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SAMOA. 



SAMOA, a kingdom in the western Pacific, 

 occupying the Samoan Islands, formerly known 

 as the Navigator Islands.* The group of twelve 

 islands, two of which are uninhabited, has an 

 area of 1,000 square miles, and contained in 

 1874 a population of 34/265 natives, of whom 

 16,568 lived on the island of Upolu, 12,530 on 

 Savaii, 3,746 on Tutuila, and 1,431 on the other 

 islands. There are about 300 whites and 1,000 

 imported Polynesian laborers employed on the 

 plantations. The cocoanut plantations, the 

 incipient cotton and coffee cultures, and the 

 trade in copra, which is the chief article of ex- 

 port, are conducted mainly by Germans, who 

 have their commercial headquarters in this part 

 of the Pacific at Apia. The principal imports 

 are cotton goods, hardware, arms, ammunition, 

 building-material, coal for steamers, provis- 

 ions, beer, and tobacco. The total value of 

 the imports in 1885 was $468,000; of exports, 

 $369,000. The share of Germany in the im- 

 ports was $355,000, and in the exports $295,- 

 000. Of 88 vessels, with an aggregate tonnage 

 of 22,003, that were engaged in 1886 in the for- 



Godeffrois in a scheme to acquire the adminis- 

 tration of the finances and the political control 

 of the country, instigated Malietoa to make 

 war on Tupua, and by means of fire-arms sup- 

 plied by the German company in exchange for 

 grants of land the former made himself sole 

 King, and chose Steinberger for his Prime Min- 

 ister, dismissing and banishing him, however, 

 as soon as he discovered his real purposes. 

 The Germans then furnished the adherents of 

 the rival dynasty with war material, and Ma- 

 lietoa was forced to abdicate; but the major- 

 ity of the people remained true to him, and he 

 fought his way back to power. His position 

 was strengthened by the official recognition of 

 the United States Government, which was 

 anxious to secure the confirmation of the ces- 

 sion of the port of Pango Pango for a naval 

 and coaling station, which had been made in 

 1872 by the then sovereign chief of the part 

 of Tutuila in which it is situate. A treaty was 

 signed at Washington on Jan. 17, 1878, and 

 the ratifications exchanged on February 13, by 

 which the right to establish at Pango Pango a 



eign and coastwise trade, 37, of 14,588, carried 

 the German flag. The house of Godeffroi and 

 Son, Hamburg merchants, since succeeded by 

 the German Trading and Plantation Company, 

 took the lead in developing the copra-trade in 

 the Samoan Islands. The imports of this com- 

 pany in 1885 were valued at $308,000, and its 

 exports at $532,000. 



History. Formerly there were ten independ- 

 ent chiefs on the island of Tutuila, while the 

 remaining islands were governed from time 

 immemorial by the two royal houses of Malie- 

 toa and Tupua. In 1873, at the suggestion 

 of foreign residents, a House of Nobles and a 

 House of Representatives were established, 

 with Malietoa Laupepa and the chief of the 

 royal house of Tupua as joint Kings. The isl- 

 anders had been converted to Christianity by 

 American and French missionaries, and the 

 commerce was divided between the Americans 

 and the English until the cocoanut culture and 

 the exportation of copra grew to large propor- 

 tions in the hands of the Germans. Stein- 

 berger, who went to Samoa in 1875, nominally 

 as a special agent of the United States Govern- 

 ment, but in reality as the secret agent of the 



* For another map. showing 1 some of the islands on a larger 

 scale, see the " Annual Cyclopaedia" lor 1SS6, page 793. 



station for coal and naval supplies, freedom of 

 trade, commercial treatment as a favored na- 

 tion, and extra-territorial consular jurisdiction 

 were secured to the United States. On Jan. 24, 

 1879, King Malietoa made a perpetual treaty 

 of amity and commerce with Germany, and 

 by a special clause confirmed the grants of 

 all lands acquired by Germans, and debarred 

 himself from future interference with regard 

 to their lands, plantations, wharves, and houses. 

 Soon afterward civil war broke out again, 

 and at the end of the fighting Malietoa was 

 firmly established upon the throne. This fact 

 was recognized in a proclamation that was 

 signed by the American, British, and Ger- 

 man consuls, which was issued by the British 

 Commissioner for the Western Pacific. Sir Ar- 

 thur Gordon, who. on Aug. 27, 1879, made 

 a treaty with Malietoa securing to England 

 most - favored - nation treatment, extra-terri- 

 torial jurisdiction, and the right to select a 

 harbor for a naval station and coaling depot. 

 On Sept. 2, 1879, a convention was agreed 

 upon between the United States, Germany, 

 Great Britain, and Samoa, by the terms of 

 which the administration of the tow r n and dis- 

 trict of Apia was as?umed by the consular au- 

 thorities for three years, at the end of which 



