The Anatolia-Baghdad line is the longest remaining railway from the Imperial period, spanning from west to east across the country. The railway project was implemented in stages rather than all at once. The initial contract was signed in 1888, and the extension of the line to Baghdad was formally agreed upon in 1903. The goal was to add the Baghdad railway, extending from Konya to Baghdad, to the 1024 km Anatolian railway from Haydarpaşa to Konya. Although the Baghdad railway project was not completed until the First World War, it served approximately 600,000 passengers and transported 116,000 tons of cargo annually. German investors supplied all materials for the railway, and stations, station buildings, accommodations, water tanks, and bridges were constructed by German firms. During the construction, unskilled laborers from the Ottoman Empire collaborated with skilled workers and engineers from Germany. After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, Turkey has continued to maintain its stations and bridges, which are still operational today.

This study focuses on the Anatolia-Baghdad Railroad, excluding diplomatic relations between Istanbul and Berlin. The main question addressed is the impact of the railroad on landscapes and local populations along its route, and the measures taken by the Ottoman bureaucracy in response. The concession agreements between the German and Ottoman empires posed challenges as the railway progressed. Regulations concerning the protection and future of forested lands, military zones, private properties, and ancient cities through which the railroad passed resulted in decisions and regulations affecting the interests of all three parties: the Anatolia-Baghdad Railway Company, the local population, and the Ottoman government. Exploring these interconnections will not only elevate the Anatolia-Baghdad railway's significance in global historiography but also offer new perspectives on the Ottoman provinces.

This paper analyzes the interaction of global business, national politics and local populations with different transport infrastructures around the area of operation of the German-Liberian Bong Mining Company in the Bong Range and of the Mount Coffee hydropower plant in Liberia. The long-term approach includes the time before the build-up of the mine and the hydropower plant around 1960, their operation between from the 1960s to 1990, and the following era of the Liberian civil war beginning in 1990. The main question is how the Liberian population’s use of the river, roads, and railroad as transport infrastructure interacted with the iron ore mine and the dam in these different periods. The Liberian population’s transport practices around the iron ore mine were reshaped by connected road constructions building upon pre-existing national roads as well as altogether new roads. Transport practices were further impacted by the parallel construction of the dam for the hydropower plant on the Saint Paul’s River redirecting traffic away from the river and the construction of the mine's cargo railway towards the port of Monrovia, which was partially appropriated. The paper shows how the Liberian population used the different infrastructures with considerable independence towards their own ends but ultimately remained bound to agendas of the Liberian state and business interests. Thereby, this paper offers a reflection on how the foci on the construction and use of infrastructure work together as a lens into the interactions between local and larger actors.

This paper analyzes the interaction of global business, national politics and local populations with different transport infrastructures around the area of operation of the German-Liberian Bong Mining Company in the Bong Range and of the Mount Coffee hydropower plant in Liberia. The long-term approach includes the time before the build-up of the mine and the hydropower plant around 1960, their operation from the 1960s to 1990, and the following era of the Liberian civil war beginning in 1990. The main question is how the Liberian population’s use of the river, roads, and railroad as transport infrastructure interacted with the iron ore mine and the dam in these different periods. The Liberian population’s transport practices around the iron ore mine were reshaped by connected road constructions building upon pre-existing national roads as well as altogether new roads. Transport practices were further impacted by the parallel construction of the dam for the hydropower plant on the Saint Paul’s River redirecting traffic away from the river and the construction of the mine's cargo railway towards the port of Monrovia, which was partially appropriated. The paper shows how the Liberian population used the different infrastructures with considerable independence towards their own ends but ultimately remained bound to agendas of the Liberian state and business interests. Thereby, this paper offers a reflection on how the foci on the construction and use of infrastructure work together as a lens into the interactions between local and larger actors.

The Santa Catarina Railway was built at the turn of the 20th century in the Itajaí River valley in Southern Brazil and was operated by a company established in Berlin (the Santa Catharina Eisenbahn AG) until 1918 when the Brazilian government nationalized it in the context of the First World War (1914-1918). It was an important infrastructure work carried out in response to the demands of the region's inhabitants, mainly German settlers, with German capital and technology clearly indicating the existing links between projects and interests from both countries. Considered to be of great political and strategic importance by the Brazilian government, interested in promoting the occupation of its territory with European immigrants, its financial viability and ability to generate dividends were questioned from the beginning causing continued difficulties in attracting the financing necessary for its implementation. This did not prevent investors from considering expansion plans and making projections of economic profits from the transportation of goods produced in the areas of German colonization (not only Blumenau, but also the smaller villages in the interior) to the seaport of Itajaí as powerful arguments to convince German businessmen who were wary of the safety of the enterprise, in a process of expectations building. Planned and built with difficulty in the forest of southern Brazil, operated by Germans for nine years without any profit and finally nationalized without payment or compensation, it represents an emblematic case for understanding how German railway projects were planned, financed, implemented, and operated in foreign lands.