Encyclopedia
Samoa, officially the
Independent State of Samoa, is a country comprising a
group of islands in the South
Pacific Ocean. Previous names were
German Samoa from 1900 to 1919, and
Western Samoa from 1914 to 1997. It was recognized by the
United Nations on 15 December 1976 as Samoa. The entire group was known as
Navigators Islands before the 20th century because of the Samoans' excellent seafaring skills. It has a population of 176,710 .
History
Some historians hypothesize that the first Polynesians to arrive in the Samoan Islands came over several generations from Southeast Asia, via
Fiji and
Tonga, more than 3000 years ago and from there settled the rest of
Polynesia: first traveling eastward to the
Marquesas Islands, and from there southwest, via the
Society Islands to
New Zealand, southeast to
Easter Island, and northward to
Hawai'i. Samoa enjoys a rich history, preserved in folklore and myth, of voyages across the ocean, conquests of different islands, and interisland warfare with other West Polynesian polities, mainly the Kingdom of Tonga and certain Fijian chieftainships. Some people believe that a temple on the island of Manono has a record, using a system of stone cairns, that commemorates more than 150 wars.
Robert Louis Stevenson, who spent the last four years of his life in Samoa, remarked that "War is Samoa's favourite pastime." .
Contact with
Europeans began in 1722, but intensified after the 1830s, when
English missionaries and traders began arriving. Mission work in Samoa was begun in late 1830 by
John Williams, of the London Missionary Society. By that time, the Samoans had gained a reputation of being savage and warlike, as they had clashed with French, British, German, and American forces, who, by the late nineteenth century, valued Samoa as a refueling station for coal-fired shipping.
As Germany began to show more interest in the Samoan Islands, the United States laid its own claim to them; Britain sent troops to express its interest. There followed an eight-year civil war. Each of the three powers supplied arms, training, and in some cases combat troops, to the warring Samoan parties. All three sent warships into Apia harbor, and a larger-scale war seemed imminent, until a massive storm damaged or destroyed the warships, ending the military conflict. At the turn of the twentieth century, the Treaty of Berlin split the
Samoan Islands into two parts: the eastern group became a territory of the
United States , and are today known as
American Samoa; the western islands, by far the greater landmass, became known as German Samoa after the British gave up claims to the islands in return for Fiji and some Melanesian territories.
New Zealand troops landed in 'Upolu on 29 August 1914 and seized control from the German authorities; after that, the western islands became known as Western Samoa.
From the end of the Great War until 1962, New Zealand controlled Samoa as a Class "C" Mandate under trusteeship through the
League of Nations, followed by the United Nations. Though never a member of the
British Commonwealth, it enjoyed many benefits through its relationship with New Zealand. The Western Samoans began a campaign known as the Mau to protest the foreign administration, claiming mistreatment of the Samoan people and blaming outsiders for the death of a fourth or fifth of the population during the Spanish flu pandemic, which ravaged the western islands and much of the world in 1918. In 1962, Western Samoa became the first Pacific Island state to regain its independence. In many ways though, it remains closely tied to New Zealand.
In July 1997, the constitution was amended to change the country's name from
Western Samoa to
Samoa. Samoa had been known simply as
Samoa in the
United Nations since joining the organization, in 1976. The U.S. territory of
American Samoa protested the move, asserting that the change diminished its own identity. American Samoans still use the terms
Western Samoa and
Western Samoans to describe the independent State of Samoa and its inhabitants. While the two Samoas share language and ethnicity, their cultures have recently followed different paths, with American Samoans often emigrating to
Hawai'i and the U.S. mainland and adopting many U.S. customs, such as the playing of
American football and
baseball. Western Samoans have tended to emigrate to New Zealand, whose influence has made the sports of
rugby and
cricket more popular in the western islands.
Politics
Politics of Samoa takes place in a framework of a
parliamentary representative democratic
monarchy, whereby the Prime Minister of Samoa is the head of government, and of a pluriform multiparty system. The Head of State, His Highness Malietoa Tanumafili II. Executive power is exercised by the government. Federal
legislative power is vested in both the government and the Fono. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.
