Everything about German New Guinea totally explained
German New Guinea (
Ger. Deutsch-Neuguinea) was a former
German protectorate from
1884 to
1914, consisting of the northeastern part of
New Guinea and several nearby island groups. German New Guinea is now entirely part of
Papua New Guinea.
The main part of German New Guinea was formed by
Kaiser-Wilhelmsland, the northeastern part of
New Guinea. The islands to the east of Kaiser-Wilhelmsland were called the
Bismarck Archipelago and consisted of
Neu-Pommern (or New
Pomerania, now
New Britain) and
Neu-Mecklenburg (now
New Ireland).
In addition most other German lands in the
Pacific were part of German New Guinea: the
German Solomon Islands (
Buka,
Bougainville and several smaller islands), the
Carolines,
Palau, the
Marianas (except for
Guam), the
Marshall Islands and
Nauru. Total land area was 249,500 km².
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History
Although the western half of New Guinea had been administered by the
Netherlands for some time, the eastern half hadn't yet been annexed by any European power until the
1880s. In
1883, the
British colony of
Queensland (
Australia) annexed the southeastern part of New Guinea against the wishes of the British government. This initiated German interest in the remaining third of the island. On
3 November 1884, under the flag of the newly founded
Neuguinea-Kompanie (
New Guinea Company), the German flag was flown over Kaiser-Wilhelmsland, the Bismarck Archipelago (formerly
New Britain) and the German Solomon Islands.
On
1 April 1899 the German government formally took control of these lands, and the area became a protectorate. A treaty with
Spain, signed later that year on
30 July, ensured German control over several island groups in the Pacific, and these were added to the protectorate of German New Guinea. The Marshall Islands were added in
1906.
Following the outbreak of
World War I,
Australian troops captured Kaiser-Wilhelmsland and the nearby islands in
1914, after a short resistance led by Captain Carl von Klewitz and Lt. Robert "Lord Bob"
von Blumenthal, while
Japan occupied most of the remaining German possessions in the Pacific. The only significant battle occurred on
11 September 1914 when the
Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force attacked the low-power wireless station at
Bitapaka (near Rabaul) on the island of New Britain (Neu Pommern). The Australians suffered six dead and four wounded--the first Australian military casualties of the First World War. The German forces fared much worse, with one German officer and 30 native police killed and 1 German officer and ten native police wounded. On
21 September all German forces in the colony surrendered.
However, Leutnant (later Hauptmann)
Hermann Detzner, a German officer, and some 20 native police evaded capture in the interior of New Guinea for the entire war. Unbeknownst to Detzner, the war had started while he was still on a surveying expedition to map the border with Australian-held Papua. He claimed to have penetrated the interior of the German portion (Kaiser Wilhelmsland) in his 1920 book
Vier Jahre unter Kannibalen ("Four Years Among Cannibals"). These claims were heavily disputed by various German missionaries, and Detzner recanted most of his claims in 1932.
After the
Treaty of Versailles of
1919, Germany lost all its colonial possessions, including German New Guinea. It became the
Territory of New Guinea, a
League of Nations Mandate Territory under Australian administration until
1949 when it was merged with the
Australian territory of
Papua to become the
Territory of Papua and New Guinea, which eventually became modern
Papua New Guinea.
Postage stamps
The first
postage stamps of the colony were issued in
1897, as
overprints reading "Deutsch - / Neu-Guinea" on the current stamps of Germany. In
1901, the
Yacht issue included stamps for the colony, inscribed "DEUTSCH-NEU-GUINEA." The 5pf, 10pf, and 5m values were reprinted in 1914 on
watermarked paper and inscribed "DEUTSCH-NEUGUINEA," but these didn't reach the colony before it was occupied and were never put in use, nor was the reprint of the 3pf value made in
1919.
The stamps are available to collectors today at prices ranging from about $1 US, up to $500 for a validly used 5m stamp. Very few stamps of the higher values were ever used, and their prices are 10-20 times higher than for mint copies. Fake
cancellations exist.
After the Australian occupation, stocks of the unwatermarked stamps, along with some
registration labels, were overprinted with "G.R.I." and a value in pence or shillings; see
New Britain for further details.
Further Information
Get more info on 'German New Guinea'.
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