TimelineMapsSearch QuotationsSearch Images

Follow us through the World War I centennial and beyond at Follow wwitoday on Twitter

Samoa

A postcard welcoming Samoa to the German Empire. Samoa was a German protectorate from 1900 until its seizure by New Zealand on August 29, 1914. The German East Asia Squadron reached the islands on September 14, 1914, but Vice Admiral von Spee concluded he would not be able to hold the islands. Text: Talofa Samoa - Aloha (Samoan greeting) "Ausstellung Samoa", unsere neuen Landsleute Hello,Samoa! "Samoan Exhibition", our new countrymen Talofa (Samoan greeting) An idyllic scene of a lagoon framed by palm trees, an orange sky. Centered above it, a horizontal band, the words "Talofa", "Samoa", on either side of a head of a native woman in a circle, a German flag on both sides.

A postcard welcoming Samoa to the German Empire. Samoa was a German protectorate from 1900 until its seizure by New Zealand on August 29, 1914. The German East Asia Squadron reached the islands on September 14, 1914, but Vice Admiral von Spee concluded he would not be able to hold the islands.
"Talofa" is the Samoan equivalent of "Aloha".

Image text

Talofa Samoa - Aloha (Samoan greeting)



"Ausstellung Samoa", unsere neuen Landsleute

Greetings,Samoa!



"Samoan Exhibition", our new countrymen

Other views: Larger, Back

Samoa was a German protectorate from 1900 to its seizure by troops from the New Zealand Expeditionary Force on August 29, 1914. It had no defensive force other than a Samoan police force.

Commanding the German East Asiatic Squadron which had fled Tsingtao, Vice-Admiral Graf von Spee learned of the New Zealand action and arrived off the Samoan island of Apia on September 14. He decided he would better use his squadron of five ships elsewhere, and sailed east across the Pacific.

Samoa is a colony.