Districts
Samoa is made up of eleven districts, some of which are split between different parts of the islands.
| District | |
|---|
| A'ana | 20,167 |
Aiga-i-le-Tai
| 4,508 |
| Atua | 21,168 |
| Fa'asaleleaga | 12,949 |
| Gaga'emauga | 7,108 |
| Gaga'ifomauga | 4,770 |
| Palauli | 8,984 |
| Satupa'itea | 5,556 |
| Tuamasaga | 83,191 |
| Va'a-o-Fonoti | 1,666 |
| Vaisigano | 6,643 |
Geography
The country is located east of the international dateline and south of the equator, about halfway between
Hawai'i and
New Zealand in the
Polynesian region of the Pacific Ocean. The Samoas are of volcanic origin, and the total land area is 2934 km², consisting of the two large islands of
Upolu and
Savai'i which account for 96% of the total land area, and eight small islets: Manono,
Apolima, Nu'utele, Nu'ulua, Namua, Fanuatapu, Nu'usafe'e, and Nu'ulopa. While all of the islands have volcanic origins, only Savai'i has had recent eruptions and could be considered volcanically active: the last major eruption occurred in the 1700s, and smaller eruptions occurred in the first decade of the twentieth century. The highest point in Samoa is Mauga Silisili, at 1858 m. The main island of Upolu is home to nearly three-quarters of Samoa's population, and its capital city is
Apia. The climate is tropical, with an average annual temperature of 26.5 °C, and a rainy season from November to April.
Economy
The economy of Samoa has traditionally been dependent on development aid, private family
remittances from overseas, and agricultural exports. The country is vulnerable to devastating storms. Agriculture employs two-thirds of the labor force, and furnishes 90% of exports, featuring
coconut cream, coconut oil, noni [
sic] , and
copra. Outside of a large automotive wire-harness factory, the manufacturing sector mainly processes agricultural products.
Tourism is an expanding sector; more than 70,000 tourists visited the islands in 1996. The Samoan government has called for deregulation of the financial sector, encouragement of investment, and continued fiscal discipline. Observers point to the flexibility of the labor market as a basic strength for future economic advances.
Samoa is a fertile, fruitful, productive country. In the period before German colonization, it produced mostly copra. German merchants and settlers were active in introducing large scale plantation operations and developing new industries, notably cocoa and rubber, relying on imported laborers from China and Melanesia. When the value of natural rubber fell drastically, about the end of the Great War , the New Zealand government encouraged the production of bananas, for which there is a large market in New Zealand.
Because of variations in altitude, a large range of tropical and subtropical crops can be cultivated, but land is not generally available to outside interest. Of the total land area of 2,934 km² , about 24.4% is in permanent crops and another 21.2% is arable. About 4.4% is Western Samoan Trust Estates Corporation .
The staple products of Samoa are
copra , cocoa , and bananas. The annual production of both bananas and copra has been in the range of 13,000 to 15,000 metric tons. If the rhinoceros beetle in Samoa were eradicated, Samoa could produce in excess of 40,000 metric tons of copra. Cocoa is of very high quality and used in fine New Zealand chocolates. Most cocoa trees are Criollo-Forastero hybrids. Coffee grows well, but production has been uneven. WSTEC is the biggest coffee producer. Rubber has been produced in Samoa for many years, but its export value has little impact on the economy.
Other agricultural industries have been less successful. Sugarcane production, originally established by Germans in the early 20th century, could be successful. Old train tracks for transporting cane can be seen at some plantations east of Apia. Pineapples grow well in Samoa, but beyond local consumption have not been a major export.
In the late 1960s, Potlatch Forests, Inc. , upgraded the harbor and airport at Asau on the northern coast of Savai'i and established a timber operation, Samoa Forest Products, for harvesting tropical hardwoods. Potlatch invested about US$2,500,000 in a state-of-the-art sawmill and another US$6,000,000 over several years to develop power, water, and haul roads for their facility. Asau, with the Potlatch sawmillers and Samoa Forest Products, was one of the busiest parts of Savai'i in the 1960s and 1970s; however, the departure of Potlatch and the scaling down of the sawmill has left Asau a ghost town in recent years.
Fishing has had some success in Samoan waters, but the biggest fisheries industry has been based in American Samoa. StarKist Management announced that it was going ahead with setting up at Asau a blast-freezer project to be operational by 2002. This announcement dispelled a growing suspicion about the genuine motives of StarKist to move to Samoa. The proposed blast-freezer operations in Asau were expected to bring this village back to life.
