Jantzen & Thormählen
Encyclopedia
Jantzen & Thormählen was a German firm based on Hamburg
that was established to exploit the resources of Cameroon
. The firm's commercial and political influence was a major factor in the establishment of the colony of Kamerun
in 1884.
The Carl and Adolf Woermann Firm, established in 1837 by the Hamburg merchant Carl Woermann, entered the West African market in 1849 and came to dominate the trade of the region.
Jantzen and Thormahlen were initially agents of Adolph Woermann
's Woermann-Linie
.
Johannes Thormählen was the firm’s agent in Gabon
, and Wilhelm Jantzen was the Woermann agent in Liberia
.
After they established their own firm in 1875, they maintained contact with Woermann.
Woermann, Jantzen & Thormählen and other German firms controlled a network of trading posts in different parts of West Africa.
About half the trade with Kamerun was German-controlled.
The traders were mainly interested in selling goods including guns and liquor in return for palm products, and had no interest in permanent colonization.
In fact, they preferred to operate informally and without interference from German civil servants, and opposed annexation.
Many felt that African traders working on credit produced better results at lower cost than European agents, who were hard to recruit and were prone to sickness.
The shift toward favoring permanent colonies was driven by two factors: a fall in the prices of African products created a demand to bypass the local African traders and establish direct routes to the interior; and once firms such as Jantzen & Thormählen had established bases and plantations they required military protection.
settled at the mouth of the Wouri River
in the area now covered by the city of Douala
. They were led by two "kings" representing the Bell and Akwa factions.
The rival Duala groups were plagued by disputes.
Their leaders sought European protection to support their authority and stabilize trade.
On 12 July 1884, King Ndumbé Lobé Bell and King Akwa signed a treaty in which they assigned sovereign rights, legislation and administration of their country in full to the firms of Carl Woermann and Jantzen & Thormählen, represented by the merchants Edward Schmidt and Johann Voss.
The treaty included conditions that existing contracts and property rights be maintained, existing customs respected and the German administration continue to make "comey", or trading tax, payments to the kings as before.
King Bell received 27,000 marks in exchange for signing the treaty, a very large sum at that time.
On the basis of this treaty between the kings and the representatives of the trading firms, the next day the German Consul assumed the suzerainty of the German Empire
over the territory of the Cameroons.
The legal grounds were that the German Emperor automatically assumed any sovereign powers that were assigned to his subjects, but later the Duala leaders were to make many complaints about violations of the treaty intent by the colonial administration.
Jantzen & Thormählen entered the plantation business in 1885, but development was slow, with more interest being being shown in railways by investors.
At first, the firm had to depend on imported labor for their tobacco and cocoa operations.
By 1898, Jantzen & Thormählen had their headquarters in Bimbia
, in the Victoria District, and lands in Debundscha
, Isongo Udje and Mokundange.
The process for acquiring land in the early years was informal. In some cases, the company simply occupied the land and their title was later recognized by the government. Sometimes they paid the local chiefs for the land. In other cases, the government declared an area to be crown land, and sold it to the company.
Eventually, through various mergers, Jantzen & Thormählen created the largest plantation area in West Africa
around Mount Cameroon
, with 90000 hectares (222,394.6 acre) of cocoa, coffee, and later rubber, oil palm and bananas.
Johannes Thormälen considered that it was inconceivable that Cameroon could ever be developed through the work of the natives, thinking they were incapable of the organization required and too lazy. He believed that they had to be forced to work the large plantations by more civilized people.
The population naturally resisted, and the army assisted in hunting for workers,
Those with children were preferred.
It was common for them to be fed poorly, forced to work 18 hour days and whipped if they slacked off.
, a major tributary of the Niger River
.
When the explorer Eugen Zintgraff tried to create a caravan route from the upper Mungo River
to the Adamawa Plateau
via the Bamenda grassfields, Jantzen & Thormählen decided to establish a factory at Mundame
on the Mungo in 1889 as a trading post for palm products, ivory and rubber.
They also agreed to support a trading expedition further into the interior to Bali
, in the grassfields.
At first, they were supported in this enterprise by the governor Julius von Soden
.
By 1892 they had built a wooden house and a corrugated iron barracks at Mundame, and were building a store house. They had made a clearing planted with palms, cocoyam, manioc, maize and rice, as well as potatoes and other European vegetables.
However, the enterprise failed in part because of competition from Efik traders from Calabar
in Nigeria
, using the Cross River
route, and in part from local competition from the Bell faction of Duala
traders led by Ndumbe Lobe Bell
.
Canoe transport was more efficient than steam vessels.
