In the 1880s Britain ceded its interests in Samoa to Germany in exchange for territory elsewhere. Which territory?

gtho4

Tonga, Solomon Is, and Nuie. Tensions escalated between Britain, the USA and Germany and, in the late 1880s, all three nations sent fleets of warships to the harbour of Apia to defend their claims to the islands. A contemporary Samoan author described the situation as three large dogs snarling over a very small bone. They were brought to their collective senses by a natural disaster. In March 1889, one of the worst cyclones ever seen hit Apia. The Germans lost three warships, the Americans three and British escaped out of the harbour just in time. 92 Germans and 54 Americans were killed. Whether it was the realisation that this paradise could in fact be a dangerous place or simply the shock of such loss of life, the cyclone led to the three powers signing the 1889 Berlin Treaty. Under the Treaty, an Independent Samoa was established under a Samoan ruler to ensure neutrality from Britain, the USA and Germany. The Treaty resulted in internal tensions in Samoa and there was an upsurge in fighting between the Samoan dynastic families as they sought power. This threatened to destroy trade, and the three powers stepped in again to protect their interests. In 1899, the Tripartite Treaty was signed by Britain, the USA and Germany. Under the Treaty, Germany assumed control of the Samoan islands west of the 171st parallel and the USA took over the eastern islands. Britain had sole claim to Tonga, the Solomons and Nuie. Thus the two nations of Samoa came into being. The division of the country was undertaken without recourse to consulting the people of Samoa, which unsurprisingly resulted in enormous resentment against the new foreign control. A fierce independence movement sprang up in Western Samoa in particular, where the Germans held power. http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A2757855 : http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A2757855">http://www.bbc.co.uk Jun 29 06, 9:28 PM