This is list of former German colonies owned by states of Germany:

Holy Roman Empire & German Confederation

Brandenburg-Prussia

Groß Friedrichsburg Gross or Groß in German is the correct spelling of the surname under German orthographic rules. In Switzerland, the name is spelled Gross. Some Germans and Austrians also use the spelling with "ss" instead of "ß". It is a surname of German, Pr ...

(in

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and Tog ...

), 1683–1718 * Arguin (in

Mauritania Mauritania (; ar, موريتانيا, ', french: Mauritanie; Berber: ''Agawej'' or ''Cengit''; Pulaar: ''Moritani''; Wolof: ''Gànnaar''; Soninke:), officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania ( ar, الجمهورية الإسلامية ...

), 1685–1721 * Whydah (in present

Bénin Benin ( , ; french: Bénin , ff, Benen), officially the Republic of Benin (french: République du Bénin), and formerly Dahomey, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north ...

), c. 1700 (this Brandenburg 'colony' was just a minor point of support, a few dwellings at a site co-inhabited by British and Dutch) * Saint Thomas. Leased by Brandenburg from the

Danish West India Company The Danish West India Company () or Danish West IndiaGuinea Company (') was a Dano-Norwegian chartered company that operated out of the colonies in the Danish West Indies. It is estimated that 120,000 enslaved Africans were transported on the c ...

, 1685–1720. * Island of Crabs (''Krabbeninsel'' in German) (Caribbean, now US), Brandenburg annexation in the Danish West Indies, 1689–1693 * Tertholen (Caribbean), Occupied in 1696

Duchy of Courland

* "New Courland", (1637, 1642, 1654–1659, 1680–1690) *Courlander Gambia ** Fort Bayona, 1651-1660 ** Fort Jacob, 1651-1660 ** Fort Jillifree, 1651-1660

Free City of Augsburg

* Klein-Venedig,1528–1545

County of Hanau

* Hanauish-Indies, Planned in 1669 but later canceled in 1672

House of Ascania

* Neu-Askania, 1828-1856

Habsburg Mornachy

These were colonies of the

Habsburg monarchy The Habsburg monarchy (german: Habsburgermonarchie, ), also known as the Danubian monarchy (german: Donaumonarchie, ), or Habsburg Empire (german: Habsburgerreich, ), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities ...

, part of the Holy Roman Empire of German Nation

realm A realm is a community or territory over which a sovereign rules. The term is commonly used to describe a monarchical or dynastic state. A realm may also be a subdivision within an empire, if it has its own monarch, e.g. the German Empire. Et ...

until 1804,

German Confederation The German Confederation (german: Deutscher Bund, ) was an association of 39 predominantly German-speaking sovereign states in Central Europe. It was created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 as a replacement of the former Holy Roman Empire, w ...

from 1815 to 1848 and from 1850 to 1866. * Banquibazar, 1719-1723 * Cabelon, 1744-1750 * Delagoa Bay, 1777-1781 *

Nicobar islands The Nicobar Islands are an archipelagic island chain in the eastern Indian Ocean. They are located in Southeast Asia, northwest of Aceh on Sumatra, and separated from Thailand to the east by the Andaman Sea. Located southeast of the Indian ...

, 1778–1783

German Empire

Africa

The following were German African protectorates: Colonial Africa 1913 Germany map

* German South West Africa, 1884 to 1915 * German West Africa, 1884 to 1915 **

Togoland Togoland was a German Empire protectorate in West Africa from 1884 to 1914, encompassing what is now the nation of Togo and most of what is now the Volta Region of Ghana, approximately 90,400 km2 (29,867 sq mi) in size. During the period ...

, 1884 to 1916 ** Kamerun, from 1884 to 1916 ** Kapitaï and Koba, 1884 to 1885 ** Mahinland, March 11, 1885 to October 24, 1885 *

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 Mo ...

