Introduction
Hempenstall, Peter J (2016). "Introduction". Pacific Islanders Under German Rule: A Study in the Meaning of Colonial Resistance. pp. 3–24.
- Has attachment: File:SQSKAX94.pdf
Abstract: The Pacific colonies of Germany were a far flung post of empire in more ways than one. They were a long way from Europe, by sail three to four months away. They were small; all except for New Guinea, mere dots in an endless sea. And they were separated from each other by thousands of miles of blue, unrelenting ocean: German New Guinea and Micronesia were each composed of a myriad of islands scattered over hundreds of miles. To begin with, let us look at Samoa, a perfect example of isolation and economy of scale....
...By contrast with Samoa, Ponapean social and political structure is more regular and authoritarian, though the political possibilities in some areas are more flexible than in Samoa. Ponape is the largest island of the Carolines group in Micronesia, an island world which is still a T rust Territory of the United States. Ponape lies roughly north east of the Bismarck Archipelago at longitude 158° east and 6° north of the equator, and, like m ost of the islands of Micronesia, is isolated, her largest island neighbour being Kusaie, 494 kilometres away to the south east. T ru k is 708 kilometres to the west; to the north west, Saipan is over 1600 kilometres, M anila 3803 kilometres. In the east only the Marshall Islands lie between Ponape and Hawaii. The distance to San Francisco is 7469 kilometres. Ponape is a towering volcanic dome, roughly hexagonal in shape, about 23 kilometres from north to south and 26 kilometres from east to west. Mangrove swamps fringe the inner reef around the island and a narrow belt of alluvial land lies between them and the foothills. The interior is extremely m ountainous, with eleven peaks rising above 610 metres; overland travel is thus very difficult. M ost Ponapeans use shallow canoes for transport around the island, though low tide on the inner reef can restrict movement in many places. There are three main harbours: Langar in the north where the Spanish built the first European settlement, Kolonia; M adolenihm w in the east; and Ron Kiti in the south. The Japanese built a second large town on the eastern edge of Ponape, but during the Spanish and German periods Kolonia was the only centre of foreign occupation outside mission stations. To the west of Kolonia, across a narrow channel, lies the island of Sokehs with the most dom inating feature of P on a p e ’s dom inating landscape: the enormous Sokehs scarp, which falls away sheer from a height of 274 metres to the sea at the island’s northern end. A modern causeway now replaces the rickety wooden bridge which connected Sokehs to the mainland in German times. The effect of the Sokehs scarp..
