A Pacific Power: Liberal Imperialism in German Samoa

Before the First World War Germany was a global empire with colonies in Africa, Asia, and the Pacific. Annexed to this empire in 1900 was Samoa, a thriving Polynesian trading hub which had previously been the site of conflict between Britain, Germany, and the United States.

A Pacific Power brings to light an often-overlooked history of German imperialism in the Pacific. Focusing on Samoa, it shows the tension between German rulers and Samoan subjects, as well as the variety of ways the Germans sought to reshape the colony according to their own requirements. It looks at how Samoa became a colonial site that brought Germany into conflict not only with Britain and the United States, but also China, New Zealand, and the Vatican. At the same time, it uncovers the social and cultural experiments of a colony that treated matters of sexuality, race, and religion in often unexpected ways.

Through a study of colonial conflicts and crises, A Pacific Power brings to light Germany’s strategies of imperial rule and Samoan methods of resisting and co-opting German institutions. It investigates how German rule transformed Samoa and altered German culture and politics. It shows how Samoa brought Germany into conflict not only with Britain and the United States, but also China, New Zealand, and the Vatican. Laying bare the exploitative and racist nature of German colonial labour practices, it also uncovers the surprising social and cultural experiments of a colony that treated matters of sexuality, race, and religion in often unexpected ways.

Through careful attention to archival sources and the personal recollections of those who colonised Samoa and those who were colonised, Matthew P. Fitzpatrick reorients German imperial history towards Polynesia, emphasising the too often overlooked importance of the Pacific to German attempts to globalise their economy, culture and military reach.

Matthew P. Fitzpatrick, Future Fellow and Matthew Flinders Professor of International History, Flinders University

Matthew P Fitzpatrick is the Matthew Flinders Professor of International History at Flinders University, Adelaide. He is the author of The Kaiser and the Colonies: Monarchy in the Age of Empire as well as Purging the Empire: Mass Expulsions in Germany, 1871-1914, and Liberal Imperialism in Germany: Expansionism and Nationalism in Germany, 1848-1884. A past winner of the Chester Penn Higby Prize, and an Australian Research Council Future Fellow, he has also been a Humboldt Fellow at the University of Münster, Germany.