Trade, Economy and Industry
Even before the colonial era, trade, commerce and industry benefited from the global exchange of goods. Products from distant countries were sold as ‘colonial goods’ and imported raw materials were processed here. Packaging and contemporary advertising for tobacco, coffee and cocoa in the exhibition show examples of how the products were promoted.
The colonial conquest of the world also opened up new markets for Westphalian industry. The local iron and steel industry received orders for major colonial projects such as the construction of railways and port facilities. The coal mined in the Ruhr area fuelled colonial enterprises.
There were also personal connections. Emil Kirdorf, general director of the Zollern colliery, was a staunch advocate of colonial ideas. And Adolf von Hansemann, a member of the board of the GBAG colliery company, was involved as a founder and partner of plantation companies in the South Seas.
Biographies
Yonga
Approx. 1751–1798
Yonga
Yonga lived as a slave and servant of the lord of the manor at Eckendorf Estate near Leopoldshöhe in Lippe. After the lord ‘gave’ him away to the Prince of Lippe, Yonga sued him for compensation for 22 years of unpaid labour – calculated from the date of his baptism. His argument was that a Christian could not be a slave. Ultimately, he received compensation from the landlord's widow.
In 1765, Yonga was purchased as a 14-year-old at a slave market in London by Privy Councillor Franz Christian von Borries.
In 1767, von Borries had him baptised in the church of Rahden with the name Franz Wilhelm.
From 1774 onwards, Yonga worked on the Eckendorf estate near Leopoldshöhe in Lippe as a ‘barber, hairdresser and table setter’.
In 1789, von Borries ‘gave’ Yonga to Prince Leopold I zur Lippe at the court in Detmold. There, Yonga worked as a free servant.
Yonga died in Detmold in 1798.
Eckendorf Manor in Lippe
Yonga lived at the Eckendorf estate in Lippe for 15 years.
Residence Palace in Detmold
At the castle in Detmold, Yonga worked as a freelance servant for Prince Leopold I zur Lippe.
A Colliery Director
(1847–1938)
Ein Zechendirektor
Emil Kirdorf
Emil Kirdorf (1847–1938), managing director of Gelsenkirchner Bergwerks AG (GBAG), was also committed to the ‘colonial cause’: Not only did he found the Gelsenkirchen and Surrounding Area Section of the West German Association for Colonisation and Export in 1884 and serve as its chairman – as well as chairman of the Gelsenkirchen branch of the German Colonial Society from 1893 onwards – he was also a member of the Colonial Council at national level. This body exerted a great deal of influence on German colonial policy.
Streets named after Emil Kirdorf, a staunch Nazi, have since been renamed. The housing estate in Dortmund-Eving still bears his name.
Did you know that...
Emil Kirdorf was also a founding member of the Pan-German League in 1891? This league was one of the largest agitation associations in the German Empire. It combined nationalist and imperialist interests and strove for a large German colonial empire.
A smuggling tropical planter
(1863–1955)
Ein schmuggelnder Tropenhändler
Richard Hindorf
Born in Duisburg-Ruhrort, agricultural scientist Richard Hindorf (1863–1955) experimented with the cultivation of tropical plants. In 1892, he introduced sisal agave buds from Mexico to German East Africa. Hindorf was co-founder of the Colonial Economic Committee, the German Colonial School in Witzenhausen and the ‘Experimental Station for Tropical Crops in Usambara’ in German East Africa, the Amani Institute.
Sisal smuggling as a pioneering achievement
Richard-Hindorf-Square in Duisburg
Exhibits
Propaganda Stamp
Colonies were an important source of raw materials and a lucrative market for industry. This propaganda stamp from 1925 illustrates the economic motives behind colonialism and calls for the return of the colonies after their ‘loss’ following the First World War.
