Christian Martin Kleis (1850–1908), known as Martin Kleis, was born in Denmark and died in the Ellice Islands (Tuvalu). Kleis was the resident trader on Nui in the late 19th century.
Kleis sold copra to Henderson and Macfarlane. In 1892 Captain E.H.M. Davis of HMS Royalist 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
- Roberts, R. G. (1958). "Short History of the Ellice Islands". The Journal of the Polynesian Society. 67: 394–423.
- Chambers, Keith S.; Chambers, Anne (2001). Unity of Heart: Culture and Change in a Polynesian Atoll Society. Prospect Hts, Illinois: Waveland Press. p. 74. ISBN 1-57766-166-4.
- Mahaffy, Arthur (1910). "(CO 225/86/26804)". Report by Mr. Arthur Mahaffy on a visit to the Gilbert and Ellice Islands. Great Britain, Colonial Office, High Commission for Western Pacific Islands (London: His Majesty's Stationery Office).
- "Christian Martin Kleis" (PDF). TPB 02/2012 Tuvalu Philatelic Bureau. 2012. Retrieved 19 November 2018.
- Pape, Sotaga (1983). "Chapter 10 – Nui". In Laracy, Hugh (ed.). Tuvalu: A History. Institute of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific and Government of Tuvalu. p. 76.
- Doug Munro, The Lives and Times of Resident Traders in Tuvalu: An Exercise in History from Below, (1987) 10(2) Pacific Studies 73
- The proceedings of H.M.S. "Royalist", Captain E.H.M. Davis, R.N., May-August, 1892, in the Gilbert, Ellice and Marshall Islands.