A secret Spanish–German accord prepares the sale of the Carolines, price still to be set.

What happened

Spain had just lost its 1898 war with the United States, which took the Philippines and Guam. Historian Belén Pozuelo traces how the secret Spanish–German accord led to an official but unpublished declaration in February 1899, a law of 24 June, and a treaty signed in Madrid on 30 June 1899 for 25 million pesetas.

Why it matters

The sale ended Spanish rule and began the German period in the islands that now form the FSM.