German Samoa | |||||||||||
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1900–1920 | |||||||||||
![]() Brown: German New Guinea; yellow: German Pacific protectorates; red: German Samoa; orange: North Solomons, ceded to Britain | |||||||||||
Status | German colony | ||||||||||
Capital | Apia | ||||||||||
Common languages | German (official, administration) Samoan (native) | ||||||||||
Tupu Sili (ruler of Samoa) | |||||||||||
• 1900–1919 | Wilhelm II | ||||||||||
Governor | |||||||||||
• 1900–1911 | Wilhelm Solf | ||||||||||
• 1911–1919 | Erich Schultz-Ewerth | ||||||||||
Historical era | German colonization in the Pacific Ocean | ||||||||||
2 December 1899 | |||||||||||
1 March 1900 | |||||||||||
30 August 1914 | |||||||||||
10 January 1920 | |||||||||||
• League mandate | 17 December 1920 | ||||||||||
Area | |||||||||||
1912 | 2,831 km2 (1,093 sq mi) | ||||||||||
Population | |||||||||||
• 1912 | 33,500 | ||||||||||
Currency | Goldmark | ||||||||||
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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.