The Plantation Economy of German Kamerun

Wage Slavery in German Plantations of Cameroon 1884-1916

Jun 5, 2009

The plantation economy of German Kamerun brought about wage slavery, a precedence which was followed even after the Germans were driven from the territory after 1916.

The introduction of cash crop plantations in German Kamerun (or the Cameroons as it was later called) brought about a new form of slavery known as wage slavery to this territory. The entire plantation economy was founded on confiscated lands and the use of Cameroonians as forced laborers in situations hardly distinguishable from the slavery of the previous centuries. This situation persisted even after the ouster of Germans from Cameroon in 1916.

Acquiring Land for German Plantations in Cameroon

Cameroon became a German colony in July 1884 after the signing of the Germano-Duala Treaty with some coastal chiefs. In complete violation of the terms of this treaty, the Germans forcefully advanced into the interior of the territory, seizing land and crushing all opposition with military force, especially under the governorship of the notorious Jesko Von Puttkamer. This sparked considerable revolt and resentment. These resistances met with ruthless brutality which helped to silence all opposition to German rule.

German plantations in Cameroon were placed under the control of the West Africa Plantation Company – WAPV. This required large amounts of land which the Germans found easy to get thanks to the use of force. Between 1884 and 1916, some 250,000 acres of land were confiscated especially from the Bakweri tribe around the foot of the Cameroon Mountain. As was the case throughout colonial Africa, this constituted the most fertile land and the original inhabitants were relegated to the rocky and barren edges of the mountain.

Labor and Working Conditions in German Plantations

Working conditions in German plantations of Cameroon fitted neatly into the category of slavery in any period of human history. Labor in these plantations was obtained mostly from the interior often at a heavy cost of human lives. It was the responsibility of local chiefs to supply labor to the plantations and failure to meet the required quota, or any act of noncompliance resulted either in public flogging or dethronement.

The German colonial authorities paid very little attention to the social conditions of workers in the plantations. By every standard, these conditions were deplorable. This was exacerbated by the prevalence of diseases, food shortage and the absence of medical care for workers. Added to the over-exploitation of labor, the death toll in these plantations reached alarming proportions.

According to Cameroonian Professor of history, Victor Julius Ngoh, out of 1430 people who left the Bamenda district (the interior grass fields of Cameroon) to work in the plantations of the south, 157 died within nine months giving a death rate of 148/1000.

Due to the increasing death toll, the colonial authorities issued a decree in 1900 calling on every plantation to have its own cemetery. Another decree issued within the same period obliged Cameroonians to comply with recruitment regulations (as cruel as they were). By this decree, the German authorities threatened to burn down villages to ashes if the villagers escaped when recruiting officers called around.

After the defeat of the Germans in World War 1, Cameroon as an “enemy property” was partitioned between Britain and France. The Cameroon Development Corporation took over the management of former German plantations. By comparative standards, living conditions were improved and flogging abolished. But there is still much for which to remember the Germans – wage slavery and the exploitation of labor.

The copyright of the article The Plantation Economy of German Kamerun in African Colonialism is owned by Tongkeh Joseph Fowale. Permission to republish The Plantation Economy of German Kamerun in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.