History of Micronesia: A Collection of Source Documents: Vol. 38 Earthquake, Typhoon and Telegraph, 1901-1905
Levesque, Rodrigue (2006). History of Micronesia: A Collection of Source Documents: Vol. 38 Earthquake, Typhoon and Telegraph, 1901-1905. 38. Gatineau, Québec: Lévesque Publications. ISBN 978-0-920201-38-1.
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Abstract: HOM.38 (1901–1905) documents early developments under German colonial administration in Micronesia, including natural disasters, infrastructure projects, and communications networks linking the Caroline Islands, Marshall Islands, Palau, and Mariana Islands with wider Pacific trade routes. The documents include colonial reports, missionary correspondence, naval records, and travel accounts describing events such as major earthquakes, typhoons, and tidal waves affecting islands including Pohnpei (Ponape), Chuuk (Truk), Kosrae, Yap, Palau, and several atolls of the Marshall Islands. Locations appearing frequently include Kolonia, Metalanim Harbor, Sokehs, Kiti, Tomil Harbor, Koror, Babeldaob, Jaluit, Majuro, Arno, Guam, Saipan, and Rota, with reports describing damage to settlements, plantations, and mission stations following severe storms and earthquakes.
The volume introduces a range of colonial officials, missionaries, and commercial agents active during the early German period. German administrators and naval officers connected with the German Imperial Colonial Office appear in reports from Yap, Pohnpei, Palau, and the Marshall Islands, alongside representatives of trading firms such as the Jaluit Company. Missionary activity is documented through reports by Capuchin missionaries in the Caroline Islands and Catholic clergy operating from mission centers in Koror, Yap, and Pohnpei, as well as references to Protestant missionary networks that had earlier established schools and churches across the region. Indigenous leaders and local communities in districts of Kiti, Sokehs, U, and Nett on Pohnpei, along with chiefs in Yap and Palau, appear in administrative reports describing local governance and relations with colonial authorities.
Several documents describe the construction of communication and transportation infrastructure linking Micronesia with global networks. These include reports on the establishment of telegraph and cable connections, improvements to harbors such as Jaluit Harbor and Tomil Harbor, and the increasing use of steamships connecting Hamburg, Hong Kong, Manila, Sydney, and island ports throughout Micronesia. Additional materials document copra trading, plantation development, and shipping activity under German administration, illustrating the role of commercial companies, missionaries, and colonial officials in shaping the political and economic landscape of Micronesia during the first years of the twentieth century.
