Editing Samoa (section)

===19th century===
Visits by American trading and [[whaling]] vessels were important in the early economic development of Samoa. The [[Salem, Massachusetts|Salem]] brig ''Roscoe'' (Captain Benjamin Vanderford), in October 1821, was the first American trading vessel known to have called, and the ''Maro'' (Captain Richard Macy) of [[Nantucket]], in 1824, was the first recorded United States whaler at Samoa.<ref>Rhys Richards, (1992), ''Samoa's forgotten whaling heritage; American whaling in Samoan waters 1824-1878'', Wellington, Lithographic Services, pp.18-20.</ref> The whalers came for fresh drinking water, firewood, provisions and, later, for recruiting local men to serve as crewmen on their ships. The last recorded whaler visitor was the ''Governor Morton'' in 1870.<ref>Langdon, Robert (1984) ''Where the whalers went; an index to the Pacific ports and islands visited by American whalers (and some other ships) in the 19th century'', Canberra, Pacific Manuscripts Bureau, p.215. {{ISBN|086784471X}}</ref>

Christian missionary work in Samoa began in 1830 when [[John Williams (missionary)|John Williams]] of the [[London Missionary Society]] arrived in [[Sapapali'i]] from the [[Cook Islands]] and [[Tahiti]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Watson |first=R.M. |title=History of Samoa: THE ADVENT OF THE MISSIONARY. (1830.1839) |year=1919 |pages=Chapter III |url=http://www.samoa.co.uk/books/history-of-samoa/history-of-samoa-3.html |no-pp=true |access-date=27 November 2007 |archive-date=3 May 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110503192826/http://www.samoa.co.uk/books/history-of-samoa/history-of-samoa-3.html |url-status=live }}</ref> According to Barbara A. West, "The Samoans were also known to engage in 'headhunting', a ritual of war in which a warrior took the head of his slain opponent to give to his leader, thus proving his bravery."<ref>West, Barbara A. (2008). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=pCiNqFj3MQsC Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Asia and Oceania] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170324213507/https://books.google.com/books?id=pCiNqFj3MQsC |date=24 March 2017 }}''. Infobase Publishing. p. 704. {{ISBN|0-8160-7109-8}}</ref>

In ''[[A Footnote to History: Eight Years of Trouble in Samoa]]'' (1892), [[Robert Louis Stevenson]] details the activities of the [[great power]]s battling for influence in Samoa&nbsp;– the United States, Germany and Britain&nbsp;– and the political machinations of the various Samoan factions within their indigenous political system.<ref name="rlssite">{{cite web |url=http://www.robert-louis-stevenson.org/other-writing/22-footnote-to-history |title=A Footnote to History: Eight Years of Trouble in Samoa, 1892 |publisher=RLS website |access-date=January 23, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150109161424/http://www.robert-louis-stevenson.org/other-writing/22-footnote-to-history |archive-date=January 9, 2015}}</ref><ref name=":0">Stevenson, Robert Louis (1892). ''[http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/536 A Footnote to History: Eight Years of Trouble in Samoa] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210506083402/https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/536 |date=6 May 2021 }}'' at Gutenberg. {{ISBN|978-1847187598}}</ref> Even as they descended into ever greater interclan warfare, what most alarmed Stevenson was the Samoans' economic innocence. In 1894, just months before his death, he addressed the island chiefs:

{{Blockquote|text=There is but one way to defend Samoa. Hear it before it is too late. It is to make roads, and gardens, and care for your trees, and sell their produce wisely, and, in one word, to occupy and use your country&nbsp;... if you do not occupy and use your country, others will. It will not continue to be yours or your children's, if you occupy it for nothing. You and your children will in that case be cast out into outer darkness.}}

He had "seen these judgments of God" in [[Hawaiian Kingdom|Hawaii]], where abandoned native churches stood like tombstones "over a grave, in the midst of the white men's sugar fields".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lang |first1=Andrew |title=The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson Vol 25, Appendix II |date=1911 |publisher=Chatto and Windnes |location=London |url=https://www.readcentral.com/mobile/chapters/Andrew-Lang/The-Works-of-Robert-Louis-Stevenson-Vol-25/011 |access-date=23 October 2020 |archive-date=27 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201027055506/https://www.readcentral.com/mobile/chapters/Andrew-Lang/The-Works-of-Robert-Louis-Stevenson-Vol-25/011 |url-status=live }}</ref>
[[File:3 Samoan girls making ava 1909.jpg|thumb|left|Studio photo depicting preparation of the [[Samoa 'ava ceremony]] {{Circa|1911}}]]
[[File:Urville-Apia-public.jpg|thumb|left|Interior of Samoan house, Apia, Urville 1842]]
[[File:Robert Louis Stevenson birthday fete, Samoa 1896.jpg|thumb|[[Robert Louis Stevenson]]'s birthday fete at Vailima, 1894]]

