REPUBLIC OF PALAU (BELAU)
INTERNATIONAL COIN SERIES - KAISER WILHELM II // GERMAN SOUTHWEST AFRICA - 100th ANNIVERSARY OF GERMANY ACQUIRING PALAU FROM SPAIN
ONLY 7 MINTED!
CERTIFIED BY NGC PROOF 64 ULTRA CAMEO
OBV: UNIFORMED PORTRAIT BUST OF KAISER WILHELM II RIGHT; DENOMINATION RIGHT.
REV: GERMAN IMPERIAL COLONIAL TROOPER (SCHUTZTRUPPE) MOUNTED ON A CAMEL 3/4 RIGHT; TO THE RIGHT HERALDIC SHIELD OF ARMS OF GERMAN SOUTHWEST AFRICA (DEUTSCH SÜDWESTAFRIKA).
BOTH THE OBVERSE THIS COIN IS BASED ON THE GERMAN STATES - PRUSSIA (GERMAN EMPIRE) SILVER 5 MARK COIN (1913-1914 KM # 536).
THIS COIN, AND THE OTHERS IN THE SERIES, WERE STRUCK IN COMMEMORATION OF THE ACQUISITION OF PALAU BY THE GERMAN EMPIRE FROM THE SPANISH EMPIRE IN 1899.
PALAU WAS CLAIMED TO HAVE BEEN DISCOVERED BY THE SPANISH EXPLORER RUY LÓPEZ de VILLALOBOS IN 1543, AND "REDISCOVERED" IN 1710 BY DON FRANCISCO de PADILLA. SPAIN NEVER SETTLED PALAU, BUT REASSERTED ITS CLAIM IN 1874. GERMANY, WHICH HAD EXPANDED ITS COLONIAL EMPIRE INTO THE PACIFIC WITH AN INTEREST IN COMMERCIAL TRADE, ALSO CLAIMED PALAU IN 1885, BUT THE POPE ABRBITRATED AND CONFIRMED SPANISH POSSESSION THE FOLLOWING YEAR. PALAU, WHICH HAD BEEN GROUPED WITH THE CAROLINE ISLANDS, WAS PURCHASED FROM SPAIN, ALONG WITH THE CAROLINES, BY GERMANY BY TREATY IN 1899. GERMANY'S COMMERCIAL INTERESTS IN PALAU RESTED IN COPRA (COCONUT), BAUXITE, PHOSPHATE, TREPANG (SEA CUCUMBER) AND SEA SHELLS.
THE GERMAN COLONIAL ADMINISTRATION OF PALAU (MADE A PART OF GERMAN NEW GUINEA) WAS DIRECTED TOWARD COMMERCIAL INTEREST AND INSTITUTED SOCIAL AND POLITICAL ORDER AMONGST THE NATIVE POPULACE. MODERNIZATION EFFORTS, SUCH AS BUILDING UP THE INFRASTRUCTURE IN THE FORM OF ROADS, WERE AIMED TO INCREASE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF LIFE OF THE NATIVES PALAUANS.
GERMANY LOST CONTROL OF PALAU WHEN THE JAPANESE (AS A PART OF THE ANGLO-JAPANESE ALLIANCE) SEIZED THE ARCHIPELEGO, AND OTHER GERMAN OVERSEAS TERRITORIES IN THE PACIFIC, AT THE ONSET OF WWI IN 1914.
IN 1882 AFRICA IN WHAT IS NOW NAMIBIA, A GERMAN MERCHANT NAMED LÜDERITZ OBTAINED PROMISE OF PROTECTION FROM THE GERMAN GOVERNMENT AND PURCHASED LAND FROM A NATIVE CHIEF TO ESTABLISH A TOWN THAT HE NAMED AFTER HIMSELF. IN 1884 HE PLACED HIS COLONY UNDER IMPERIAL PROTECTION TO DISSUADE BRITISH ENCROACHMENT, AND THE GERMAN FLAG WAS RAISED OVER WEST AFRICA. THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLE DENIED THE INDIVIDUAL RIGHT OF ANY CHIEF TO HAVE SOLD PROPERTY AND CLAIMED THE ORIGINAL PURCHASE TO BE A FRAUD. THE GERMANS INCREASED THEIR MILITARY PRESENCE BUT HAD CONTINUALLY BAD RELATIONS, INCLUDING FULL REBELLION FROM 1893-94; 1904; 1907-08, WITH THE NATIVE TRIBES THROUGHOUT THEIR ADMINISTRATION. GERMAN RULE OF THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES OF NAMIBIA WAS RUTHLESS, BRUTAL AND GENOCIDAL. THE EXTERMINATION DEATH CAMPS BUILT TO DEAL WITH THE HERERO AND NAMA PEOPLES GRIMLY FORESHADOWED THOSE OF NAZI GERMANY. IN 1915, THE UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA TOOK CONTROL OF GERMAN SOUTHWEST AFRICA.
CONTAINS 31.1 GRAMS OF .9995 FINE PALLADIUM (1.0 OZ APW)
38 MM IN DIAMETER
EXTREMELY RARE ONLY 7 MINTED!
