German attempts at the

colonization of the Americas During the Age of Discovery, a large scale European colonization of the Americas took place between about 1492 and 1800. Although Norse colonization of North America, the Norse had explored and colonized areas of the North Atlantic, colonizin ...

consisted of German Venezuela (german:

Klein-Venedig (Little Venice) or Welserland (pronunciation �vɛl.zɐ.lant was the most significant territory of the German colonization of the Americas, from 1528 to 1546, in which the Welser banking and patrician family of the Free Imperial Cities of Augs ...

, also german:

Welser Welser was a German banking and merchant family, originally a patrician family based in Augsburg and Nuremberg, that rose to great prominence in international high finance in the 16th century as bankers to the Habsburgs and financiers of C ...

-Kolonie), St. Thomas and Crab Island in the 16th and 17th centuries.

History

Klein-Venedig

''Klein-Venedig'' ("Little Venice"; also the etymology of the name "Venezuela") was the most significant part of the German colonization of the Americas, from 1528 to 1546, in which the

Augsburg Augsburg (; bar , Augschburg , links=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_German , label=Swabian German, , ) is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, around west of Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and regional seat of the ...

-based

banking family to the Habsburgs was given the colonial rights by Emperor Charles V, who was also King of Spain and owed debts to them for his Imperial election. In 1528, Charles V issued a charter by which the Welsers possessed the rights to explore, rule and colonize the area with the primary motivation of searching for the legendary golden city of El Dorado. The venture was initially led by

Ambrosius Ehinger Ambrosius Ehinger, also (Ambrosio Alfínger in Spanish) Dalfinger, Thalfinger, (ca. 1500 in Thalfingen near Ulm – 31 May 1533 near Chinácota in modern-day Colombia) was a German conquistador and the first governor of the Welser concess ...

, who founded Maracaibo in 1529. After the deaths of first Ehinger (1533),

Nikolaus Federmann Nikolaus Federmann ( es, link=no, Nicolás Féderman, ) (c. 1505, Ulm – February 1542, Valladolid) was a German adventurer and conquistador in what is modern-day Venezuela and Colombia. He is a significant figure in the history of Klein-Vened ...

Georg von Speyer Georg von Speyer (1500, Speyer, Holy Roman Empire – 11 June 1540, Coro, Klein-Venedig) was a German conquistador in New Granada and Venezuela. His birth name was Georg Hohermuth but he chose to call himself after his place of birth. He ...

(1540),

Philipp von Hutten Philipp von Hutten (18 December 1505 – 17 May 1546) was a German adventurer and an early European explorer and conquistador of Venezuela. He is a significant figure in the history of Klein-Venedig (1528 - 1546), the concession of Venezuela Prov ...

continued exploration in the interior. In absence of von Hutten from the capital of the province the crown of Spain claimed the right to appoint the governor. The Spanish

Juan de Carvajal Juan de Carvajal was a Spanish conquistador and one of the first governors of Venezuela Province. Carvajal was born in Spain in 1509. He was in Venezuela in the 1540s, a time when territory there had been assigned to the Welser family by the E ...

was nominated governor by the Emperor Charles V and tried to take control of the province. In 1545 he founded

El Tocuyo El Tocuyo is a fertile valley and city in west-central Venezuela at elevation. It is located in south-central Lara State about 60 km southwest of Barquisimeto. The town of El Tocuyo was founded by Juan de Carvajal in 1545 on the banks of the T ...

with German colonists of Coro. On Hutten's return to the capital,

Santa Ana de Coro Coro, historically known as Neu-Augsburg, is the capital of Falcón State and the second oldest city of Venezuela (after Cumaná). It was founded on July 26, 1527, by Juan de Ampíes as Santa Ana de Coro. It is established at the south of the Par ...

, in 1546, the governor Carvajal had Hutten and

Bartholomeus VI. Welser Bartholomeus VI. Welser (''the younger'', 26 October 1512 – c. 17 May 1546) was a member of the Welser banking family, which had acquired the colonial rights to Venezuela Province in 1528 and created Klein-Venedig. He was the son of Bartholom ...

executed. Subsequently,

Charles V Charles V may refer to: * Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500–1558) * Charles V of Naples (1661–1700), better known as Charles II of Spain * Charles V of France (1338–1380), called the Wise * Charles V, Duke of Lorraine (1643–1690) * Infa ...

revoked Welser's charter. The Welsers transported German miners to the colony, as well as 4,000 African slaves as labor to work sugar cane plantations. Many of the German colonists died from tropical diseases, to which they had no immunity, or during frequent wars with Native Americans.

Brandenburg-Prussia

The ''

Brandenburgisch-Africanische Compagnie The Brandenburger Gold Coast, later Prussian Gold Coast, was a part of the Gold Coast. The Brandenburg colony existed from 1682 to 1721, when King Frederick William I of Prussia sold it for 7200 ducats to the Dutch Republic. Brandenburger G ...

'' of

Brandenburg Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an area of 29,480 sq ...

(the future

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (german: Königreich Preußen, ) was a German kingdom that constituted the state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918. Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. ...

) established trading posts in Africa and leased a trading post on Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, St. Thomas from the Danish West India-Guinea Company in 1685. In 1693, the Danes seized the post, its warehouse, and all its goods without warning or repayment. There were no permanent German settlers.

Duchy of Courland

The Duchy of Courland, a German-led vassal state of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, leased New Courland (''Neu-Kurland'') on Tobago in the Caribbean from the British. The colony failed and was restored several times. A final Courish attempt to establish a Caribbean colony involved a settlement near modern Toco on Trinidad.Kołodziejczyk, Dariusz. ''Mówią wieki''.
CZY RZECZPOSPOLITA MIAŁA KOLONIE W AFRYCE I AMERYCE?
".

County of Hanau

The counties of Hanau-Lichtenberg and Hanau-Münzenberg, under Frederick Casimir, Count of Hanau-Lichtenberg, Frederick Casimir and his adviser Johann Joachim Becher, Johann Becher, funded but did not complete an extravagant program to lease Dutch colonization of Guiana, Guiana from the Dutch West India Company. Calling his new realm the Hanauish-Indies (''Hanauisch-Indien''), Frederick Casimir ran up huge debts that ultimately forced him into a regency by some of his relatives.

Later immigration

German settlers also immigrated to the established colonies in South America and Central America: *

, Venezuela *Colonia Tovar, Venezuela *Zona Sur, Chile's Southern Zone *Matagalpa (Nicaragua) *Southern Region, Brazil, Southern Brazil *Bariloche, and Patagonia, Argentina *Villa General Belgrano, Colonia General Belgrano, in Córdoba, Argentina *Obera, in Misiones, Argentina *Soconusco region in Chiapas, Mexico *Alta Verapaz, Guatemala *Pozuzo and Oxapampa in Peru *Seaford Town in Jamaica *Colonia Dignidad in Chile They also founded some small communities History of Paraguay, in Paraguay.

History

Klein-Venedig

Brandenburg-Prussia

Duchy of Courland

County of Hanau

Later immigration

See also

References

Further reading