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Samoa

February 20, 2023

This article is about the nation of Samoa. For the geographical region, see Samoan Islands. For the Samoan United States territory, see American Samoa. For other uses, see Samoa (disambiguation).

Samoa,[note 1] officially the Independent State of Samoa[note 2] and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono and Apolima); and several smaller, uninhabited islands, including the Aleipata Islands (Nu'utele, Nu'ulua, Fanuatapu and Namua). Samoa is located 64 km (40 mi) west of American Samoa, 889 km (552 mi) northeast of Tonga (closest foreign country), 1,152 km (716 mi) northeast of Fiji, 483 km (300 mi) east of Wallis and Futuna, 1,151 km (715 mi) southeast of Tuvalu, 519 km (322 mi) south of Tokelau, 4,190 km (2,600 mi) southwest of Hawaii, and 610 km (380 mi) northwest of Niue. The capital city is Apia. The Lapita people discovered and settled the Samoan Islands around 3,500 years ago. They developed a Samoan language and Samoan cultural identity.

Independent State of Samoa
Malo Saʻoloto Tutoʻatasi o Sāmoa (Samoan)
Motto: Faʻavae i le Atua Sāmoa
"Samoa is founded on God"
Anthem: O Le Fuʻa o le Saʻolotoga o Samoa
"The Banner of Freedom"
Location of Samoa
Map of Samoa
Capital
and largest city
Apia
13°50′00″S 171°45′44″W / 13.83333°S 171.76222°W / -13.83333; -171.76222
Official languagesSamoan • English
Ethnic groups
(2001)
Religion
(2021)
Christianity (official)[2]
Demonym(s)Samoan
GovernmentUnitary parliamentary republic
Tuimalealiʻifano Vaʻaletoʻa Sualauvi IIa
Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa
Papali’i Li’o Taeu Masipau
LegislatureLegislative Assembly
Independence 
from New Zealand
14 June 1889
16 February 1900
1 March 1900
30 August 1914
• League mandate
17 December 1920
• UN trusteeship
13 December 1946
• Western Samoa Act 1961
1 January 1962
15 December 1976
• Name change from Western Samoa to Samoa
4 July 1997
Area
• Total
2,842 km2 (1,097 sq mi) (167th)
• Water (%)
0.3
Population
• November 2021 census
205,557[4] (176th)
• Density
70/km2 (181.3/sq mi)
GDP (PPP)2018 estimate
• Total
$1.188 billion[5]
• Per capita
$5,962[5]
GDP (nominal)2018 estimate
• Total
$881 million[5]
• Per capita
$4,420[5]
Gini (2013) 38.7[6]
medium
HDI (2021) 0.707[7]
high · 111th
CurrencyTālā (WS$b) (WST)
Time zoneUTC+13c (WST)
Date formatdd/mm/yyyy
Driving sideleftd
Calling code+685
ISO 3166 codeWS
Internet TLD.ws
  1. Head of State.
  2. Symbols SAT, ST or T are in use as well. The terms Tālā and Sene are translations of the English words Dollar and Cent in the Samoan language.
  3. Since 31 December 2011.[8]
  4. Since 7 September 2009.[9] Although driving is on the left side of the roadway centre line, Samoa allows cars with steering wheels on either the left or the right side of the vehicle to use the roads.

Samoa is a unitary parliamentary democracy with 11 administrative divisions. It is a sovereign state and a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. Western Samoa was admitted to the United Nations on 15 December 1976.[14] Because of the Samoans' seafaring skills, pre-20th-century European explorers referred to the entire island group (which includes American Samoa) as the "Navigator Islands".[15][16] The country was a colony of the German Empire from 1899 to 1915, then came under a joint British and New Zealand colonial administration until 1 January 1962, when it became independent.

History

Main article: History of Samoa

Early history

Samoa was discovered and settled by the Lapita people (Austronesian people who spoke Oceanic languages), who travelled from Island Melanesia. The earliest human remains found in Samoa are dated to between roughly 2,900 and 3,500 years ago. The remains were discovered at a Lapita site at Mulifanua, and the scientists' findings were published in 1974.[17] The Samoans' origins have been studied in modern times through scientific research on Polynesian genetics, linguistics and anthropology. Although this research is ongoing, a number of theories have been proposed. One theory is that the original Samoans were Austronesians who arrived during a final period of eastward expansion of the Lapita peoples out of Southeast Asia and Melanesia between 2,500 and 1,500 BCE.[18]

Intimate sociocultural and genetic ties were maintained between Samoa, Fiji, and Tonga, and the archaeological record supports oral tradition and native genealogies that indicate interisland voyaging and intermarriage between precolonial Samoans, Fijians, and Tongans. Notable figures in Samoan history included the Tui Manu'a line, Queen Salamasina, King Fonoti and the four tama-a-aiga: Malietoa, Tupua Tamasese, Mata'afa, and Tuimalealiifano. Nafanua was a famous woman warrior who was deified in ancient Samoan religion and whose patronage was highly sought after by successive Samoan rulers.[19]

