DELINEATING DOMINION: THE USE OF CARTOGRAPHY IN THE CREATION AND CONTROL OF GERMAN EAST AFRICA. THESIS Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Masters of the Arts in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Robert H Clemm, B.A. ***** The Ohio State University 2009 Thesis Committee: Professor John F. Guilmartin, Adviser Professor Jennifer Siegel Approved By: Professor Alan Beyerchen ___________________ Advisor History Graduate Program ABSTRACT The goal of this study is to illustrate the role and power of the map and its connection to the exploration, conquest and colonization of German East Africa. Maps are generally considered a constant, a clear representation of reality, rather than a conceptual construct. Using a three tiered model of “gazes” (Dominion, Despot and Development) a series of maps were analyzed to show how the process of conceptual to actual control of the territory known as German East Africa was facilitated through the medium of cartography. After exploring and establishing a space intended for future use (Dominion) maps were used to solidify control through conquest (Despot), which then allowed for capitalist investment (Development). Of special highlight is the role of the Schutztruppe or German Protective Force in mapping the colony and creating the stability necessary for capital investment in the colony. ii Dedicated to the Author of my own history iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to thank Dr. Alan Beyerchen for first suggesting this topic which, while a seemingly impossible task at times, has stretched the limits of my historical understanding and has made me a better scholar. I also wish to thank my advisors Dr. John F. Guilmartin and Dr. Jennifer Siegel for their support and encouragement in pushing the boundaries of Military History in a new cartographic direction. I am forever in the debt of Christopher Winters and Joost Dupon at the University of Chicago‟s Map Collection located the Joseph Regenstein Library for allowing me the resources necessary, including at one point bus fare, to complete this project. Over two summers I was awed by their kindness in putting up with my ceaseless requests for yet another folder of maps to be pulled from the shelves, and their openness in laying bare the entirety of their collection for my own work. They also made my life infinitely easier through their willingness to make available to me, at no cost, incredibly detailed scans of many of the maps which will appear in this work. It is clear to me that my experiences with archives will only sour, as I doubt I could have found a more welcoming and inviting atmosphere to conduct my first foray into primary research. iv I am also indebted to the College of Humanities and the History Department at The Ohio State University for their generous support of my research efforts. By way of a Summer travel grant and the Helen and Harold Kapiloff Research Award I was able to spend the necessary weeks in Chicago to complete my research. As no man is an island, neither is the work which I have produced. I wish to thank Jim Bach, Ed McCaul, and Jason Warren for their help in trying to navigate the often maddening problems associated with incorporating images within a thesis such as this. Additionally, I wish to thank Jon Hendrickson, Sarah Douglas, Robyn Rodriquez and Kate Epstein (as well as innumerable others in the graduate student community within Dulles Hall) for their support in looking over my work and providing the much needed words of encouragement when it seemed this project would never be finished. Lastly, I wish to thank my family. To my parents David and Jean Clemm I can never thank them enough for their encouragement and financial support as I have pursued my dream of an academic career and for their prayers and support as this project wound down. To my extended Church family I wish to thank all of them for their prayerful support and words of love, especially when I needed it most in finishing up this thesis. v Saving the best for last I have not the words for the support and love of my wife Meghan. How can one properly thank a wife who not only forgoes a Valentine‟s Day dinner out on the town, but instead lovingly prepares a meal for me while I hunkered down for the last hours of completion? Thank you for being my teammate and I know this project would not be done without your love and support. vi VITA 2001……………………............................................B.A. History and Political Science, University of Rochester 2005-Present…………………………………………Graduate Teaching and Research The Ohio State University PUBLICATIONS 1. “Recruiting Posters” in United States at War (ABC-CLIO: June 2006). 2. “Artillery, Land CSA” in United States at War (ABC-CLIO: June 2006). 3. “Mines, Land WWI” in United States at War (ABC-CLIO: June 2006). 