During late autumn 1898, when the German emperor Wilhelm II visited Constantinople and Damascus, he declared himself to be a friend of Islam, the protector of the Sultan and of the Muslim world. Wilhelm’s declaration was specifically directed against French and Russian attempts to put pressure on the Muslim world, namely Morocco and the Ottoman empire. As such, the Kaiser’s bid was part of his new Weltpolitik, asserting that ’Germany had great tasks to accomplish outside the narrow boundaries of old Europe’. Precisely what these task were remained largely undefined, but at least his flirtation with the Muslim world was meant to open new doors for German realpolitik.

Compared with Britain, Russia or France, Germany had little if any experience of the Muslim world before the late nineteenth century. Some German travellers had visited the Muslim world and a few German companies had dealings with the Sultan of Zanzibar on the East African coast but German knowledge about, and an image of Islam and the Muslim world, was rather academic than practical until the late nineteenth century. Taken together, German images of Islam were produced in, and affected by, the mood of orientalism, especially when ’orientalism’ is understood in the light of Edward Said’s writings.

However, both the Kaiser’s gesture, as well as the colonial and missionary reality in Africa, resulted in a fierce debate during the early twentieth century, about the nature and position of Islam in the German African colonies. Beginning with the German Colonial Congress during 1905, Islam and colonial policy were to remain at top of the colonial agenda. Soon, however, it was realised among academic circles that the whole debate was somewhat fruitless since few of the participants had any real knowledge of the realities on the ground. Thus, after 1908, several investigations on Islam in Africa were launched by leading German specialists in Oriental and Islamic studies. The task, according to Carl Heinrich Becker, was to collect information about the spread and state of Islam in the German colonies in Africa and thus ’lift’ German knowledge up to that of the British and the French.

The aim of this paper is twofold. The first part of the paper is about the discourse of the German debate on Islam in Africa. Two contradictory issues will be examined, the ’Threat of Islam’ as well as the ’Capability of Islam’. The critical attitude of German colonial policy towards Islam was most profound among the missions whereas others, such as the leading expert in German Islamic studies, Carl Heinrich Becker, attempted to defend the pro-Muslim policy. However, the debate in Germany revealed that there was a need for more detailed investigations about the state of Islam and the conditions of Muslim societies in the German colonies. Not much, if anything, was known about the social, political and religious structure and situation among the Muslim population; even less about how many Muslims there were in the German colonies. The outcome was that three or four larger investigations on the presence of Islam in the German colonies were launched, one by Becker during 1908-09, another by Martin Hartmann during 1911 and a third by Diedrich Westermann during 1913. Only Westermann’s research results were finally published. In addition, some of the German residents and civil officers published ethnographical and historical descriptions of Islam in West Africa. The second part of this paper will concentrate on the investigations about Islam in Togo and Kamerun. The German investigations on Islam in German East Africa will appear in a forthcoming paper.

Historians consider that the German colonial experience in Africa has left few if any marks on the African mental and physical landscape, since it was a short but brutal episode. A few colonial buildings are found in the former German colonies, but not much more. This is not surprising, as the German colonial episode only lasted until the mid 1910s. Along the coastal regions of the former German colonies the colonial experience started during the mid 1880s, but German colonial rule in the hinterlands mainly started only at the turn of the twentieth century. Thus, whereas some territories had an experience of German colonial rule for about thirty years, others were only touched by German rule for 15 years or less.

Although short-lived, German colonial rule had many aspects. First, most of the territories were under civil administration with only a minority ruled by military officers. Second, the majority of territories were under direct rule through paid African intermediaries, chiefs and administrators, who were legitimised by the German colonial administration. German rule was indirect for a few cases, such as Northern Cameroon, where local forms of government and administration were left intact. Compared with the territories under direct rule, German indirect rule was maintained by the device of ’minimal interference’ and ’supervision’ of the local rulers. Third, there were territories with either a substantial Muslim population and/or which were perceived as being ’traditional’ Muslim states and societies. According to the German colonial mentality, together with a general eurocentric racist perception of non-Europeans, Muslim Africans were regarded as belonging to a ’higher’ civilisation than non-Muslim Africans and Muslim government was recognised to some extent as ’developed’, although on a ’feudal’ and ’despotic’ basis. However, since late nineteenth century Muslim societies and states were viewed as being mere shadows of a glorious past, they were not thought capable of standing on equal terms with the Western world.

According to official German views, Muslims in Africa did not pose any real threat to their rule - at least at the beginning of the German colonial era. The logic of German colonial officials, both in Germany and in Africa, was that nineteenth and early twentieth century Islam in sub-Saharan Africa was neither revolutionary or fanatical. As long as Muslim rulers deferred to German authority, Muslim rule could be left untouched. ’Fanatics’ were to be checked and eliminated, but this was a general rule which was applied to any unwilling and ’stubborn’ ruler, chief and person.

The German perception of a ’harmless’ Islam in sub-Saharan Africa had been established by nineteenth century politicians, scholars and travellers. All told the same story of Muslim rulers and Muslim states, which were felt to be in a moral and spiritual decay, but which were at a ’higher’ political and economic stage of progress when compared to the surrounding non-Muslim societies.

This German view of Islam and Muslim rulers in Africa changed during the early twentieth century. The reason for this change is to be found in both the crisis of German colonial rule, which resulted in the Herero and Nama rebellions in German Southwest Africa and the Maji-Maji-uprising in German East Africa, as well as the growing critique by missionaries and some politicians, of German colonial practics. At first, the crisis of German colonial rule was felt to be the result of colonial misrule and exploitation. However, it seemed as if African discontent was limited to non-Muslim populations and societies since official dispatches from Togo, Cameroon and German East Africa did not report any threat of a Muslim uprising. The Mahdist inspired uprisings in Northern Cameroon during 1907, Mahdist inspired unrest in Northern Togo during 1906, together with the spread of the so-called Mekka letters in German East Africa and Togo during 1908 (in Togo already during 1905) resulted in a renewed discussion in Germany about the ’fatalistic’ but also ’fanatical’ mood of the Muslim population and German colonial policy towards Muslim societies in Africa and Islam in general.

After German rule was established by 1902 in the northern parts of Cameroon was established by 1902, it faced several problems. First, the question was whether the North should to be ruled in the same way as the coastal and southern possessions, that is through direct civilian or military rule. Second, the German presence in Cameroon was constrained by the lack of funding and personnel as well as an extreme difficulty in communicating over long distances. Third, it soon became evident that this ’Eldorado of the North’ was a chimera. The North had no immediate economic value, no mineral deposits and no products that could easily be integrated into the colonial economy. The existing trade was directed towards Northern Nigeria where it was in the hands of Hausa traders and the Niger Company. Apart from its strategic value, the only value of the North was that it could be developed to become a labour, agricultural and livestock reservoir for future needs.

The German position did not differ much in this respect from its British and French counterparts in Nigeria and in the northern part of French Equatorial Africa. However, German civil and military administrators had an imaginative idea about what could be possible in the North. Since the first European travellers had crossed the Central Sudan during the early nineteenth century, the picture of the political and economic life that was presented to the European public, as well as European governments, was one of ’feudal’ but relatively well-organised Muslim states, such as the Sokoto Caliphate and the kingdom of Borno. One possible solution for future British, German and French rule was an idea to make use of Muslim rulers as intermediates, if not allies through whom colonial administrations would rule. Local rulers and local administrations and institutions had been left largely intact in retaining some degree offreedom and authority. While European officers were posted as the ”eyes and ears” of the imperial government, their role was more that of a supervisor’s than of an administrator’s. Local law and customs were upheld if they strengthened colonial rule; only if such traditions and institutions were against a particular European idea of law and order, or the Western perceptions of civilisation and humanitarian care, were they condemned and abolished. The key idea was to work out some kind of an alliance and collaboration, if not co-operation, between local rulers and/or the local aristocracy and the colonial state.

