American Samoa

According to native tradition, the Samoan Islands were the original home of the Polynesian race, from which colonists peopled the other Polynesian islands of the Pacific. Ethnologists, however, now believe that two separate waves of immigrants populated Samoa, the first group probably originating in the Middle East. The later migration displaced the original Samoans, who then began to colonize the more easterly islands of Polynesia.

The first European to visit the islands in 1722 was Jacob Roggeveen, a Dutch navigator. In 1768 Louis Antoine de Bougainville, a French explorer, named the group the Navigators Islands. During the 19th century Germany, Great Britain, and the United States established commercial posts on the islands. In 1878 the United States annexed Pago Pago for use as a naval coaling station. In 1888 local disturbances resulting from the selection of a king created a crisis among the three powers. The matter was settled by the Act of Berlin in 1889, which proclaimed the independence and neutrality of the islands and guaranteed the indigenous people full liberty in the election of their king. In 1899, during the course of an internal civil war, the United States and Great Britain formed an alliance against Germany, and Apia, the site of the German station, was shelled by British and US ships. Agreement, however, was reached in the same year. By the treaty then concluded, Germany received the islands west of longitude 171° west, United States sovereignty was recognized over the islands east of the meridian, and Great Britain received the Solomon Islands and Tonga as compensation. The chiefs of Tutuila and Aunuu ceded these islands to the United States in 1900, and the Manua group was ceded in 1904. Swains Island was annexed by the United States in 1925 and added to American Samoa.

The islands were administered by the US Navy until 1951, when they came under the US Department of the Interior. The Samoans approved a territorial constitution in 1960, and adopted a revised constitution in 1967. They have also largely preserved the traditional way of life, the fa’asamoa, which has long been of interest to Western anthropologists and ethnologists, and time-honoured social structures, dominated by the aiga and the matai. Nevertheless, this status-based social system has recently been challenged by modern influences. Situated in the tropical zone, Samoa experiences frequent weather disturbances; in December 1991, Typhoon Val caused damage worth $80 million.

The National Park of American Samoa opened in October 1988. It covers an area of about 4,253 hectares (10,500 acres), which includes about 3,240 hectares (8,000 acres) of tropical rainforest as well as coral reefs and beaches. The Park is located on Tutuila, Tau, and Ofu. Other places of interest include Aunuu with its red quicksands, and the Fagatele Bay National Marine Sanctuary.