General map of the German colonial possessions and the mail steamship lines of the German Empire

This map, published in 1912 in the yearbook of the German Colonial Society, shows the German colonial territories around 1912, as well as the German Empire-based shipping routes that were operated at that time. Beginning in 1886, maritime traffic, especially to the “leased territory” of Kiauchau and the colonies in the western Pacific, was sponsored by the state under a policy to improve the trade opportunities ofthe involved companies.