Today, all of Samoa is united under its two principal royal families: the Sā Malietoa of the ancient Malietoa lineage that defeated the Tongans in the 13th century; and the Sā Tupua, Queen Salamasina's descendants and heirs who ruled Samoa in the centuries that followed her reign. Within these two principal lineages are the four highest titles of Samoa - the elder titles of Malietoa and Tupua Tamasese of antiquity and the newer Mata'afa and Tuimalealiifano titles, which rose to prominence in 19th-century wars that preceded the colonial period.[19] These four titles form the apex of the Samoan matai system as it stands today.

Contact with Europeans began in the early 18th century. Jacob Roggeveen, a Dutchman, was the first known non-Polynesian to sight the Samoan islands in 1722. This visit was followed by French explorer Louis-Antoine de Bougainville, who named them the Navigator Islands in 1768. Contact was limited before the 1830s, which is when English missionaries, whalers, and traders began arriving.[20]

19th century

Visits by American trading and whaling vessels were important in the early economic development of Samoa. The Salem brig Roscoe (Captain Benjamin Vanderford), in October 1821, was the first American trading vessel known to have called, and the Maro (Captain Richard Macy) of Nantucket, in 1824, was the first recorded United States whaler at Samoa.[21] The whalers came for fresh drinking water, firewood and provisions, and later, they recruited local men to serve as crewmen on their ships. The last recorded whaler visitor was the Governor Morton in 1870.[22]

Christian missionary work in Samoa began in 1830 when John Williams of the London Missionary Society arrived in Sapapali'i from the Cook Islands and Tahiti.[23] According to Barbara A. West, "The Samoans were also known to engage in 'headhunting', a ritual of war in which a warrior took the head of his slain opponent to give to his leader, thus proving his bravery."[24]

In A Footnote to History: Eight Years of Trouble in Samoa (1892), Robert Louis Stevenson details the activities of the great powers battling for influence in Samoa – the United States, Germany and Britain – and the political machinations of the various Samoan factions within their indigenous political system.[25][26] Even as they descended into ever greater interclan warfare, what most alarmed Stevenson was the Samoans' economic innocence. In 1894, just months before his death, he addressed the island chiefs:

There is but one way to defend Samoa. Hear it before it is too late. It is to make roads, and gardens, and care for your trees, and sell their produce wisely, and, in one word, to occupy and use your country... if you do not occupy and use your country, others will. It will not continue to be yours or your children's, if you occupy it for nothing. You and your children will in that case be cast out into outer darkness".

He had "seen these judgments of God" in Hawaii, where abandoned native churches stood like tombstones "over a grave, in the midst of the white men's sugar fields".[27]

 
Studio photo depicting preparation of the Samoa 'ava ceremony c. 1911
 
Interior of Samoan house, Apia, Urville 1842
 
Robert Louis Stevenson's birthday fete at Vailima, 1894

The Germans, in particular, began to show great commercial interest in the Samoan Islands, especially on the island of Upolu, where German firms monopolised copra and cocoa bean processing. The United States laid its own claim, based on commercial shipping interests in Pearl Harbor in Hawaii and Pago Pago Bay in eastern Samoa, and forced alliances, most conspicuously on the islands of Tutuila and Manu'a, which became American Samoa.

Britain also sent troops to protect British business enterprise, harbour rights, and consulate office. This was followed by an eight-year civil war, during which each of the three powers supplied arms, training and in some cases combat troops to the warring Samoan parties. The Samoan crisis came to a critical juncture in March 1889 when all three colonial contenders sent warships into Apia harbour, and a larger-scale war seemed imminent. A massive storm on 15 March 1889 damaged or destroyed the warships, ending the military conflict.[28]

The Second Samoan Civil War reached a head in 1898 when Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States were locked in dispute over who should control the Samoan Islands. The Siege of Apia occurred in March 1899. Samoan forces loyal to Prince Tanu were besieged by a larger force of Samoan rebels loyal to Mata'afa Iosefo. Supporting Prince Tanu were landing parties from four British and American warships. After several days of fighting, the Samoan rebels were finally defeated.[29]

 
Mata'afa Iosefo (1832–1912), paramount chief and rival for the kingship of Samoa
 
The joint commission of Germany, the United States and Great Britain abolished the Samoan kingship in June 1899.
 