During the whole German period, the North (Adamawa) as well as the far North (Lake Chad region) were ruled through mixing a rather heavy military presence with indirect rule. All Residents, who were put in charge of both civil administration and military units, were military officers. The local Muslim rulers, called Lamido in Adamawa and Sultan in the far North, remained in power, although their power base was much more limited than during the nineteenth century, owing their legitimacy to the Germans and not to the Emir in Yola, the Caliph in Sokoto or the Shehu in Kuka. Existing political and legal institutions, together with Muslim and native law and customs, were kept intact. Contrary to British rule in Northern Nigeria, German indirect rule did not involve any immediate tax or land reforms before 1913, when such reforms were proposed but, due to the war, never implemented.

German rule over the hinterland of Togo was established by 1900. As in Northern Kamerun, German rule combined the display of brutal military force on the ground with political agreements designed in Berlin as well as by the colonial officers on the ground. However, contrary to Northern Kamerun, the hinterland of Togo was put under direct rule and the hinterland was sealed off from all Europeans other than the administrators themselves. This ban, including missionaries and traders, was made on several grounds: Parts of the North were still resistive, and it was considered that the free entry of Europeans might exaberate old hostilities; missionaries were not permitted in Muslim zones for the fear that their actions might cause restlesness among the Muslim population; last, there was a fear that the North was not yet as prepared as the South for European influence, so that it became a kind of human reserve.

At the beginning of German over-rule, German policy was symphatic towards Muslims and their religion. Christian missions were prohibited from establishing themselves in the Northern regions of Togo. According to early German accounts, the Dagomba were said to be sincere Muslims, but later reports were more sceptical about the influence of Islam upon them. According to Fisch, Islam had spread among the Dagomba only during the nineteenth century but seemed to have achieved considerable success, at least in the central regions. However, the local rulers were still ’pagans’ and ’paganism’ was to be found openly in peripheral villages. The main impact of Islam, according to Fisch, was evident in clothing and moral values.

From the early 1900s Muslim rulers and traders were no longer regarded as useful collaborators while the Hausa traders, who before were regarded as being the ’soul of trade in the interior’ were now viewed with suspicion or even regarded as a threat to colonial economic interests and rule. Since Islam was regarded as a negative but possible unifying factor among the African population, its spread should be checked and, if possible, ended by the colonial administration.

Although the Muslim population enjoyed some forms of religious and cultural freedom, they possessed no special fiscal, legal or political rights. The German administration in Togo did not distinguish between Muslims and non-Muslims; Islamic law had no official status and was not accepted at the colonial courts; Muslims were forced to submit to non-Muslim rulers and were subject to the same taxes.

From the late nineteenth century, Christian missionary societies regularly criticised colonial government policies and attitudes towards Islam. Missionaries accused colonial administrators of indifference, if not hostility, toward Christian mission activities. Colonial policies, such as the utilisation of Muslim authorities in systems of indirect rule, the colonial sanction of Islamic education and law, and the concomitant expansion of Islam throughout sub-Saharan Africa were viewed with great anxiety by Christian missions. British colonial officials had closed Northern Nigeria and the northern parts of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan for missionary activity, thereby provoking criticism from the Christian missions. For example, at the 1910 World Missionary Congress in Edinburgh, colonial policy towards the Christian missions was heavily criticised since it was feared that it would lead to a spread of Islam among the non-Muslim African populations.

For the missions, Islam was the ’mortal enemy’ to be fought against by all means. The colonial state, however, regarded Islam as a useful tool to open and differentiate tightly knit small-scale communities and provide them with means of integration into the wider world. Thus, the colonial government in German East Africa made use of Islamised and Muslim allies and agents in their administration throughout the colony. It was popularly believed, among Europeans and Africans alike, that the government favoured Islam and effectively spread it through the country. Many Europeans thought that whereas Christianity was too demanding a religion for the mass of Africans, the ’laxity’ of Islam made it supposedly easier for them to conform to Muslim belief and practice.

A similar policy was pursued by the German colonial administration in Cameroon and Togo, where British practics in Northern Nigeria were used to justify their own policies. Northern Cameroon, like Northern Togo, was sealed off from Christian missions from the beginning of German colonial rule. However, the ban on Christian missions was defended by some pro-missionary activists, such as Diedrich Westermann. At the 1910 Edinburgh Congress, Westermann joined the critique of British colonial policy but emphasised the difference between Northern Nigeria and Northern Cameroon where the local Muslim rulers and their armies had not been disarmed and the German military presence was relatively weak. Other missionaries did not agree with Westermann’s view. Karl Kumm, who was an influential Swiss missionary, accused the German administration of Northern Cameroon of preparing the ground for the extension of Islam by their actions that favoured Muslim rulers, such as the employment of Muslim scholars as teachers in the government school in Garua as well as placing non-Muslim societies under Muslim rule.

Westermann’s positive position towards the official pro-Muslim policy in Northern Cameroon belonged, however, to a minority. Government policy in Northern Cameroon was to come under heavy attack from missionary societies and colonial movements in Germany. At the German Colonial Congress (Deutscher Kolonialkongress) in 1905, Islamisation was presented as equivalent to enslavement and slave raiding. Muslim Hausa traders were accused of being slave traders whose trade should be banished. Governor von Puttkamer’s pro-Muslim policy was severely criticized by one of the explorers of the 1890’s and the ’discoverers’ of Adamawa, Kurt von Morgen: ’It is a matter of fact that the Fulbe have a negative impact on culture in the hinterland of Kamerun. They are slave hunters who depopulate our colony.’

Similar views were presented by some colonial officers, such as Gunther von Hagen, when serving as a District Officer in Bongor, declared that the non-Muslim population had to live in constant fear of slave raids by the Muslim population and then expelled all Muslim traders from his district during 1908 due to reports of recurrent cases of hidden slave raids and trade. Hagen, however, belonged to a minority among the colonial officers who were not in favour of the official pro-Muslim policy in Northern Cameroon. According to this critical minority, the Muslim population was an obstacle against the development of the North: Muslims allegedly did not work, their religion approved of polygamy and slavery; they were all secret potential slave hunters and traders; last, it was argued that the Muslim population had lost its former ’vitality’ and become decadent by the turn of the twentieth century. Therefore, it was concluded, the future of the country had to be based on the non-Muslim communities who had been forced to live in the mountains, tilled the harsh ground and had therefore remained industrious. Hagen urged that the colonial government do their utmost to prevent the Islamization of the non-Muslim communities because it was only the non-Muslim population that had the potential to become sound workers and soldiers:

The strong Bana is much more enabled to work than the surrounding Muslim tribes. The Kanuri and the Kotoko in the Sultanats and even more the Fulbe in Adamaua are not used to work and have to rely on their dwindling number of domestic slaves.[...] The pagan population in a foreseeable future will become the most important economic actors.[...] Due to their hatred of their former oppressors they will, after a proceeded development, deliver usable soldiers. [Thus,] every attempt of Islamic influence should be counter-acted and forbidden.

 

Two Mahdist uprisings in Adamaua during 1907 further fuelled the negative German concept of Islam, Muslim rule and Muslims in Northern Cameroon. Since most of the Muslim rulers were believed to be unreliable, the German-Muslim condominium rested on shaky grounds. Islamic belief could become a real danger, it was argued, as it could serve to mobilise the ’decadent’ Fulbe. To official surprise, and contrary to their own earlier beliefs, the ’decadent’ Fulbe were capable of becoming a fanatic mob who would fearlessly encounter colonial troops and pose a real threat to German rule.

