German Samoa

Infobox Former Country
native_name = Deutsch-Samoa
conventional_long_name = German Samoa
common_name = Samoa
continent = Oceania
region = Polynesia
status=Colony
empire=Germany
status_text=Colony of Germany
year_start = 1900
year_end = 1920
date_start = 1 March
date_end = 10 January
event_start = Colonization
event_end= Treaty of Versailles
s1 = Samoa
flag_s1 = Blue flag of colonial Samoa.gif

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image_map_caption = Brown = German New Guinea; Pink= German Pacific Protectorates; Red= German Samoa
capital = Apia
common_languages = German (official), Samoan, Austronesian languages and Papuan languages
title_leader = Head of State
leader1 = "Kaiser" Wilhelm II
title_deputy =
deputy1 =
era = German colonization
currency = Goldmark

German Samoa (German: "Deutsch-Samoa") was a former German protectorate from 1900 to 1914, consisting of the islands of Upolu and Savaii and now wholly within the independent state Samoa of today, formerly "Western Samoa". Samoa was the last German colonial acquisition in the Pacific, received following the Treaty of Berlin with Great Britain and the United States on 16 February 1900. [Flag raising at Mulinu'u Point was 1 March 1900 after treaty ratification on 16 February 1900] It was also the only German colony in the Pacific administered separately from German New Guinea.

History

The first European to reach Samoa was the Dutchman Jakob Roggeveen in 1722. An American expedition under Charles Wilkes reached Samoa 1839 and left a consul, followed by a British consulate in 1847. German commercial operations in the area began in the 1850s.

Increasing German interests in the area saw U.S. interests begin operations at the fine harbor of Pago Pago on Tutuila in 1877. One year later, German commercial enterprises opened their own port Apia on Upolu.

Tensions caused in part by the three separate interest groups led to the eight-year Samoan Civil War. After that war there was no longer any pretense whereby Samoans could govern themselves and the islands were divided in 1899 by the three involved powers. The Treaty of Berlin gave control of the islands west of 171 degrees west longitude to Germany, the eastern islands to the United States (present-day American Samoa) and Great Britain to be compensated with other territories in the Pacific and west Africa.

Economic development

During the early period of a half-century of German influence, large scale plantation operations were introduced for coconut, cacao and hevea rubber cultivation. During the colonial years new companies were formed to greatly expand agricultural activities which in turn increased tax revenues for public works that further stimulated economic growth; “... over all, the period of German rule was the most progressive, economically, that the country has experienced.” [Davidson, "Samoa mo Samoa", p. 82] Since the Samoan cultural envelope did not include “labor for hire,” the importation of Chinese (coolie) laborers (and to a lesser extent Melanesians from New Guinea working for DHPG) was implemented, [Spoehr, "White Falcon", p. 40-42] and “ ... by 1914 over 2,000 Chinese were in the colony, providing an effective labor force for the [German] plantations.” [Davidson, p. 77]

Major plantation enterprises on Samoa:
*J. C. Godeffroy & Son (superseded as "Deutsche Handels und Plantagen Gesellschaft" or DHPG)
*"Deutsche Samoa Gesellschaft"
*"Safata-Samoa-Gesellschaft"
*"Samoa Kautschuk Kompagnie"

Colonial administration

The colonial period officially began with the raising of the imperial flag on 1 March 1900. Wilhelm Solf became the first governor. In its political relations with the Samoan people, Solf’s government showed similar qualities of intelligence and care as in the economic arena. [Davidson, p. 78] He skillfully grafted Samoan institutions into the new system of colonial government by the acceptance of native customs. [Lewthwaite, in "Western Samoa", p. 130] However, when a dissident Samoan "matai" (chief) exceeded the limits of his considerable tolerance, Solf stepped in assertively, pronouncing that “... there was only one government in Samoa,” and it was him. [Lewthwaite, p. 148] “German rule brought peace and order for the first time ... Authority, in the person of the governor, became paternal, fair, and absolute. Berlin was far away; there was no cable or radio.” [McKay, "Samoana", p. 18] Energetic efforts by colonial administrators established the first public school system; a hospital was built and staffed and enlarged as needed, and Samoan women were trained as nurses. Of all colonial possessions of the European powers in the Pacific, German Samoa was by far the best-roaded; [Lewthwaite, p. 153] all roads up until 1942 had been constructed under German direction. The imperial grants from the Berlin treasury which had marked the first eight years of German rule were no longer needed after 1908. Samoa had become a self-supporting colony. [Schultz-Naumann, "Unter Kaisers Flagge", p. 163, the only other German protectorate in this category was "Togoland"] Wilhelm Solf left Samoa in 1910 to be appointed Colonial Secretary at Berlin; he was succeeded as governor by Erich Schultz, the former chief justice in the protectorate.

Germany ruled western Samoa for 14 years.

:"The achievement of the German regime in Samoa was not only that it inaugurated a central government and established peace and order. It constantly reminded the people that individual effort is essential for prosperity. The increase in agricultural production in the German period [that made possible public works] ... was remembered with gratitude for long afterwards". [McKay, p. 38]

Fall of German Samoa

At the behest of Great Britain the colony was invaded unopposed on the morning of 29 August 1914 and occupied by troops of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force through to 1920. New Zealand then governed the islands from 1920 to independence in 1962 as a (1) League of Nations Class C Mandate [date of ratification by the League of Nations was January 10, 1920; Class C mandates were designed for populations considered incapable of self-government] and (2) United Nations Trust Territory after 1945.

Footnotes

Bibliography

* Davidson, J. W. "Samoa mo Samoa" [Samoa for the Samoans] , "The Emergence of the Independent State of Western Samoa". Melbourne: Oxford University Press. 1967.
* Deutsche Kolonialgesellschaft. "Kleiner Deutscher Kolonialatlas". Berlin: Verlag Dietrich Reimer. 1899.
* Gerlach, Hans-Henning & Birken, Andreas. "Die Südsee und die deutsche Seepost, deutsche Kolonien und deutsche Kolonialpolitik". Volume 4. Königsbronn. 2001. ISBN 3931753263
* Graudenz, Karlheinz & Schindler, Hanns-Michael. "Die deutschen Kolonien". Augsburg: Weltbildverlag. 1994. ISBN 3893507019
* Lewthwaite, Gordon R. “Life, Land and Agriculture to Mid-Century,” in "Western Samoa". Edited by James W. Fox and Kenneth B. Cumberland. Christchurch, New Zealand: Whitcomb & Tombs Ltd. 1962.
* McKay, C.G.R. "Samoana, A Personal Story of the Samoan Islands". Wellington and Auckland: A.H. & A.W. Reed. 1968.
* Schultz-Naumann, Joachim. "Unter Kaisers Flagge, Deutschlands Schutzgebiete im Pazifik und in China einst und heute" (Under the Kaiser’s Flag, Germany’s Protectorates in the Pacific and in China then and today). Munich: Universitas Verlag. 1985.
* Spoehr, Florence Mann. "White Falcon, The House of J.C. Godeffroy and its Commercial and Scientific Role in the Pacific". Palo Alto: Pacific Books. 1963.

Links

* http://www.deutsche-schutzgebiete.de/deutsche-kolonien.htm (in German)
* [http://www.stub.bildarchiv-dkg.uni-frankfurt.de/Bildprojekt/Lexikon/Standardframeseite.php Deutsches Koloniallexikon] (in German)