Author: thedigitalphilatelist

German New Guinea (Deutsch-Neuguinea) consisted of the northeastern part of the island of New Guinea and several nearby island groups and was the first part of the German colonial empire. The mainland part of the territory, called Kaiser-Wilhelmsland, became a German protectorate in 1884. Other island groups were added subsequently.…

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The Territory of Papua and New Guinea was established by an administrative union between the Australian-administered territories of Papua and New Guinea . Shortly after the start of the Pacific War, the island of New Guinea was invaded by the Japanese. Most of West Papua, at that time known as…

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Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a sovereign state in Oceania that occupies the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and its offshore islands in Melanesia. The western half of New Guinea forms the Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua. The…

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New Hebrides, officially the New Hebrides Condominium (Condominium des Nouvelles-Hébrides) and named for the Hebrides Scottish archipelago, was the colonial name for the island group in the South Pacific Ocean that is now Vanuatu. Native people had inhabited the islands for three thousand years before the first Europeans arrived in…

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Vanuatu, officially the Republic of Vanuatu, is an island country located in the South Pacific Ocean and part of Melanesia. Vanuatu was first inhabited by Melanesian people. The first Europeans to visit the islands were a Spanish expedition led by Portuguese navigator Fernandes de Queirós, who arrived on the largest island,…

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The British Solomon Islands Protectorate was first declared over the southern Solomons in 1893, when Captain Gibson R.N declared the southern islands a British protectorate.  The formalities in its establishment were carried out by officers of the Royal Navy, who hoisted the British flag and read Proclamations on twenty-one islands.…

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Solomon Islands is a sovereign state consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania. The country takes its name from the Solomon Islands archipelago, which is a collection of Melanesian islands that also includes the North Solomon Islands (a part of Papua New Guinea), but excludes…

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Melanesia is a subregion of Oceania extending from New Guinea island in the southwestern Pacific Ocean to the Arafura Sea, and eastward to Tonga. Most of the region is in the Southern Hemisphere, with only a few small northwestern islands of Western New Guinea lying in the Northern Hemisphere. The…

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