From the 17th century through to the 19th century, theHabsburg monarchy,Austrian Empire, and (from 1867 to 1918) theAustro-Hungarian Empire made a few small short-lived attempts to expand overseas colonial trade through the acquisition of factories.In 1519–1556 Austria's ruler also ruledSpain, which did have a largecolonial empire.
The colonial domains of the dual monarchyAustria-Hungary, 1867–1918, are covered inAustro-Hungarian rule in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Keeping it under control was a major factor inAustro-Hungarian entry into World War I in 1914. All the other small attempts were ended due to international pressure, or lack of interest from theImperial government and opposition from Hungarians high in the government.
TheOstend East India Company was a private merchant company formed in 1715, based in the Southern Netherlands in what is now Flemish Belgium. The Emperor provided the company with 6 millionguilders, as a public-private monopoly with 6,000shares, set at 1,000 guilders each.[1] Due to the speed of the Ostender's trade ships, the company, within a couple of years became one of the largest trading firms in the East andCanton.[1] By 1720, the Ostend Company had been transporting 7 million pounds of tea, which was about 41.78% of the tea traded from thePort of Canton.[2][1]
The private Ostend Company consisted of two Flemish brothers-in-law, Paulo Cloots and Jacomo de Pret, who formed a consortium with two Dutch merchant houses of De Bruyn and Geelhand; Cloots and de Pret also invited the two London houses of Hambly and Trehee, and the French baker Antoine Crozat to invest in the company.[1] After seven years of profitable ventures, and much fighting between other merchants in Antwerp and Ghent, Charles VI agreed to its petition of official charter.[1]
In 1715, the Ostend Company acquired trading charters in the ports ofMocha,Surat, andCanton.[2] In 1723, the Ostender's obtained trading ports in the lucrative harbors ofBanquibazar andCabelon.[3] The trade missions to Mocha were initially successful, but due to the wreck of theMochaman, a trade vessel headed to theRed Sea in 1720, and the capture of a home-bound vessel by theBarbary Pirates in 1723, Mocha eventually turned into a heavy loss.[1] The ports of Surat and Canton however, continued to be quite profitable. All the profits went to the Southern Netherlands and none to Austria.
The company had become such a threat to British, Dutch, Portuguese, and French interests, that when EmperorCharles VI promulgated the edict of thePragmatic Sanction of 1713, it was refused international recognition on the grounds of Ostend Company's success in theEast Indies. These International political pressures ended its extraordinary growth, and in 1727 the charter was suspended, leading to the company being dissolved by 1732.
After the Imperial government's withdrawal of the Ostend Company's charter, theGreat Powers accepted the Pragmatic Sanction. The suspension also allowed the Austrians to sign theTreaty of Vienna (1731) with the British; which allied both powers in theAnglo-Austrian Alliance.[1]
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Maputo Bay, formerly also known as Delagoa Bay fromBaía da Lagoa in Portuguese, is aninlet of theIndian Ocean on the coast ofMozambique. In 1776, an expelled British trade official, ColonelWilliam Bolts, approached the Austrian Imperial Court with a request to found a trading company to explore possible routes in Africa, India, and China.[4] Empress Maria Theresa was intrigued and decided to form theAustrian Asiatic Company of Trieste, with Bolts as the head of the company. Colonel Bolts had previously been under the service of the BritishEast India Company and was already competent in trade and colonization efforts. Bolts had also heard that the area was a possible site for gold mining.[5]
Sailing fromFlanders in 1778, Bolts and his company of Austrian-Italian subjects, the Austrian shipJoseph und Theresia of theAustrian East India Company docked in Delagoa Bay in 1779. Bolts then made treaties with the local Mabudu chieftains, who inhabited the port.[6] Austrians erect the St. Joseph and St. Maria forts, A trading post (factory) was built, and the factory quickly began to thrive under Austrian rule. Bolts shortly after, set sail to promote Austrian interests in India. After two years, the factory, which was composed of 155 men and a number of women, traded inivory, and profits reached as high as 75,000 pounds per year.[7] The factory was expelled by the Portuguese in 1781.
