The amount of ivory shipped abroad increased rapidly up to 1905 but then declined abruptly because elephants had been hunted to extinction in large parts of the country’ The German administration of the Ngoko area directly north of Souanké reported in 1905 that the second most important export item of this region after rubber was ivory. Ivory production, however, was in serious decline due to the ‘mass murder’ of elephants committed by the Pygmy populations, i.e. the Baka, who were said to kill the animals as much for their meat as for their ivory.

Togoland is said to have been the only self-sufficient German colony in existence then.This suggests that the size of a colony did matter in maximising the economic benefits of colonisation.Kamerun in 1914 was 1.5 times the size of Germany

[Scarlett]

Some information as to the economic development of Kamerun during the last German years.
Source: Deutsches Koloniallexikon 1920

As the first statistics show imports always exceeded exports by far.

The main export goods were rubber, palm-kernels, cocoa, palm-oil, ivory.
While the other goods rose, the export ivory fell down by half between 1907 and 1912.

Main Import goods were (from the top) textiles; meat, fish etc.; hardware; alcoholic beverages;
rice; tobacco; salt; money.

[cj]

Wildlife also suffered in the colonial period:

According to this post, East Africa had excellent conservation.

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=88425

Both being controled by Germany, wouldn't Kamerun also be well preserved? well, comparatively to the French and British possesions.

[Peter H]

I think it was easier to promote a conservation policy in East Africa due to:

(1) a larger German resident population being available.Law abiders would report any poaching etc to the authorities.Neither did foreigners( hunters,conservationists,scientists) visit Kamerun.World opinion focused on the German achievement in Ostafrika.

(2)the open veldt terrain of East Africa aided observation etc.

(3)the smaller Forest elephant in West Africa was easier to kill than its larger,plains cousin.It also was found in greater numbers than those further east.

(4)The corrupt history of the neighbouring Belgian Congo must have had some influence on the views of exploiting Kamerun.

[Chris Dale]

A page of really good photos of the Schutztruppe on campaign in Kamerun 1914-16.

http://www.deutsche-kriegsgeschichte.de/kam14-16.html

Cheers
Chris