Talk:German West African Company

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Removing this article

As far as I can tell, there was no such thing as the "German West African Company," and if it did exist it certainly did not cover Togo, Cameroon, and Southwest Africa. There is no connection whatsoever between SWA and the other two -- the Namibia section should be removed entirely, as it incorrectly suggests that Lüderitz sold his shares to this company. He actually sold them to the German Colonial Society for Southwest Africa (Deutsche Kolonialgesellschaft für Südwestafrika) -- as the cited source, among others, indicates. There was such a thing as the "West African Syndicate" (Westafrika-Syndikat), which was made up of prominent business leaders like Adolph Woermann and collapsed in 1886 from internal conflicts. This body was never in charge of Togo and Cameroon; indeed, it actually refused in 1884 Bismarck's charge to take over the two colonies. As a consequence, the imperial government was forced to take over administration itself. Until further details of this company, beyond the existence of a flag, can be presented, this article should be removed. Trouser34 (talk) 15:42, 10 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The Deutsch-Westafrikanische Handelsgesellschaft did exist and absorbed by order of the Bundesrats in 1903 see Die deutsche Kolonial-gesetzgebung in German. But I'm not sure how notable it might be. Removing Namibia section since that doesn't belong. Tobyc75 (talk) 23:24, 11 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the reference and the edits. I'm still curious about what this company actually did, though. Does Schnee mention it on other pages than those cited in fn 1 (I didn't see it on 37 & 54)? 76.123.162.12 (talk) 04:14, 6 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]