Editing History of Oceania (section)

=== American colonialism ===
{{further|Guano Islands Act}}
The United States also expanded into the Pacific, beginning with [[Baker Island]] and [[Howland Island]] in 1857, and with Hawaii becoming a [[Territory of Hawaii|U.S. territory]] in 1898. Territorial disputes between the US, Germany and UK over Samoa led to the [[Tripartite Convention (1899)|Tripartite Convention of 1899]].

Samoa aligned its interests with the United States in a Deed of Succession, signed by the ''[[Tui Manua Elisala|Tui Manúʻa]]'' (supreme chief of Manúʻa) on 16 July 1904 at the Crown residence of the Tuimanuʻa called the ''Faleula'' in the place called Lalopua (from Official documents of the Tuimanuʻa government, 1893; Office of the Governor, 2004).

Cession followed the [[Tripartite Convention (1899)|Tripartite Convention of 1899]] that partitioned the eastern islands of [[Samoa]] (including Tutuila and the Manúʻa Group) from the western islands of Samoa (including ʻUpolu and Savaiʻi).