The purpose of the Reichskolonialbund was to reclaim the overseas colonies that Germany had lost as a result of the Treaty of Versailles at the end of World War I.

As a result, a number of pro-colonial organisations, supported by both conservative-minded Germans and nationalists, were established in different parts of Germany.

As part of the Nazi triumphalism for the Third Reich, the Reichskolonialbund was intended to take over the role of the disbanded German Colonial Society, (Deutsche Kolonialgesellschaft) (DKG).

The most important weekly publications of the Reichskolonialbund between 1937 and 1943 were Kolonie und Heimat and the Deutsche Kolonialzeitung, the former mouthpiece of the German Colonial Company.

The decline of the Reichskolonialbund began with the onset of World War II, when the Nazi State focused on other priorities, foremost of which was the search for a Lebensraum in the East of Europe.

Finally in 1943 the Reichsleiter Martin Bormann pressed for the dissolution of the Reichskolonialbund on the grounds of "kriegsunwichtiger Tätigkeit" ("activity irrelevant to the war").