| The German colonial empire penetrated Africa as | | | | Bismarck sent the warship SMS Gneisenau to |
| well. Namibia in the southern coast of Africa was | | | | River Tana where a terrestrial command of 3 |
| a well known one. | | | | officers and 30 soldiers marched 3 days through |
| A German trader Adolf Luderitz bought some | | | | the bush towards Witu and reached the Wituland |
| area from a local chief in 1883 what would | | | | and helped to establish the German Protectorate |
| become the southern coast of Namibia and | | | | in1885. Clemens Denhardt was solemnly appointed |
| founded the city of Luderitz. | | | | Minister of Home and External Affairs by Sultan |
| After the German government annexed the | | | | Ahmed of Witu in appreciation of his success in |
| territory with it and named it South-West Africa. | | | | achieving German protection. A few German |
| Thereafter a number of Germans migrated as | | | | soldiers were stationed in Wituland to establish |
| soldiers, traders, diamond miners and colonial | | | | German sovereignty and protect against Zanzibar |
| officials. During World War I Germany lost South | | | | attacks. |
| West Africa and it became a South African | | | | The Denhardt brothers meanwhile tried to make |
| mandate. | | | | monetary value out of "their" colony by |
| German-Namibians who descended from the | | | | establishing a company in 1887 in an era where |
| ethnic German colonists are today an influencial | | | | there was a colonial enthusiasm in Germany by |
| community in business, farming and tourism and | | | | raising a fund for their 'German Witu Society' to |
| Government sectors. | | | | develop the trade on the protectorate. But their |
| But the German colony Wituland was a rarity | | | | business was a complete failure. |
| among other short-lived German colonies of | | | | In the meantime Bismarck lost his interest in |
| Namibia, Togo, Cameroon, Tanzania where colonial | | | | Africa. Bismarck was concentrating to establish a |
| rule was harsh. In the short-lived Wituland the local | | | | new a powerful Germany than sharing the colonial |
| population rioted against the Germans because | | | | benefits in Africa. He was trying from 1889 to |
| they were leaving in 1890. | | | | improve the German-British relations, which was |
| Wituland, located just inland from Indian Ocean | | | | tarnished by the colonial competitions in African |
| port of Lamu in the today's Kenya was a silent | | | | continent by the British goal of a Cape to Cairo |
| testimony to German colonial expansion in Africa. | | | | Empire and the German's goal of a Central African |
| The Wituland had a long-standing conflict with the | | | | Empire, uniting Cameroon and German East Africa. |
| powerful Sultan of Zanzibar. The town lived under | | | | Secret negotiations between Berlin and London |
| constant threat from Zanzibar attacks as it was a | | | | were initiated and the Heligoland-Zanzibar Treaty |
| free haven for slaves fleeing from the island. | | | | was arrived at top diplomatic level in 1890. |
| Sultan Ahmed of Witu who happened to meet | | | | Germany was about to leave its interests in |
| the German Africa explorer Richard Brenner in | | | | Zanzibar, Uganda and on the Kenyan and Somali |
| 1867 expressed his desire for Prussian protection. | | | | coasts. Germany acquired the tiny North Sea |
| But Prussia was not interested in African | | | | island of Heligoland, off the German coast and |
| territories as they were unifying Germany and | | | | accessed the Zambezi River through the 'Caprivi |
| Brenner's request was rejected in Berlin. | | | | Strip' for the German interests in Namibia. |
| But the two German travellers to Witu in 1878, | | | | How the German Wituland was established for |
| the brothers Clemens and Gustav Denhardt, had | | | | Bismarck's likes it was abolished according his |
| more luck as Germany was participating in the | | | | dislike. German colonial enthusiasts were angry |
| scramble for Africa in 1885. Denhardt brothers | | | | over the treaty and blamed Bismarck's prudence |
| concluded a treaty with Sultan Ahmed. The | | | | in exchange of Uganda, Witu, and Zanzibar for the |
| brothers' request for German protection for their | | | | tiny Heligoland. But Bismarck's far vision was |
| interests was considered favourably by the | | | | proved later on when Heligoland was the only new |
| famous German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck as | | | | German territory that survived with Germany |
| he was in the middle of his one and only year of | | | | after the Treaty of Versailles in 1919. |
| interest in African territories. | | | | |