Bikini Atoll - Spanish-German Treaty of 1899

Spanish-German Treaty of 1899

After the explosion of the Maine in Havana's Harbor sent by the U.S.A. to "protect" American commercial interests in Cuba, and the Spanish–American War in 1898, Spain lost many of its remaining colonies. Cuba became independent while the United States took possession of Puerto Rico and Spain's Pacific colonies of the Philippines and Guam. This left Spain with the remainder of the Spanish East Indies in the Pacific, about 6000 islands that were tiny, sparsely populated, and not very productive, and that were both ungovernable after the loss of the administrative center of Manila, and undefendable after the entire loss of two Spanish fleets in 1898 a year still known in Spain as the "Year of the national disaster" or "the loss of the 400 years Empire". The Spanish government therefore decided to sell them to an new colonial power: Germany.

The treaty was signed on February 12, 1899 by Spanish Prime Minister Francisco Silvela and transferred the Caroline Islands, the Mariana Islands, Palau and other possessions to Germany. The islands were then placed under control of German New Guinea.