The Bells had well-established contacts along the river and were backed by British traders who were excluded from the river by the Jantzen & Thormählen monopoly. In 1892, Jantzen & Thormählen closed the factory, partly for financial reasons and partly because von Soden's successor Eugen von Zimmerer
had decided to support the Bells on the Mungo and focus on the Sanaga River
as a route for direct trade to the interior.
In the mid-1890s, Jantzen & Thormählen made a first attempt to start a station at Yabassi
, on the Wouri River
. Although this failed, the firm was one of eleven merchant firms that purchased land at Yabassi between 1898 and 1900. The move was probably due to growing competition among Douala traders, who could not afford to be cut off from efficient access to the sources of goods in the interior.
and Ambas Bay
. They made major plantings, which were later to lead to a glut on the market.
Business was suspended when World War I
broke out in 1914, and after the war the plantations were taken over by the British colony of the Cameroons
.
|title=Global Players
|work=Afrika Hamburg
|chapter=Jantzen & Thormälen
|accessdate=2011-02-24}}
|url=http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/de~hfj.html#jt
|title=House Flags of German Shipping Companies (j)
|chapter=Jantzen & Thormählen
|work=FOTW Flags Of The World website
|accessdate=2011-02-24}}
|url=http://books.google.ca/books?id=L57OAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA167
|title=Proceedings of the Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow, Volume 16
|author=Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow
|publisher=The Society
|year=1885}}
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
that was established to exploit the resources of Cameroon
Cameroon
Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon , is a country in west Central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west; Chad to the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Cameroon's coastline lies on the...
. The firm's commercial and political influence was a major factor in the establishment of the colony of Kamerun
Kamerun
German Cameroon was a West African colony of the German Empire from 1884 to 1916 in the region of today's Republic of Cameroon.-History:-1800s:...
in 1884.
Coastal trade
Until the later part of the 19th century, most German trade with Africa passed through Hamburg.The Carl and Adolf Woermann Firm, established in 1837 by the Hamburg merchant Carl Woermann, entered the West African market in 1849 and came to dominate the trade of the region.
Jantzen and Thormahlen were initially agents of Adolph Woermann
Adolph Woermann
Adolph Woermann was a German merchant, shipowner and politician, who was also instrumental in the establishment of German colonies in Africa. In his time he was the largest German trader to West Africa and - with his Woermann-Linie - the largest private shipowner in the world.-References:...
's Woermann-Linie
Woermann-Linie
The Woermann-Linie was a German shipping line which existed from 1885 to 1941. It was set up on 15 June 1885 by Adolph Woermann and became one of the leading shipping companies to Africa. From 1899 it was based in Afrikhaus in Hamburg. In 1941-42 it was taken over by John T. Essberger....
.
Johannes Thormählen was the firm’s agent in Gabon
Gabon
Gabon , officially the Gabonese Republic is a state in west central Africa sharing borders with Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, and with the Republic of the Congo curving around the east and south. The Gulf of Guinea, an arm of the Atlantic Ocean is to the west...
, and Wilhelm Jantzen was the Woermann agent in Liberia
Liberia
Liberia , officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Sierra Leone on the west, Guinea on the north and Côte d'Ivoire on the east. Liberia's coastline is composed of mostly mangrove forests while the more sparsely populated inland consists of forests that open...
.
After they established their own firm in 1875, they maintained contact with Woermann.
Woermann, Jantzen & Thormählen and other German firms controlled a network of trading posts in different parts of West Africa.
About half the trade with Kamerun was German-controlled.
The traders were mainly interested in selling goods including guns and liquor in return for palm products, and had no interest in permanent colonization.
In fact, they preferred to operate informally and without interference from German civil servants, and opposed annexation.
Many felt that African traders working on credit produced better results at lower cost than European agents, who were hard to recruit and were prone to sickness.
The shift toward favoring permanent colonies was driven by two factors: a fall in the prices of African products created a demand to bypass the local African traders and establish direct routes to the interior; and once firms such as Jantzen & Thormählen had established bases and plantations they required military protection.
Annexation of Kamerun
Trade with the interior of Cameroon was handled by the Duala peopleDuala people
The Duala are an ethnic group of Cameroon. They primarily inhabit the littoral region to the coast and form a portion of the Sawa, or Cameroonian coastal peoples...
settled at the mouth of the Wouri River
Wouri River
The Wouri is a river in Cameroon. The river is formed at the confluence of the rivers Nkam and Makombé, northeast of the city of Yabassi. The Wouri then flows about southeast to the Wouri estuary at Douala, the chief port and industrial city in the southwestern part of Cameroon on the Gulf of...
in the area now covered by the city of Douala
Douala
Douala is the largest city in Cameroon and the capital of Cameroon's Littoral Province. Home to Cameroon's largest port and its major international airport, Douala International Airport, it is the commercial capital of the country...
