Club ·  Papua New Guinea - Bismarck Archipelago - New Ireland · ID: 3053456

Description

heavy wood, pigments, handwritten collection number “69674 C. N. Hannover Merten Lindenmuseum”

Johannes Merten was a German naval officer in the Imperial German Navy who later was in the service of the Ottoman Empire. Of particular interest in relation to the South Seas is his role as commander of the survey ship “Möwe” between 1897 and 1899.

From an ethnographic perspective, this period coincided with a time of intense German presence in the Pacific, during which naval officers were frequently involved, albeit indirectly, in colonial contacts with local societies. Survey ships such as the “Möwe” not only served scientific and military interests but were often linked to the mapping of indigenous territories and trade networks. Much of the information, artefacts and observations from such expeditions later found their way into ethnological museums across Europe.