Why, if Namibia is so inhospitable, did the Germans try to colonize it? Why are other deserts relatively populous? Israel for example supports a huge population. Hell even Las Vegas has like 1/4 of Namibia’s population by itself.

[–] FuckyWucky@hexbear.net 48 points 9 months ago

[–] MechanizedPossum@hexbear.net 38 points 9 months ago

Germans didn't just try to colonize it, but genocided hundreds of thousands of people there and the best agricultural land is still owned by settlers until this day and demanded as restitutions by the descendents of the genocide survivors, which may or may not be a reason why German think tanks are running anti-postcolonialism psyops.

[–] Dolores@hexbear.net 15 points 9 months ago (1 children)

France colonized the Sahara. theres minerals and sometimes oil in the desert

[–] huf@hexbear.net 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

did they colonize the sahara for the stuff in the sahara, or because to control the coasts (where people actually live), you had to control the interior, otherwise you'd have constant raids on your ports?

[–] Dolores@hexbear.net 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

no you don't, nobody before the colonists bothered with direct administration of the desert folk because simply trading with them and some buffer defenses could keep the coast safe.

[–] huf@hexbear.net 2 points 9 months ago (2 children)

so what did they do it for? who can paint the biggest chunk of the map to their own color? resources the sahara might have? control of trade routes to subsaharan africa?

[–] Dolores@hexbear.net 3 points 9 months ago

to extract the resources, and probably a bit of pride to paint the map & connect the north with subsaharan colonies. by the time the French were colonizing africa it was faster to use boats for trade though

[–] LeZero@hexbear.net 2 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

At least in Algeria they have huge deposits of oil and gas in the desert

Also the french used the desert as a test site for nuclear bombs

[–] booty@hexbear.net 4 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Why, if Namibia is so inhospitable, did the Germans try to colonize it?

Probably for fancy rocks n shit, or just because they can. Wouldn't be the first time Europeans rocked up and settled in a place that the natives knew better than to bother with. Also, did the Germans really try to colonize all the parts that nobody lives in, or did they do the things Europeans usually do and actually go to where people are already living (in other words, the places that are good to live in) and kill the people who were there so they could live there instead?