Samoa
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| National motto: Fa'avaei le Atua Samoa (Samoa Is Founded on God) | |||||
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| Principal languages | Samoan, English | ||||
| Capital | Apia | ||||
| Head of state | ?? Chief Malietoa Tanumafili II | ||||
| Prime minister | Tuila'epa Sailele Malielegaoi | ||||
| Area - Total - % water |
Ranked 165th 2,944 km² 0.3% | ||||
| Population - Total (2004 est.) - Density |
Ranked 174th 177,714 60/km² | ||||
| Independence | 1962 | ||||
| Currency | Tala | ||||
| Time zone | Universal Time -11 | ||||
| National anthem | The Banner of Freedom | ||||
| Internet TLD | .ws | ||||
| Country calling code | 685 | ||||
The Independent State of Samoa, or simply Samoa, is a country comprising an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean. Previous names were German Samoa from 1900 to 1914 and Western Samoa from 1914 to 1997. It was recognized by the United Nations only on December 15, 1976, as Samoa. The entire group was known as Navigators' Islands before the 20th century, a reference to the Samoans' excellent seafaring skills. It has a population of more than 175,000.
Geography
Samoa is located east of the international dateline and south of the equator, about halfway between Hawaii and New Zealand in the Polynsian region of the South Pacific. The Samoas are of volcanic origin and the total land area is 2,934 sq km, 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, Nuutele, Nuulua, Namua, Fanuatapu, Nuusafee, and Nuulopa. While all of islands have volcanic origins, only Savaii has had recent eruptions and could be considered volcanically active. The last major eruption occurred in the 1700s and smaller eruptions in the early 20th century. The highest point in Samoa is Mauga Silisili at 1,858 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 the average annual temperature of 26.5°C, and a rainy season from November to April.
History
The first Polynesians to arrive in the Samoan islands came island-hopping over several generations from Southeast Asia more than 4000 years ago and from there settled the rest of Polynesia east toward the Society Islands, north towards Hawaii, and southwest towards New Zealand. Samoa enjoys a rich history, which is preserved in folklore and myth, of voyages across the ocean, conquests of different islands, and inter-island war with the other Polynesian empires such as the Kingdom of Tonga and the Melanesian powers such as Fiji. It is believed that a temple found in the island of Manono has a record using a system of stone cairns, that commemorates over 150 cases of war. Robert Louis Stevenson, the famed Scottish author who would spend the remainder of his life in Samoa would later make the statement: "War is Samoa's favorite pastime." Contact with Europeans began in the early 1700s but did not intensify until the arrival of British missionaries and traders in the 1830s. At this time period the Samoans were given a reputation of being 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 in the Pacific.
As Germany began to show more interest in the Samoan islands, the U.S. quickly laid its own claim to the islands. Britain also 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 destroyed all three ships, ending the military conflict. At the turn of the 20th century, the Samoa Islands were split into two parts. The eastern group became territories of the U.S., the Tutuila Islands in 1900, and officially Manu'a in 1905, and today are known as American Samoa. The western islands, by far the greater land mass, became known as German Samoa after the British gave up claims to the islands in return for Tonga and Fiji. New Zealand troops landed in 1914 and seized control from the German authorities; after that it became known as Western Samoa.
From the end of World War I, New Zealand controlled Samoa under trusteeship through the League of Nations and U.N. until the 1960s. Although never a member of the British Commonwealth, it enjoyed many of the benefits through its relationship with New Zealand. The Samoans began a campaign known as the Mau movement and expelled the foreign occupation, claiming mistreatment of the Samoan people and blaming outsiders for the death of a third of Samoa's population during the Spanish flu pandemic that ravaged the islands and much of the world in 1918. In 1962 Western Samoa became the first Pacific Island state to regain its independence, although it remains closely tied to New Zealand.
In 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 U.N. since joining the organization in 1976. The neighboring US territory of American Samoa protested at the move, feeling that the change diminished its own Samoan identity. American Samoans still use the terms Western Samoa and Western Samoans to describe the Independent State of Samoa. While the two Samoas share language and ethnicity, their more recent culture has followed different paths with many American Samoans emigrating to Hawaii and the US and adopting many customs such as American football and baseball. The western Samoans have emigrated to New Zealand; that influence on the Independent State of Samoa has made the sports of rugby and cricket more popular.
Political Summary of Road to Independence
((MIKE, USE THIS INFORMATION AS YOU LIKE, BUT EVENTUALLY DELETE THE WHOLE SECTION))
- Until about 1860 - Ruled by Tribal Chiefs known as Matai.
- 1860 - 1889 Ruled by Matai, directed by American, British and German consuls.
- 1889 - 1899 governed conjointly by "Three Power Pact" signed in Berlin in 1899.
- 1889 - 1914 Western Samoa becomes a German Colony; Eastern Samoa becomes an American Territory.
- 1914 - 1920 Western Samoa occupied by New Zealand Expeditionary Force when WW I starts.
- 1920 - 1946 Western Samoa held and administered by NZ under League of Nations Mandate.
- 1946 - 1962 Western Samoa administered by NZ under direction of UN Trusteeship Council.
- 1953 - NZ offers progessive plan towards self government and the first Executive Council is established.
