Editing History of the Marshall Islands (section)

===Western commercial interests===
[[File:HH1883 pg123 Hafen von Jaluit, Marshall-Inseln.jpg|alt=Jaluit station, Marshall Islands, ca. 1880. Picture published in Südsee-Erinnerungen, p 123.|thumb|German trading station at [[Jaluit Atoll]] with a Marshallese ''[[Walap|korkor]]'' outrigger canoe in the foreground, c. 1880<ref>{{harvnb|Mückler|2016|p=105}}</ref>]]

In 1859, the German firm Hoffschlaeger & Stapenhorst sent two traders to establish a trading post at [[Ebon Atoll]]. In 1861, they built a coconut oil factory on the island.<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|pp=210–211}}</ref> In 1863, the firm suffered serious financial setbacks and withdrew from the Marshall Islands, partially due to the sinking of one of its ships while leaving Ebon. One of the traders, {{ill|Adolph Capelle|de|Georg Eduard Adolph Capelle}}, set up an independent trading firm on the island by partnering with Anton Jose DeBrum, a Portuguese whaler who arrived in 1864. Both men married local women and developed strong connections with both the Marshall Islanders and the missionaries.<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|p=213}}</ref> Their firm, Capelle & Co., entered into an agreement to sell coconut [[copra]] to [[Johann Cesar VI. Godeffroy|Godeffroy & Son]] of [[Hamburg]],<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|p=214}}</ref> a company which pioneered the production of copra in Samoa and Tonga and held a large share of Pacific copra trade.<ref>{{harvnb|Bollard|1981|p=7}}</ref> Godeffroy exported copra to Europe where it was processed into animal feed and coconut oil, which was used in soap and candle manufacturing.<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|pp=211–212}}</ref> The German firms traded western goods to Marshallese chiefs in exchange for coconuts, which Marshallese commoners harvested as tribute for the chiefs.<ref name="Hezel216">{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|p=216}}</ref>

In 1873, Capelle & Co. moved its headquarters to [[Jaluit Atoll|Jaluit]], which was the home of [[Kabua the Great|Kabua]], a powerful [[iroijlaplap|iroij]] and disputed successor of Kaibuke.<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|p=215}}</ref> Godeffroy & Son also established trading posts on five islands in 1873 with a main office on Jaluit,<ref>{{harvnb|Firth|1973|p=12}}</ref> but the [[Panic of 1873|European stock market crash]] later that year caused the firm to cut back its operations. Capelle dominated the copra market in the early years, but in 1876, [[Hernsheim & Co]]. and New Zealand merchant Thomas Farrell both began copra trading in the Marshall Islands.<ref name="Hezel216"/> The increased competition set off a price war that disrupted the industry and proved advantageous for Marshallese suppliers. The firms also began selling the Marshallese previously prohibited goods, including alcohol, firearms, and munitions, despite the missionaries' complaints.<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|p=223}}</ref>

[[File:German colonial album 1880s img26.jpg|thumb|The offices of the Pacific Navigation Co. on Jaluit in the late 1880s<ref>{{harvnb|Mückler|2016|p=244}}</ref>]]

By 1878, Hernsheim & Co. had emerged as the dominant firm in the copra trade. While Capelle & Co. lost market share, Capelle and DeBrum purchased the entirety of [[Likiep Atoll]] as a copra plantation to control their buying price and supply of copra. Capelle & Co. also diversified its interests to include shipbuilding and importing. Farrell went bankrupt in 1877, and his assets were acquired by [[Auckland]] firm Henderson & Macfarlane.<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|pp=225–226}}</ref> Godeffroy & Son went bankrupt in 1879, and in 1880, its Pacific interests were acquired by the German Trading and Plantation Company of the South Sea Islands in Hamburg ({{langx|de|Deutsche Handels- und Plantagen-Gesellschaft Der Südee Inseln zu Hamburg}}), also known as DHPG.<ref>{{harvnb|Bollard|1981|p=16}}</ref> The world market price of copra dropped in 1882; Capelle & Co. sold seven of its stations in the Marshalls to DHPG and made an agreement to exclusively sell copra to Hernsheim & Co.<ref name="Hezel304">{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|p=304}}</ref> By 1885, the German firms DHPG and Hernsheim & Co. controlled two-thirds of the copra trade in the Marshall Islands, with the rest split between Henderson & Macfarlane of Auckland, Crawford & Co. of [[San Francisco]], and the Pacific Navigation Company of [[Honolulu]].<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|2003|p=46}}</ref>

====Blackbirding====
{{Main|Blackbirding}}
In the 1870s, Marshall Islanders were coerced into working on plantations in other parts of the Pacific, a practice was known as "[[blackbirding]]". In 1871, the ships ''Eugene'' and ''Carl'' kidnapped men at Ailinglaplap and Mili Atolls, respectively.<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|pp=237–238}}</ref> In 1872, trader [[Bully Hayes|William Henry "Bully" Hayes]] kidnapped women on Mili while pirating the stations of business rivals.<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|p=235}}</ref> Several blackbirding ships cruised the northern Marshalls specifically to obtain women that they could sell into [[sexual slavery]] in Fiji.<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|p=237}}</ref> Mortality rates among Micronesian laborers in Fiji and Samoa were high, and few returned home.<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|p=239}}</ref> The labor trade in Marshall Islands declined somewhat after the British government passed the Pacific Islander Protection Act 1872, but Jaluit continued to serve as a depot for transporting [[Micronesians#Kiribati people|Gilbertese]] laborers and some Marshallese were transported to Hawaiian plantations as late as 1882.<ref>{{harvnb|Hezel|1983|pp=237; 239–240}}</ref>