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 Company coat of arms | |
 Company flag | |
| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| Industry | International trade |
| Founded | 28 March 1884 (as the Society for German Colonisation) |
| Defunct | 1920[citation needed] |
| Fate | Defunct following dissolution of German colonial empire after World War I |
| Headquarters | , Germany |
The German East Africa Company (German: Deutsch-Ostafrikanische Gesellschaft, abbreviated DOAG) was a chartered colonial organization that brought about the establishment of German East Africa, a territory which eventually comprised the areas of modern Tanzania, Burundi, and Rwanda. The company originated in 1884 as the Gesellschaft für deutsche Kolonisation (Society for German Colonisation) with the aim of trading in Africa. The German protectorate of Wituland (within modern Kenya) originated as a separate German sphere of influence in 1885.
In April of the same year, the company leased the coastal strip opposite Zanzibar from Sultan Khalifa bin Said for 50 years. Its attempt to take over the administration led to a general revolt along the coast of what is now Tanzania. The company could hold Dar es Salaam and Bagamoyo only with the help of the German navy. In 1889 it had to request the assistance of the German government to put down the rebellion.
In 1891, after it became apparent that the company could not handle its dominions, it sold out to the German government, which began to rule German East Africa directly. The company initially continued to operate its many activities, including mines, plantations, railways, banking, minting, etc., before it consented to relinquish them to the German colonial administration and other organizations. It subsequently operated as a land company within the German territory.[1]
During World War I, Britain eventually occupied German East Africa. Both its military and that of Germany recruited and impressed thousands of Africans to serve as porters and workers supporting soldiers during the warfare on the continent. Each side destroyed countless African villages as the conflicts were waged across the colonies.
The flag of the German East Africa Company featured a stylised representation of the constellation of the Southern Cross.
- ^ Cana, Frank R. (1911). . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 11 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 773–774.