Jantzen & Thormählen

[2] Woermann, Jantzen & Thormählen and other German firms controlled a network of trading posts in different parts of West Africa.

[5] Many felt that African traders working on credit produced better results at lower cost than European agents, who were hard to recruit and were prone to sickness.

[6] The shift toward favoring permanent colonies was driven by two factors: a fall in the prices of African products created a demand to bypass the local African traders and establish direct routes to the interior; and once firms such as Jantzen & Thormählen had established bases and plantations they required military protection.

[5] Trade with the interior of Cameroon was handled by the Duala people settled at the mouth of the Wouri River in the area now covered by the city of Douala.

The legal grounds were that the German Emperor automatically assumed any sovereign powers that were assigned to his subjects, but later the Duala leaders were to make many complaints about violations of the treaty intent by the colonial administration.

[10] Jantzen & Thormählen entered the plantation business in 1885, but development was slow, with more interest being shown in railways by investors.

[12] By 1898, Jantzen & Thormählen had their headquarters in Bimbia, in the Victoria District, and lands in Debundscha, Isongo Udje and Mokundange.

[14] Eventually, through various mergers, Jantzen & Thormählen created the largest plantation area in West Africa around Mount Cameroon, with 90,000 hectares (220,000 acres) of cocoa, coffee, and later rubber, oil palm and bananas.

[15] Johannes Thormälen considered that it was inconceivable that Cameroon could ever be developed through the work of the natives, thinking they were incapable of the organization required and too lazy.

The move was probably due to growing competition among Douala traders, who could not afford to be cut off from efficient access to the sources of goods in the interior.