The Germans, in particular, began to show great commercial interest in the [[Samoan Islands]], especially on the island of Upolu, where German firms monopolised [[copra]] and [[cocoa bean]] processing. The United States laid its own claim, based on commercial shipping interests in Pearl Harbor in [[Hawaii]] and Pago Pago Bay in eastern Samoa, and forced alliances, most conspicuously on the islands of [[Tutuila]] and [[Manu'a]], which became [[American Samoa]].

Britain also sent troops to protect British business enterprise, harbour rights, and consulate office. This was followed by an [[Samoan Civil War|eight-year civil war]], during which each of the three powers supplied arms, training and in some cases combat troops to the warring Samoan parties. The [[Samoan crisis]] came to a critical juncture in March 1889 when all three colonial contenders sent warships into Apia harbour, and a larger-scale war seemed imminent. A massive storm on 15 March 1889 damaged or destroyed the warships, ending the military conflict.<ref>{{cite book |author=Stevenson, Robert Louis |title=A Footnote to History: Eight Years of Trouble in Samoa |year=1892 |publisher=BiblioBazaar |isbn=978-1-4264-0754-3 |title-link=A Footnote to History: Eight Years of Trouble in Samoa}}</ref>

The [[Second Samoan Civil War]] reached a head in 1898 when [[German Empire|Germany]], the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|United Kingdom]], and the United States were locked in dispute over who should control the Samoan Islands. The [[Siege of Apia]] occurred in March 1899. Samoan forces loyal to Prince [[Malietoa Tanumafili I|Tanu]] were besieged by a larger force of Samoan rebels loyal to [[Mata'afa Iosefo|Mataʻafa Iosefo]]. Supporting Prince Tanu were landing parties from four British and American warships. After several days of fighting, the Samoan rebels were finally defeated.<ref>Mains, P. John; McCarty, Louis Philippe (1906). The Statistician and Economist: Volume 23. p. 249</ref>
[[File:Samoan Paramount chief Mataafa Iosefa, 1896.jpg|left|thumb|upright|[[Mata'afa Iosefo|Mataʻafa Iosefo]] (1832–1912), paramount chief and rival for the kingship of Samoa]]
[[File:Escorting Tanumafili I.jpg|thumb|The joint commission of [[German Empire|Germany]], the United States and [[British Empire|Great Britain]] abolished the Samoan kingship in June 1899.]]
[[File:Lauaki Namulau'ulu Mamoe (standing 3rd from left with orator's staff) and other chiefs aboard German warship taking them to exile in Saipan, 2909.jpg|right|thumb|Exiled orator Lauaki Namulauʻulu Mamoe (standing third from left with orator's staff) and other chiefs aboard German warship taking them to exile in Saipan, 1909]]

American and British warships shelled Apia on 15 March 1899, including the [[USS Philadelphia (C-4)|USS ''Philadelphia'']]. Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States quickly resolved to end the hostilities and divided the island chain at the [[Tripartite Convention (1899)|Tripartite Convention of 1899]], signed at Washington on 2 December 1899 with ratifications exchanged on 16 February 1900.<ref name=GHR>Ryden, George Herbert. ''The Foreign Policy of the United States in Relation to Samoa''. New York: Octagon Books, 1975. (Reprint by special arrangement with Yale University Press. Originally published at New Haven: Yale University Press, 1928), p. 574</ref><ref name=":022">{{Cite book |last=Pedersen |first=Susan |author-link=Susan Pedersen (historian) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tu2kCQAAQBAJ |title=The Guardians: The League of Nations and the Crisis of Empire |date=2015 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-957048-5 |pages=169–192 |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199570485.001.0001 |access-date=19 March 2023 |archive-date=4 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404151951/https://books.google.com/books?id=tu2kCQAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref>

The eastern island-group became a territory of the United States (the Tutuila Islands in 1900 and officially Manu'a in 1904) and was known as American Samoa. The western islands, by far the greater landmass, became [[German Samoa]]. The United Kingdom had vacated all claims in Samoa and in return received (1) termination of German rights in [[Tonga]], (2) all of the Solomon Islands south of Bougainville, and (3) territorial alignments in West Africa.<ref>Ryden, p. 571</ref>