Editing German Samoa (section)

==Expansion of German influence==
{{See also|Samoan Civil War|Samoan crisis|Second Samoan Civil War|Siege of Apia}}

In 1855, [[Johann Cesar VI. Godeffroy|J. C. Godeffroy & Sohn]] expanded its trading business into the [[Pacific]] following negotiations by August Unshelm, Godeffroy's agent in Valparaíso. He sailed out to the [[Samoan Islands]], which were then known as the Navigator Islands. During the second half of the 19th century, German influence in [[Samoa]] expanded with large scale plantation operations being introduced for coconut, cacao and hevea rubber cultivation, especially on the island of 'Upolu where German firms monopolised [[copra]] and [[cocoa bean]] processing.

The trading operations of J. C. Godeffroy & Sohn extended to islands in the Central Pacific.<ref name="SM">{{cite web| last = Masterman| first = Sylvia |title= The Origins of International Rivalry in Samoa: 1845–1884, Chapter ii. The Godeffroy Firm|publisher= George Allen and Unwin Ltd, London [[NZETC]] |page=63|year =1934|url= http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-MasOrig-t1-body1-d4-d2.html| access-date=15 April 2013}}</ref> In 1865, a trading captain acting on behalf of J. C. Godeffroy & Sohn obtained a 25-year lease to the eastern islet of Niuoku of [[Nukulaelae|Nukulaelae Atoll]].<ref name="GP">{{cite book |author1=Suamalie N.T. Iosefa |author2=Doug Munro |author3=Niko Besnier | title=Tala O Niuoku, Te: the German Plantation on Nukulaelae Atoll 1865-1890 | year= 1991 | publisher= Institute of Pacific Studies |isbn=9820200733}}</ref> J. C. Godeffroy und Sohn was taken over in 1879 by Handels-und Plantagen-Gesellschaft der Südsee-Inseln zu Hamburg (DHPG). Competition in the trading operations in the Central Pacific came from Ruge, Hedemann & Co, established in 1875,<ref name="SM"/> which was succeeded by H. M. Ruge and Company until that firm failed in about 1887.<ref name="TAHD">{{cite book |editor1-first= Hugh |editor1-last=Laracy |title= Tuvalu: A History |year= 1983 |publisher= Institute of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific and Government of Tuvalu |pages=196–197|chapter=The ‘Ownership’ of Niulakita, 1880-1896 }}</ref>

Tensions caused in part by the conflicting interests of the [[German Empire|German]] traders and plantation owners and British business enterprises and American business interests led to the first [[Samoan Civil War]]. The war was fought roughly between 1886 and 1894, primarily between Samoans though the German military intervened on several occasions. The [[United States]] and the [[United Kingdom]] opposed the German activity which led to a [[Samoan crisis|confrontation]] in [[Apia Harbour]] in 1887.<ref>{{cite book |last=Stevenson |first=Robert Louis |title=[[A Footnote to History: Eight Years of Trouble in Samoa]]|year=1892|publisher=BiblioBazaar |isbn=1-4264-0754-8}}</ref>

In 1899 after the [[Second Samoan Civil War]], the Samoan Islands were divided by the three involved powers.  The Samoa [[Tripartite Convention]] gave control of the islands west of 171 degrees west longitude to Germany, the eastern islands to the United States (present-day [[American Samoa]]) and the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|United Kingdom]] was compensated with other territories in the Pacific and West Africa.<ref name=GHR/>