In 1900, according to the Tripartite Convention and following the Second Samoan Civil War, the Samoan Islands were annexed by the German Empire, except for the part that is to become American Samoa.Ryden, The Foreign Policy of the United States in Relation to Samoa, p. 574; Great Britain vacated all claims to Samoa and accepted as quid pro quo termination of German rights in Tonga and certain areas in the Solomon Islands and in West Africa.Wilhelm II, the German Emperor, is styled "Tupu Sili o Samoa" ("Paramount King of Samoa"). Horst Gründer: Geschichte der deutschen Kolonien, 4. Aufl., Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn 2000, S. 183
