The “German Protectorates” 1885
In 1884/1885, the major European powers began to divide Africa among themselves at the Berlin Conference. Until then, the German Empire had shown little ambition to act as a colonial power. This changed in the 1880s, primarily due to pressure exerted by large trading companies (in Cameroon, for example, the Hamburg trading house Woermann). The borders of the colonies were only gradually established through land theft and fighting.
The economic benefit of the colonies for the empire was small, but part of the imperial ambition to become a great power.
German colonial rule ended with the First World War.
Map of German Colonies 1885 shows the territories incorporated into the German Empire in 1884 through "protection" treaties as states with far from clear borders! Published anonymously in the Allgemeine Illustrierte Zeitung, p. 731, 1885. Source: Wikipedia
Cameroon around 1900 – “German Protectorate”
German Colonies 1885, published anonymously in the Allgemeine Illustrierte Zeitung, p.731, 1885/wikipedia
Meyer, Hermann Julius (1826–1909); Bibliographical Institute Leipzig - Meyer's Geographical Atlas
German colony from 1884 to 1919, Schutztruppe present until 1916. Red dot: place mentioned by Ipscher.
police force
Cameroon Police Force in front of the police building. The building still exists. The King of the Duala people, Rudolf Duala Manga Bell, and his assistant Adolf Ngosso Din, were executed in this police station on August 8, 1914.
Historical maps
Publisher: unknown; Scale: 1 : 12,000,000. 1920s. Source: CC0 @ Mitte Museum/Mitte District Office of Berlin.
"Guinea Countries," excerpt from Stieler's Hand Atlas. 254 main and inset maps in copperplate engraving. Tenth edition, centenary edition. Published under the direction of Prof. Dr. H. Haack, at Justus Perthes' Geogr. Anstalt. Gotha: Justus Perthes. 1945. The map shows—similar to the GDR map on display—Cameroon as part of French Equatorial Africa. Source (also for many other interesting maps): www.davidrumsey.com