4. “Hardee‟s Tactics” in United States at War (ABC-CLIO: June 2006). 5. “Radio Baghdad” in United States at War (ABC-CLIO: June 2006). 6. “Pelham, John” in United States at War (ABC-CLIO: June 2006). 7. “Bonnie Blue Flag” in Encyclopedia of the Civil War (ABC-CLIO: June 2007). 8. “Coalition Nations/Contributions to Iraq I” in Encyclopedia of the Middle East Wars (ABC-CLIO: June 2007). 9. “Japan (Middle East War)” in Encyclopedia of the Middle East Wars (ABC- CLIO: June 2007). vii FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: History viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………ii Dedication………………………………………………………………………………...iii Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………………….iv Vita……………………………………………………………………………………....vii List of Maps………………….……………………………………………………………x Chapters: 1. Introduction………………………………………………………………………1 2. Constructing the Map…………………………………………………………….24 3. Establishing Dominion…………………………………………………………...46 4. Vindicating the Map……………………………………………………………..79 5. Developing a Deutsch OstAfrika……………………………………………….113 6. Conclusion……………………………………………………………………...149 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………160 LIST OF MAPS Maps Page 1.1 Reference Map of Tanzania……………………………………………………….2 2.1 Comparison of Map Projections…………………………………………………27 2.2 A Cold War View of the World………………………………………………….31 2.3 Egotistical Exploration…………………………………………………………...43 3.1 Fulfilling Swift‟s Maxim………………………………………………………...48 3.2 226 Years later and not much better……………………………………………..49 3.3 Appropriating local knowledge…………………………………………………..60 3.4 A Sketch Map by Speke………………………………………………………….66 3.5 Speke‟s Facsimile..................................................................................................67 3.6 Expanding the Route……………………………………………………………..68 3.7 Abundance of Exploration……………………………………………………….69 3.8 The key concern……………………………………………………………….....70 x 3.9 Currents of Exploration…………………………………………………………..71 3.10 “Terra Nullius”…………………………………………………………………...75 4.1 The “Missing Link”……………………………………………………,………..90 4.2 A Close-up View……………………………………………………………...….91 4.3 Pfeil Map Key……………………………………………………………...…….92 4.4 Spheres of Influence………………………………………………………..……96 4.5 Details of the Despotic Gaze……………………………………………………109 4.6 The Usambara Region…………………………………………………………..110 5.1 The Developer‟s View of the Pangani………………………………………….115 5.2 Arab Plantations……………………………………………………..….………116 5.3 D.O.A.G. Plantation…………………………………………………………….117 5.4 The Beginning of Usambara Development……………………………………..122 5.5 A Military Station……………………………………………………………....123 5.6 A Way to a Mission…………………………………………………………….124 5.7 The March of “Progress”…………………………………………………...…..128 xi 5.8 Fixing the Eye……………………………………………………………..……129 5.9 Division of Vegetation………………………………………………………….132 5.10 Vegetation Key…………………………………………………………………133 5.11 Solidifying Control over Usambara…………………………………………….138 5.12 Comparison to Daressalam region……………………………………………...139 5.13 The preservation of Private Property…………………………………………...142 5.14 The Key to Development……………………………………………………….143 5.15 Pangani River “Cut off”………………………………………………………...144 5.16 Hidden Ownership……………………………………………………………...145 xii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION “Colonial knowledge both enabled conquest and was produced by it; in certain important ways, knowledge was what colonialism was all about.”1 If the above quote is correct, and knowledge was the key to colonialism, the pithy rhyme should be changed to “Whatever happens we have got the map and they have not.”2 Mapping has been an undervalued tool in the analysis and study of a host of issues, especially colonialism. This study will show the value of cartography as a tool of analysis within the context of German efforts in eastern Africa. The map was used first as a tool of conceptualization, creating a space in eastern Africa that the German colonizers could go after. Next, the map served to help solidify the creation of German East Africa and assure a place in the sun amongst the other European colonizers. Lastly, the map was the key tool used in the effort to develop the colony and create a stable cash-crop plantation agriculture economy. 1 Nicholas Dick quoted in Francine Hirsch, Empire of Nations (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2005), 146. 2 Referring to the famous rhyme: “Whatever happens we have got the Maxim Gun and they have not” reinforcing the conventional view of the real power behind colonialism. 1 Map 1-1: Reference Map of Tanzania. Map of Tanzania http://www.appliedlanguage.com/maps_of_the_world/map_of_tanzania.gif (accessed February 24, 2009). 2 Both eastern Africa and German colonization efforts have largely been ignored by many scholars. In some ways this seems to make sense. With the new drive towards studying