Abstract

After the German Empire was founded in 1871 and, in the following years, had obtained colonies an intensive exploration of these territories began. This fact had two reasons: firstly the government as well as business circles were interested in the results of the research and secondly the development of these territories facilitated essentially the exploration of the flora and vegetation and the research in cultivated plants. The impulse for the research came partly from the government, partly from business circles, partly from scientific societies or from individuals. As a governmental institution the Botanical Research Centre for the German Colonies (Botanische Zentralstelle für die deutschen Kolonien) and as an economic institution the Colonial Economic Committee (Kolonial-Wirtschaftliches Komitee) were founded in Berlin. Governmental botanical research institutes were founded in the colonies, especially the Research Institute for Land Improvement (Versuchsanstalt für Landeskultur) at Victoria (the Cameroons) and the Biological Agricultural Institute (Biologisch-Landwirtschaftliches Institut) at Amani (German East Africa). At the end of World War I Germany had lost its colonies. But nevertheless Germans still take part in the botanical exploration of the former colonial territories and in the international efforts at protection of its plant world.