Old Map of Nauru

Nauru is shown here at the beginning of the twentieth century, when the island was still known in German sources as Ānā́ọĕṙọ. The map records its narrow coastal settlements, roads, missions and phosphate-company installations, while extensive contour lines describe the raised interior that gives Nauru its distinctive physical form.

Map Details

Original title: Nauru (Ānā́ọĕṙọ) Survey sources: Officers of the Pacific Phosphate Company, with additions by Paul Hambruch Publication context: Paul Hambruch’s Nauru, Hamburg South Seas Expedition, 1908–1910 Date shown on map: October 1910 Published: Hamburg, 1914–1915 Scale: 1:15,000 Area shown: The complete island of Nauru Map features: Coastal settlements, contour lines, roads, missions, hospital, phosphate-company works and named districts

The map’s German title reflects Nauru’s political setting at the time. In 1910 the island formed part of German colonial Micronesia, while the Pacific Phosphate Company was already extracting and exporting phosphate from the raised interior. The chart therefore records both the geography of Nauru and the early infrastructure of an extractive industry that would profoundly alter the island.

Its detailed contours reveal the unusual structure of Nauru: a narrow coastal plain surrounding a higher limestone plateau, with steeply rising ground between them. Successive elevation lines make this transition particularly clear. Roads follow the coastal settlements and lead inland towards the phosphate areas, while missions, hospital buildings and company installations are individually marked.

The place names preserve a mixture of local geography and colonial-era terminology. Yaren, Boe, Aiwo and Meneng remain familiar names today, while labels such as Kaiserliche Station, Protestantische Mission and Pacific Phosphate Co. Ltd. show how administration, religion and commercial mining were layered onto the existing landscape.

The map is especially valuable because it presents Nauru before the full consequences of phosphate extraction became apparent. It shows an island whose settlements were concentrated around the coast, while the elevated interior remained a mapped landscape of contours, tracks and working areas.