History of Micronesia: A Collection of Source Documents: Vol. 45 Japanese Mandate Part 3, 1934-1940
Levesque, Rodrigue (2008). History of Micronesia: A Collection of Source Documents: Vol. 45 Japanese Mandate Part 3, 1934-1940. 45. Gatineau, Québec: Lévesque Publications. ISBN 978-0-920201-45-9.
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Abstract: HOM.45 (1934–1940) documents the later years of the Japanese Mandate in Micronesia, covering administrative developments, economic expansion, and increasing strategic importance of the islands during the mid- and late-1930s. The documents include government reports, travel accounts, missionary correspondence, and contemporary publications describing conditions across the Caroline Islands, Palau, Marshall Islands, and Mariana Islands. Locations appearing frequently include Koror and Babeldaob in Palau, which served as the capital of the South Seas Government, along with Yap, Pohnpei (Ponape), Chuuk (Truk Lagoon), Kosrae, Jaluit, Majuro, Saipan, Rota, and Tinian. Administrative centers such as Kolonia, Tomil Harbor, and Jaluit Harbor appear in reports describing government offices, plantations, schools, and transportation networks operating under Japanese authority. The documents introduce Japanese civil officials of the Nan’yō-chō, traders and commercial agents involved in copra production and maritime trade, missionaries working in Catholic and Protestant mission networks, and local leaders involved in district administration. Missionary reports refer to activities in Pohnpei, Chuuk, Yap, and the Marshall Islands, while administrative reports refer to the organization of schools, police, and local government under Japanese supervision. Indigenous leaders from districts of Pohnpei, as well as chiefs and communities in Yap, Palau, and the Marshall Islands, appear in records describing relations between local authority structures and colonial administration. Additional materials describe economic development during the late mandate period, including plantation agriculture, fishing industries, and shipping routes linking island ports with Yokohama, Kobe, Osaka, Hong Kong, and Manila. Reports also describe harbor improvements, settlement patterns, and transportation infrastructure across the islands. These materials provide references to the locations, institutions, and individuals involved in the functioning of Japanese mandate administration during the final decade before the outbreak of the Pacific War.
