Gottlieb Leonhard Gaiser

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Gottlieb Leonhard Gaiser

Gottlieb Leonhard Gaiser (born July 30, 1817 in Schlierbach near Göppingen , Württemberg ; † December 28, 1892 in Hamburg ) was a German overseas merchant. His West Africa trade and the failed attempt to found a German colony in Mahinland are well known.

Life

Gaiser was born as the son of a guest and farmer in the Kingdom of Württemberg . After years of apprenticeship in Vaihingen an der Enz and in Kirchheim unter Teck , Gaiser went to southern France . Among other things, he got to know the processing of tropical oil fruits in Marseille . On March 31, 1854, Gaiser acquired Hamburg citizenship as a merchant . In 1859, together with Franz Settels, he founded the first palm kernel processing company in the German states in Hamburg-Harburg . They obtained the kernels of the oil palm from Lagos and Whydah in West Africa. The processing took place in our own oil mill in Harburg.

In 1854 Gaiser married Margaretha Dorothea Henriette, c. Rengstorff, b. Board-cutter. Her father, Peter Jacob Brettschneider , was a wealthy company owner and hotelier in Hamburg.

The GL Gaiser company

After separating from Settels in 1865, Gaiser and Johann Witt founded their own department store, including branches in what would later become Nigeria . After Witt left the company in 1876, the company was only called G. L. Gaiser . It became one of the leading German West Africa companies. As one of the first Hamburg merchants, Gaiser had thus united an industrial company and an overseas company in one hand. An expansion of the business area to Dahomey failed because of the French colonial authorities . In contrast to Gaiser's cash payment to the producers, these promoted a trust system with local traders.

Gaiser and the Mahinland

Political map of Africa from March 1885: A stretch of coast of Nigeria is marked in orange as "German possession" (the Mahinland )

Gaiser took an active part in German colonial policy. On December 15, 1884, H. Bey, German consul and at the same time general agent for G. L. Gaiser , founded a trading post east of Lagos. This was on the company's own steamship Tender (approx. 79 GRT , built in 1862), which was anchored as the Hulk in the Artijere lagoon. In January 1885 an agent of the House of Gaiser signed treaties with the head of Mahin. The contracts included the assignment of sovereign rights for a (symbolic) payment of £ 20, as well as silk and spirits . The aim was to declare the German “protectorate” over the so-called Mahinland . This should create a duty-free gateway for German trade to Niger . The area was actually placed under temporary German protection by Reich Commissioner Gustav Nachtigal in March 1885 . Unlike in Cameroon and Togo , however , Bismarck refused permanent occupation in favor of Great Britain . Mahin fell to the government in London, which refused to give Gaiser any compensation. In the last years of his life, Gaiser concentrated on trade with Cameroon, the boom of which he is still experiencing.

memory

Gaiser's tomb in the Ohlsdorf cemetery in Hamburg (photo from 1901).
Sign at Gaiserplatz in Kirchheim unter Teck

Gaiser's grave is in the Hamburg cemetery Ohlsdorf . Streets in Schlierbach and Hamburg-Harburg have been named after him since 1948 and 1950, respectively. The name Gaiserplatz in Kirchheim unter Teck also goes back to him.

Gaiser is also remembered as the founder. Among other things, he contributed to a donation for the construction of the Teckturm with a refuge. He bequeathed almost half a million marks to charitable institutions in Hamburg.

Remarks

  1. ↑ On the basis of the baptismal register, Manfred Pohl gives June 30, 1817 as the date of birth, contrary to the New German Biography (Pohl 1992, p. 200, 207 fn. 14).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Manfred Pohl: Wealth through palm trees and sesame. Der Teckbote, December 28, 2017, accessed on January 13, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Hieke 1949, p. 21.
  3. ↑ Hieke 1949, p. 22, fn. 2.
  4. ↑ Hieke 1949, p. 113.
  5. ↑ Hans-Ulrich Wehler: Bismarck and Imperialism . 4th edition, Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, Munich 1976, ISBN 3-423-04187-0 , p. 328ff.
  6. ↑ HM Jokinen, Frauke Steinhäuser: Gaiserstraße , accessed on March 10, 2017.

literature

  • Ernst Hieke:  Gaiser, Gottlieb Leonhard. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 6, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1964, ISBN 3-428-00187-7 , p. 39 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Ernst Hieke: GL Gaiser. Hamburg – West Africa. 100 years of trading with Nigeria. Hoffmann and Campe, Hamburg 1949.
  • Manfred Pohl: Gottlieb Leonhard Gaiser (1817-1892) - life and work. in: Stadtarchiv Kirchheim unter Teck (ed.): Archaeological finds - Forgotten churches and chapels - Eagle pharmacy - Catholics - Secondary school - Karl May - Gottlieb Leonhard Gaiser. Series of publications by the Kirchheim unter Teck City Archives, Vol. 15, Kirchheim unter Teck 1992, pp. 197–207.

Web links

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personal data
SURNAME Gaiser, Gottlieb Leonhard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German businessman
DATE OF BIRTH July 30, 1817
PLACE OF BIRTH Schlierbach (Württemberg)
DATE OF DEATH December 28, 1892
Place of death Hamburg