German Colonization Society

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The Deutsche Colonisations-Gesellschaft auf Aktien was a company founded by Hamburg merchants on February 15, 1842 with the aim of founding a German colony on the Chatham Islands , a good 650 km southeast of New Zealand's North Island .

prehistory

history

On September 12, 1841, an agreement on the purchase of the Chatham islands was drawn up and a memorandum signed between John Ward for the New Zealand Company as seller and Karl Sieveking as buyer for the German Colonization Society, which was still to be founded. In the agreement was u. a. noted that the purchase price was “10,000 pounds sterling” and that the sovereignty of the British crown on the Chatham Islands had never been proclaimed. The ratification should take place within 6 months. Sieveking endeavored to have the sovereignty of the islands checked. The information that he had received on the occasion of a visit to London in October 1841 was contradictory. In November Sieveking published a brochure with various reports on the Chatham Islands under the title "Warrekauri" and a brochure "The German Antipode Colony". In December 1841 the press reported on the project. While it was accompanied by benevolent comments from Hamburg press organs, other papers were negative.

Although the New Zealand Company had already been informed in early December 1841 that it would end its negotiations because the British Crown did not intend to give up its sovereignty, Ward continued negotiations. On February 15, 1842, a provisional committee met to found the German Colonization Society. It consisted of: Karl Sieveking , August Abendroth , De Chapeaurouge & Co. , Joh. Ces. Godeffroy & Sohn , Eduard Johns , Ross, Vidal & Co. , Schiller Gebrüder & Co. , Adolph Schramm and Robert Miles Sloman .

In addition to the call to subscribe for 400 shares at 1,000 marks each, the memorandum of September 12, 1841 was published. A total of 90 shares were subscribed by the members of the committee. After the British Crown had become aware of the project, it had its Chargé d'Affaires inform Sieveking in Hamburg that John Ward was not authorized to conduct such negotiations. A letters patent signed by Queen Victoria on April 4, 1842 confirmed that the Chatham Islands belonged to the British colony of New Zealand and thus to British territory.

The agreement reached on September 12, 1841 in Hamburg could therefore not be legally signed. On April 14, the Provisional Committee announced its dissolution. Almost four weeks later, in May 1842, large parts of Hamburg were destroyed by fire , so colonization projects were not pursued any further.

literature

  • Rhys Richards: Plans for a German Colony on the Chatham Islands . In: James N. Bade (Ed.): The German Connection - New Zealand and the German-speaking Europe in the Nineteenth Century . Chapter 5. Oxford University Press, Auckland 1993, ISBN 0-19-558283-7 , pp. 46-51 .
  • Heinrich Sieveking : Hamburg colonization plans 1840–1842 . In: Hans Delbrück (Ed.): Prussian year books . tape 86 . Georg Stilke, Berlin 1896, p. 149-170 .
  • Piter Poel : Pictures from Karl Sieveking's life 1787–1847. In: Pictures from the past based on communications from largely unprinted family papers. Second part. Agentur des Rauhen Haus, Hamburg 1887, pp. 248–254 ( digitized version . The pictures from Karl Sieveking's life are the first known publication on the life and work of Karl Sieveking.)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b The German Colonization Society has been constituted . In: Frankfurter Ober-Postamts-Zeitung . Frankfurt March 3, 1842, p.  499 ( google.de ).
  2. ^ The projected Hanseatic Colony on Chatham Island , (in three sections). In August von Binzer : General organ for trade and commerce and related objects , 7th year (Cologne 1841) and 8th year (Cologne 1842), ZDB -ID 2790481-7 : (I.) , year 7, December 16, 1841, p. 645, ( digitized ), (II.) , Vol. 8, January 1, 1842, p. 1, ( digitized ) and (III.) British Sovereign Law , vol. 8, February 14, 1842 , P. 91, ( digitized version ); The Colony on Chatham Island , Vol. 7, December 23, 1841, p. 658, ( digitized version ).
  3. ^ Heinrich Sieveking, Hamburg Colonization Plans 1840–1842 , p. 168
  4. ↑ The Chatham Islands . In: Samuel Revans (eds.): New Zealand Colonist and Port Nicholson Advertiser . Volume I, Issue 72.Wellington April 7, 1843, pp.  3 (English, govt.nz ).
  5. ↑ It is not clear from the documents whether Karl Sieveking, like the other shareholders, acquired shares or was “only” the initiator.
  6. ^ Heinrich Sieveking, Hamburg Colonization Plans 1840–1842 , p. 167
  7. ↑ The German Colonization Society was constituted . In: Frankfurter Ober-Postamts-Zeitung . Frankfurt March 3, 1842, p. 499, (The article contains the text of the agreement / memorandum of September 12, 1841).
  8. ^ Heinrich Sieveking, Hamburg Colonization Plans 1840–1842 , p. 169