South Pacific Mandate

The South Pacific Mandate(Nan-Yo)refers to a group of islands in Micronesia.Administrative control of certain island territories passed to Japan after World War I because of Japanese actions taken against the German Empire between 1914 and 1918. As a result of its contribution to the Allied war cause, Japan was given a League of Nations Mandate over the Carolines, Marianas, Marshall Islands and Palau groups — excepting Guam, which remained in U. S. control. The capital of the South Pacific Mandate was Koror, in the Palau islands. More important militarily and industrially was Saipan, in the Marianas archipelago, which was also the center of subsequent Japanese settlement. The island had been captured from Germany in 1914. Another important island was Truk (now Chuuk), an atoll in the Carolines archipelago. This was considered the Southern Gibraltar of the Japanese Navy.

Related Topics:
Nan-Yo - Micronesia - Japan - World War I - German Empire - League of Nations Mandate - Carolines - Marianas - Marshall Islands - Palau - Guam - U. S. - Koror - Saipan - Truk - Chuuk - Atoll - Gibraltar

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The initial population figures for these territories included around 50,000 natives (mostly Kanaks and Chamorros). The total grew to 70,000 inhabitants in 1930 and more than 80,000 in 1933, with the arrival of Japanese settlers (at one time 30,000 in a year) and by 1938 the total was 121,128 inhabitants, 70,141 of those being Japanese subjects.

Related Topics:
Kanak - Chamorros

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The Japanese mandate was run by Imperial Japanese Navy chiefs in administrative, security, economic, and other aspects. Governors tended to be admirals or Vice Admirals. The islands produced significant quantities of sugar cane (raw and processed), bananas, pineapples, taro, coconuts, and other tropical farming products on par with Taiwan province, another Japanese Navy territory. Other interesting and important products extracted in great quantities included platinum bars and lamines, artifacts and cultural items from indigenous civilizations (including submerged sarcophagus), and large quantities of pearls (before the precipitation of war during the 1930s), but these extractions stopped with Japanese loss of the islands.

Related Topics:
Imperial Japanese Navy - Admiral - Taiwan - Japanese Navy - Platinum - Sarcophagus

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The mandate area additionally yielded Phosphates for farming from Augaur island, which produced some 60,000 tonnes per year. Aluminiun(Bauxite) was another segment of the colonial economic structure, although the mineral was only present in the Palau group. The islands of the South Pacific Mandate allowed for regular flight links for long range seaplanes such as the Kawanishi H6K2-L ("Mavis") of Dai Nippon Koku KK.

Related Topics:
Phosphates - Augaur - Bauxite - Palau - Seaplane - Kawanishi H6K2-L - Dai Nippon Koku KK

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During Japanese occupation of the islands, the Japanese Navy ordered archaeologists and anthropological experts to explore areas such as the Strike South Group (which includes the islands of Ponape (Pohnpei) and Lele in Kosrae (Kusrae) in the Carolines group) on the suspicion that they would find evidence of the South ancestors of the Japanese Empire. While these experts encountered giant human bones, including a femur of 3 meters in length and strange writings on wood, their research was ended by the outbreak of war and the later Japanese loss of the Caroline Islands.

Related Topics:
Japanese Navy - Strike South Group - Ponape - Lele - Kosrae - Carolines - Japanese Empire - Femur

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Before World War II, the Japanese Navy began construction of various airfields, fortifications, ports, and other military projects in the islands controlled under the South Pacific Mandate. It was precisely from these fortifications in Palau, the Carolines and the Marshall Islands that a significant portion of the Japanese Navy disembarked towards the Philippines, New Guinea, Nauru and the Gilberts islands during 1941-42 in the Pacific War.

Related Topics:
Philippines - New Guinea - Nauru - Gilberts - Pacific War

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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.

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It has been asserted that the armed forces of Japan may have committed various war crimes during their occupation of the South Pacific Mandate (see War Crimes in the Pacific). One legend of the inter-war period concerns Amelia Earhart, the American pilot, who supposedly disappeared in 1937 while flying over the Pacific. It has been suggested that she crashed in the South Pacific Mandate zone, or that she was captured and possibly imprisoned or executed by Japanese authorities. This has never been confirmed.

Related Topics:
War crimes - War Crimes in the Pacific - Amelia Earhart

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As a result of the outbreak of war between Japan and the United States in 1941 and the ensuing "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. For history after 1944 see Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands.

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