Arthur J. Knoll – författare

The book seeks to add to both German and colonial history, detailing the effects of colonization on both the rulers and the ruled. The nine essays cover topics from anthropology and decision making in the German colonies to slave labor in German Togo, the superstructure of the colonial state in German Melanesia, and the position of the indigenous populations in German Africa. A final chapter provides a historical perspective on German imperialism. A selected bibliography and an index complete the work. This collection will provide a valuable contribution to the body of knowledge on German and European colonial efforts.

The German Colonial Experience provides readers with an understanding of how the Germans gained, explored, pacified, ruled, and exploited their colonies prior to their loss in World War I. Knoll and Hiery show how Africans, Chinese, and Pacific Islanders reacted to German rule, how the Germans ran the daily affairs of government, their vision for the colonized peoples, and how the colonizers and the colonized perceived one another. In other words, how did German colonial rule actually work? This book intensely scrutinizes colonial documents, most of them in German script, from archives not only in Germany, but also from places such as Australia, New Guinea, and Samoa. Many of these documents have never previously been published, even in the original German.