Mau a pule
Mau a Pule , also Mau o Pule , is the name of two independence movements in Samoa . The first was directed against German colonial rule in 1908 and 1909 , the second against the New Zealand League of Nations mandate over Western Samoa from 1926 to 1928 .
Revolt against German colonial rule
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The Matai , the Samoan heads of families, who traditionally decided the interests of their clan, had been split into two factions, the Tumua and the Pule , since the 1850s, fighting for supremacy on the islands of Upolu and Savaiʻi . This led to civil war-like conflicts in the second half of the 19th century, which became more acute due to the interest of the imperialist great powers. In 1899 the Samoa Islands were divided up in the Samoa Treaty between the German Empire and the USA; the German Empire received the western Samoa called German Samoa, and the USA received the eastern American Samoa . Wilhelm Solf was appointed governor of German Samoa. In order to administer the islands, he appointed a Mata'i head of each village, who performed legal and executive functions there, and appointed an advisory board from the heads of the most powerful clans ( Fono o Faipule ).
The winners of the Samoa Wars in the 19th century often sold the land of the vanquished to white settlers. The German colonial power helped enforce their claims by driving Samoans from this country. The two Mata'i federations Tumua and Pule were banned, but the head of the Tumua confederation, Mataafa Josefo , was appointed the highest local dignitary ( Ali'i Sili ). This led to discontent on the island of Savai'i, home of the Pule Federation, which was further boosted by dysentery and whooping cough epidemics and the destruction caused by a volcanic eruption in 1907. Lauaki Namulauulu Mamoe (also called Lauati), a member of the Pule Federation, organized the most important clan heads of the Pule Federation to oppose the actions of the German governorate. Their ultimate goal was the replacement of Mataafas by the head of the Pule Confederation, Malietoa Tanumafili I (1879-1939). Lauati was not a Matai himself, but was a gifted speaker and successful troop leader in the Samoa conflicts of the 1890s.
The participants in the uprising first addressed a petition to Solf demanding that the budget of the colonial administration be disclosed in Samoan and the restoration of the advisory assembly, to which all Mata'i belonged, in place of Fono i Faipule , which consisted of a few chiefs . Solf rejected her demands. Then the Pule started the uprising: After Solf had traveled to Germany at the end of 1908, they crossed from Savai'i to Upolu in 25 double-hulled boats manned by warriors. Governor Solf ordered three warships to Samoa, which arrived there in March 1909 and surrounded Savai'i. The rebels who crossed over to Upolu surrendered to the German troops. Lauati fled to Savai'i despite his promise to the governor to stay on Upolu. There he hides with his followers until missionaries persuade them to give up. Lauati, his brother and fifteen other insurgent leaders were deported to Saipan , which was then part of Germany .
The Mau uprising of 1909 was only loosely organized, exploiting traditional tensions among Samoan clans. In addition, it was fundamentally not directed against German rule, which was viewed positively by most Samoans. Rather, the movement was an expression of resistance to illegal actions by the government. The uprising could be ended peacefully through Solf's policy. Nevertheless, the uprising subsequently became a cornerstone of the Samoan identity formation and gradually assumed the role of a national founding myth.
The League of Nations Mandate of New Zealand
After the outbreak of the First World War , Western Samoa was occupied by New Zealand troops on August 30, 1914 and was under New Zealand military administration until 1920, after which it was awarded to New Zealand as a Class C League mandate. Unlike the German colonial rule, the New Zealand administration endeavored to develop the country “modern” according to New Zealand standards. Especially under the governor Georges Stafford Richardson , who had been in office since 1925 , public schools were built and the medical service developed, administrative councils made up of locals were appointed and the power of the Mata'i, who could now also be deposed by the governor, were curtailed. In addition to grants from New Zealand, these measures were financed by an export taxation and poll taxes that the Samoans had to pay, which were introduced during the war . This led to increasing dissatisfaction among the whites and mongrels living in Samoa as well as among the Polynesian Samoans. In 1926 there were several protests in Apia with 300 to 600 participants who petitioned the New Zealand parliament. Richardson, however, withdrew their passports from the riot leaders to prevent them from traveling to New Zealand, and deposed several of the Mata'i involved. From then on, the leadership of the unrest passed into the hands of the Polynesian Samoans, who were particularly upset about this measure. Based on the uprising of 1909, it was called Mau , which in Samoan also means "firm belief, belief". In large parts of Samoa, government orders were no longer carried out, schools no longer attended and the fields no longer tilled. A visit by a New Zealand government commission in the fall of 1927 did not bring about any relaxation. Richardson and his successor Stephen Allen only knew how to help each other through increased police operations and expulsion of the supposed leaders of the movement, and they also called units of the Navy to Samoa. In 1928 the unrest culminated in a bloodily suppressed demonstration in Apia, in which eleven demonstrators were killed. It was not until 1930 that New Zealand's newly elected Labor government eased the situation by recalling Richardson, ordering the troops back and involving the locals more closely in the administration of the country.
Western Samoa gained independence from New Zealand in 1962 and the state name was changed from Western Samoa to Samoa in 1997.
In 2002 New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark apologized to Samoa for the violence perpetrated in suppressing the insurrection.
literature
- Sabine Bruno, Anette Schade: Fiji, Samoa, Tonga . Munich 1993, ISBN 3-406-35175-1 , p. 47 ff.
- Eberhard von Vietsch: Wilhelm Solf. Ambassadors between the ages . Tubingen 1961.
Web links
- Albert Wendt : Guardians and Wards , a study of the origins, causes, and the first two years of the Mau in Western Samoa