The Austrian presence in Delagoa Bay caused the ivory price to change dramatically. This was due to the Austrian output, which exceeded that of thePortuguese inMozambique Island.[4] Unfortunately for the Austrians, the port contracted malaria in 1781, and the Portuguese successfully asserted their dominance of the area; the Portuguese then proceeded to expel the remainder of Austrian colonists.[6]
AfterWilliam Bolts' mission in Delagoa Bay, he directed a venture to the Nicobar Islands. This mission was a part of his colonial ventures in India; and in 1778, Gottfried Stahl and his crew arrived on the shipJoseph und Theresia.[8] Stahl greeted the natives personally and made a contract with the Nicobarese, where all twenty-four islands were to be signed over to the Austrians. The colonization effort was successful until Stahl, whom Bolts had appointed as head of the colony, died in 1783. The colonists lost courage in their settlement attempts, and the islands were abandoned in 1785.[8]
Seventy-three years later in 1858, theSMSNovara, then on its circumnavigation of the globe, decided to sail to Nicobar. SMSNovara landed inCar Nicobar, the northernmost island, and its purpose was to promote scientific exploration and included the search for possiblepenal colonies.[8] The leader of the group,Karl von Scherzer, promoted re-colonization. Austrian scientists and archaeologists then explored the islands ofNancowry andKamorta and collected over 400 artifacts native to the islands.[8] The Austrian government decided against Von Scherzer's recommendations, and closed all potential colonial opportunities.
In 1886, the Austrians became interested in another possible colonization attempt. When the crew arrived on the island of Nancowry with the corvette SMSAurora, they were surprised to find the entire Nicobar Island chain had been colonized by the British several years earlier.[8] In 1868, the British purchased the claims to the Nicobar Islands from the Danish and established it as apenal colony for several years.[9] This ended all further possibilities to colonize the area.
In 1873, an Austrian expedition, according to its leaderJulius von Payer, was sent to theNorth Pole tasked with finding theNortheast Passage.[10] The expedition actually ended up close to theNovaya Zemlya archipelago, theeasternmost point of Europe.Karl Weyprecht, the expedition's secondary leader, claimed the second intended destination after the Northeast Passage was theNorth Pole.[11]
The cost of the journey is estimated to be around 175,000florins. The project was promoted and financially supported by several Austrian and Hungarian noblemen, which includedCount Johann Nepomuk Wilczek andCount Ödön Zichy.[12] The head-ship was named after the AdmiralWilhelm von Tegetthoff. TheTegetthoff weighed 220 tonnes, 125.78 feet long (38.34 m.), and had a 100horsepower (75 kW) steam engine).[13]
TheTegetthoff left port atTromsø, Norway in July 1872. Soon after arriving in theArctic Circle, theTegetthoff became locked inpack ice and drifted for the remainder of their journey.[10] While drifting within the ice, the explorers discovered anarchipelago and decided to name it after the then-current EmperorFranz Joseph. The crew later was able to dock and performed several sled expeditions on the island chain.[12]
Two years later in May 1874, Captain Weyprecht decided to abandon the ice-lockedTegetthoff and believed the crew could return to the mainland by sleds and boats.[11] On 14 August, the expedition reached theopen sea. The expedition then arrived at Novaya Zemlya, where a Russian fishing vessel rescued them. The crew was dropped off inVardø, Norway; and were able to arrive in Austria-Hungary by train fromHamburg.[10]
TheBerlin Conference was held to settle matters of African colonization, particularly regarding theCongo territory and West Africa. Austria-Hungary was only invited to the Conference due to its status as agreat power.[14] While Austria did not petition for any permanent colonies or treaty ports, it did acquire some indirect benefits.Imre Széchényi, serving as one of the head members of the Conference, was able to procure the privilege of free docking rights in all European-controlled ports in Africa except for those in the BritishCape Colony,Italian Somaliland andFrench Madagascar.[citation needed]
In 1877, aHong Kong-based merchant sold his rights to North Borneo to the consul of theAustro-Hungarian Empire based in that city,Baron Gustav von Overbeck. In 1878 Gustav von Overbeck bought land from the sultanates ofBrunei andSulu; and acquired additional land from theAmerican Borneo Trading Company, to form what was then known as the North Borneo protectorate. A friend of Overbeck's,William Clarke Cowie, had influence with the Sulu Sultanate, allowing him the January 22, 1878 purchase yet more land to add to North Borneo protectorate.
