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The South West Africa Company Limited (German: ''Südwestafrikanische Gesellschaft'') was established under English law on 18 August 1892 with its headquarters in London and a representative office in Berlin. ==History== The company was created at a time when the German Colonial Society for Southwest Africa (German: ''Deutsche Kolonialgesellschaft für Südwestafrika'') was in financial difficulties. German capitalists had shown little interest in the development of south-west Africa (today's Namibia), so the Hamburg syndicate that wanted to the beleaguered German "reserve" German South-West Africa accept economical turned to Britain. The company had a share capital of 40 million marks, with British and German shareholders. Its statutes stated that the Board must have at least three German members; but in fact most were German. In addition, by a decision of 2 March 1900, the company had to submit to the supervision of the German ''Reichskanzler''. On 3 August 1892, with the German government's approval, the South West Africa Company acquired the so-called Damaraland concession that Wichmann, a merchant, and Julius Scharlach, a lawyer, on the condition that within a certain period a company would set up for recovery of allowances. The company was granted numerous advantages, of which the most important were the grant of 13,000 square kilometres of land and the mining monopoly in Damaraland; in return, the Company undertook to build a railway from Swakopmund to the mines at Otavi (''Otavibahn''). The company undertook several expeditions to investigate its newly acquired territories and to determine their economic and mining value; the route of the projected railway line also needed to be decided. The Rinderpest epidemic of 1897 led to changes and, as a result of new agreements with the Government, the Company renounced a proper compensation to the sole right of railway construction in northern German South-West Africa. Due to its rich resources, the South West Africa Company had gradually acquired interests in other activities in the concession area, so that in addition to the Damaraland concession, it had half the capital of the ''Hanseatischen Land-, Minen- und Handelsgesellschaft für Deutsch-Südwestafrika'' (Hanseatic Agriculture, Mining and Trading Company for German South-West Africa), about four-fifths of the capital of the ''Kaokoland- und Minengesellschaft'' (Kaokoland- and Mining Company), the largest part of the capital of the ''Damara- und Namaqua-Handelsgesellschaft'' (Damara and Namaqua Trading Company) and a significant equity interest owned (with eight million marks) of the ''Otavi-Minen- und Eisenbahngesellschaft'' (OMEG; Otavi Mining and Railway Company). The South West Africa Company was disbanded in the early 1920s, by which time Germany had been stripped of its colonies, including South West Africa. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「South West Africa Company」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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