(HIS,P) Atlas of Germany's Colonies and Illustrated Yearbook, Berlin 1909, edited by the German Colonial Society, The German Protectorates (II)

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Imperialism | Colonial Policy

Atlas of Germany's Colonies and Illustrated Yearbook, edited by the German Colonial Society, 1908, The German Protectorates (II)

The German Protectorates (II)

The German Colonies' Production

Only production for export can be expressed in figures; production for domestic trade can not be registered, and there are only isolated data on production for their own consumption, In the case of certain articles, figures for production and export should coincide, such as in the case of caoutchouk and in the case of exclusive plantation products such as sisal hemp and cocoa,

A. Animal Products
I.) Live Animals (domesticated as well as wild)
	1907	1906	1905	1899
	Mark	Mark	Mark	Mark
Togo	88,566	78,893	86,559	51,292
Kamerun	54,227	56,620	4,782	-
Suedwestafrika	2,743	-	-	122,200
Ostafrika	219,709	150,609	182,476	137,885
total	365,245	285,122	273,817	311,377

A. Animal Products
2.) Skins and furs (also od wild animals, seals etc.)
	1907	1906	1905	1899
	Mark	Mark	Mark	Mark
Togo	24,961	8,196	5,873	-
Kamerun	2,464	2,672	1,345	-
Suedwestafrika	108,739	137,600	81,280	70,494
Ostafrika	1,898,045	2,030,730	1,478,641	78,380
total	2,034,209	2,179,198	1,567,139	148,874

A. Animal Products
3.) Ivory
	1907	1906	1905	1899
	Mark	Mark	Mark	Mark
Togo	131,393	64,207	40,775	10,418
Kamerun	1,073,802	904,733	1,270,316	604,970
Südwestafrika	125	90	-	560
Ostafrika	633,397	433,380	485,819	993,584
total	1,868,717	1,402,410	1,796,910	1,609,532

A. Animal Products
4.) wax of bees and other insects
	1907	1906	1905	1899
	Mark	Mark	Mark	Mark
Ostafrika	1,471,248	788,105	1,289,647	-

Other production of animal products is presently, in the German colonies, of yet little importance. To be mentioned are milk, butter, cheese, eggs (export Deutsch-Ostafrika 1907 : 179,000 Mark, 1906 : 138,000 Mark, 1905 : 152,000 Mark, 1904 : 122,000 Mark), wool (Deutsch-Suedwestafrika exported 1907 for 7,000 Mark, 1906 for 2,000 Mark), ostrich feathers (export of Deutsch-S?westafrika 1907 : 41,000 Mark, 1906 : 51,000 Mark), tortoise-shell and mother-of-pearl (1907 : 140,000 Mark, 1906 : 228,000 Mark, export German Pacific colonies), Trepang (prepared sea animals, Holothuria-species, Pacific islands' exports 1907 : 43,000, 1906 : 38,000 Mark), shark fins (export of the Marshall Islands 1907 : 6,000, 1906 : 1,000 Mark) and finally Guano (S?westafrika 1907 : 12,000 Mark, 1906 : 24,000 Mark. The value of the animal products from the German protectorates on the world market was, on average over the last years, about 6 million Mark.

B. Vegetable Products
1.) Caoutchouc and Guttapercha
	1907	1906	1905	1899
	Mark	Mark	Mark	Mark
Togo	1,095,000	1,161,000	1,002,000	378,000
Kamerun	7,641,000	4,677,000	4,071,000	1,898,000
Ostafrika	2,039,000	2,386,000	2,257,000	1,337,000
Pacific	16,000	4,000	-	-
total	10,791,000	8,228,000	7,330,000	3,613,000

(p.7)

B. Vegetable Products
2.) Cotton
	1907	1906	1905	1899
	Mark	Mark	Mark	Mark
Togo	231,000	165,000	89,000	-
Ostafrika	225,000	179,300	196,000	-
total	456,000	344,300	285,000	-

B. Vegetable Products
3.) sisal hemp
	1907	1906	1905	1899
	Mark	Mark	Mark	Mark
Eastafrica	2,162,000	1,368,000	1,071,000	15,000

B. Vegetable Products
4.) Copra
	1907	1906	1905	1900
	Mark	Mark	Mark	Mark
Togo	11,000	8,000	3,000	-
Ostafrika	1,345,000	1,087,000	916,000	108,000
Bismarck-Archipelago, Kaiser-Wilhelmsland	1,808,000	1,419,000	1,234,000	651,000 (1)
Eastern Carolinas	79,000	124,000	91,000	176,000
Western Carolinas, Palau und Marianas	116,000	145,000	188,000	74,000 (1)
Marshall-Islands	408,000	570,000	695,000	509,000
Samoa	1,560,000	2,891,000	1,979,000	1,469,000
total	5,327,000	6,244,000	5,106,000	2,987,000

