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Biography of Carl PetersName: Carl PetersBirth Date: 1856 Death Date: 1918 Place of Birth: Neuhaus, Germany Nationality: German Gender: Male Occupations: explorer Carl Peters The German explorer, adventurer, and colonizer Carl Peters (1856-1918) was primarily responsible for putting a vast area of East Africa under German domination.Carl Peters was born in Neuhaus near the mouth of the Elbe River. As a schoolboy, he exhibited a streak of romanticism; he dreamed of far-off lands and of the ways in which to achieve personal glory by emulating David Livingstone, Sir Richard Burton, Heinrich Barth, and other explorers of Africa.In 1883 Peters returned home after a long visit to Britain, during which he had become infected with the fever of imperialism. He contemplated colonial adventure with new enthusiasm, spoke and wrote of the importance of colonial acquisition to the health of the new Germany, and in 1884 finally managed to persuade a number of older men of influence to join him in founding the Gesellschaft für Deutsche Kolonisation (German Colonization Society).The society was consciously intended …showed first 150 words…
…showed last 150 words…from falling into British hands. Successfully racing a British expedition to the capital of the Ganda king Mwanga, he obtained a critical agreement giving Germany substantial rights over the peoples around Lake Victoria. The omnibus Anglo-German territorial settlement of 1890 erased these hard-won advantages, however, and Uganda and Kenya were placed within the British sphere of influence.Peters returned once again to Germany, where he busied himself with propaganda in favor of colonies and with the preparation of several books: New Light on Dark Africa (1891); Das Deutsche-Ostafrikanische Schutzgebiet (1895; The German East African Protectorate); Die Deutsche-Ostafrikanische Kolonie (1899; The German East African Colony); The Eldorado of the Ancients (1902); and Die Gründung von Deutsch-Ost-Afrika (1906; The Founding of German East Africa). Further Reading The standard biography of Peters is in German. For an understanding of his activities in East Africa, an essential work in English is Reginald Coupland, The Exploitation of East Africa, 1856-1890 (1939). |