The attitude among Europeans in Togo and German East Africa towards the Muslim population and Islam was also complex. Whereas the situation in Togo did not cause much fear, that in German East Africa was viewed with alarm. In fact, most of the criticism of colonial policies did referred to German East Africa where Islam was painted by the missionaries as being a threat both to their work as well as to the colonial state. According to Father Acker, a Catholic missionary in German East Africa, Islam was a barrier for the social, economic and spiritual development of the African population:

Islam has not abolished pagan traditions and customs or prohibited infanticide. Instead, due to the increase of slave raids and changes in the institution of slavery has Islam led to population decrease and made social conditions worse. Islam’s approval of polygamy has eroded family values, not to speak about the moral values of the society... Islam has thus shown itself not to be of any cultural value.

Acker’s condemnation of Islam was typical. Islam was identified as a specific religious actor and motivator, a negative idea that forced itself on innocent ’pagans’. Islam was perceived both as subject as well as object and, according to Acker and others, it was a monolithic force. There was only one Islam, not many Muslims who could and would act due to varying complex reasons.

Islam was regarded as a threat because neither the Christian missions nor the colonial state seemed to be able to check its spread. However, much of the alleged threat was rooted in Christian beliefs about its own superiority and in eurocentric racism. Islam was identified as itself having a missionary identity, which would inevitably lead to a clash between the two religions. But since Christianity was regarded as the ’truth’, the colonial state should not support a vehicle of unbelief. As the missionaries perpetualy pointed out, Islam and the Muslim population posed a threat to colonial rule due to its military spirit:

Acker’s conclusion was that Islam led to the breakup of states and societies whereas Christianity served as an integrating social factor. Islam was accused of being an obstacle against the economic development of the colonial territory because it had no interest in the political and social education of the Africans. Even more severely, Muslims were regarded as unreliable subjects due to their threat of waging Jihad against infidels.

Five years later, at the 1910 German Colonial Congress, the warnings of the Christian missions were again on the agenda. Axenfeld and others anxiously noted the more obvious correlation between Pax Germania and the spread of Islam and demanded that the colonial government should not interfere with religious matters. Axenfeld’s message was that there should be no barriors against Christian missions in the colonies and no special rights for Muslims, because: ’Islam is the barrier of spiritual progress as well as it strengthens fatalism, superstitions and magic, it allows polygamy and has never had any understanding about the value of physical work.’ Similar arguments were proposed by Professor Carl Mirbt in his influential book on Christian missions and colonial policy. According to Mirbt, the 1885 Congo agreement as well as German colonial law (Schutzgebietsgesetz) emphasised the principle of religious and cultural freedom, but the result was that it was Islam rather than Christianity that had conquered African souls. Following the established discourse, Mirbt also condemned Islam as being incapable of achieving any higher standards of civilisation and warned against the arguments of some pro-Islamists, including Becker, that Islam should not be seen as a foe of Western civilisation.

The most vicious statements, however, were made by Professor Martin Hartmann, who was the leading expert in Oriental Studies at the Seminar für orientalische Sprachen in Berlin. In his pamphlet Islam, Mission, Politik, which he published during 1912, Hartmann summarised the arguments for the cultural, moral, educational, political and social worthlessness of Islam. As such, Hartmann did not present any new arguments but used his position as an academic to give an aura of scientific truth for his claims especially that Islam was an ’ecclesia militans’, a militant community, which could become a political problem if not checked. Thus, according to Hartmann, nothing should be done to strengthen the positions of the Muslims. There should neither be cooperation between, or encouragement of, Muslim rulers and traders who should be kept away from non-Muslim areas.

Not all German experts had a negative or critical view of Islam and the Muslim population in the African German colonies. Among the first treatises on the ’value’ of the Muslim population was Julius Lippert’s account on the impact of Muslim Hausa traders in Togo and Kamerun. Lippert, who was honorary professor in Islamic studies and Hausa language at the Seminar für orientalische Sprachen, was the key expert on Hausa and the Central Sudan in Germany. His 1907 treatise on the spread and impact of the Hausa traders was a summary of German published accounts , including some personal letters, which he had received from particular officers in the field. Compared to other evaluations of Hausa traders, Lippert’s account was written in a positive spirit, underlining the importance of the Hausa traders for the development of the interior of the German colonies. Indeed, Lippert’s writing lacked any critical remarks about Islam or Muslims, their supposed negative impact or decadence.

However, Lippert’s impact on the general discourse on Islam and Muslims in (West) Africa was slim, since he did not take part in public debate or made his ideas known to a larger audience. The opposite applied to Carl Heinrich Becker, who had the chair in Oriental Studies at the newly established Colonial Institute in Hamburg. Becker participated in the 1910 German Colonial Congress, where he presented a paper that more or less shocked his audience by proclaiming that Islam was not a threat to colonial government but could and should be used as an ally.

A closer reading of Becker’s 1910 speech reveals some interesting, but not surprising, internal conflicts in his argumentation. In the first part of his lecture, Becker rejected the idea that the ’question of Islam’ was in itself only a missionary issue. Becker argued that the interests of the colonial government were not identical to those of the Christian missions since government policy should and must be based on a compromise with Islam. Becker emphasised that the political tasks of the colonial government were to secure its authority and to guarantee peace and order. Thus, since the government wanted peace and order, which were defined by Becker as the preconditions for economic prosperity, such a policy would ultimately result in a situation where Islam would prosper.

Becker then listed the supposed dangers of Islam, its alleged fanaticism, fatalism, superstitions and pseudo science alongside Mahdism, the Caliphate as a political idea and the Jihad. The danger of Islam was, according to Becker, much exaggerated and did not reflect the realities in the colonies. However, for Becker, Islam was still to be regarded as backward compared to Western culture and civilisation. Becker’s notion of Islam was the crucial problem. Although he emphasised the existence of various local forms of Islam, Becker also used the expression ’Islam’ in a monolithic way. His only distinction was one between a benevolent theoretical, classical Islam and a malevolent popular Islam, that had little or nothing to do with ’Islam’ at all. Said has appropriately labelled this view as pure Orientalism.

Becker’s conclusion was that the ’danger of Islam’ would fade away if only the correct colonial policy could be pursued, by striving for a Westernisation of Islam, namely to bring about a Western, non-confessional education. While the spread of ’Islam’ should be checked, ’Islam’ should be only prevented from becoming established in purely non-Muslim regions. In Muslim areas, Christian missions should be checked. Muslim institutions, itinerant preachers and pilgrims should be under strict surveillance; Muslim marriage and family law as well as Muslim law regulating endowments should be recognised but the rest of Muslim law forbidden.

Becker’s argument was mainly a comment on the situation in German East Africa. As he stated himself, there was in fact not much knowledge in Germany about the situation in West Africa. The debate in Germany revealed that any further debate about Islam and its supposed threat should rest on the developmet of knowledge and not mere assumptions about local conditions. Leading German orientalists and experts in Islamic studies, such as Becker, Hartmann and Westermann, came to the conclusion that more adept and up-to-date information was needed. Therefore, with the permission and help of the Colonial Office, three extensive investigations on Islam in Africa were launched around 1910.

The main aim of the German inquiries was to obtain first hand information on the cultural, social, economic and religious life of Muslims in German Africa. The key question was to find out how far Islam had spread in German Africa and how deeply rooted it was among Africans. Secondly, the aim was also to obtain information about the various forms of Islam among Africans, including an evaluation of the extent of Middle Eastern and Arab influences. Thirdly, a question was whether Islam and the Muslims were a threat to German rule.