Exiled orator Lauaki Namulau'ulu Mamoe (standing third from left with orator's staff) and other chiefs aboard German warship taking them to exile in Saipan, 1909

American and British warships shelled Apia on 15 March 1899, including the USS Philadelphia. Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States quickly resolved to end the hostilities and divided the island chain at the Tripartite Convention of 1899, signed at Washington on 2 December 1899 with ratifications exchanged on 16 February 1900.[30][31]

The eastern island-group became a territory of the United States (the Tutuila Islands in 1900 and officially Manu'a in 1904) and was known as American Samoa. The western islands, by far the greater landmass, became German Samoa. The United Kingdom had vacated all claims in Samoa and in return received (1) termination of German rights in Tonga, (2) all of the Solomon Islands south of Bougainville, and (3) territorial alignments in West Africa.[32]

German Samoa (1900–1914)

 
Chiefs from all around Samoa mourning the 1929 death of Mau Movement leader, Tupua Tamesese Lealofi III, after the Black Saturday killings by NZ soldiers
Main article: German Samoa

The German Empire governed the western part of the Samoan archipelago from 1900 to 1914. Wilhelm Solf was appointed the colony's first governor. In 1908, when the non-violent Mau a Pule resistance movement arose, Solf did not hesitate to banish the Mau leader Lauaki Namulau'ulu Mamoe to Saipan in the German Northern Mariana Islands.[33]

The German colonial administration governed on the principle that "there was only one government in the islands."[34] Thus, there was no Samoan Tupu (king), nor an alii sili (similar to a governor), but two Fautua (advisors) were appointed by the colonial government. Tumua and Pule (traditional governments of Upolu and Savai'i) were for a time silent; all decisions on matters affecting lands and titles were under the control of the colonial Governor.

In the first month of World War I, on 29 August 1914, troops of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force landed unopposed on Upolu and seized control from the German authorities, following a request by Great Britain for New Zealand to perform this "great and urgent imperial service."[35]

New Zealand rule (1914–1961)

Main article: Western Samoa Trust Territory

From the end of World War I until 1962, New Zealand controlled Western Samoa as a Class C Mandate under trusteeship through the League of Nations,[31][36] then through the United Nations. Between 1919 and 1962, Samoa was administered by the Department of External Affairs, a government department which had been specially created to oversee New Zealand's Island Territories and Samoa.[37] In 1943, this department was renamed the Department of Island Territories after a separate Department of External Affairs was created to conduct New Zealand's foreign affairs.[38] During the period of New Zealand control, their administrators were responsible for two major incidents.

Flu pandemic

In the first incident, approximately one fifth of the Samoan population died in the influenza epidemic of 1918–1919.[39][31]

In 1918, during the final stages of World War I, the Spanish flu had taken its toll, spreading rapidly from country to country. On Samoa, there had been no epidemic of pneumonic influenza in Western Samoa before the arrival of the SS Talune from Auckland on 7 November 1918. The NZ administration allowed the ship to berth in breach of quarantine; within seven days of this ship's arrival, influenza became epidemic in Upolu and then spread rapidly throughout the rest of the territory.[40] Samoa suffered the most of all Pacific islands, with 90% of the population infected; 30% of adult men, 22% of adult women and 10% of children died.[41] The cause of the epidemic was confirmed in 1919 by a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Epidemic concluded that there had been no epidemic of pneumonic influenza in Western Samoa before the arrival of the Talune from Auckland on 7 November 1918.[40]

The pandemic undermined Samoan confidence in New Zealand's administrative capacity and competence.[31] Some Samoans asked that the rule of the islands be transferred to the Americans or the British.[31]

Mau movement

The second major incident arose out of an initially peaceful protest by the Mau (which literally translates as "strongly held opinion"), a non-violent popular movement which had its beginnings in the early 1900s on Savai'i, led by Lauaki Namulauulu Mamoe, an orator chief deposed by Solf. In 1909, Lauaki was exiled to Saipan and died en route back to Samoa in 1915.

By 1918, Western Samoa had a population of some 38,000 Samoans and 1,500 Europeans.[42]

However, native Samoans greatly resented New Zealand's colonial rule, and blamed inflation and the catastrophic 1918 flu epidemic on its misrule.[43] By the late 1920s the resistance movement against colonial rule had gathered widespread support. One of the Mau leaders was Olaf Frederick Nelson, a half Samoan and half Swedish merchant.[44] Nelson was eventually exiled during the late 1920s and early 1930s, but he continued to assist the organisation financially and politically. In accordance with the Mau's non-violent philosophy, the newly elected leader, High Chief Tupua Tamasese Lealofi, led his fellow uniformed Mau in a peaceful demonstration in downtown Apia on 28 December 1929.[45]

The New Zealand police attempted to arrest one of the leaders in the demonstration. When he resisted, a struggle developed between the police and the Mau. The officers began to fire randomly into the crowd and used a Lewis machine gun, mounted in preparation for the demonstration, to disperse the demonstrators.[46] Mau leader and paramount chief Tupua Tamasese Lealofi III was shot from behind and killed while trying to bring calm and order to the Mau demonstrators. Ten others died that day and approximately 50 were injured by gunshot wounds and police batons.[47] That day would come to be known in Samoa as Black Saturday.

