African societies

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The African Societies were associations that had set themselves the goal of researching Africa and expanding knowledge of the continent in Europe.

The first such association was the African Association , founded in London in 1788 . From it went in 1830 the Royal Geographical Society forth.

At the instigation of Adolf Bastian and the Society for Geography in Berlin , a German Society for the Study of Equatorial Africa was formed in Berlin on April 19, 1873 . The company posted 1873 to 1878 from several travelers to Africa, such as Paul Güssfeldt to the Loango coast , Oskar Lenz to the Ogove , Paul Pogge into the realm of Muata Jamvo and Gerhard Rohlfs to Kufra . Expeditions to Central and East Africa followed later. a. by the topographer Max Weiß .

In September 1876, Leopold II (Belgium) summoned an assembly of presidents of larger geographical societies to Brussels to set up a Commission internationale d'exploration et de civilization de l'Afrique centrale under his presidium . In addition to the scientific study of equatorial Africa , this commission should deal with the introduction of trade and the suppression of the slave trade . On December 18, 1876, a German National Committee was formed in Berlin , which merged with the older German society to form the African Society on April 29, 1878 . Around 1880 Gustav Nachtigal was chairman of the company. However, this united society dissolved again in 1889, when the German government decided to use the funds intended for the development of equatorial Africa ("Africa Fund") and to take the task into their own hands. Other national committees existed for Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, Spain, France, Portugal, Russia and the USA. The Italian National Committee, the African Society of Malta and the African Exploration Fund Committee of the London Geographical Society were independent of this society.

In 1890 the Comité de l'Afrique centrale was founded in Paris to send out expeditions to connect French Congo with the possessions on the Mediterranean.

In 1891 the anti-slavery committee was established in Berlin , but it was dissolved again in 1893.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Alexander Danckelman: African Society and Africa Fund , in: German Colonial Lexicon. Volume I, Leipzig 1920, p. 21f.