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had really been formative, they would have to be qualified quite considerably, especially in comparison with events in the adjacent countries listed earlier, and they were certainly not particularly ‘dangerous’ in Germany. The accusations of the two authors are pure inventions, if only because Germany did not conduct a policy of exploitation in its colonies, but, in keeping with the meaning of the word ‘colere’ (to care for/to look after/to cultivate), it tried hard systematically to establish an infrastructure according to the state-of-the-art at the time: a road network, railways, a reliable and clean water supply, hospital wards, education for all, and of course a general administration (including land registry, police, legal system etc.). The extraction of natural resources and the cultivation of crops were part of developing this infrastructure. Togo, the smallest of the four African colonies, was the only one to produce a small surplus as from 1912 – and to collapse as early as 1915 in World War I. This exemplary colonial domestic policy was accompanied by comprehensive scientific exploration of these territories, the results of which were laid down in academic publications like the ‘Mitteilungen aus den deutschen Schutzgebieten’, ‘Der Tropenpflanzer’ or ‘Beitrage zur geologischen Erforschung der deutschen Schutzgebiete’, and, since largely of geographical nature, in ‘Petermanns Geographische Mitteilungen’ as well. Moreover, there is no reason to criticize the fact that