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South Pacific Mandate
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The was the Japanese League of Nations Mandate consisting of several groups of islands in the Pacific Ocean which came under the administration of Japan after the defeat of the German Empire in World War I.
r the terms of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance, after the start of World War I, Japan declared war on Germany on 23 August 1914 and participated in a joint operation with British forces in the Battle of Tsingtao to capture the Germany settlement in Shandong Province of China.
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Encyclopedia
The was the Japanese League of Nations Mandate consisting of several groups of islands in the Pacific Ocean which came under the administration of Japan after the defeat of the German Empire in World War I.
History
Early history
Under the terms of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance, after the start of World War I, Japan declared war on Germany on 23 August 1914 and participated in a joint operation with British forces in the Battle of Tsingtao to capture the Germany settlement in Shandong Province of China. The Imperial Japanese Navy was tasked with pursuing and destroying the German East Asiatic Squadron and protection of the shipping lanes for Allied commerce in the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
During the course of this operation, the Japanese navy seized the German possessions in the Marianas, Carolines, and Marshall Islands, and Palau groups mostly without resistance by October 1914
After the end of World War I, as per negotiations in the Treaty of Versailles, Japanese occupation of former-German colonies in Micronesia north of the Equator was formally recognized, and Japan was given a League of Nations Mandate.
As Class C Mandate suggested, Japan sought to incorporate the islands as an integral part of its empire. Japan mounted an aggressive economic development program and promoted immigration. Japanese, Okinawan and Korean immigrants eventually came to outnumber islanders by as much as two to one.
Pacific War
During the 1930s, the Japanese Navy began construction of airfields, fortifications, ports, and other military projects in the islands controlled under the South Seas Mandate. This work was done in secret, as it was a direct violation of the Washington Naval Treaty.
The Japanese Navy viewed the islands as "unsinkable aircraft carriers" with a critical role to play in the defense of the Japanese home islands against American invasion, and later, as important staging grounds for Japanese air and naval offensives in the Pacific War..
Although the islands' naval importance is unquestionable, the Japanese Army was able to utilize many of the natural topographic characteristics of the islands to support air and land detachments as well.
As a result of the outbreak of the "island hopping" strategy employed by the United States military, the Japanese Empire gradually lost control of its Pacific possessions in bitter fighting between 1943 and 1945.
The League of Nations Mandate was formally revoked by the United Nations in July 1947, and the United States was made responsible for administration of the islands under the terms of a United Nations trusteeship agreement which established the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands.
Administration
Saipan, in the Marianas archipelago was the most important island militarily and economically in the South Pacific Mandate, and became the center of subsequent Japanese settlement. Another important island was Truk in the Carolines archipelago, which was fortified into a major navy base by the Imperial Japanese Navy.
The administration of South Pacific Mandate was managed by the Imperial Japanese Navy, which divided the region into six administrative districts reporting to naval headquarters in Truk. Later, in April 1922, civilian government was established in the form of a Civil Administration Department, but still reporting to the local Naval Garrison commander in each of the six administrative districts:
- Saipan
- Palau
- Yap
- Truk
- Ponape
- Jaluit Atoll
Later the headquarters of the South Pacific Mandate was transferred from Truk to Koror, Palau, and the Governor of the South Pacific Mandate reported directly to the Prime Minister of Japan. However, after the establishment of the Ministry of Colonial Affairs, the Governor of the South Pacific Mandate was ordered to report to the Colonial Minister in June 1929.
When the Ministry of Colonial Affairs was absorbed into the Ministry of Greater East Asia in November 1942, the primacy of the Imperial Japanese Navy was again recognized by appointing an admiral as Governor. Furthermore, the six administrative districts were reduced to three in November 1943:
Significance
The population of the South Seas Mandate was too small to provide interesting markets and the indigenous people had very limited financial resources for the purchase of imported goods. The major significance of the South Seas Mandate to the Empire of Japan was its strategic location dominating sea lanes across the Pacific Ocean and providing convenient provisioning locations for sailing vessels in need of water and provisions of fresh fruit, vegetables and meat. Later the islands became important coaling stations for steam-powered vessels.
Population
The initial population figures for the territories of the South Seas Mandate included around 50,000 indigenous Islanders. The total grew to 70,000 inhabitants in 1930, and more than 80,000 in 1933, with the arrival of Japanese settlers.
In the census of December 1939, the total population was 129,104, of which 77,257 were Japanese (including ethnic Taiwanese and Koreans), 51,723 indigenous islanders and 124 foreigners.
Economy
The South Pacific Mandate produced significant quantities of sugar cane, bananas, pineapples, taro, coconuts, and other tropical farming products on par with Taiwan. The islands also provided bases for the Japanese fishing fleet.
In terms of mineral products, many islands yielded phosphates for farming, especially from Angaur island, which produced some 60,000 tonnes per year. Bauxite was another segment of the colonial economic structure, although the mineral was only present in the Palau group.
Large quantities of pearls, both natural and cultured, were also extracted from the islands.
The islands of the South Pacific Mandate also allowed for regular flight links for long range seaplanes such as the Kawanishi H6K2-L ("Mavis") of Dai Nippon Koku KK.
Archaeological finds
During Japanese occupation of the islands, the Japanese Navy ordered archaeologists and anthropological experts to explore areas (including Ponape and Lele in Kosrae in the Carolines group) on the suspicion that they would find evidence of the southern ancestors of the Japanese race.
See also
Other Bibliography
- Herbert Rittlinger,"Der Masslose Ozean",Stuttgart, Germany,1939
- Cressey George B."Asia's Lands and Peoples",X Chapter :"Natural Basis of Japan"(P.196-285), section "South Seas"(p.276-277).,1946
- Sion, Jules."Asie des Moussons",Paris Librarie Armand Colin, (1928)I,189-266,Chapter X "The Nature of Japan",section XIII "Japanese Colonial Empire"(p.294-324), and section IV."Formosa and Southern Islands"(p.314-320)
- Book "Asia",Chapter X "Japanese Empire"(p.633-716), section "The Japanese islands in South Seas".
- Childress, David Hatcher,"The Lost City of Lemuria& The Pacific",1988. Chapter 10 "The Pohnpei Island, in finding of sunken city"(p.204-229)
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