German New Guinea (German: Deutsch-Neuguinea) was the first part of the German colonial empire. It was a protectorate from 1884 until 1914 when it fell to Australian forces following the outbreak of the First World War. It consisted of the northeastern part of New Guinea and several nearby island groups. The mainland part of German New Guinea and the nearby islands of the Bismarck Archipelago are now 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, on annexation, were renamed the Bismarck Archipelago (formerly the New Britannia Archipelago) and the two largest islands renamed Neu-Pommern (or New Pomerania, today's New Britain) and Neu-Mecklenburg (New Ireland).
With the exception of German Samoa, the German islands in the Western Pacific formed the 'Imperial German Pacific Protectorates'. These were administered as part of German New Guinea and they included the German Solomon Islands (Buka, Bougainville and several smaller islands), the Carolines, Palau, the Marianas (except for Guam), the Marshall Islands and Nauru. The total land area of German New Guinea was 249,500 km².
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Famous quotes containing the words german and/or guinea:
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—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)
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