, 1885 to 1918 * Witu Protectorate, 1885 to 1890 * German Somali Coast, 1885 to 1888 * German Congo, 1884 to 1885 *German Katanga, 1886 *Gando Protectorate, 1895 to 1897 *Gulmu Protectorate, 1895 to 1897 * German South Africa, 1884 to 1885

Pacific

These were German colonies established in the Pacific: * German New Guinea, 1884 to 1919 ** Kaiser-Wilhelmsland, 1885 to 1914 **

Bismarck Archipelago The Bismarck Archipelago (, ) is a group of islands off the northeastern coast of New Guinea in the western Pacific Ocean and is part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. Its area is about 50,000 square km. History The first inhabitants o ...

, 1885 to 1914 ** German Solomon Islands Protectorate, 1885 to 1914 ***

Bougainville Island Bougainville Island (Tok Pisin: ''Bogenvil'') is the main island of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, which is part of Papua New Guinea. It was previously the main landmass in the German Empire-associated North Solomon Islands, North Solo ...

, 1885 to 1914 *** Buka Island, 1885 to 1914 *** Choiseul Island, 1885 to 1900 *** Shortland Islands, 1885 to 1900 *** Santa Isabel Island, 1885 to 1900 **

Nauru Nauru ( or ; na, Naoero), officially the Republic of Nauru ( na, Repubrikin Naoero) and formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island country and microstate in Oceania, in the Central Pacific. Its nearest neighbour is Banaba Island in ...

, 1888 to 1914 **

Northern Mariana Islands The Northern Mariana Islands, officially the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI; ch, Sankattan Siha Na Islas Mariånas; cal, Commonwealth Téél Falúw kka Efáng llól Marianas), is an unincorporated territory and commonw ...

, 1899 to 1914 **

Caroline Islands The Caroline Islands (or the Carolines) are a widely scattered archipelago of tiny islands in the western Pacific Ocean, to the north of New Guinea. Politically, they are divided between the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) in the ce ...

, 1899 to 1914 ** Palau Islands, 1899 to 1914 **

Marshall Islands The Marshall Islands ( mh, Ṃajeḷ), officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands ( mh, Aolepān Aorōkin Ṃajeḷ),'' () is an independent island country and microstate near the Equator in the Pacific Ocean, slightly west of the Inte ...

, 1885 to 1914 *

German Samoa German Samoa (german: Deutsch-Samoa) was a German protectorate from 1900 to 1920, consisting of the islands of Upolu, Savai'i, Apolima and Manono, now wholly within the independent state of Samoa, formerly ''Western Samoa''. Samoa was the la ...

, 1900 to 1914

China

These

Treaty ports Treaty ports (; ja, 条約港) were the port cities in China and Japan that were opened to foreign trade mainly by the unequal treaties forced upon them by Western powers, as well as cities in Korea opened up similarly by the Japanese Empire. ...

were German concessions in China, leased to it by the

Qing Dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

: *

Kiautschou Bay concession The Kiautschou Bay Leased Territory was a German leased territory in Imperial and Early Republican China from 1898 to 1914. Covering an area of , it centered on Jiaozhou ("Kiautschou") Bay on the southern coast of the Shandong Peninsula ...

, 1898 to 1914 * German concession in Tientsin, 1895 to 1917 * German concession in Hankou, 1895 to 1917 * Chefoo, 1901 to 1914

Nazi Germany

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, 1940 to 1945 *

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...

, 1940 to 1945 * Belgium and Northern France, 1944 *

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inva ...

, 1940 to 1944 *

Ostland The Reichskommissariat Ostland (RKO) was established by Nazi Germany in 1941 during World War II. It became the civilian occupation regime in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and the western part of Byelorussian SSR. German planning documents i ...

, 1941 to 1945

References

External links

*
German colonies

{{Former German colonies

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

Col In geomorphology, a col is the lowest point on a mountain ridge between two peaks.Whittow, John (1984). ''Dictionary of Physical Geography''. London: Penguin, 1984, p. 103. . It may also be called a gap. Particularly rugged and forbidding co ...