Witu
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German-Witu or German-Witu-Land (also Wito or Swahililand; German: Deutsch-Witu or Deutsch-Witu-Land) is the name of the so-called “forgotten colony” of the German Empire. The German protectorate was in what is now Kenya (Lamu district) and later belonged to British East Africa. Through the Heligoland-Zanzibar Treaty it was exchanged for the only German offshore island of Heligoland.
History
The native sultanate of Wituland was a haven for slaves fleeing the Zanzibar slave trade and thus a target of attacks from the Sultanate of Zanzibar (ruled by a branch of the Omani dynasty, under British protectorate). On 8 April 1885, the German brothers Clemens Andreas (1852–1929) and Gustav Denhardt (1856–1917) acquired around 25 square miles of land from Sultan Achmed of Witu “with all the sovereign and private rights to which he was entitled” and at the same time persuaded the Sultan to “place himself under German protection with regard to the rest of his territory.” Facing an increase in slaving raids from the Sultanate of Zanzibar, the Sultan of Witu formally requested German protection so that he "finally has relief from the attacks of Zanzibar warriors.
Great Britain, under its consul general Sir John Kirk, supported the Sultan of Zanzibar in order to prevent further German colonization in East Africa. The British pursued the plan of a continuous colony from Cairo to Cape Town. Reich Chancellor Otto von Bismarck initially sent SMS Gneisenau under Victor Valois to the Tana river mouth. From there, a land detachment of three officers and 30 men marched for three days through the bush to Witu and was happily received there.
On 27 May 1885, the acquired areas were placed under German protection. In gratitude, Sultan Achmed appointed Clemens Denhardt Minister for External and Internal Affairs. After the death of Sultan Achmed, Fumo Bakari became his successor. German rule was relatively mild, and the territory continued being a haven for escaped slaves. On 1 July 1890, Reich Chancellor Leo Graf von Caprivi concluded the Helgoland-Zanzibar Treaty with Great Britain, in which both states delimited their East African spheres of interest.
Germany withdrew its patronage over Wituland in favor of Great Britain, against the resistance of Sultan Simba, and also agreed to future British patronage over Zanzibar.[1] In Wituland, there were anti-German riots in which several Germans were beaten to death and the Denhardt brothers had to flee. The British conducted a punitive expedition against Wituland, the Sultan Fumo Bakari ibn Ahmad was thrown into prison and later poisoned there.
Further reading
- Johannes Sigleur: Kampf um Wituland – Clemens und Gustav Denhardt erwerben für das Deutsche Reich eine Kolonie, Berlin 1942
External links
References
- ↑ In 1905, oversight for Witu was moved from the Foreign Office to the Colonial Office, and following this Witu was administered as a part of Tana District of the Kenya Coast Protectorate. After the 1923 death of Umari bin Hamid the question of Witu as a distinct entity was finally closed.
