Difference between revisions of "American Samoa" - New World Encyclopedia
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− | '''American Samoa''' is an unorganized, incorporated territory of the [[United States]] located in the South [[Pacific Ocean]] southeast of the sovereign state of [[Samoa]]. | + | '''American Samoa''' is an unorganized, incorporated territory of the [[United States]] located in the South [[Pacific Ocean]] southeast of the sovereign state of [[Samoa]]. It is the location of early 20th century American anthropologist Margaret Mead's discredited musings on ''Coming of Age in Samoa.'' American Samoan people are typically friendly and welcoming. The culture is family centred and deeply Christian. |
==Geography== | ==Geography== |
Revision as of 09:46, 1 May 2006
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National motto: Samoa, Muamua Le Atua (Samoa, Let God Be First) | |||||
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Principal languages | Samoan, English | ||||
Capital | Pago Pago | ||||
Governor | Togiola Tulafono | ||||
Area - Total |
Ranked 226th 199 km² | ||||
Population - Total (2003) - Density |
Ranked 203rd 70,260 353/km² | ||||
Currency | U.S. dollar | ||||
Time zone | Universal Time -11 | ||||
National anthem | Amerika Samoa | ||||
Internet TLD | .as | ||||
Country calling code | +1-684 |
American Samoa is an unorganized, incorporated territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean southeast of the sovereign state of Samoa. It is the location of early 20th century American anthropologist Margaret Mead's discredited musings on Coming of Age in Samoa. American Samoan people are typically friendly and welcoming. The culture is family centred and deeply Christian.
Geography
American Samoa is a group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean, located east of the international dateline and south of the equator, about halfway between Hawaii and New Zealand. American Samoa is the location of Rose Atoll, the southernmost point in the U.S. (if insular areas and territories are included). The total land area is 199 km², slightly larger than Washington, DC, and comprises five volcanic islands with rugged peaks and limited coastal plains, and two coral atolls. Island names in order of size are Tutuila, Ta‘ū, Ofu, Olosega, Aunu‘u, Swains Island, and Rose Atoll. The islands have a tropical marine climate, moderated by southeast trade winds. Annual rainfall averages about 3 m. The rainy season lasts from November to April, and the dry season from May to October. There is little seasonal temperature variation. There is a hurricane season from December to March. Hurricane Heta struck Tutuila and Manu`a in January, 2004. There are limited natural fresh water resources. The water division of the government has spent substantial funds in the past few years to expand well systems, improve water catchments and pipelines. Forests and woodland cover 70 percent of the land, 10 percent is in permanent crops and five percent is arable land. Pago Pago has one of the best natural deepwater harbors in the South Pacific Ocean, sheltered from rough seas and protected by peripheral mountains from high winds.
History
The first Polynesians to arrive in the Samoan islands came island-hopping, over several generations, from Southeast Asia more than 4000 years ago. From there they migrated east toward the Society Islands, north towards Hawaii, and southwest towards New Zealand. Samoa enjoys a rich history, preserved in folklore and myth, of ocean voyages, conquests of other islands, and war with the Kingdom of Tonga and Fiji. Contact with Europeans began in the early 1700s and intensified with the arrival of British missionaries and traders in the 1830s. Then, Samoans were perceived as savage and warlike, as they clashed with the French, German, British, and American soldiers who valued Samoa as a refueling station for coal-fired shipping. Until about 1860, Samoa was ruled by tribal chiefs known as matai. International rivalries in the latter half of the 19th century were settled by an 1899 Treaty of Berlin in which Germany and the U.S. divided the Samoan archipelago. The U.S. formally occupied its portion — a smaller group of eastern islands with the noted harbor of Pago Pago (pronounced PAYN-go PAYN-go) — the following year. The western islands are now the independent nation of Samoa.