Sports
The main sports played in Samoa are
Rugby Union and Samoan cricket.
Rugby Union is very popular in Samoa and the national team is consistantly competitive against teams from vastly more populous nations. Prominent Samoan players include Douglas Faaee, Pat Lam and Brian Lima. In addition there are many Samoans that have played for or are playing for the
All Blacks.
Rugby League is also popular amongst Samoans, with Samoa reaching the quarter finals of the 2000 Rugby League World Cup.
Australian Rules football is growing in popularity in Samoa. The Samoan 'Bulldogs', competed in the 2002 and 2005 International Cups and finished 7th and 5th respectively. In 2002, Samoan player Fia Tootoo was selected in the International Cup All-Star team. He was again selected in 2005, along with countryman Mateta Kirisome. In 2006, the winner of the VFL's most prestigious award was the Samoan-born Aaron Edwards.
Wrestling
Samoans have been very visible in American
professional wrestling, despite the relatively small population of the islands.
The Rock,
Umaga/Jamal,
Rosey,
Samoa Joe, The Wild Samoans,
The Headshrinkers,
Rikishi and
Sonny Siaki all share Samoan heritage.
Demographics
Only the
Maori of
New Zealand outnumber Samoans among
Polynesian groups, but a larger portion of Maori identify with more than one ethnic group.
Roughly 98% of Samoans are Christians, divided among many different churches, including: Congregationalist, originally called the London Missionary Society Church 34.8%,
Roman Catholic 19.6%,
Methodist 15%, Latter-Day Saints 12.7%,
Assembly of God 6.6%,
Seventh-day Adventist 3.5%, other Christian 4.5%. [https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ws.html] The Head of State, His Highness Malietoa Tanumafili II, is a Bahá'í. Samoa hosts one of seven
Bahá'í Houses of Worship in the world; completed in 1984 and dedicated by the Head of State, it is located in Tiapapata, 8 km from Apia.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Samoa has a large gender imbalance. . The cause of this imbalance is uncertain, but large-scale emigration of women may be relevant.
Culture
The fa'a Samoa, or traditional Samoan way, remains a strong force in Samoan life and politics. Despite centuries of
European influence, Samoa maintains its historical customs, social systems, and language, a
Polynesian language.
Samoans are a typically open, friendly, welcoming, and physically good-humoured people with great pride in their culture, traditions, history, and nationhood. Samoan hospitality and generousity is the stuff of legend.
Samoans have a communal way of life with little privacy: they do almost all their activities collectively. Traditional fales are open and have no walls, using blinds made of coconut palm fronds during the night or bad weather.
Sundays are traditionally a day of rest, and many families congregate to share an umu together for a Sunday afternoon meal.
Samoa is a deeply religious country despite ancient Samoan culture being contrary to the Church's beliefs, for example, belief in aitu .
Christianity is the main religion and there are many churches to be found around the islands, and are often full on Sundays .
Samoan handicrafts can be found at the craft market and some shops. These include the
siapo which is made from beaten
mulberry bark, and then patterns or pictures are painted on with a natural brown dye.
The traditional Samoan
dance is the Siva. This is similar to the Hawaiian
hula, with gentle movements of the hands and feet in time to music and which tells a story.
Traditional Samoan medicine is often practised as a first-line before hospital medicine. This is a type of alternative medicine using plant leaves to massage the affected area.
The traditional women’s clothing is the puletasi which is a matching skirt and tunic with Samoan designs. Some men have intricate and geometrical patterns
tattooed onto their lower body and upper legs.
Miscellaneous topics
...
...
- List of Notable Samoans
- Military of Samoa
- Public holidays in Samoa
- Transportation in Samoa
- Scouting in Samoa
References
- Schnee, Dr. Heinrich [former Deputy Governor of German Samoa and last Governor of German East Africa]. 1926. German Colonization, Past and Future—The Truth about the German Colonies. London: George Allen & Unwin.
- Eustis, Nelson. [1979] 1980. Aggie Grey of Samoa. Adelaide, South Australia: Hobby Investments. ISBN 0-9595609-0-4.
External links
- directory category
- - Online Samoan community featuring forums, chat, blogs, etc.
- by George Turner, an eText available from Project Gutenberg
- A locally owned and operated travel booking site
