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Reference.org
South Seas Mandate
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<p>The South Seas Mandate, officially the Mandate for the German Possessions in the Pacific Ocean Lying North of the Equator, was a <a href="/facts/League_of_Nations_mandate/CXCj7gno">League of Nations mandate</a> in the "<a href="/facts/South_Seas/9865MDoX">South Seas</a>" given to the <a href="/facts/Empire_of_Japan/gMpNKg2W">Empire of Japan</a> by the <a href="/facts/League_of_Nations/PQlcKzXs">League of Nations</a> following <a href="/facts/World_War_I/vITTUanQ">World War I</a>. The mandate consisted of islands in the north <a href="/facts/Pacific_Ocean/bdxgXRVM">Pacific Ocean</a> that had been part of <a href="/facts/German_New_Guinea/m5x0eojD">German New Guinea</a> within the <a href="/facts/German_colonial_empire/CC1hchUz">German colonial empire</a> until they were occupied by Japan during World War I. Japan governed the islands under the mandate as part of the <a href="/facts/Japanese_colonial_empire/mQ3PpaKl">Japanese colonial empire</a> until <a href="/facts/World_War_II/2efV5L1U">World War II</a>, when the United States <a href="/facts/Pacific_Ocean_theater_of_World_War_II/CRsAVSe4">captured the islands</a>. The islands then became the <a href="/facts/United_Nations/fgXLnmgT">United Nations</a>-established <a href="/facts/Trust_Territory_of_the_Pacific_Islands/C4Fqc3CU">Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands</a> governed by the <a href="/facts/United_States/P0sCdLe5">United States</a>. The islands are now part of <a href="/facts/Palau/sYXMGPbX">Palau</a>, the <a href="/facts/Northern_Mariana_Islands/Tb6CPrao">Northern Mariana Islands</a>, the <a href="/facts/Federated_States_of_Micronesia/U9VGo9fh">Federated States of Micronesia</a>, and the <a href="/facts/Republic_of_the_Marshall_Islands/rRV4U7oD">Republic of the Marshall Islands</a>. </p><p>In Japan, the territory is known as "Japanese Mandate for the Governance of the South Seas Islands" (委任統治地域南洋群島, <i>Inin Tōchi-ryō Nan'yō Guntō</i>) and was governed by the Nan'yō Government (南洋廳, <i>Nan'yō-chō</i>). </p>