German colonial empire

German colonial empire Deutsches Kolonialreich (German)
1884–1920
Flag Coat of arms
German colonies and protectorates in 1914
Status	Colonial empire
Capital	Berlin
Common languages	German Local: Swahili, Rwanda-Rundi (Burundi, Rwanda, Buha kingdom in Tanzania), Papuan, Samoan (in New Guinea and Samoa)
History
• Established	1884
• Abushiri revolt	1888
• Heligoland–Zanzibar Treaty	1890
• Adamawa Wars	1899
• Herero Wars	1904
• Maji Maji Rebellion	1905
• Treaty of Versailles	1919
• Disestablished	1920
Area
1912	2,953,161[1] km2 (1,140,222 sq mi)
Population
• 1912	11,979,000[1]

The German colonial empire (German: Deutsches Kolonialreich) constituted the overseas colonies, dependencies, and territories of the German Empire. Unified in 1871, the chancellor of this time period was Otto von Bismarck. Short-lived attempts at colonization by individual German states had occurred in preceding centuries, but Bismarck resisted pressure to construct a colonial empire until the Scramble for Africa in 1884. Claiming much of the remaining uncolonized areas of Africa, Germany built the third-largest colonial empire at the time, after the British and French.^[2] The German colonial empire encompassed parts of several African countries, including parts of present-day Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Namibia, Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, Central African Republic, Chad, Nigeria, Togo, Ghana, as well as northeastern New Guinea, Samoa and numerous Micronesian islands.

Germany lost control of most of its colonial empire at the beginning of the First World War in 1914, but some German forces held out in German East Africa until the end of the war. After the German defeat in World War I, Germany's colonial empire was officially confiscated as part of the Treaty of Versailles between the Allies and German Weimar Republic. Each colony became a League of Nations mandate under the administration, although not sovereignty, of one of the Allied powers.^[3] Talk of regaining the last Kaiser's lost colonies persisted in Germany until 1943, but never became an official goal of the German government.