History of Bougainville - European Colonisation

European Colonisation

The German New Guinea Company established control over Bougainville and Buka, Choiseul, Shortland and Treasury Islands in 1885 but did not extend its farther control southwards in the Solomons, whose southern islands came under a British protectorate in 1893 with the eastern islands being added in 1899. In 1900, Germany transferred all of its claims in the Solomons other than Bougainville and Buka Island to Great Britain while Britain, in return, withdrew from Western Samoa. During World War I, Australia occupied Bougainville together with the rest of German New Guinea; the League of Nations placed the territory under Australian mandate in 1920.