Islands were ceded by Spain to Germany through the German–Spanish Treaty (1899), together with the rest of the Mariana Islands (except Guam). The formalities of cession were carried on November 17, 1899, in Saipan, for all the Northern Mariana Islands. Following the sale of the Northern Marianas by Spain to the German Empire in 1899, the Maug islands were administered as part of German New Guinea. In 1903, the island was leased to a Japanese company, who hunted birds for feathers for export to Japan, and from there to Paris. During World War I, the Maug Islands came under the control of the Empire of Japan and were subsequently administered as part of the South Seas Mandate. The Japanese established a weather station on the islands, and a fish processing plant. The island became part of the vast US US Naval Base Marianas. During World War II, the German auxiliary cruiser Orion rendezvoused with supply ships in January–February 1941 at the caldera of the Maug Islands. Following World War II, the island came under the control of the United States and was administered as part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. Since 1978, the island has been part of the Northern Islands Municipality of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. In 1985, per the Constitution of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the islands were designated as a wilderness area for the protection and conservation of natural resources. Since 2009, the submerged lands and waters around the island have been part of Marianas Trench Marine National Monument of the United States. Gallery See also List of stratovolcanoes References External links Pascal Horst Lehne and Christoph Gäbler: Über die Marianen. Lehne-Verlag, Wohldorf in Germany 1972. Former German colonies Uninhabited islands of the Northern Mariana Islands Stratovolcanoes of the United States Volcanoes of the Northern Mariana Islands Islands of the Northern Mariana Islands Archipelagoes of the Pacific Ocean Calderas of Oceania Important Bird Areas of the Northern Mariana Islands Seabird colonies