- 1954 - The Constitutional Convention accepts the NZ plan for self government.
- 1956 - A New Executive Council established, the Fono of Faipule is abolished, Legislative Assembly reorganized and enlarged.
- 1958 - NZ Reparation Estates are handed over to Samoan control and renamed Western Samoan Trust Estates Corporation.
- 1960 - The Constitutional Convention with 174 delegates (including ten expatriates) begins process of independence.
- 1961 - Adult Samoans vote overwhelmingly in a UN sponsored plebiscite to become independent.
- January 1, 1962 - Western Samoa becomes an independent sovereign state.
System of Government
The 1960 Constitution, which formally came into force with independence, is based on the British pattern of parliamentary democracy, modified to take account of Samoan customs. Two of Samoa's paramount chiefs (Tama Aiga) at the time of independence were given lifetime appointments to jointly hold the office of head of state while a third became its first prime minister. Malietoa Tanumafili II has held the post of head of state alone since the death of his colleague in 1963. His eventual successor will be selected by the legislature for a five-year term. At the time the Constitution was adopted it was anticipated that future Heads of State would be chosen from among the high chiefs. However, this is not required by the Constitution and for this reason Samoa is considered a republic rather than a monarchy.
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, 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((PLEASE UPDATE THIS OR DELETE IT)). 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 prior to the German annexation, it produced mostly copra. The Germans were active in introducing and developing new industries, notably cocoa and rubber. When the value of natural rubber fell drastically, about the end of World War I, New Zealand's government encouraged the production of bananas, for which there is a large market in New Zealand.
Due to variations in altitude, a large range of tropical and subtropical crops can be cultivated, but land is not generally available to outside interests. Of the total land area of 2,934 km², about 24% of it is in permanent cultivation and another 21% is arable. About 4% belongs to the Western Samoan Trust Estates Corporation (WSTEC).
The staple products of Samoa are copra (dried coconut meat), cocoa (for chocolate), and bananas. Production of both bananas and copra has been in the 13,000-15,000 metric ton range. If the rhinoceros beetle pest in Samoa were eradicated, the country could produce in excess of 40,000 metric tons of copra. The 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. Sugar cane production, originally established by the 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 also grow well in Samoa, but beyond local consumption they have not been a major export item.
In the late 1960s, Potlatch Forests, Inc. (a U.S. company) upgraded the harbor and airport at Asau on the northern coast of Savaii and established a timber operation, Samoa Forest Products, for harvesting tropical hardwoods. Potlatch invested about $US 2.5 million in a state-of-the-art sawmill and another $US 6 million over several years to develop power, water, and haul roads for their facility. Asau with the Potlatch saw millers and Samoa Forest Products was one of the busiest parts of Savaii in the 1960s and 1970s. However, the departure of Potlatch and the scaling down of the saw-milling operations has left Asau a ghost town in recent years.
Fishing has had some success in Samoan waters, but the biggest fisheries industry (headed by Van Camp and Star Kist) has been based in American Samoa. Star Kist Management announced that it was going ahead with the setting up of the blast freezer project at Asau that could be operational by 2002. This announcement has dispelled a growing suspicion about the genuine motives of Star Kist to move to Samoa. The proposed blast freezer operations in Asau are expected to bring this village back to life. ((ARE WE TALKING TUNA?))
Demographics
About 98% of Samoans are Christians, divided among many different churches, among them: Congregationalist (35%, originally called the London Missionary Society Church or LMS), Roman Catholic (20%), Methodist (15%), Latter-Day Saints (13%), Assembly of God (7%), Seventh-day Adventist (4%), and other Christian sects (5%). Hardly any other religious group exists in Samoa, except for the Bahá'ís, who make up about 2% of the population. In addition to Malietoa Tanumafili II being a Bahá'í, Samoa hosts one of only seven Bahá'í Houses of Worship in the world.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Samoa has a large sex imbalance, apparently caused by the large-scale emigration of women. The cause of this is not understood.
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, which is believed to be the oldest form of Polynesian speech still in existence. Only the Maori of New Zealand outnumber the Samoans among Polynesian groups (though virtually no full-blooded Maori still exist).
- Myths and Legends of Samoa
- Samoan Cuisine/Recipes
- Samoan Pe'a (tatoo)
- Samoan Cultural Articles
- Language (Grammar and Dictionary of the Samoan Language, with English and Samoan vocabulary)
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- Eustis, Nelson. 1979. Aggie Grey of Samoa. Hobby Investments, Adelaide, South Australia. 2nd printing, 1980. ISBN 0-9595609-0-4.
External links
- Map: district subdivision
- ChooHoo! - Online Samoan community featuring forums, chat, blogs, etc.
- Finding Samoa
- Jane's Samoa Home Page
- Samoan Based Contemporary Art
- Map server of Samoa
- Map of Samoa
- Official government Website
- Over 90 categorised profiles of relevant websites on Zeal
- Samoa Chat (news, forums, Samoan language)
- Samoa Tourism Authority
- Samoan Holiday
- Samoa, A Hundred Years Ago And Long Before by George Turner, an eText available from Project Gutenberg
- Informations and Links to Samoa
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