After the U.S. took possession of American Samoa, the U.S. Navy built a coaling station on Pago Pago Bay for its Pacific Squadron and appointed a local secretary. The navy secured a Deed of Cession of Tutuila in 1900 and a Deed of Cession of Manua in 1904. The last sovereign of Manua, the Tui Manua Elisala, was forced to sign a Deed of Cession of Manu'a following a series of U.S. Naval trials, known as the "Trial of the Ipu," in Pago Pago, Ta'u, and aboard a Pacific Squadron gunboat.
During World War II, U.S. Marines in American Samoa outnumbered the local population and had a huge cultural influence on the islands. After the war, Organic Act 4500, a U.S. Department of Interior-sponsored attempt to incorporate American Samoa, was defeated in Congress, primarily through the efforts of American Samoan chiefs, led by Tuiasosopo Mariota. These chiefs' efforts led to the creation of a local legislature, the American Samoa Fono.
In time, the Navy-appointed governor was replaced by a locally elected one. Although technically considered "unorganized" in that the U.S. Congress has not passed an Organic Act for the territory, American Samoa is self-governing under a constitution that became effective in 1967. The U.S. Territory of American Samoa is on the United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories, a listing disputed by territorial government officials.
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Economy
American Samoa has a traditional Polynesian economy in which more than 90 percent of the land is communally owned. Economic activity is strongly linked to the United States with which American Samoa conducts most of its foreign trade. Transfers from the US Government add substantially to American Samoa's economic well being. Goods manufactured in territories or protectorates of the U.S., including American Samoa, can be labeled "Made in the USA." Attempts by the government to develop a larger and broader economy are restrained by Samoa's remote location, its limited transportation, and its devastating hurricanes. Tourism is a promising developing sector. Tuna fishing and tuna processing plants are the backbone of the private sector, with canned tuna the primary export. Canned tuna made up 98 percent of US$10-million worth of exports in 2004. Export partners were Samoa 39.8 percent, Australia 19.9 percent, Japan 15.1 percent and New Zealand 10.5 percent. Of the US$105-million worth of imports in 2004, 56 percent comprised materials for canneries, food made up 8 percent, petroleum products 7 percent, with machinery and parts 6 percent. Import partners were Japan 31.4 percent, New Zealand 27.9 percent, Germany 17.1 percent, and Australia 8.9 percent.
Demographics
Persons born in American Samoa are U.S. nationals, but not U.S. citizens. This is the only circumstance under which an individual would be one and not the other. The population of American Samoa was 57,902 in 2004, and was growing at a rate of .04 percent in that year. The nation has a net migration rate of –20.75 migrants per 1000 population. Life expectancy for the total population is 75.62 years, with 72.05 years for men and 79.41 years for women. Ethnic groups are Samoan 89 percent, Caucasian two percent, Tongan four percent and others five percent. The majority of Samoans are Christians. Although though some of the practices of traditional, animistic religions may still be followed, these traditional religions have virtually disappeared. Of the religious denominations, Christian Congregationalist make up 50 percent, Roman Catholic 20 percent, while Protestants and other groups make up 30 percent. Languages spoken are Samoan and English. Most people are bilingual. Education is free and compulsory for all children between the ages of six and 18, and as a result 97 percent of the population over the age of 15 can read and write. There are about 30 public and six private schools, 160 village schools, for early education, and a community college. In public elementary schools, television is used for instructional purposes.
Culture
A village of 600 people on the island of Ta‘ū was the site of a celebrated study by American anthropologist Margaret Mead, in which she got to know, lived with, observed, and interviewed (through an interpreter) sixty-eight young women between the ages of nine and 20. In Coming of Age in Samoa, Mead concluded that the passage from childhood to adulthood (adolescence) in Samoa was a smooth transition and not marked by the emotional or psychological distress, anxiety, or confusion seen in the United States. The book upset many Westerners when it first appeared in 1928. Many American readers felt shocked by her observation that young Samoan women deferred marriage for many years while enjoying casual sex, but eventually married, settled down, and successfully reared their own children. In 1983, five years after Mead had died, Derek Freeman published Margaret Mead and Samoa: The Making and Unmaking of an Anthropological Myth, in which he challenged all of Mead's major findings.
