Germans Abroad and Auslandsdeutsche: Places, Networks and Experiences from the Sixteenth to the Twentieth Century

Abstract This article is concerned with Germans who lived and worked for longer or shorter periods outside their homeland. This includes Germans who served other empires (Portuguese, Spanish or Dutch) as cartographers, soldiers, sailors or officials; the German learned men and scientists who belonged to the Republic of Letters; travellers and explorers; the Pietists and Moravians who built networks across the Atlantic and beyond; and the Germans merchants whose networks stretched across the globe. The article argues that these Germans, who were often sojourners abroad rather than permanent emigrants, should also be considered part of "Germany abroad" alongside the more famous streams of emigrants to the USA and elsewhere. The article concludes by asking why the highly charged category of the Auslandsdeutsche emerged in the way it did and at the moment it did.