A History of the Colonization of Africa by Alien Races by Harry Johnston

German settlement in Africa is not altogether the outcome of the scramble for Africa in 1884; German settlements on the West coast of Africa date back to 1683, and Prussian or German protectorates in Africa were discussed during the sixties of the 19th century. Ships from Emden[204] and Gretsyl, belonging to the Friesland possessions of the Electorate of Brandenburg (the mother of the Prussian monarchy), stole out of the North Sea and took a part in the West African trade in slaves and gold. These ships were much harassed by the French, Portuguese, and Dutch, but the Brandenburgers, together with the Prussian Company of Emden, managed to establish a foothold at the close of the 17th century on the Gold Coast, where they held for a time Grossfriedrichsburg and Takrana. The little island of Arguin near Cape Blanco, off the Senegal coast, was bought by Frederic William (the Great Elector of Brandenburg) from the Dutch, and was held for some years. The Brandenburg Africa Company was definitely founded in 1681, but by 1720 these North Germans, distracted by quarrels at home, had abandoned their West African enterprise.

During the forties of the 19th century some consideration was given in Germany to the question of colonization, but attention was directed to unoccupied territories in America, and nothing was said about Africa. About 1850 German steamships (under the Hamburg flag) began to trade along the West Coast of Africa; and in that year the celebrated House of Woermann opened its first agencies at Monrovia (Liberia) and elsewhere on the West Coast.