Data for: The territorial expansion of the colonial state: Evidence from German East Africa 1890–1909

<b>This is an <a href="https://qdr.syr.edu/ati">Annotation for Transparent Inquiry (ATI)</a> data project. </b> <h3>The annotated article can be viewed on the <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/british-journal-of-political-science/article/territorial-expansion-of-the-colonial-state-evidence-from-german-east-africa-18901909/709EEF58BC4BD8A27B5856B663EB7F59#annotations:group:zvEVDE2R" >publisher's website</a>. <h3/>

</br>
</br>

<p>In this paper, we investigate the spatial expansion of the colonial state in German East Africa. In contrast to large parts of the literature that focuses on the development of national state capabilities, we analyze the development of sub-national state presence. We argue that this sub-national expansion of state presence follows a logic of political and territorial control. We present statistical evidence that the German colonial government was more likely to establish presence, via the creation of a military station, if a region violently resisted German rule in the immediate past or if the creation of a station vastly expanded territorial control of the colony. This required the colonial administration to commit scarce financial and human resources even to remote and dangerous locations of the colony. In contrast, the potential for economic extraction or cost-driving geographic or ecological factors seem to have mattered less in the colonial government’s decision-making. These findings extend our understanding of state-building in colonial times and emphasize the importance of a context-specific, political calculus, forcing colonial decision-makers to make consequential investments with very limited information.</p>