The first investigation had been launched by Becker during 1908. The background of Becker’s inquiry was the so-called Mekka-Letter affair which had caused restlessness among Muslims in Lindi in German East Africa. German officials had confiscated a letter in Arabic which had exhorted Muslims’ piousness and raised eschatological expectations, but which was interpreted by the German officials, as well as by Becker, as clearly having an anti-colonial undertone. Becker launched his inquiry to gather information about the possible existence of similar trends among Muslims in West Africa. His questionnaire was therefore rather short, concentrating on three questions, namely about the Friday sermons and the prayers for the government, the existence and activities of Muslim brotherhoods and the possible spread of Arabic pamphlets. Becker contacted the colonial governments in Togo and Cameroon, who gave their support to his inquiry. Eventually, Becker received written answers from most District Officers who had been asked to submit information. However, Becker never published the results, perhaps due to the fact that the information he received was rather disappointing and did not reveal any spectacular data.

Whereas Becker’s reason for his investigations seems to have been political, Hartmann’s were mainly academic - at least on the surface. Hartmann launched a rather broad investigation on the condition of Islam in Africa during 1911. Hartmann’s aim, as he explained in an attached letter to his questionnaire, was to collect detailed information and to produce an up-to-date overview about the spread and nature of Islam in Africa. Hartmann pointed out that there was much disinformation, lack of data and uncertainty about the topic. Hartmann’s inquiry consisted of twenty questions, dealing with the existence, maintenance and activities of mosques and Quranic schools, the origins and social/ethnic background of the imams and malams, the spread of Islam among different ethnic groups and the impact of Islam upon the economic and social conditions of African societies. None of Hartmann’s questions directly overlapped with those of Becker’s inquiry, although it is unclear whether Hartmann had access to Becker’s material since there was academic animosity and rivalry, both between Becker and Hartmann and the Institute in Hamburg and the Seminar in Berlin. However, both Becker and Hartmann received official backing from the Colonial Office and the colonial governments in Togo, Cameroon and German East Africa for their enquiries.

While Hartmann’s inquiry was continuing, Diedrich Westermann launched a rather ambitious investigation into the spread of Islam in West Africa. Westermann had been asked by the Section for missionary work among the Muslims of the 1910 World Missionary Congress to plan such an investigation. During 1913 he began to approach German colonial and missionary officials in West Africa with a lengthy questionnaire consisting of 92 questions, including inquiries about Muslim propaganda, moral, religious and social conditions, education and the state of learning and information about religious orders. Although Westermann’s investigation overlapped with Hartmann’s, both inquiries continued to proceed officially during 1913. Hartmann did not publish his material, which was used by Westermann, probably because Hartmann and Westermann were colleagues at the Berlin Seminar and Hartmann was engaged in other issues.

It is unclear how much of Westermann’s report consisted of material collected through his 1913 investigation and how much was from Hartmann’s 1911 inquiry. As noted above, Hartmann had official backing, whereas any official documentation concerning Westermann’s investigation remains unknown. Even more problematic is the lack of documentation in the colonial archives about Westermann’s investigation. Whereas at least some parts of the previous written answers to Becker’s and Hartmann’s questionnaires were duplicated or copied by government clerks in Buea and Lomé, no such documents are available for Westermann’s investigation. Further, a comparison between the answers from Northern Cameroon (Garua and Kusseri) of 1911 and Westermann’s 1914 text reveals that he had received no additional information for his enquiries. However, although Westermann might not have been able to receive some new information from particular areas, he did receive substantial information from other regions, such as Southern and Central Cameroon, to which previous investigations were not directed. Westermann was also able to interview a few of the African teachers of the Seminar and some colonial officials, thus collecting new insights especially about the use and spread of Islamic literature.

According to official estimates, there were roughly 14,000 Muslims living in Togo plus an unspecified number of Muslim traders, who were defined as non-resident by the German government. The majority of the Muslims lived in the Northern parts of the colony, although no region and district had a Muslim majority. According to Westermann, Islam was a relatively recent phenomenon in German Togo. Even in the North, Islam was said to have spread among the local population only some hundred years before German colonial rule. The reason for the slow rate of Islamization was that Islam was either combined with non-local traders, who did not play an active role in the Islamization, or slave raiders and traders, who presented Islam and the Muslims in a negative light. The majority of the Muslims in Southern Togo were engaged in long distance trade, some of whom were very rich and thus had achieved some local influence. Apart from the non-residential traders, the social status of the Muslims in Southern Togo was the same, if not lower than that of the local non-Muslim population. Yet, some artefacts of Muslim artisans, such as cloth, textiles and charms, had spread among the non-Muslim population. Thus, what some of the German officials understood to be a process of Islamization was more likely one of social acculturation.

This process of acculturation also occurred in the Northern parts of Togo. Hausa served in the North as well as the South as a lingua franca. What was perceived by outside observers to be Islamization was rather a social process involving the spread of consumption goods, such as textiles, building techniques and Hausa language. Only after the establishment of Pax Germania did Islam emerge as an inter-regional, unifying and anti-colonial ideology, but this change in Togo only started during the German colonial period.

The division between Southern and Northern Togo is clearly outlined in Westermann’s article. Muslims were only a small minority in Lome-Stadt (township of Lomé) , Lome-Land (district of Lomé) , Ancheo , Misahöhe and Atakpame districts. Few of the local ethnic groups regarded Islam as superior to their own religion (or to Christianity) and the status of Muslims, foreign or local, was usually low and without any special recognition. Although Muslims in general were despised by the local population for being ’filthy’ and ’afraid of water’, their economic wealth, state of learning and knowledge of the wider world also gave them a positive reputation and relatively high prestige. However, Muslim traders, artisans and malams were not known to be engaged in actively spreading Islam among non-Muslims.

The situation was somewhat different in the Kete-Kratschi (Kete-Krachi) district. Although the district also belonged to the predominantly non-Muslim regions, the town of Kete was an old and important Hausa settlement with 600 inhabitants. Of lesser importance at that time was the zongo in Bimbila with 100 inhabitants. Kete had the reputation of being a centre of Muslim learning in the Volta region due to the civil war in Salaga and the emigration of the Muslims from there to Kete at the end of the nineteenth century. Kete had at least four mosques during the German period, and the imam of Kete, Imâm Imoru, was regarded as the Chief Imâm of Togo. Another highly esteemed malam was Hajj Ati from Borno. Apart from the spread of ’Muslim’ clothing and Hausa language as a lingua franca and despite the relatively strong presence of Muslims in Kete and Bimbila, their influence on the non-Muslim population was negligible. Neither did the German administration face any threat from Muslims, apart from one occasion during 1906, when two itinerant preachers crossed the countryside and caused restlessness among the Muslim population. The two preachers were quickly jailed by the local District Officer and were expelled because they were held in high esteem by the local Muslim population and even by the imam of Kete.

Whereas the Muslim population in the South were largely ’foreign’ traders and artisans, Islam had spread among the local population in the Northern parts of German Togo. However, neither in the Sokodé Basari nor in the Mangu-Jendi districts did the Muslims make up a significant portion of the total population. The Mangu-Jendi district was the most Muslim region in Togo, but information about the presence of Islam among the local population is conflicting. Jendi town was said to be more or less ’Muslim’, but neither the Dagomba (Dagbamba) nor the king participated in daily and weekly prayers, although the king of Jendi as well as his court were said to be Muslims; the Tjokassi (Chekosi) were predominantly non-Muslims although Islam had been introduced to them during the middle of the eighteenth century and to the Dagbamba even earlier. However, the North was rather well equipped with mosques, Quranic schools and malams.

