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Name: PETERS, Karl (Dr.)

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Birth Date: 27 Sep 1856 Neuhaus, Hanover

Death Date: 10 Sep 1918 - Bad Harzburg

Nationality: German

First Date: 1889

Last Date: 1895

Profession: German official, he led what was practically a raiding expedition into Uganda. German maps assigned the territory to Germany but British public opinion expected British influence to be paramount.

Married: 1909 - Thea Herbers

Author: 'New Light on Dark Africa' 1891

Book Reference: Gillett, Crossroads, North, Web, Chandler

School: Goettingen, Tubingen and Berlin

General Information:

With the help of Father Pourdel he persevered to undermine British influence in Uganda but the power and character of Frederick Jackson ensured that complete German domination of the country was not possible Anglo-German agreement was signed in 1890.  
Crossroads - Many years earlier a German, Karl Peters by name, notorious for his ruthless conduct in various parts of EA, passed through Theraka. According to his own account Peters amused himself shooting down natives whom he saw perched up in trees. At length some of them ventured to approach him and ask why he shot them. "Well" he asked, "what are you doing up in trees?" They answered that they were on guard against the Kamba with whom they were at war. "Oh" said Peters, "then I wish you pleasant hunting". Such was the first experience the Theraka had of Europeans and they could scarcely be expected to welcome others of the Karl Peters race. …
North - Explorer - landed on EA coast near Lamu 15/6/1889; dep. up Tana valley for Uganda 27/7/1889, arr. Mumia's 4/2/1890; arr. Mengo 24/2/1890; dep. Zanzibar for Suez 3/1/1892
Web - No tears will be shed by African natives at the news that Dr. Karl Peters has just died in Germany. "Hangman Peters", whom the Kaiser sent to German East Africa in 1890, with the title of Imperial Commissioner, gained world-wide notoriety as a result of his abominable treatment of the natives. His particular mission was to open up the rich mineral producing region of Kilimanjaro. Following an attack on Peters' administration by Herr Bebel, the late Socialist leader, the Commissioner was recalled and put on trial before a disciplinary court, in connection chiefly with the execution of a native manservant named Mabruk, and a woman slave named Jagodja. The tribunal convicted Peters of a dereliction of duty, and on appeal to a higher court Peters was condemned on all counts in the indictment, including an unjustifiable declaration of war against a native chieftain and the brutal flogging of women. Prominent members of the Conservative Party in Germany took up his case, and ultimately the Emperor so far yielded to their supplications as to permit Peters to bear the title of Imperial Commissioner out of service. For a considerable time after the outbreak of war Peters continued to reside in London, where he had a house by the Thames. Then he mysteriously disappeared, after having given it out that he was retiring to a nursing home owing to the state of his nerves.
North - 'Notoriously violent methods with natives' (Hardinge, FO 107)

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