The Hamburg South Seas Expedition’s Micronesian year, under Augustin Krämer, records genealogies, canoes, navigation and Nan Madol, and collects objects.

What happened

The Hamburg South Seas Expedition was funded by the Hamburg Scientific Foundation and German museums. Its researchers, including Paul Hambruch, recorded chiefly genealogies, architecture, canoes, navigation and sites such as Nan Madol, producing some of the earliest detailed accounts of these societies. Over its two years the expedition gathered more than 12,000 objects, which went to German museums.

Why it matters

Many Micronesian objects in German museums today were collected by this expedition.