Although Islamization began during the early nineteenth century in the district of Sokodé Basari, only a minority of the total population were Muslims at the beginning of the twentieth century. Westermann, however, was only able to produce a rough outline of the conditions in the district, perhaps due to a lack of information. On the other hand, Becker’s 1908 inquiry revealed that there was no uniformity in the concluding prayer after the Friday sermon. In Sokodé, one Malam Mustafa, who was a Hausa, read out the prayer in Hausa on behalf the Sarkin Muslimin of Sokoto. However, the local Liman prayed for the chief of Tschaudjo, who himself was a Muslim. The Muslim population was judged to be completely loyal to the colonial government since in cases of disturbances the Muslim population used always to take the side of the government. Itinerant preachers were said to have had little or no influence on the local Muslim population.

Whereas Islam was found to be an almost neglectable factor in Togo, the spread of Islam in Cameroon proved to be a quite different experience, especially in Northern Cameroon which was the most Muslim region of all the German African possessions. This fact was already known before the German investigations, but the enquiries of Becker, Hartmann and Westermann were able to provide additional information especially on the spread and impact of the Hausa traders. As in Togo, Hausa had become an important lingua franca in Cameroon. However, the spread of Hausa traders in Togo and Cameroon was not connected with Islamization per se but with the spread of ’Muslim’ fashion and culture, especially clothing. Apart from the Hausa, the Kanuri, Kotoko, Shuwa Arabs and Fulbe were Muslims. Islamization was found to be a much more complicated process than what had been hitherto believed. The military expansion of the Fulbe in Adamawa during the nineteenth century was not thought to be connected with the spread of Islam, yet in the process of a continuous pressure of, and exposure, to military and political force, some of the surrounding non-Muslim societies had recognised Islam and, in some cases, even been made subject to Fulbe influence. This switch of cultural and religious identity was found to be the case among the Goburra (Kaburra) and Lakka, who had been the slaves of the Fulbe but returned to their ’home’ territory after the beginnings of German rule. These Goburra in their ’home’ territory presented themselves as ’pseudo-Fulbe’ and Muslims to achieve a higher status in their society whereas those Lakka who were found in Ngaundere had adopted the religion and language of their masters.

The spread of the Hausa traders was perceived as a special problem. Although the Hausa were not known to be active proselytizers, their settlements, with their mosques and Quranic schools, were regarded as the core of Muslim missionary activities. After the establishment of Pax Germania in Cameroon, the former political-military, physical and mental barriers against the spread of Hausa traders were removed and Hausa settlements grew up rapidly way along all trade routes from the North to the South. By 1913, Hausa settlements were found in all major trading centres in the colony. One of the largest settlements in the South had been established in Jaunde, with roughly 1,000 to 1,600 inhabitants.

Prior to the German occupation, Adamawa, especially the regions to the south and east, had been the hunting grounds for Fulbe slave raiders. Thus Islam was identified by the local non-Muslims with slave raiding and trading since the Muslim Fulbe had been the raiders and the Muslim Hausa the traders. The influence, or impact, of either Hausa traders or Islam during the German period was not felt very strongly in the Grasslands, the region south of Adamawa. The first Hausa settlement in Bamenda had been established during 1906, with another in Bali during 1912, but the local inhabitants still viewed the Muslims with suspicion, if not antipathy. In Bamum, however, the impact of Islam and the Muslim traders was relatively strong and at the court of king Njoya ’Islamic-Fulbe’ etiquette and ceremonial rites had been established. However, Westermann did not mention king Njoya’s earlier alliance with the Fulbe Lamido of Banyo and his conversion to Islam after 1897, the arrival of the Basel mission during 1906 and the later replacement of the king’s private mosque with a church and his pro-Christian and pro-German policy.

Islam seemed to prevail north of the Grasslands, and the regions were thought to be lost for Christian missions, although the Muslims made up only ten percent of the population in the Residentur Ngaundere; three-fifths in the Residentur Adamaua; and just over half of the population in the Residentur Deutsche Tschadseeländer. Despite these facts, the German administration was forced to adopt a pro-Muslim outlook because the Muslim population controlled political and economic life. Muslim law was officially recognised, with only so-called independent non-Muslim societies together with members of the colonial administration, exempt from Muslim jurisdiction. General learning and Arabic literacy was of a high standard among some of the muslim literati. The reading of the Quran was even a subject in the government school in Garua, contrary to the official German policy of secular education. The most important centre of Muslim learning in Adamawa was Marua, whose most prominent Muslim scholars were Modibo Nasru, Malum Amadu and Liman Haman Sa’id. Mosques, praying grounds and Quranic schools were found in all towns and bigger villages; two Sufi brotherhoods, the Qadiriyya and the Tijaniyya had followers all over the country.

Whereas the Islamization of Adamawa was a slow and relatively recent phenomenon, Borno and the areas south of Lake Chad could be labelled as ’ancient’ Muslim territory. If Islam was in general the religion of the Fulbe ruling class and aristocracy as well as of the traders and artisans in Adamawa, Islam had become the popular religion (Volksreligion) of Borno many centuries previously. Apart from a few non-Muslim pockets German Borno was a Muslim country. ’Muslim culture’, including dress, architecture, moral and popular spiritual beliefs, was deeply rooted, although often in an informal and lax way (which, in German writing, meant a popular and not scholastic way). Dikoa (Dikwa) and Mora in the Mandara mountains were known as places of higher Muslim education. Muslim law followed the Malikite interpretation. There were few Muslim scholars of foreign descent. The most important tarîqa was the Tijaniyya to which the Sultan of Dikoa and the most important malams belonged, but, according to local informants, both the Qadiriyya as well as the Sanusiyya possessed members.

Despite their efforts, the German orientalists were not able to obtain a full picture of Islam in their West African possessions. A comparison between the questions they asked, together with the answers they received from German officials as well as missionaries in Africa, reveals that not much was advanced about the social conditions of Muslim societies in the German colonies. The German orientalists were especially interested in the religious literature in use among the local Muslim literati and were able to collect material about this. However, compared to Becker’s investigation on Islamic literature in German East Africa, the West African collection is rather thin, consisting of rough outlines. Furthermore, much emphasis was put on the spread and impact of the Hausa traders in Togo and Kamerun. The inquiries revealed what had previously been assumed, namely that the Hausa traders had an economic rather than a religious impact. Much less was known about the local, non-Hausa conditions and traditions. However, if one compares the questionnaires of Becker, Hartmann and Westermann, together with the answers of the colonial officials, it is striking that these comprehensive and extensive inquiries left many fields untouched. It seems as if the colonial officials either did not know very much or did not care to know about local conditions. Many, if not all of the colonial officials were outsiders who did not attempt to make contact with the local people. In some cases, local informants were used, yet without any great success in terms of getting inside information about the local Muslim community or social realities about the local population. Thus, for example, although the academics did ask detailed questions about the size, shape and age of the local mosques, the existence of zakât or whether boys and girls were circumcised, the answers of the officials were meagre. The answers reveal that the main interest and first and only duty of the local officials were to secure peace and order and to prevent social and political restlessness. Therefore, itinerant preachers, Mahdistic movements, local imams and Muslim rulers were observed and there was some information about them but not much was known about the existence and impact of the Muslim brotherhoods. It seems as if the local officials did not even know how to deal with the brotherhoods or what was their position in Muslim West Africa.

Taken together, the German investigations on Islam in (West) Africa were an ambitious attempt to gather information about the realities of the Muslim societies. As such, the investigations were also an attempt to concentrate German Oriental and Islamic studies and research on the early twentieth century setting of the Muslim world, moving away from pure Orientalism which produced the earlier interest in classical Islam and despised popular Islam.

