German Samoa
German Samoa (German: Deutsch-Samoa; Samoan: Siamani-Sāmoa) was a German protectorate from 1900 to 1920, consisting of the islands of Upolu, Savai'i, Apolima and Manono, now wholly within the Independent State of Samoa, formerly Western Samoa. Samoa was the last German colonial acquisition in the Pacific basin, received following the Tripartite Convention signed at Washington on 2 December 1899 with ratifications exchanged on 16 February 1900.[1][2] It was the only German colony in the Pacific, aside from the Jiaozhou Bay Leased Territory in China, that was administered separately from German New Guinea.
German Samoa
German colonization in the Pacific Ocean
2 December 1899
1 March 1900
30 August 1914
10 January 1920
17 December 1920
2,831 km2 (1,093 sq mi)
33,500
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.”[7] J. C. Godeffroy, as the leading trading and plantation company on Samoa, maintained communications among its various subdivisions and branches and the home base at Hamburg with its own fleet of ships.[8] 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,[9] and “...by 1914 over 2,000 Chinese were in the colony, providing an effective labor force for the [German] plantations."[10]
Major plantation enterprises on Samoa:
