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Karl Peters
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Karl Peters (September 27, 1856 - September 10, 1918), German traveler in Africa, one of the founders of German East Africa (East Africa, today's Tanzania), was born at Neuhaus an der Elbe near Hannover, the son of a Lutheran clergyman.
Peters studied history and philosophy at Göttingen, Tübingen and in Berlin under Heinrich von Treitschke. In 1879 he was awarded a gold medal by the Berlin Frederick William University for his dissertation on the 1177 Treaty of Venice.
ing in London with a family enterprise after his studies Peters became acquainted with English principles of colonization and imperialism.
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Karl Peters (September 27, 1856 - September 10, 1918), German traveler in Africa, one of the founders of German East Africa (East Africa, today's Tanzania), was born at Neuhaus an der Elbe near Hannover, the son of a Lutheran clergyman.
Peters studied history and philosophy at Göttingen, Tübingen and in Berlin under Heinrich von Treitschke. In 1879 he was awarded a gold medal by the Berlin Frederick William University for his dissertation on the 1177 Treaty of Venice.
East Africa Company
Working in London with a family enterprise after his studies Peters became acquainted with English principles of colonization and imperialism. When he returned to Berlin he founded the Society for German Colonization (Gesellschaft für Deutsche Kolonisation). In the autumn of 1884 he proceeded with two companions to East Africa, and concluded in the name of his society treaties with the chiefs of Useguha, Nguru, Ijsagara and Ukami. Returning to Europe early in 1885, he formed the German East Africa Company.
The German government under Otto von Bismarck was originally opposed to these plans and had refused any backing when Peters set out. Bismarck refused a second time when Peters returned to Germany in the closing days of the Berlin Conference demanding an imperial charter. Peters, however, blackmailed the Chancellor successfully by threatening to sell his acquisitions to King Léopold II of Belgium who was eager to expand his Congo Empire. As his National Liberal allies in parliament were pro-colonial minded anyway Bismarck finally gave in to "the stupid guy" and the charter was made out. This constituted the necessary backing for further expansion on the East African mainland in the following years. 1887 Peters achieved an agreement with the Sultan of Zanzibar who leased his coastal dominions in what was to be Tanganyika to the German East Africa Company.
In 1888 Peters undertook an expedition from the east coast of Africa, avowedly for the relief of Emin Pasha. This expedition was not sanctioned by the German government and was regarded by the British authorities as a filibustering (in the 19th century sense of the word) exploit. One of its objects was to extend the sphere of German influence, and, reaching Uganda in early 1890, Peters concluded a treaty with the king of that country in favour of Germany.
He left Uganda hastily on the approach of a representative of the Imperial British East Africa Company, and on reaching Zanzibar learned that his efforts were useless, as the Heligoland-Zanzibar Treaty between Germany and Great Britain had been come to whereby Uganda was left in the British sphere. Meanwhile the empire of his company had collapsed when the coastal population rose in the Abushiri Revolt against the implementation of the lease agreement between the Sultan and the Germans. The German government had to intervene by sending troops under Hermann Wissmann, suppressed the insurrection and took over the company's possessions as a colony.
Nevertheless on his return to Germany Peters was received with great honours, and in 1891 published an account of his expedition entitled Die deutsche Emin Pasha Expedition, which was translated into English. He also endorsed the foundation of the Alldeutscher Verband in protest to the Heligoland-Zanzibar Treaty.
Reichskommissar
In 1891 he went out again to East Africa as Reichskommissar (Imperial High Commissioner) for the Kilimanjaro district, and in 1892 was one of the commissioners for delimiting the Anglo-German boundary in that region. In the same time Peters by his brutal behaviour against the local population provoked an uprising which was to cost him his office. He used local girls as concubines and when he discovered that his lover Jagodja had an affair with his man-servant, he had both of them hanged and their home villages destroyed. This provoked resistance by the local Chaga people and necessitated costly military action. Peters was recalled to Berlin and employed in the colonial office from 1893 to 1895. During this time official accusations were brought against him of excesses in his treatment of the native population. In a sitting of the Reichstag on March 13, 1896 August Bebel made the killings public, citing from a letter by Peters to Bishop Alfred Tucker. After three investigations had been held Peters was, in 1897, deprived of his commission for misuse of official power losing all his pension benefits.
Peters evaded the final sentence by removing to London, where he occupied himself in schemes for exploiting parts of Rhodesia and Portuguese East Africa. In the interests of a company he formed, Peters explored the Fura district and Macombes country on the Zambezi river, where in 1899 he discovered ruins of ancient cities and deserted gold mines. He returned in 1901 and gave an account of his explorations in Im Goldland des Altertums (The Eldorado of the Ancients) (1902). In 1905 he again visited the region between the Zambezi and Sabi rivers.
Legacy
Besides the books already mentioned and some smaller treatises Peters published a philosophic work entitled Willenswelt und Weltwille (1883), and a disquisition on early gold production entitled Das goldene Ophir Salomo's (1895), translated into English in 1898.
Among colonial minded circles in Germany he was feted as a national hero. Kaiser Wilhelm II by personal decree bestowed upon him the right to use the title of an Imperial Commissioner again and gave him a pension from his personal budget while his sentence by the disciplinary court remained in force. Peters was officially rehabilitated by personal decree of Adolf Hitler 20 years after his death when the Nazis had discovered him as an ideological relative. A propaganda film "Carl Peters" by Herbert Selpin was released in 1941, starring Hans Albers. Today several towns in Germany still have streets named after Peters, some of them being a cause for debate.
Critical voices among Social Democratic, Catholic and Free-minded politicians yet during his lifetime called Peters a butcher and a national shame. The Austrian Africanist Oscar Baumann referred to him as "half crazy". One of his constant nicknames in the critical press was "Hänge-Peters" ("Hangman-Peters").
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