However, either due to the lack of knowledge and/or interest of local German officials, the investigations were only able to scratch the surface of local conditions and because the German colonial period in Africa ended during the First World War, the investigations were not followed up. Although Westermann produced a first analysis in his 1914 article, he had to admit that there still were many unanswered questions. But, due to the changed colonial setting after 1919, the interests of the German orientalists moved away from Africa and popular Islam and back to pure Orientalism.

a. Bundesarchiv, Abteilungen Berlin (BArchB)
RKolA (Reichskolonialamt) R1001/3350 (Kamerun: Ngaundere and Borno papers)
R 175 F FA 1/212 (Kamerun: Investigations on Islam )
RKolA R1001/4086-4089 (Togo: The Krause case)
R 150 F FA 3/4072 (Togo: Investigations on Islam)
R 150 F FA 1/210 (Togo: Investigations on Islam)
R 150 F FA 3/100 (Togo: Investigations on Islam)
R 150 F FA 3/1119 (Togo: Investigations on Islam)
R 150 F FA 3/3146 (Togo: Investigations on Islam)
R 150 F FA 1/22, p.104-108, Beantwortung der in den Schreiben des Amerikanischen Konsulats in Freetown, Sierra Leone, vom 23. März 1913 gestellten Fragen über die Ausdehnung und wirtschaftlichen Wert des Mohammedanismus in Togo, Adam Mischlich, Misahöhe 12.7.1913.

b. Geheimes Staatsarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz (GStAPK), Berlin-Dahlem
I.HA.76 Va, Sekt 2, Tit. X, Nr. 124 Adk. N. Band VII, page 163-166: Hartmann, Martin, ”Die Muselmanischen Studien in Deutschland” including comments of Sachau on Hartmann’s lecture.
I.HA.208A 219, page 2, Sahau to Colonial Department, 16.1.1902.
I.HA.208A 219, page 82, Letter from Col.Dep. to Sachau, 2.5.1902.
I.HA.208A 219, page 111, Letter from Col.Dep. to Sachau, 24.10.1902.

Acker, Pater, ”Der Islam und die Kolonisierung Afrikas,” in: Jahrbuch der deutschen Kolonien, Hg. Karl Schneider, Essen 1911.

Axenfeld, ”Die Ausbreitung des Islam in Afrika und ihre Bedeutung für die deutschen Kolonien,” Verhandlungen des Deutschen Kolonialkongresses 1910, Berlin 1910.

Bauer, Fritz, Die deutsche Niger-Benue-Tschadsee-Expedition 1902-1903, Berlin 1904.

Becker, Carl Heinrich, ”Ist der Islam eine Gefahr für undere Kolonien?”, Koloniale Rundschau 1909, reprinted in Carl Heinrich Becker, Islamstudien II, Leipzig, 156-186.

Becker, Carl Heinrich, ”Der Islam und die Kolonisierung Afrikas,” Internationale Wochenschrift, Jahrg. IV., 1910, reprinted in Carl Heinrich Becker, Islamstudien II, Leipzig 1932, 187-210 (quoted as Becker 1910a).

Becker, Carl Heinrich, ”Staat und Mision in der Islampolitk,” Verhandlungen des 3. Deutschen Kolonialkongresses 1910, Berlin 1910, reprinted in Carl Heinrich Becker, Islamstudien II, 1932, 211- 230 (quoted as Becker 1910b).

Becker, Carl Heinrich, ”Der Islam als Problem,” Der Islam I, 1910, 1-21 (quoted as Becker 1910c).

Becker, Carl Heinrich, ”Materialien zur Kenntnis des Islam in Deutsch-Ostafrika,” Der Islam II, 1911, 1-48.

Becker, Carl Heinrich, ”Vorbericht über die islamkundlichen Ergebnisse der Innerafrika-Expedition des Herzogs Adolf Friedrich zu Mecklenburg, Anhang. Fragebogen über den Islam in Togo,” Der Islam III, 1912, 258-272.

Becker, Carl Heinrich, ”Islam,” in: Deutsches Kolonial-Lexikon I, Hrsg. Heinrich Schnee, Leipzig 1920.

Braimah, J.A. and J. R. Goody, Salaga: the Struggle for Power, London 1967.von Briesen, Oberleutnant, ”Beiträge zur Geschichte des Lamidats Ngaundere,” Mitteilungen aus den deutschen Schutzgebieten 27, 1914.

Büttner, Thea, ”Die Mahdi-Erhebungen 1907 in Nordkamerun im Vergleich mit antikolonialen islamischen Bewegungen in anderen Regionen West- und Zentralafrikas, in: Studien zur Geschichte des deutschen Kolonialismus in Afrika, Heyne, Peter & Ulrich van der Heyden (Hg.), Pfaffenweiler 1995.

Carlton, Captain, Hausa Reading Book, London 1908.

Crowder, Michael, ”Indirect Rule: French and British Style,” Africa, 34:3, 1964, 197-205.

Crowder, Michael, West Africa under Colonial Rule, Fourth impr., London 1976.

Djaït, Hïchem, Europe and Islam, Berkeley and Los Angeles 1985.

von Duisburg, Adolf, ”Über den Eingeborenenhandel in den Tchadsee-Ländern,” Koloniale Rundschau 1920, 77-84.

von Duisburg, Adolf, ”Die Bevölkerung des Tschadsee-Gebietes und die Bedeutung der Kanuri für den mittleren und westlichen Sudan,” Koloniale Rundschau 1930, 112-117.

von Duisburg, Adolf, Im Lande des Chegu von Bornu, Berlin 1942.

Dühring, F.K., ”Ethnologisches aus Adamaua,” Zeitschrift für Ethnologie 49, 1917.

Essner, Cornelia, Deutsche Afrikareisende im neunzehnten Jahrhundert. Zur Sozialgeschichte des Reisens, Stuttgart 1985.

Fardon, Richard, ”The Person, Ethnicity and the Problem of ’Identity’ in West Africa,” in: African Crossroads. Intersections between History and Anthropology in Cameroon, ed. by Ian Fowler and David Zeitlyn, Providence, RI & Oxford 1996.

Ferguson, Douglas E., Nineteenth Century Hausaland Being a Description by Imam Imoru of the Land, Economy and Society of His People, PhD thesis, Univ. of California Los Angeles 1973.

Fisch, Rudolf, ”Die Dagbamba. Eine ethnographische Skizze,” Baessler-Archiv 3, 1913.

”Fragebogen über den Islam in Afrika,” Die Welt des Islams I:1, 1913, 42-44.

Froberger, Josef, ”Welches ist der Kulturwert des Islam für koloniale Entwicklung?”, Verhandlungen des Deutschen Kolonialkongresses 1905, Berlin 1906.

Gann, Lewis H., ”Economic Development in Germany’s African Empire,” in: olonialism in Africa IV, ed. Lewis H. Gann and Peter Duignan, Cambridge 1973.

Gruner, Gruner, Vormarsch zum Niger. Die Memoiren des Leiters der Togo-Hinterland-Expedition 1894/95, Hg. Peter Sebald, Berlin 1997.

Gründer, Horst, Geschichte der deutschen Kolonien, 2. Aufl., Paderborn, München, Wien, Zürich1991.

von Hagen, Gunter, ”Die Bana,” Baessler-Archiv 2, 1912 (quoted as Hagen 1912a).

von Hagen, Gunter, ”Einige Notizen über die Musgu,” Baessler-Archiv 2, 1912 (quoted as Hagen 1912b).

Harrison, Christopher, France and Islam in West Africa, 1860-1960, Cambridge 1988.