Following these purchases, Overbeck traveled to Europe, where he then attempted to sell off the newly created North Borneo by promoting it as a penal colony. He reached out to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, theUnited Kingdom, theGerman Empire, andItaly. Due to a general lack of interest, Overbeck later sold these lands toAlfred Dent, a British colonial merchant who later formed theBritish North Borneo Company in 1880. A year later, the United Kingdom revived interest in the territory and then purchased North Borneo from Dent in 1881.
North Borneo could technically be considered an Austrian colony for one reason. Baron von Overbeck, though German, was the Austro-Hungarian consul in Hong Kong, so control of Borneo under an Austrian citizen would define it as a possession of Austria-Hungary.[citation needed]
After the humiliation in theSpanish–American War, Spain wished to divest itself of its colonies, and in 1898, Spanish diplomats approached the Austro-Hungarian Colonial Society about a possible purchase of the trading port ofRio de Oro. The society's vice-president,Ernst Weisl, made a quiet deal withAgenor Goluchowski, the Minister of Foreign Affairs for Austria.[15] Goluchowski later convinced the AustrianImperial Council, and EmperorFranz Joseph openly supported the deal. However, the success of the business, which promised significant profits, was hindered by the Monarchy’s unwillingness to invest public funds[16]
The process faced significant setbacks, primarily due to internal disagreements among economic groups and the government. The government initially wanted to negotiate directly with the Spanish, but there was a lack of consensus on who should lead the talks. Proposals included using the Austrian-Hungarian Colonial Society or prominent figures like Austrian Commerce MinisterBaron Josef De Paoli or businessmanArthur Krupp, but these were met with obstacles. De Paoli sought the involvement of Foreign MinisterAgenor Goluchowski, while Krupp rejected the offer due to past failures in Somalia.[17]
By the end of 1899, the negotiations stalled, with neither the government nor business circles willing to invest the necessary funds. The Spanish continued waiting for an offer from Austria-Hungary, despite interest from other countries, including Germany, Britain, France, and Italy, in the territory. Ultimately, the Spanish began talks with the French, who sought to acquire Rio de Oro to expand their colonial holdings in North Africa. However, public opinion in Spain shifted, and the government eventually decided against selling the territory.[18]
Austria-Hungary participated in theEight-Nation Alliance from 1899 to 1901. This grand alliance was formed to contain theBoxer Rebellion in China.[19] TheAustro-Hungarian Navy helped in suppressing the rising. However, Austria-Hungary sent the smallest force of any nation. Onlyfour cruisers and a force of only 296 marines were dispatched.[20]
Even so, on 27 December 1902, Austria gained aconcession zone inTianjin as part of the reward for its contribution to the Alliance.[21][22] The Austrian concession zone was 150 acres (0.61 km2) in area; which was slightly larger than the Italian, but smaller than the Belgian zone. The self-contained concession had its own prison, school, barracks, and hospital.[21] It also contained the Austro-Hungarian consulate and its citizens were under Austrian, not Chinese, rule.[21]
The concession was provided with a small garrison, and Austria-Hungary proved unable to maintain control of its concession during theGreat War. The concession zone was swiftly occupied on the Chinese declaration of war on theCentral Powers.[21] On 14 August 1917 the lease was terminated, (along with that of the largerGerman concession in the same city).
Austria abandoned all claims to Tianjin on 10 September 1919.[23]Hungary also made a similar recognition in 1920.[23] However, despite its relatively short life-span of 15 years, the Austrians left their mark on that area of the city, as can be seen in the Austrian architecture that still stands in the city.[24]
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