. They were led by two "kings" representing the Bell and Akwa factions.
The rival Duala groups were plagued by disputes.
Their leaders sought European protection to support their authority and stabilize trade.
On 12 July 1884, King Ndumbé Lobé Bell and King Akwa signed a treaty in which they assigned sovereign rights, legislation and administration of their country in full to the firms of Carl Woermann and Jantzen & Thormählen, represented by the merchants Edward Schmidt and Johann Voss.
The treaty included conditions that existing contracts and property rights be maintained, existing customs respected and the German administration continue to make "comey", or trading tax, payments to the kings as before.
King Bell received 27,000 marks in exchange for signing the treaty, a very large sum at that time.
On the basis of this treaty between the kings and the representatives of the trading firms, the next day the German Consul assumed the suzerainty of the German Empire
German Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
over the territory of the Cameroons.
The legal grounds were that the German Emperor automatically assumed any sovereign powers that were assigned to his subjects, but later the Duala leaders were to make many complaints about violations of the treaty intent by the colonial administration.
Plantations
At first, the firm had to depend on imported labor for their tobacco and cocoa operations.
By 1898, Jantzen & Thormählen had their headquarters in Bimbia
Bimbia
Bimbia was an independent state of Isubu people of Cameroon, in 1884 annexed by the Germans and incorporated in the colony of Kamerun.It lies in Southwest Region, to the south of Mount Cameroon and to the west of the Wouri estuary.-Origins:...
, in the Victoria District, and lands in Debundscha
Debundscha
Debundscha is a village in the Southwestern Region, of the republic of Cameroon. It is found at the foot of the Mount Cameroon,at its south western slope, directly facing the south Atlantic ocean on the Cameroon coast....
, Isongo Udje and Mokundange.
The process for acquiring land in the early years was informal. In some cases, the company simply occupied the land and their title was later recognized by the government. Sometimes they paid the local chiefs for the land. In other cases, the government declared an area to be crown land, and sold it to the company.
Eventually, through various mergers, Jantzen & Thormählen created the largest plantation area in West Africa
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries and an area of approximately 5 million square km:-Flags of West Africa:...
around Mount Cameroon
Mount Cameroon
Mount Cameroon is an active volcano in Cameroon near the Gulf of Guinea. Mount Cameroon is also known as Cameroon Mountain or Fako or by its native name Mongo ma Ndemi ....
, with 90000 hectares (222,394.6 acre) of cocoa, coffee, and later rubber, oil palm and bananas.
Johannes Thormälen considered that it was inconceivable that Cameroon could ever be developed through the work of the natives, thinking they were incapable of the organization required and too lazy. He believed that they had to be forced to work the large plantations by more civilized people.
The population naturally resisted, and the army assisted in hunting for workers,
Those with children were preferred.
It was common for them to be fed poorly, forced to work 18 hour days and whipped if they slacked off.
Interior trade
In 1885, it was reported that Jantzen & Thormählen had established a company with capital of ₤500,000 to trade on the Benue RiverBenue River
The Benue River is the major tributary of the Niger River. The river is approximately 1,400 km long and is almost entirely navigable during the summer months...
, a major tributary of the Niger River
Niger River
The Niger River is the principal river of western Africa, extending about . Its drainage basin is in area. Its source is in the Guinea Highlands in southeastern Guinea...
.
When the explorer Eugen Zintgraff tried to create a caravan route from the upper Mungo River
Mungo River, Cameroon
The Mungo River is a large river in Cameroon that drains the mountains in the southern portion of the Cameroon line of active and extinct volcanoes.-Course:The Mungo river has a catchment area of ....
to the Adamawa Plateau
Adamawa Plateau
The Adamawa Plateau is a plateau region in west-central Africa stretching from south-eastern Nigeria through north-central Cameroon to the Central African Republic. The plateau was named after Fulani Muslim leader Modibo Adama. The part of the plateau that lies in Nigeria is more popularly known...
via the Bamenda grassfields, Jantzen & Thormählen decided to establish a factory at Mundame
Mundame
Mundame or Moundamé is a community in Cameroon, in the Southwest Region, about from the Mungo River.The river is navigable south of Mundame for about as it flows through the coastal plain before entering mangrove swamps, where it splits into numerous small channels that empty into the Cameroon...
on the Mungo in 1889 as a trading post for palm products, ivory and rubber.
They also agreed to support a trading expedition further into the interior to Bali
Bali, Cameroon
Bali is a town and commune in Cameroon, lying west of Bamenda. It has a population of 32,000 . Formerly the centre of a kingdom, it is known for its palace and its regular festival....
, in the grassfields.
