South Seas Mandate

Japanese Mandate for the Governance of the South Seas Islands 委任統治地域南洋群島 (Japanese)[1] Nippon inin tōchi-ryō nan'yō guntō (rōmaji)
1920–1945
Flag Imperial Seal
1921 National Geographic: a map showing areas of political control in the Pacific. One area is described as the "Japanese Mandate".
Status	Mandate of the League of Nations (colony) under Japanese administration
Capital	Koror City
Common languages	Japanese (official) Austronesian languages
Emperor
• 1914–1926	Taishō (Yoshihito)
• 1926–1946	Shōwa (Hirohito)
Director
• 1919–1923 (first)	Toshiro Tezuka
• 1943–1946 (last)	Boshirō Hosogaya
Historical era	Empire of Japan
• Treaty of Versailles	28 June 1919
• Pacific Islands Trusteeship	18 July 1947
Currency	Yen, Oceanian Pound
Preceded by Succeeded by German New Guinea Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands
Today part of	Palau Marshall Islands Micronesia Northern Mariana Islands

The South Seas Mandate, officially the Mandate for the German Possessions in the Pacific Ocean Lying North of the Equator,^[2] was a League of Nations mandate in the "South Seas" given to the Empire of Japan by the League of Nations following World War I. The mandate consisted of islands in the north Pacific Ocean that had been part of German New Guinea within the German colonial empire until they were occupied by Japan during World War I. Japan governed the islands under the mandate as part of the Japanese colonial empire until World War II, when the United States captured the islands. The islands then became the United Nations–established Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands governed by the United States. The islands are now part of Palau, the Northern Mariana Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Marshall Islands.^[3]

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, Nippon Inin Tōchi-ryō Nan'yō Guntō)^[4] and was governed by the Nan'yō Government (南洋廳, Nan'yō-chō).