German New Guinea (also known as Neu Guinea or Kaiser Wilhelmsland, now part of Papua New Guinea) included the northeast corner of the island of New Guinea, the islands of the Bismarck, Archipelago, Bougainville and Burka Islands, and about 600 small offshore islands. Bounded on the west coast by West Irian, to the north and east by the Pacific and to the south by Papua, it had an area of 92,159 sq. mi. (238,692 sq. km.) and, under German administration, had a population of about 250,000. Capital: Herbertshohe, later moved to Rabaul. Copra was the chief export. ,Germany took formal possession of German New Guinea in 1884. It was administered by the German New Guinea Company until 1899, when control was assumed by the Berman imperial government. On the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Australia occupied the territory and it remained under military control until 1921, when it became an Australian mandate of the League of Nations. During World War II, between 1942 and 1945, the territory was occupied by Japan. Following the Japanese surrender, it was administered by Australia under the United Nations trusteeship system. In 1949, Papua and New Guinea were combined as one administrative unit known as Papua New Guinea, which attained internal autonomy on Dec. 1, 1973. Papua New Guinea achieved full independence on Sept. 16, 1975.,, ,German Reichsbanknoten and Reichkassenscheine circulated until 1914.,, Rulers:,,, ,German, 1884-1914,, ,Australian, 1914-1942, 1945-1975,, ,Japanese, 1942-1945,, Monetary System:,,, ,1 Mark = 100 Pfennig,,