Hermann Wilhelm Leopold Ludwig Wissmann, after 1890 Hermann von Wissmann (4 September 1853 – 15 June 1905), was a German
explorer
Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians.
Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...
and administrator in
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
.
Early life
Born in
Frankfurt an der Oder
Frankfurt (Oder), also known as Frankfurt an der Oder (), is a city in the German state of Brandenburg. It has around 57,000 inhabitants, is one of the easternmost cities in Germany, the fourth-largest city in Brandenburg, and the largest German ...
, Wissmann was enlisted in the Army in 1870 and was commissioned a Lieutenant four years later. Wissmann served Mecklenburg in Füsilierregiment No. 90 posted at
Rostock
Rostock (), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (german: link=no, Hanse- und Universitätsstadt Rostock), is the largest city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the state, c ...
. During this time he had to serve a four-month prison sentence for wounding an opponent in a
duel
A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two people, with matched weapons, in accordance with agreed-upon Code duello, rules.
During the 17th and 18th centuries (and earlier), duels were mostly single combats fought with swords (the r ...
. An 1879 chance meeting with the explorer Dr.
Paul Pogge changed his life.
Africa
Granted a leave of absence from the army, in 1880, Wissmann accompanied explorer
Paul Pogge on a journey through the
Congo Basin
The Congo Basin (french: Bassin du Congo) is the sedimentary basin of the Congo River. The Congo Basin is located in Central Africa, in a region known as west equatorial Africa. The Congo Basin region is sometimes known simply as the Congo. It con ...
. In the eastern Congo, Pogge and Wissmann parted company. Pogge stayed to build an agricultural research station for a Congolese chief, while Wissmann trekked to the
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...
via present-day
Tanzania
Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...
. He was awarded the 1888
Founder's Medal of the
Royal Geographical Society
The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...
for his explorations. Afterwards Wissmann was in the employ of King
Leopold II of Belgium
* german: link=no, Leopold Ludwig Philipp Maria Viktor
, house = Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
, father = Leopold I of Belgium
, mother = Louise of Orléans
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Brussels, Belgium
, death_date = ...
, who was in the process of creating his personal African empire, known as the
Congo Free State
''(Work and Progress)
, national_anthem = Vers l'avenir
, capital = Vivi Boma
, currency = Congo Free State franc
, religion = Catholicism (''de facto'')
, leader1 = Leopo ...
.
In March 1883 Wissmann gave the name "
Zappo Zap" to a
Songye leader known as Nsapu Nsapu who ruled over the town of Mpengie, part of the Ben'Eki kingdom in the eastern
Kasai region
Kasai or Kasaï may refer to:
Places
Congo
* Congo-Kasaï, one of the four large provinces of Belgian Congo
* Kasaï District, in the Kasai-Occidental province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
* Kasai Province, one of the provinces ...
.
This was a settlement with more than a thousand people, many of them slave warriors, to the east of the
Sankuru River
The Sankuru River is a major river in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Its approximate length of 1,200 km"Sankuru River" in ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th edn., 1992, Vol. 10, p. 278. ...
between
Kabinda
Kabinda is the capital city of Lomami Province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Projected to be the second fastest growing African continent city between 2020 and 2025, with a 6.37% growth.
Geography
Kabinda is served by Tunta Airpor ...
and
Lusambo
Lusambo is a territory in and capital of Sankuru province, Democratic Republic of the Congo. The town lies north of the confluence of the Sankuru River and the Lubi River. Lusambo is served by Lusambo Airport.
In 1890 Lusambo was chosen by P ...
.
Zappo Zap's people became allies and auxiliaries of the Congo Free State authorities. In 1899 they were sent out by the colonial administration to collect taxes. They massacred many villagers, causing an international outcry.
When in 1888 the attempts of the
German East Africa Company to start a dominion collapsed in face of African resistance, it asked Bismarck for help, which was at first refused. In 1889, Wissmann was promoted to captain and appointed as
Reichskommissar
(, rendered as "Commissioner of the Empire", "Reich Commissioner" or "Imperial Commissioner"), in German history, was an official gubernatorial title used for various public offices during the period of the German Empire and Nazi Germany.
Germa ...
for the
German East Africa
German East Africa (GEA; german: Deutsch-Ostafrika) was a German colony in the African Great Lakes region, which included present-day Burundi, Rwanda, the Tanzania mainland, and the Kionga Triangle, a small region later incorporated into Mozam ...
region where he was tasked with suppression of the
Abushiri Revolt
The Abushiri revolt, also known as the slave trader revolt (german: Sklavenhändlerrevolte), was an insurrection in 1888–1889 by the Arab and Swahili population of the areas of the coast of East Africa that were granted, under protest, to G ...
led by
Abushiri ibn Salim al-Harthi
Al Bashir ibn Salim al-Harthi ( ar, البشير بن سالم الحارثي) (c.1840 - 15 December 1889), also known by the name Abushiri, was a wealthy merchant and slave-owning plantation owner of Omani Arab parentage who is known for the Abu ...
