Abstract

Abstract The article «A ‹Place in the Sun›? German Rails and Sleepers in Colonial Railway Building in Africa, 1905 to 1914» takes up Bernhard von Bülow’s imperialistic claim that was closely connected to economic protagonists. Today, these protagonists are still fairly unknown and overlooked by (economic) colonial research. Therefore, the article is an approach to outline a first example for German entrepreneurial engagement in colonial railway building, by analyzing the case of Fried. Krupp/Friedrich-Alfred-Hütte. Looking at Krupp’s activities in (West-)Africa, the article explores which paths the German railway building followed, and tries to identify protagonists and their networks. We assume that the distinct markets of colonies were a vehicle for the internationalization of the firms involved. In questions of agency and as part of the imperial project, German enterprises participated in the colonization of Africa, but at the same time, they followed their own economic agenda.

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