The area was first charted by Dutch explorers in 1616, but it was not until the early 1900s (decade) that Kavieng town was founded by the German colonial administration.

Though some on the island became quite wealthy with the development of copra plantations, Kavieng itself remained a tiny settlement, with as few as eighty residents.

Rear Admiral Ryukichi Tamura gave the order to kill all the European prisoners in Kavieng if an imminent invasion by Allied forces was expected.

At least twenty-three of these were executed in the Kavieng Wharf Massacre in March 1944, which later led to the perpetrators being sentenced for war crimes.

As a result of the Japanese occupation and subsequent Allied invasion there are a number of wartime relics in the town, most notably a large gun sitting above a bunker adjacent to the Harbour Road.

Kavieng has a tropical rainforest climate (Af) with hot days, warm nights, and heavy rainfall year-round.