. Wissmann was only given one order: "Victory".
On his way to East Africa Wissmann hired a mercenary force of mostly Sudanese soldiers from decommissioned units of the Anglo-Egyptian army to whom later a number of Zulus from South Africa were added, all under the command of German officers. The German forces, along with British naval assistance, fortified
Bagamoyo
Bagamoyo, is a historic coastal town founded at the end of the 18th century, though it is an extension of a much older (8th century) Swahili settlement, Kaole. It was chosen as the capital of German East Africa by the German colonial administra ...
,
Dar es Salaam
Dar es Salaam (; from ar, دَار السَّلَام, Dâr es-Selâm, lit=Abode of Peace) or commonly known as Dar, is the largest city and financial hub of Tanzania. It is also the capital of Dar es Salaam Region. With a population of over s ...
and retook
Tanga and
Pangani
Pangani Town is a historic Swahili settlement located on the south eastern shore of Tanga Region, Tanzania. The town lies south of the city of Tanga, at the mouth of the Pangani River. It is the headquarters of the Pangani District. Admini ...
. Wissmann's forces with superior firepower also retook the rest of the Coastal Strip. They fortified the interior garrison of
Mpwapwa and reopened the main caravan route through the area, using Lts. Langheld, Sigle, Charles Stokes & Sergeant Bauer. Soon afterwards, Abushiri was arrested and executed in Pangani on 16 December 1889. In January 1890, Wissmann issued a general pardon to the remaining rebels.
Wissmann was promoted to major in 1890 and given a hero's welcome on his return to Germany.
In 1891 he was named commissioner for the western region of
German East Africa
German East Africa (GEA; german: Deutsch-Ostafrika) was a German colony in the African Great Lakes region, which included present-day Burundi, Rwanda, the Tanzania mainland, and the Kionga Triangle, a small region later incorporated into Mozam ...
and became governor in 1895. In the same year his son,
Hermann, was born. Ill health forced him to return to Germany in 1896, where he authored several books and lectured throughout Germany. He died in a hunting accident on 15 June 1905.
Legacy
![Major v](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/Major_v._Wissmann.jpg)
Though he was highly esteemed by his officers and non-commissioned officers, he came under heavy criticism from some German diplomatic and military observers. He was harshly attacked for burning villages and laying waste to agricultural fields, executing great numbers of natives and tolerating no opposition. For the German General-Consul at Zanzibar Michelies he was a military dictator. Rear Admiral Karl August Deinhard of the German East African naval detachment charged him with arrogance, tactlessness, being undiplomatic, and lack of organizing or administrative skills.
The term "''Wissmanntruppe''" was used for the military and police units under Wissmann's command. They formed the core of the later ''
Schutztruppe
(, Protection Force) was the official name of the colonial troops in the African territories of the German colonial empire from the late 19th century to 1918. Similar to other colonial armies, the consisted of volunteer European commissioned ...
'' which came into life after the German government took over East Africa from the failed company.
In 1890 a single screw steamship christened
SMS ''Hermann von Wissmann'' was built by the Hamburg Janssen and Schilinsky shipyard.
It was built in sections in Germany shipped to East Africa, transported overland and launched in
Lake Nyasa
Lake Malawi, also known as Lake Nyasa in Tanzania and Lago Niassa in Mozambique, is an African Great Lake and the southernmost lake in the East African Rift system, located between Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania.
It is the fifth largest fre ...
in September 1893. It was captured at
Liuli
Liuli, formerly known as Sphinx Hafen (german: Sphinxhafen), is a settlement on the Tanzanian shore of Lake Malawi in the Mbinga District of Ruvuma province. It is notable for being the site of the first naval action of World War I.
The sphinx roc ...
by the British in the first naval action of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
.
A similar but smaller version christened the
SMS ''Hedwig von Wissmann'' after Hermann's wife was launched on
Lake Tanganyika
Lake Tanganyika () is an African Great Lake. It is the second-oldest freshwater lake in the world, the second-largest by volume, and the second-deepest, in all cases after Lake Baikal in Siberia. It is the world's longest freshwater lake. ...
in September 1900. In 1916 she was
sunk in a battle with
HMS ''Mimi'' and HMS ''Toutou''.
Bibliography
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*
Notes
External links
*
*
*
Archive Herman von Wissman Royal Museum for Central Africa
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wissmann, Hermann
1853 births
1905 deaths
People from Frankfurt (Oder)
People from the Province of Brandenburg
German explorers of Africa
People of former German colonies
Governors of German East Africa
Military personnel of the German Empire
Prussian Army personnel
Hunting accident deaths
Accidental deaths in Austria
Schutztruppe