The available material on German colonization, especially that in English, deals almost exclusively v^itli the external aspect ; it affords only fleeting glimpses of the elements and forces, the groups and parties, at work within the nation, which were responsible for outward activity. Such a point of view, moreover, conveys the impression that the German Government imposed a colonial policy upon the nation on April 24, 1884; and consequently that modern German colonialism dates from that year. Only a few brief accounts of any colonial activity before 1884 seem to exist, and hence the strength and significance of the internal movement remains underestimated. The present study proposes to concern itself primarily with the internal history of colonialism. It is based upon such sources as the Reichstag Debates, White Books, government docimients, records and letters of Bismarck, official publications of colonial and other societies, as well as propaganda literature, programs of political parties, periodicals, newspapers, histories of trading and banking companies. It has been necessarily limited to material available in the United States, as German archives have been inaccessible for several years; but the value of the documents in the Columbi_a_University_ and New York Public Libraries, the Congressional Library, and the Hoh enzollem Collection in the Harvard University Library, have made less serious the impossibility of consulting sources only to be found in Germany. The writer is glad of this opportunity to express her indebtedness to Professor Carlton J. H. Hayes whose work in German History has inspired this study. For his constant encouragement and advice as well as for his patient and laborious correction of manuscript and proof she is deeply grateful. She is also under obligation to Professor Charles D. Hazen whose kind interest, assistance and criticism she acknowledges with sincere appreciation.
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