Spain and Germany sign an official but unpublished declaration on the cession.

What happened

Spain had lost the Philippines and Guam to the United States in 1898 and had little reason to keep its remaining Pacific islands. A secret accord in December 1898 had already prepared a sale to Germany, and this declaration settled the terms before the formal treaty. Spanish scholarship dates it 12 February; the 1920 German Kolonial-Lexikon gives 8 February, and the sources leave the difference open.

Why it matters

As one historian notes, the people of the islands had no say in this change of colonial rulers.