At first, they were supported in this enterprise by the governor Julius von Soden
Julius von Soden
Julius Freiherr von Soden was a German colonial official and politician. He was Governor of the colonies of Kamerun and German East Africa, and later became Chef de Cabinet and Foreign Minister of the King of Württemberg....
.
By 1892 they had built a wooden house and a corrugated iron barracks at Mundame, and were building a store house. They had made a clearing planted with palms, cocoyam, manioc, maize and rice, as well as potatoes and other European vegetables.
However, the enterprise failed in part because of competition from Efik traders from Calabar
Calabar
Calabar is a city in Cross River State, southeastern Nigeria. The original name for Calabar was Atakpa, from the Jukun language....
in Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
, using the Cross River
Cross River (Nigeria)
Cross River is the main river in southeastern Nigeria and gives its name to Cross River State.It originates in Cameroon, where it takes the name of the Manyu River....
route, and in part from local competition from the Bell faction of Duala
Duala people
The Duala are an ethnic group of Cameroon. They primarily inhabit the littoral region to the coast and form a portion of the Sawa, or Cameroonian coastal peoples...
traders led by Ndumbe Lobe Bell
Ndumbe Lobe Bell
Ndumbé Lobé Bell or King Bell was a leader of the Duala people in Southern Cameroon during the period when the Germans established their colony of Kamerun...
.
Canoe transport was more efficient than steam vessels.
The Bells had well-established contacts along the river and were backed by British traders who were excluded from the river by the Jantzen & Thormählen monopoly. In 1892, Jantzen & Thormählen closed the factory, partly for financial reasons and partly because von Soden's successor Eugen von Zimmerer
Eugen von Zimmerer
Eugen Ritter von Zimmerer was a governor of the German colony of Kamerun between 1890 and 1893.-Early career:Zimmerer was born on 24 November 1843 in Germersheim, the son of a Bavarian officer....
had decided to support the Bells on the Mungo and focus on the Sanaga River
Sanaga River
The Sanaga River is a river of South Province, Cameroon, Centre Province, Cameroon, and West Province, Cameroon. Its length is 890 kilometers.The Sanaga River forms a boundary between two tropical moist forest ecoregions...
as a route for direct trade to the interior.
In the mid-1890s, Jantzen & Thormählen made a first attempt to start a station at Yabassi
Yabassi
Yabassi is a town and commune in western Cameroon, and capital of the Nkam department. Its population in 2001 was estimated at 12,000. The main dialect spoken is the Bassa Yabassi. However, there are also other dialects originating in the Nkam which are spoken....
, on the Wouri River
Wouri River
The Wouri is a river in Cameroon. The river is formed at the confluence of the rivers Nkam and Makombé, northeast of the city of Yabassi. The Wouri then flows about southeast to the Wouri estuary at Douala, the chief port and industrial city in the southwestern part of Cameroon on the Gulf of...
. Although this failed, the firm was one of eleven merchant firms that purchased land at Yabassi between 1898 and 1900. The move was probably due to growing competition among Douala traders, who could not afford to be cut off from efficient access to the sources of goods in the interior.
Later years
In the early years of the 20th century, the firm expanded their production of cocoa, for which there was growing European demand, in competition with the Liverpool firms of John HoltJohn Holt Plc
John Holt plc is a Nigerian conglomerate. It has been an important participant in many areas of the economy. The Nigerian company is a subsidiary of John Holt & Co. Ltd, a United Kingdom company...
and Ambas Bay
Ambas Bay
Ambas Bay is a bay of southwest Cameroon, joining to the Gulf of Guinea. The port of Limbe lies along Ambas Bay. Alfred Saker founded a settlement of freed slaves on the bay in 1858, which was lated renamed Victoria. in 1884 Britain established the Ambas Bay Protectorate, of which Victoria was...
. They made major plantings, which were later to lead to a glut on the market.
Business was suspended when World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
broke out in 1914, and after the war the plantations were taken over by the British colony of the Cameroons
Cameroons
British Cameroons was a British Mandate territory in West Africa, now divided between Nigeria and Cameroon.The area of present-day Cameroon was claimed by Germany as a protectorate during the "Scramble for Africa" at the end of the 19th century...
.
Reference sources
|url=http://www.afrika-hamburg.de/globalplayers3.html|title=Global Players
|work=Afrika Hamburg
|chapter=Jantzen & Thormälen
|accessdate=2011-02-24}}
|url=http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/de~hfj.html#jt
|title=House Flags of German Shipping Companies (j)
|chapter=Jantzen & Thormählen
|work=FOTW Flags Of The World website
|accessdate=2011-02-24}}
|url=http://books.google.ca/books?id=L57OAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA167
|title=Proceedings of the Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow, Volume 16
|author=Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow
|publisher=The Society
|year=1885}}