ESHS/HSS Annual Meeting

Connecting the World – A Scientific Expedition and the German Exploitation of its Colonies in the Pacific

• In Event: Resource Management, Defined and Redefined

English Abstract

The paper examines the interest of the German Empire in harvesting gutta-percha in the Pacific in the early 20th century. It asks if and how scientific research on a raw material served the development of new technologies.

Gutta-percha was essential for insulating deep-sea cables, which were part of the technological revolution of telegraphy in the 19th century. Cables connected the empires with their colonial possessions around the world. The raw material that made this possible was a commodity from the colonies themselves. Gutta-percha trees were found only in the forests of Southeast Asia, where the material was harvested by local workers. The extraction process was highly destructive, killing the tree and leading to its near extinction by the end of the 19th century.

This paper focuses on the German Empire, and its colony German New Guinea. With the near extinction of gutta-percha trees, a British monopoly in the gutta-percha trade, and German ambitions to use their own colonies for economic gain, German cable producers and administrators looked for alternative areas to extract the raw material. Between 1907 and 1909, a German expedition was sent to German New Guinea. The expedition reveals how scientific knowledge was shaped through encounters between imperial researchers, local environments, and indigenous practices. In doing so, it highlights that scientific research in the colony was not a neutral endeavor but part of broader imperial struggles over resources, authority, and technological futures. This paper sheds light on the intersection between science, technology, and colonialism in the Pacific.

Author

• Sara Müller, University of Erfurt