German colonies in the Pacific

Discover the story of Germany's rise in the Pacific from the 1800s to World War I. German traders and companies, like J.C. Godeffroy & Sohn, established plantations and trading bases in Samoa, New Guinea, and the Marshall Islands, leading to a powerful economic presence. To protect these interests, Germany annexed key territories, sparking conflicts with other colonial powers. Their Pacific empire grew until World War I, when Allied forces swiftly took control, marking the end of Germany's influence in the region. Learn how these events shaped the Pacific’s history and trade.

Europe

Key items in the collection

This collection hosts a range of formats, including:

Papers of Atlee Hunt, 1900-1930

Papers of Arthur Atlee Hunt, Secretary of the Department of External Affairs (1901-16), containing references to German New Guinea and the Marshall Islands

German New Guinea Annual Reports 1900-1913

English translations of the annual reports of German New Guinea, 1900-13 (2 vols)

[Extracts from] Grundbuch von im Marshallinseln und Nauru, Artikel

Extracts from Grundbuch von Im Marshallinseln und Nauru concerning land purchases, 1910-12

Proclamation 1888 notifying the taking over of the island Nauru by Germany

Proclamation issued by the captain of the German warship Eker announcing the annexation of Nauru, 14 April 1888

Documents and correspondence from Samoa, 1874-1919

Correspondence and documents of A.B. Steinberger, the United States agent in Samoa, 1874-75. They include a copy of a letter from the Samoan chiefs to the Emperor of Germany and references to German warships visiting Samoa.

Records relating to the German administration of Nauru, 1887-1916

Translations by E.Gintz of records of the German administration of Nauru, including its incorporation within the Marshall Islands Protectorate in 1888, economic conditions and relations with natives, 1887-1916

The collection includes German maps of Pacific colonies from 1880 to 1910. This includes two maps of the New Guinea coast, a 1900 map of Samoa showing DHPG possessions, a map of Apia Harbour, and an 1891 map by A. Petermann of the western Pacific and Australia with colonies and steamship routes. There are also several maps of German New Guinea, mostly undated, in the Chinnery Collection.

The microfilm collection, totaling 262 reels, contains most of the Pacific records (class KAIII) from the Reichskolonialamt (Colonial Office), established in 1907, along with earlier colonial records from the Auswärtiges Amt (Foreign Office). These records are organized into subject categories like administration, military, naval, trade and shipping, agriculture, labor, missions, exploration, and travel, further sorted by territory and arranged chronologically. The main geographical areas covered include Samoa, New Guinea, Micronesia (Karolinen), and, in later years, the Marshall Islands. The documents provide detailed information on the administration and development of the German colonies and cover significant events leading up to the annexation of New Guinea in 1884, as well as the diplomatic and military activities surrounding the Treaty of Berlin and the annexation of Samoa in 1899.

Other microfilm collections related to German colonies include:

mfm PRO 2884-94 Great Britain. Foreign Office. Correspondence: Pacific Islands, 1899-1905
mfm PRO 5892-94 Great Britain. Admiralty. Reports from naval officers at Samoa, 1898-99
mfm PRO 6898-6910 Great Britain. Foreign Office. Correspondence: Germany, 1870-1905 (F.O. 64)
mfm M 291-320 and mfm M 320-336A Records of the German Navy in the Pacific, 1854-1944
mfm M 794-801 Records of the German Embassy in London concerning Samoa, 1886-1906
mfm G 86-94 Records of the British Consul, Apia, 1851-1914
mfm G 202-228 Despatches of the United States Consul, Apia, 1843-1906
mfm PMB 66 English translation of a report by W.H. Solf, Governor of Samoa, and sketches on Samoa by H. Neffgen, 1907
mfm PMB 593 Papers of Heinrich Schnee, a colonial official in German New Guinea and Samoa, 1898-1914
mfm PMB 967 Diary of T.H. Donaldson, an employee of the British Phosphate Company in Nauru, 1914
mfm PMB 1003 Records of Samoa, 1830-1900, collected by the historian Richard Gilson

About early German trading in the Pacific

German traders began exploring the Pacific in the mid-1800s, led by the Hamburg firm J.C. Godeffroy & Sohn. They set up a trading base in Samoa in 1857 and soon expanded to plantations producing copra and cotton. By 1879, their plantations covered over 4,300 acres and employed over 1,200 workers, mostly from the Gilbert Islands and New Hebrides. Around the same time, Eduard and Franz Hernsheim established trading posts in the Bismarck Archipelago and the Marshall and Gilbert Islands. Although Godeffroy went bankrupt in 1879, its interests continued under a new company, DHPG, which pushed for the annexation of Samoa to support its labor needs.

German expansion and annexation

To secure its trading interests, Germany began annexing Pacific territories in the 1880s, starting with Kaiser Wilhelmsland (northeastern New Guinea) and the Bismarck Archipelago in 1884. A year later, they annexed the Marshall Islands and the northern Solomon Islands. German New Guinea was managed as a protectorate by the Neuguinea Kompagnie until the German government took over in 1898. Over time, the Marshall Islands and other territories were integrated into the growing German colonial empire, with Rabaul becoming the capital in 1910.

The fall of German control in the Pacific

Samoa was the heart of German trade in the Pacific, controlling much of the island’s exports by the late 1800s. However, local uprisings and international conflicts led to instability. In 1899, the Treaty of Berlin split Samoa between Germany and the United States. Germany’s Pacific empire quickly unraveled when World War I broke out in 1914. New Zealand forces took over Samoa, Australian troops captured German New Guinea and Nauru, and Japanese forces occupied the northern islands, ending German rule in the Pacific.

Background to the collection

The 1888 document declaring Germany’s annexation of Nauru was donated to the Library by Brigadier General Thomas Griffiths, Nauru's Administrator, in 1921. In 1958, extracts from Nauru's land registry were transferred by the Administration of the Trust Territory of Nauru. The papers of A.B. Steinberger came to the Library as part of the Ferguson Collection in 1970.

Between 1956 and 1959, the Australian Joint Copying Project microfilmed records from the German Foreign Office and Navy in London. These documents had been moved there from Berlin after World War II. Records from the German Colonial Office in Potsdam were microfilmed from 1969 to 1975, led by Professor Marjorie Jacobs from Sydney University, with copies sent to both the National Library and the State Library of New South Wales. Additionally, the Pacific Manuscripts Bureau filmed other records, including Wilhelm Solf's papers, held in the Bundesarchiv in Koblenz.

Manuscripts and personal papers are kept in the Manuscripts Collection, where they’re catalogued as collections. Use the Attlee Hunt’s finding aid.

Microfilms are available in the Newspapers and Microform Collection. While there isn’t a specific reel list for the Reichskolonialamt records, they’re detailed in Marjorie Jacobs' articles listed in the references section. Microfilms with PRO and M prefixes are listed in the Australian Joint Copying Project Handbooks.

Maps are stored in the Maps Collection and are individually catalogued. Publications are located in the Australian and General Collections across various locations.

This guide was prepared using these references:

Marjorie Jacobs, German colonial archives: New Guinea and Samoa in the Deutsches Zentralarchiv,Journal of Pacific History, vol. 6, 1971, pp. 151-63
Marjorie Jacobs, Further archives from Potsdam, Journal of Pacific History, vol. 12, 1977, pp. 87-92
Paul M. Kennedy, Germany in the Pacific and Far East, 1870-1914, 1977, Brisbane, University of Queensland Press

First posted 2008 (revised 2019 and 2024)