Christian Martin Kleis (1850–1908), known as Martin Kleis, was born in

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

and died in the Ellice Islands (

Tuvalu Tuvalu ( ) is an island country in the Polynesian subregion of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean, about midway between Hawaii and Australia. It lies east-northeast of the Santa Cruz Islands (which belong to the Solomon Islands), northeast of Van ...

). Kleis was the resident trader on Nui in the late 19th century. Kleis sold

copra Copra (from ; ; ; ) is the dried, white flesh of the coconut from which coconut oil is extracted. Traditionally, the coconuts are sun-dried, especially for export, before the oil, also known as copra oil, is pressed out. The oil extracted ...

to Henderson and Macfarlane.Doug Munro, ''The Lives and Times of Resident Traders in Tuvalu: An Exercise in History from Below'', (1987) 10(2) Pacific Studies 73 In 1892 Captain E.H.M. Davis of reported on trading activities and traders on each of the Ellice Islands. The ship visited Nui on 29 July 1892. Captain Davis recorded in the ship’s journal that Kleis exported about 100 tons of copra in a good year.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kleis, Christian Martin 1850 births 1908 deaths Date of death missing History of Tuvalu Danish expatriates in Tuvalu