The South Pacific Mandate ( Japanese 南洋 庁 , Nanyo: -to:) - Mandatory territory transferred by the League of Nations to the administration of the Japanese Empire after the defeat of the German Empire in the First World War . Continued from 1919 to 1947 .
| Mandate Territory of Japan | |||||
| South Pacific Mandate | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| jap. 南洋 庁 | |||||
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←   →1919 - 1947 | |||||
| Capital | Koror | ||||
| Languages) | official - Japanese language fact. - Austronesian languages | ||||
| Currency unit | |||||
| Form of government | A constitutional monarchy | ||||
| Emperor of Japan | |||||
| • 1919 - 1926 | Emperor Taisho | ||||
| • 1926 - 1947 | Emperor Sowa | ||||
History
In accordance with the terms of the Anglo-Japanese Union , after the outbreak of World War I, on August 23, 1914, Japan declared war on Germany and took part in the siege of Qingdao , a German naval base in the Chinese province of Shandong, jointly with the British. The Imperial Navy of Japan was entrusted with the task of destroying the German East Asian cruising squadron and protecting shipping routes in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. In the course of this task, the Imperial fleet in October 1914, without resistance, occupied Germanic possessions in the Mariana , Caroline , Marshall Islands and the Palau archipelago.
At the end of the war, as a result of the negotiations at the Paris Peace Conference of the Treaty of Versailles, the Japanese occupation of the former German colonies in Micronesia was officially recognized north of the equator , and Japan received the mandate of the League of Nations to manage these territories. In accordance with the terms of the category “C” mandate, Japan began to develop the islands as part of its empire. A program of intensive economic development and stimulation of immigration was adopted. Soon, the number of Japanese, Okinawan and Korean immigrants doubled the number of islanders living there.
In the 1930s, the Imperial Navy of Japan began to build ports, airfields, fortifications and other military infrastructure on mandated territory. The work was conducted in secret, because it was a direct violation of the Washington Sea Agreement . The islands were considered as “unsinkable aircraft carriers”, and played an important role both from the point of view of the defense of the Japanese islands themselves and of plans for an offensive war.
During the battles of 1943-1945, as a result of the Gilberto-Marshall and Mariana operations of the US armed forces, the Japanese gradually lost control of these islands.
The mandate of the League of Nations was formally revoked by the United Nations in July 1947, and the United States took control of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands .