New book records German settlers in Tonga [1]
Friday, June 20, 2014 - 19:21
A new book called Germans in Tonga which has short biographies of the 377 Germans who were born in Tonga between 1822 and 1932, was launched by Lord Vaea at the Sanft Building yesterday, 19 June.
The book has come from a seven-years research project by Professor James Bade and his team of researchers from the University of Auckland. Prof. Bade has been the Director of the University of Auckland Research Centre for Germanic Connections with New Zealand and the Pacific since 1999.
He also plans to continue his research to look at the contribution of the present day German descendant to the development of Tonga.
The biographies show that although a large number of Germans in Tonga came as part of a chain migration process from Pyritz and other parts of Pomerania (principally the Sanft, Wolfgramm and Guttenbeil families), there were also many immigrants from other parts of Germany – Anhalt, Baden, Bavaria, Brandenburg, Hessen, Holstein, Mecklenburg, Posen, Schleswig and Saxony.
According to Prof. Bade, European settlers began to establish themselves in Tonga during the 1850s and 1860s.
In 1867 the German firm J. C. Godeffroy and Sohn set up business in Tonga, trading in copra, and within a few years it had twenty-four stations throughout the Tongan islands.
With the success of Godeffroy, German private traders set up businesses throughout Tonga, especially in Vava'u.
In 1875 Captain Schleinitz of the German frigate Gazelle reported that in all three ports of Tonga every ship he met was German and that of seven or eight business houses in Vava'u, six were German.
In 1876 a Treaty of Friendship was signed between Tonga and Germany, and according to Prof. Bade, the treaty helped keep Tonga independent.
By 1903, according to report Vava'u had a large German population and commercial activities in Vava'u were exclusively in German hands.
The book will be available soon at the Friendly Islands Bookshop.