Hartmann, Martin, ”Deutschland und der Islam,” Der Islam I, 1910, 72-92.

Hartmann, Martin, ”Zur Islamausbreitung in Afrika. Mit einem Frageblatt,” Mitteilungen des Seminar für orientalische Sprachen XIV, 1911, 159-162. Hartmann, Martin, Islam, Mission, Politik, Leipzig 1912.

Henderson, W.O., Studies in German Colonial History, 2nd impr. London 1976.

Hiskett, Mervyn, The Development of Islam in West Africa, London and New York 1984.

Karstedt, F. O., ”Zur Beurteilung des Islam in Deutsch-Ostafrika,” Koloniale Rundschau 1913, 728-736.

Koponen, Juhani, Development for Exploitation. German colonial policies in Mainland Tanzania, 1884-1914, Helsinki 1994.

Kumm, Karl, From Hausaland to Egypt, Trough the Sudan, London 1910.

König, Oberleutnant, ”Bongor und seine Heiden,” Deutsches Kolonialblatt 1909.

Langheld, Wilhelm, Zwanzig Jahren in deutschen Kolonien, Berlin 1910.

Lippert, Julius, ”Über die Stellung der Haussasprache unter den afrikanischen Sprachgruppen,” Mitteilungen des Seminar für orientalische Sprachen IX, 1906, 334-344.

Lippert, Julius, ”Über die Bedeutung der Hausanation für unsere Togo- und Kamerunkolonie,” Mitteilungen des Seminar für orientaische Sprachen X, 1907, 193-226.

Lowe, John, The Great Powers, Imperialism, and the German Problem, 1865-1925, London and New York 1994.

Martin, B. G., ”Materials for Understanding of Islam in German East Africa,” Tanzania Notes and Records 68, 1968.

Meier, Astrid, Hunger und Gesellschaft. Vorkoloniale und frühe koloniale Hungerkrisen im Nordtschad, Stuttgart 1995.

Midel, Monika, Fulbe und Deutsche in Adamaua (Nord-Kamerun) 1809-1916. Auswirkung afrikanischer und kolonialer Eroberung, Frankfurt am Main, Bern, NewYork, Paris 1990.

Mirbt, Carl, Mission und Kolonialpolitik in den deutschen Schutzgebieten Tübingen 1910.

Mischlich, Adam, ”Beiträge zur Geschichte der Hausastaaten. Mit Einleitung von Julius Lippert,” Mitteilungen des Seminar für orientalische Sprachen VI, 1903, 137-242.

Mischlich, Adam, Wörterbuch der Haussa-Sprache, Berlin 1906.

Mischlich, Adam, ”über Sitten und Gebräuche in Hausa I-III,” Mitteilungen des Seminar für orientalische Sprachen X-XII, 1907-1910.

Mischlich, Adam, Lehrbuch der Hausa-Sprache, Berlin 1911.

Mischlich, Adam, ”Die wirtschaftliche Bedeutung der Hausa,” Koloniale Rundschau 1941, 358-369.

Mischlich, Adam, Über die Kulturen im Mittel-Sudan, Berlin 1942.

von Morgen, Oberstleutnant, ”Kommentar,” Verhandlungen des Deutschen Kolonialkongresses 1905, Berlin 1906.

Nicolson, I. F., The Administration of Nigeria. Men, Method, and Myths, Oxford 1968.

Njeuma, Martin Z., ”The Foundation of Radical Islam in Ngaoundere: 1835- 1907,” in: Peuples et Cultures de l’Adamaoua (Cameroun), ed. Jean Boutrais, Paris 1993.

Prietze, Rudolf, ”Der Besuch des deutschen Kaisers 1898 in Jerusalem. Nach dem von einem Augenzugen, dem Haussa-Pilger Achmed, aufgeschriebenen und erläuterten Bericht,” Mitteilungen des Seminar für orientalische Sprachen 29, 1926, 99-134.

von Puttkamer, Jesco, Gouverneursjahre in Kamerun, Berlin 1912.

Richter, Julius, ”Der Islam: eine Gefahr für unsere Kolonien,” Verhandlungen des Deutschen Kolonialkongresses 1905, Berlin 1906.

Rudin, Harry, Germans in the Cameroons 1884-1914. A Case Study in Modern Imperialism, London 1938.

Said, Eduard W., Orientalism. Western Concepts of the Orient, London 1981 (first published 1978).

Schultze, Arnold, Das Sultanat Bornu, Essen 1910 (English translation by P.A. Benton, London 1913, reprinted 1968).

Sebald, Peter, Malam Musa - G. A. Krause 1850-1938. Forscher, Wissenschaftler, Humanist, Berlin 1972.

Sebald, Peter, Togo 1884-1914. Eine Geschichte der deutschen ”Musterkolonie” auf Grundlage amtlicher Quellen, Berlin 1988.

Sebald, Peter, ”Togo 1884-1900,” & ”Togo 1900-1914,” in: Drang nach Afrika. Die deutsche koloniale Expansionspolitik und Herrschaft in Afrika von den Anfängen bis zum Verlust der Kolonien, Hrsg. Helmuth Stoecker, Berlin 1991.

Shenton, Robert, The Development of Capitalism in Northern Nigeria, London 1986.

Steward, C.C., ”Islam,” in: The Colonial Moment in Africa. Essays on the Movement of Minds and Materials 1900-1940, ed. A.D. Roberts, Cambridge 1990 (originally published in Cambridge History of AfricaVol. 7).

Stoecker, Helmuth, ”Die spezifischen Attribute der deutschen Kolonialherrschaft in Afrika. Zu einigen Aufassungen in der neueren Literatur,” in: Kolonisation und Dekolonisation. Referate des Internationalen Kolonialgeschichtlichen Symposiums ’89 an der Pedagogischen Hochschule Schwäbisch Gmünd, Hrsg. Helmut Christmann, Schwäbisch Gmünd 1989.

Strümpell, Kurt, ”Bericht über eine Bereisung des Ostgrenzgebietes der Residentur Adamaua,” Mitteilungen aus den deutschen Schutzgebieten 24, 1911.

Strümpell, Kurt, ”Die Geschichte Adamauas nach mündlichen Überlieferungen,” Mitteilungen der Geographischen Gesellschaft in Hamburg, XXVI, 1912.

Tardits, Claude, ”Pursue to Attain: a Royal Religion,” in: African Crossroads. Intersections between History and Anthropology in Cameroon, ed. by Ian Fowler and David Zeitlyn, Providence, RI & Oxford 1996.

Temgoua, Albert-Pascal, "La conquête militaire allemande et son impact sur l'economie de l'Adamaoua", Paideuma, 40, 1994, 67-80.

(Thierry), ”Bericht des Residenten Hauptmanns Thierry über Adamaua,” Koloniale Rundschau 1904.

Weiss, Holger, ”The Illegal Trade in Slaves from German Northern Cameroon to British Northern Nigeria. Part 1: An Outline of German Policy,” African Economic History (forthcoming; also as Working Paper 5/1998, Istitute of Development Studies, Univeristy of Helsinki).

Westermann, Diedrich, ”Die Edinburger Weltmissionskonferenz in ihrer Bedeutung für die Mission in den deutschen Kolonien,” in: Jahrbuch über die deutschen Kolonien, Hrsg. Karl Schneider, IV. Jahrgang, Essen 1911.

Westermann, Diedrich, ”Der Islam in West- und Zentral-Sudan,” Die Welt des Islams, I:2, 1913, 85-108.

Westermann, Diedrich, ”Die Verbreitung des Islam in Togo und Kamerun,” Die Welt des Islams II: 2/4 , 1914, 188-276.

