Editing German diaspora (section)

===Africa===
[[File:NamibiaDeutscheSprache.jpg|thumb|Examples of German language signage in Namibia]]
During the long decline of the Roman Empire and the ensuing great migrations Germanic tribes such as the [[Vandals]] (who sacked Rome) migrated into [[North Africa]] and settled mainly in the lands corresponding to modern [[Tunisia]] and northeastern [[Algeria]]. While it is likely that some of the people living there at present are descended from these Germanic peoples, they did not leave visible cultural traces.

====Cameroon====
The first German trading post in the Duala area on the Kamerun River delta was established in 1868 by the Hamburg trading company [[:de:Carl Woermann|C. Woermann]]. The firm's agent in Gabon, Johannes Thormählen, expanded activities to the Kamerun River delta. In 1874, together with the Woermann agent in Liberia, Wilhelm Jantzen, the two merchants founded their own company, Jantzen & Thormählen there. At the outbreak of World War I, French, Belgian and British troops invaded the German colony in 1914 and fully occupied it during the Kamerun campaign. The last German fort to surrender was the one at Mora in the north of the colony in 1916. Following Germany's defeat, the Treaty of Versailles divided the territory into two League of Nations mandates (Class B) under the administration of Great Britain and France. French Cameroun and part of British Cameroons reunified in 1961 as Cameroon, though some Germans still remain in Cameroon.

====Namibia====
{{main|German Namibians}}
Germany was not as involved in colonizing Africa as other major European powers of the 20th century, and lost its overseas colonies, including [[German East Africa]] and [[German South West Africa]], after World War I. Similarly to those in Latin America, the Germans in Africa tended to isolate themselves and were more self-sufficient than other Europeans. In [[Namibia]] there are 30,000 ethnic Germans, though it is estimated that only a third of those retain the language. Most German-speakers live in the capital, [[Windhoek]], and in smaller towns such as [[Swakopmund]] and [[Lüderitz]], where German architecture is highly visible.

====South Africa====
{{main|Germans in South Africa}}
In South Africa, a number of [[Afrikaners]] and [[Boers]] are of partial German ancestry, being the descendants of German immigrants who intermarried with Dutch settlers and adopted [[Afrikaans]] as their mother tongue. Professor JA Heese in his book ''Die Herkoms van die Afrikaner'' (''The Origins of Afrikaners'') claims the modern Afrikaners (who total around 3.5 million) have 34.4% German ancestry.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://africanhistory.about.com/od/southafrica/p/AfrikanerGene.htm |title=How 'Pure' was the Average Afrikaner? |publisher=Africanhistory.about.com |date=13 April 2012 |access-date=2012-08-25 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121013012659/http://africanhistory.about.com/od/southafrica/p/AfrikanerGene.htm |archive-date=13 October 2012}}</ref>

Germans also emigrated to South Africa during the 1850s and 1860s, and settled in the [[Eastern Cape]] area around [[Stutterheim]], and in [[Kwazulu-Natal]] in the [[Wartburg, KwaZulu-Natal|Wartburg]] area, where there is still a large German-speaking community.<ref>Deutsche Wanderung nach Südafrika im 19. Jahrhundert by Werner Schmidt-Pretoria.</ref> Mostly originating from different waves of immigration during the 19th and 20th centuries, an estimated 12,000 people speak German or a German variety as a first language in [[South Africa]].<ref name="ReferenceA">[[Template:German L1 speakers outside Europe|German L1 speakers outside Europe]]</ref> Germans settled quite extensively in South Africa, with many [[Calvinist]]s immigrating from Northern Europe. Later on, more Germans settled in the [[KwaZulu-Natal]] and elsewhere. Here, one of the largest communities are the speakers of "Nataler Deutsch", a variety of [[Low German]], who are concentrated in and around [[Wartburg, KwaZulu-Natal|Wartburg]]. German is slowly disappearing elsewhere, but a number of communities still have a large number of speakers and some even have German language schools. Around 17,000 German Nationals lived in South Africa in 2020.

====Tanzania====
{{main|White Africans of European ancestry#Tanzania}}

When mainland [[Tanzania]], [[Rwanda]], and [[Burundi]] were under German control, they were named [[German East Africa]]; they received some migration from German communities. After [[Tanganyika (territory)|Tanganyika]] and [[Ruanda-Urundi]] became British and Belgian [[League of Nations mandate|mandates]] following Germany's defeat in World War I, some of these communities remained. {{citation needed span|There is a small community of Germans remaining in [[Tanzania]].|date=November 2020}}