B. Vegetable Products
5.) palm kernels and palm oil
	1907	1906	1905	1899
	Mark	Mark	Mark	Mark
Togo	1,399,000	862,000	757,000	1,949,000
Kamerun	4,183,000	2,958,000	2,459,000	2,116,000
total	5,582,000	3,820,000	3,216,000	4,065,000

B. Vegetable Products
6.) coffee
	1907	1906	1905	1898
	Mark	Mark	Mark	Mark
Deutsch-Ostafrika	549,000	531,000	464,000	96,000

B. Vegetable Products
7.) cocoa
	1907	1906	1905	1899
	Mark	Mark	Mark	Mark
Togo	51,000	22,000	10,000	-
Kamerun	2,704,000	1,167,000	1,281,000	192,000
Samoa	117,000	101,000	30,000	-
total	2,872,000	1,290,000	1,321,000	192,000

B. Vegetable Products
8.) maize
	1907	1906	1905	1899
	Mark	Mark	Mark	Mark
Togo	1,199,000	433,000	567,000	-

B. Vegetable Products
9.) lumber
	1907	1906	1905	1899
	Mark	Mark	Mark	Mark
Togo	6,000	2,000	-	-
Kamerun	95,000	119,000	150,000	14,000
Deutsch-Ostafrika	59,000	40,000	67,000	60,000
total	160,000	161,000	207,000	74,000

Our colonies have more vegetable export products. Ostafrika exports legumes, grai n and rice (despite the fact that the colony's own consumption has to be imported), further fruit, bananas, pineapples, fresh coconuts, in addition spices, Kawa roots (export Samoa 1907 : 84,000 Mark, 1906 : 25,000 Mark), tobacco, oil plants such as sesame, peanuts, schibutter, finally tanning barks (mangroves and tanning acacias) and stone fruits (exports Bismarck Archipelago 1907 : 6000 Mark, 1906 : 3000 Mark),
The total export value of plantation products grown in our colonies considerably exceeds 30 million Mark. As a product on the border between vegetable products and minerals Copal has to be mentioned, white to reddish resin of a tree growing wild; it is of the highest quality, if found by excavation of subterranean deposits, the remnants of decomposed tree parts.

copal
	1907	1906	1905	1899
	Mark	Mark	Mark	Mark
Kamerun	3,000	4,000	800	3,000
Deutsch-Ostafrika	138,000	118,000	138,000	277,000
total	141,000	122,000	138,800	280,000

C.) Mineral Products

Of interest are gold (export Deutsch-Ostafrika 1907 : 32,000 Mark, 1906 : 22,000 Mark), diamonds (first finds near L?eritzbucht Juli 1908), copper (export Deutsch-Suedwestafrika 1906 : 230 tons (p.8), 47,000 Mark, 1907 : 8427 tons, 1,283,000 Mark) und phosphates (Pacific islands), of copper ore Deutsch-Suedwestafrika shipped in 1907 1,3 million Mark, Nauru (Marshall-Inseln), in 1907 (first year of full operation) shipped 700,000 Mark,

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Today, in the 25th year of our colonial activity, we would have been much further, if we, by the means of building railroads, would have facilitated the transport and sale on the world market of profitable feasible mineral production.

How far we lagged behind until 1908, and how much Dernburg's Railroad Plan (approved in May 1908) has changed is shown by the following table,

I. in service
Begin of 1908.
	field gauge km	Cape gauge km	meter gauge km	total km
Kamerun	-	-	-	-
Togo	-	-	164	164
Südwestafrika	962	288	-	1250
Ostafrika	-	-	338	338
total	962	288	502	1752

II. under construction
Begin of 1908.
	Feldspur km	Kapspur km	Meterspur km	total km
Kamerun	-	-	160	160
Togo	-	-	-	-
Südwestafrika	91	78	-	169
Ostafrika	-	-	19	19
total	91	78	179	348

II. in service
End of 1908.
	field gauge km	Cape gauge km	meter gauge km	total km
Kamerun	-	-	-	-
Togo	-	-	164	164
Südwestafrika	1053	433	-	1486
Ostafrika	-	-	338	388
total	1053	433	502	1988

II. under construction
End of 1908.
	field gauge km	Cape gauge km	meter gauge km	total km
Kamerun	-	-	520	520
Togo	-	-	175	175
Südwestafrika	-	113	-	113
Ostafrika	-	-	744	744
total	-	113	1439	1552

(1) The figures for Kaiser-Wilhelms-Land and the Western Carolinas are missing.

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Source: Deutscher Kolonial-Atlas mit Jahrbuch, (Atlas German Colonies, with Yearbook), edited by P. Sprigade und M. Moisel, Yearbook and Remarks by Hubert Henoch. Berlin 1909, p.4ff.

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