Wilks, Ivor, Wa and the Wala. Islam and Polity in North-Western Ghana, Cambridge 1989.

Wirz, Albert, Vom Sklavenhandel zum kolonialen Handel. Wirtschaftsräume und Wirtschaftsformen in Kamerun vor 1914, Zürich und Freiburg i. Br. 1972.

Wirz, Albert, ”Die deutschen Kolonien in Afrika,” in: Rudolf von Albertini, Europäische Kolonialherrschaft 1880-1940, 2. Aufl., Wiesbaden 1985.

Wolfgang, Reinhard, ”’Sozialimperialismus’ oder ’Entkolonisierung der Historie’? Kolonialkrise und ’Hottentottenwahlen’ 1904-1907,” Historisches Jahrbuch 97/98, 1978, 384-417.

Appendix I. Check-list of the ’Ngaundere’ and ’Bornu’ papers translated by Lippert (1902), in: BArchB RKolA R 1001/3350

page 29/ letter number 1 Brief von Omaru von Banjo an Hauptmann Cramer von Clausbruck, 4.8.1901

30/2 Schreiben des Emirs von Jola und des Kaisers von Sokoto an Sultan Abo, s.a.

59/3 Emir Zubair an Emir von Burugu Mohammad Abbo (s.a.)

59/4 Emir Omar von Kunscha an den Obersten der Christen

60/5 fehlt (missing)

60/6 Vom Kommandanten (?) Hourst (?), dem Sultan von Naura und Manberi an den Beherrscher der Gläubigen...Sultan Zubair

61/7 Emir von Manbiri Naura, dem Commandanten Broust (?) an unseren Freund, den Beherrscher der Gläubigen, Sultan der Muslim’s...

62/8 Vom Emir von Shanga ud manjar an den Emir von Ngaundere und Bunda Abo b. Isa [2.2.1898]

63/9 Herrn Savorgnan de Brazza, Gouverneur des Sultans von Frankreich an den hohen Herrn Muhammad Abo b. Isa, den Fürsten der Fürsten von Ngaundere und Bunda

64/10 An Herrn Abo b. Isa (auf dem Befehl des Herrn Savorgnan de Brazza, Gouverneur des franz. Staates im Congo) [19.6.1892]

65/11 An Herrn Abo b. Isa (auf dem Befehl des Herrn Savorgnan de Brazza, Gouverneur des Sultans von Frankreich im Congo) 29.12.1892]

66/12 An den Herrn Zubair b. Adam, Sultan von Adamaua (auf dem Befehl des hohen Herrn Savorgnan de Brazza...) [19.6.1892]

69/13 Vom Sultan Kudi Muhammad Miser, Sohn des Fürsten Muribrib an den Fürst von Ngaundere, Abo Isa [s.a.]

70/14 Vom Gouverneur von Wabân an den Emir von Ngaundere [s.a.]

71/15 Vom Emir Hjâs Zubair an den Fürsten von Burugu Muhammad [s.a.]

103/16 Herrn Lawan Sakaru dem Statthalter von Bugu (Banjo?) an seinem Emir und Herren, den Emir von Yemen Zubairu

103/17 Von Adam b. Gûrdunbu an den Sultan von Yola

104/18 Von Mohammad an den Emir von Yola

104/19 Von dem Knecht des Herrn Hâschim an den Fürsten von Yola Zubair

105/20 Von Zubair an den christlichen Commandanten

105/21Von der Gesamtheit der Einwohner Yola’s, generell und speziell dem Galadima Faruk, dem Seriki-n-shanu, dem Vesir Fâta, dem Kaigamma Abd ul-Qâdir und dem Qâdi Muhammed Gûda an den Emir Bechir

106/22 Von dem Emir von Yola Ahmad an den Chef der Christen der in Garua residiert

107/23 Vom Emir von Yola Ahmad an den Chef der Christen der in Garua residiert

108/24 Vom Emir von Yola Ahmad an den Chef der Christen, den Commandanten

109/25 Vom Emir von Yola, Sohn des verstorbenen Gelehrten Adama an den Commandanten,

den Chef der Christen in Garua

***

248/1 Von Omar Sohn des Sultan’s Bekr an den Herrn Commandanten

248/2 Von dem Schaih Omar b. Schaih Bekr an den Herrn Commandanten [1901]

249/3 Von Omar b. Sultan Bekr an den Herrn Commandanten

250/4 Von Scheich Omar b. Schaih Bekr al-Kanemi an den Herrn Kunînîr Alma (?)

250/5 An den Herrn von Dikoa Sanda (vom englischen Commissar) [18.4.1902]

251/6 Vom Sultan Muhammad Sohn des Sultan Ma’rûf an den Chef der Christen, der Engländer

251/7 Vom Sultan Muhammad Sohn des verstobenen Sultan Ma’rûf an den Chef der Christen, der Commandere Hokumdâr

252/8 Vom Emir von Yemen Zubairu an den Sultan von Mandara

253/9 Vom Emir von Marua (?) an Dominik

Appendix II. The 1908 questionnaire of Becker, in: BArchB R 150 F FA 3/4072, page 16-17

Fragebogen (Hamburg 1.12.1908)

1. Findet in den grösseren Städten (Togos), in denen die islamische Bevölkerung zahlreich ist, ein Freitagsgottesdienst mit Predigt (Khutbe) statt oder nur das übliche Mittagsritualgebet? Wie verhält es sich damit in Togo (und Kamerun)? Wenn eine Khutbe stattfindet, erbäte ich den Wortlaut des nach der Khutbe stattfindenden Fürbittgebetes für den Herrscher und die Regierung, da dieser Punkt von grosser Wichtigkeit ist und in allen islamischen Ländern eine grosse Rolle spielt. Es ist besonders darauf zu achten, dass in diesem kitzlichen Punkt die Geistlichkeit keine falsche Antwort gibt.

2. Welche islamischen Bruderschaften und Orden sind in den Verwaltungen obe genannter Kolonien als in der Kolonie tätig bekannt? Welche von ihnen haben eigene Niederlassungen? Welche Beobachtungen sid über die Propaganda dieser Bruderschaften amtlicherweise gemacht worden?

3. Sollten in islamischen Gebieten Flugschriften oder Broschüren (so z.B. letzthin bei den Unruhen in Lindi) in Arabisch oder einer anderen eingeborenen Sprache zur Kenntnis der Behörden gelangt sein, so möchte ich darum bitten, dass dieselben der Zentralstelle (des Hamburgischen Kolonialinstituts) resp. mir zugesandt würden, um hier zu einem Archiv vereinigt zu werden. Liesse es sich nicht auch machen, dass amtliche Berichte über islamisch religiöse Unruhen uns zugäglich gemacht würden?

Appendix III. Muslim settlements in Togo, ca 1913

Places metioned in Westermann 1914 (German spelling)

1 Lome
2 Ancheo
3 Ho
4 Kpandu
5 Palime
6 Agu
7 Nuatja
8 Atakpame
9 Angu
10 Kete-Kratschi
11 Bimbila
12 Adibo
13 Ssambu
14 Jendi
15 Segbewu
16 Sunsong
17 Demong
18 Nambiri
19 Guschiëgu
20 Djereponi
21 Kudani
22 Sansane-Mangu
23 Borgu

Appendix IV. Hausa settlements in Cameroon outside Adamawa and Borno, ca 1913

Hausa settlements mentioned in Westermann 1914, excluding Adamawa and German Borno (German spelling)

outside Cameroon, but mentioned in Westermann 1914:

46 Ft. Archambault

47 Ft. Crampel

48 Ft. de Possel

49 Bangui