Germans in Micronesia? You bet!
By Gabi. Filed in Yap |
It seems strange, but in the last few centuries, the European powers seemed to be venturing all over the world, even into the smallest islands, where one would almost wonder .. why? Mostly of course, they were either economic or military reasons. The first 2 German ventures were; one on the island of YAP, copra production, the extracting of the coconut oil from the meat of that plant, and two; on the island of Angaur , phosphate-mining operations. The German Period was relatively short-lived, only from 1878-1914. Their contributions to the islands rests mainly in social disruptions of the island lifestyle, by forcibly relocating laborers and by altering land-use policies. Not a real good legacy! But then most of the colonial powers created havoc wherever they went! German missionaries also tried to Christianize( with a lot of success) the “natives”. Even today there are German missionaries on the islands.
In 1899 Spain sold the Caroline Islands ( present date, the Federated States of Micronesia, of which YAP is one), to Germany because it didn’t want the US to get too many possessions in the region at the end of the Spanish – American War. The US had already had Guam,the Philippines and the Wake Islands given to them, as the spoils of war. Even the smallest island seem to have the most complicated history, thanks to colonial powers.
With the Advent of WWI, most German ventures stopped in the region and the Japanese took over.
This influence can be seen throughout the islands today.
One major accomplishment for the Germans in the region at that the time (1905), was the creation of a an undersea cable system, which linked the telegraph lines from the USA to Shanghai, China through Guam, the Philipines and YAP. Today one can still see the remnants of the German Cable Station, which in 1914 was destroyed by the British. We visited the area yesterday, where the pillars are overgrown with tropical plants. History was never my strongest area, but seeing so many of the relics this year all over the world , has made me into a real German history buff. By relics, I really don’t mean only stones, churches, etc., but culture that has survived over the centuries.