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 customs, social systems, and language. Only the Maori of New Zealand outnumber the Samoans among Polynesian groups (although there are no longer any full-blooded Maori).
Samoans are typically friendly and welcoming people. They have a distinct culture in which they have great pride. They have a communal way of life with little privacy. The traditional fales (houses) have no walls. Blinds made of coconut leaves are used during the night or bad weather. Up to 20 people may sleep on the ground in the same fale. During the day the fale is used for chatting and relaxing.
Family is viewed as an integral part of life. The aiga or extended family lives and works together. Elders in the family are greatly respected and hold the highest status, and this may be seen at a traditional Sunday umu (a meal cooked in a rock oven).
Sundays are a day of rest, and many families congregate to share an umu together. In a traditional household, the older members of the family will sit and eat first, and as the meal continues the younger members and then children are invited to eat. The umu contains an abundance and variety of dishes ranging from fresh seaweed and crayfish to baked taro and rice. Coconut appears in many Samoan dishes, for example palusami, a parcel of corned beef, breadfruit, onions, taro leaves wrapped in breadfruit leaves and coconut cream and baked in the umu. This is eaten in its entirety including the leaves.
Samoan handicrafts include the siapo (equivalent to the Fijian tapa) which is made from beaten mulberry bark, with patterns or pictures of fish, turtles, hibiscus flowers painted on with a natural brown dye. The siapo may be used for clothing, for wrapping objects and even simply for decorative reasons. Kava bowls are sturdy, round wooden bowls made of varying sizes, and have many short legs around it.
Kava, a ground natural extract from the pepper plant root with medicinal and slightly anaesthetic properties, is made up with water in the bowl and drunk socially using coconut shells. Other handicrafts are fine mats, ornaments or jewellery and hair accessories using naturally occurring materials such as sea shells, coconut and coir.
The traditional Samoan dance is the Siva. This is similar to the Hawaiian dance, with gentle movements of the hands and feet in time to music and which tells a story. Other types of dance are modern dance by the younger generations, at bars or nightclubs.
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 ladies clothing is the puletasi which is a matching skirt and tunic with Samoan designs. The lava lava is a sarong which may be worn by men or women. They are of different patterns and colours, but tend to be plain for men who may wear it as part of an official uniform. Some men have intricate and geometrical patterns tattooed onto their lower body and upper legs. The tattooing process is performed without any anaesthesia and is said to be painful. About 30 ethnic Samoans, many from American Samoa, currently play in the National Football League. It has been estimated that a Samoan male (either an American Samoan, or a Samoan living stateside) is 40 times more likely to play in the NFL than a non-Samoan American. A number have also ventured into professional wrestling. The American Samoa national soccer team holds an unwanted world record in international soccer—the record defeat in an international match, a 31-0 crushing by Australia in 2001.
External links
- CIA - The World Factbook — American Samoa - CIA's Factbook on American Samoa
- [1]"The Passive Resistance of Samoans to US and Other Colonialisms", article in "Sovereignty Matters", ed. Joanne Barker, University of Nebraska Press, 2005.
- History of American Samoa- Essay which looks at the history of the territory from ancient to more modern times.
- Jane's American Samoa Page
- Library of Congress Portals of the World - American Samoa - Library of Congress resource which provides links to resources on American Samoa.
- Map of American Samoa - Map showing the basic layout of American Samoa.
- Revised Constitution of American Samoa - Provides the text of the constition of American Samoa.
- The Official Webpage of the American Samoa Government - Lists information on the territorial government including officials and recent legislation.
- United Nations Decolonization Papers - Online United Nations Decolonization Documents including current and past Working Papers on American Samoa
- ChooHoo! - An online community for Samoans. Features include forums, chat, blogs, etc.
- Rulers.org — American_samoa List of rulers for American Samoa
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