Bali castle

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German colony of Cameroon with the location of Bali around 1890

Coordinates: 6 ° 40 ′ 0 ″  N , 10 ° 40 ′ 0 ″  E

Map: Cameroon
marker
Bali castle​
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Cameroon

Baliburg was a colonial base in the northwestern interior of the German colony of Cameroon .

geography

Location of Baliburg (around 1890)

Baliburg was about 1,400 meters above sea level and 300 kilometers north-northeast of the mouth of the Cameroon River . The station was about a 15-minute walk from the village of Bali on a hill with small streams flowing on the slopes. About 20 kilometers south of the base ran the border of the high plateau of South Adamaua , which set the wooded coastal region of Cameroon apart from the grassland in the interior of Western Cameroon.

The neighboring Bali was also called Bali village or Balitown . Around 1900 it had a north-south extension of about 3 kilometers, around 4,000 huts and 6,000–7,000 inhabitants. The surrounding area was called Baliland or Balihochland .

The British sphere of influence began in what is now Nigeria, north of Baliburg .

history

First house on Baliburg (around 1890)

Baliburg was founded between 1889 and 1890 by the German explorer and colonialist Eugen Zintgraff , who concluded a so-called protection treaty with the ruler of Bali, Garenga Fo N'Yong . During a waiting period of several months, during which Garenga prevented the Germans from continuing their journey, Zintgraff built the first station building, which was called Baliburg. Several station houses were subsequently added.

Baliburg thus became part of a network of colonial stations with which Germany consolidated its rule in Cameroon. The station was the starting point and retreat for the Germans in the first Bafut war .

In the years that followed, the base served, among other things, as a location for meteorological weather observations. For the years 1891 and 1892, data from a weather station of the Deutsche Seewarte are available. The construction of a trading post was also intended. The connection of Baliburg through a trade route to the coast of Cameroon failed, however.

Lieutenant Hutter with a platoon of Bali soldiers

Baliburg was given up in 1893 by the station manager Franz Karl Hutter , as the northern stations were evacuated by order of the German governor of Cameroon. The eviction was preceded by differences of opinion between the governorate and Zintgraff. Using traditional rivalries, Zintgraff wanted to conclude alliances with pro-German tribes to suppress the autonomy of other ethnic groups. For this purpose, the inhabitants of Bali should also be armed with modern breech loading rifles in order to use them to reinforce the numerically weak expedition groups. However, the government saw this targeted arming of the locals as a possible danger to German rule should the loyalty of the armed tribes wane.

At the time of Baliburg, Balidorf had about 6,000 to 7,000 inhabitants.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Rudolf Fitzner: German Colonial Handbook. Volume 1, 2nd ext. Ed., Hermann Paetel, Berlin 1901, p. 102.
  2. ^ Austrian Society for Meteorology / German Meteorological Society: Meteorologische Zeitschrift , 1894, p. 16.
  3. ^ German Weather Service: Station list of the overseas stations. As of January 11, 2019, p. 3. (pdf)
  4. ^ Friedrich Ratzel:  Zintgraff, Eugen . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 45, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1900, pp. 336-338.

literature

  • Rochus Schmidt : Germany's colonies . Volume 2, Berlin: Verlag des Verein der Buchfreunde Schall & Grund, 1898, p. 127ff. (Reprint by Weltbild Verlag, Augsburg 1998, ISBN 3-8289-0301-0 )

Web links