On 13 January 1930, the New Zealanders banned the organisation. As many as 1500 Mau men took to the bush, pursued by an armed force of 150 marines and seamen from the light cruiser HMS Dunedin, and 50 military police. Villages were raided, often at night and with fixed bayonets. In March, through the mediation of local Europeans and missionaries, Mau leaders met New Zealand’s Minister of Defence and agreed to disperse.[48]

Supporters of the Mau continued to be arrested, so women came to the fore rallying supporters and staging demonstrations. The political stalemate was broken following the victory of the Labour Party victory in New Zealand's 1935 general election. A 'goodwill mission' to Apia in June 1936 recognised the Mau as a legitimate political organisation, and Olaf Nelson was allowed to return from exile.[48] In September 1936, Samoans exercised for the first time the right to elect themembers of the advisory Fono of Faipule,[49] with representatives of the Mau movement winning 31 of the 39 seats.[50]

Independence

As Western Samoa (1962–1997)

After repeated efforts by the Samoan independence movement, the New Zealand Western Samoa Act 1961 of 24 November 1961 terminated the Trusteeship Agreement and granted the country independence as the Independent State of Western Samoa, effective on 1 January 1962.[51][52] Western Samoa, the first small-island country in the Pacific to become independent, signed a Treaty of Friendship with New Zealand later in 1962. Western Samoa joined the Commonwealth of Nations on 28 August 1970. While independence was achieved at the beginning of January, Samoa annually celebrates 1 June as its independence day.[53][54]

On 15 December 1976, Western Samoa was admitted to the United Nations as the 147th member state. It asked to be referred to in the United Nations as the Independent State of Samoa.[55]

Travel writer Paul Theroux noted marked differences between the societies in Western Samoa and American Samoa in 1992.[56]

As Samoa (1997 onwards)

On 4 July 1997 the government amended the constitution to change the name of the country from Western Samoa to Samoa,[57] the name it had been called by in the United Nations since it joined.[58] American Samoa protested against the name change, asserting that it diminished its own identity.[58]

In 2002, New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark formally apologised for New Zealand's role in the Spanish influenza outbreak in 1918 that killed over a quarter of Samoa's population and for the Black Saturday killings in 1929.[59][60]

On 7 September 2009, the government changed the rule of the road from right to left, in common with most other Commonwealth countries - most notably countries in the region such as Australia and New Zealand, home to large numbers of Samoans.[61] This made Samoa the first country in the 21st century to switch to driving on the left.[62]

At the end of December 2011, Samoa changed its time zone offset from UTC−11 to UTC+13, effectively jumping forward by one day, omitting Friday, 30 December from the local calendar. This also had the effect of changing the shape of the International Date Line, moving it to the east of the territory.[63] This change aimed to help the nation boost its economy in doing business with Australia and New Zealand. Before this change, Samoa was 21 hours behind Sydney, but the change means it is now three hours ahead. The previous time zone, implemented on 4 July 1892, operated in line with American traders based in California.[64] In October 2021, Samoa ceased daylight saving time.[65]

In 2017, Samoa signed the UN treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.[66]

In June 2017, Parliament amended Article 1 of the Samoan Constitution to make Christianity the state religion.[2][67]

In May 2021, Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa became Samoa's first female prime minister. Mataʻafa's FAST party narrowly won the election, ending the rule of long-term Prime Minister Tuila'epa Sa'ilele Malielegaoi of the Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP),[68] although the constitutional crisis complicated and delayed this. On 24 May 2021, she was sworn in as the new prime minister, though it was not until July that the Supreme Court ruled that her swearing-in was legal, thus ending the constitutional crisis and bringing an end to Tuila'epa's 22-year premiership. The FAST party's success in the 2021 election and subsequent court rulings also ended nearly four decades of HRPP rule.[69]

In August 2022, Samoa’s Legislative Assembly reappointed Tuimaleali’ifano Vaaletoa Sualauvi II as the Head of State for a second term of five years.[70]

Government and politics

Main articles: Politics of Samoa and Fa'amatai
 
Government buildings in Apia

The 1960 constitution, which formally came into force with independence from New Zealand in 1962, builds on the British pattern of parliamentary democracy, modified to take account of Samoan customs.[71] The national modern Government of Samoa is referred to as the Malo.

Fiame Mata'afa Faumuina Mulinu'u II, one of the four highest-ranking paramount chiefs in the country, became Samoa's first Prime Minister. Two other paramount chiefs at the time of independence were appointed joint heads of state for life. Tupua Tamasese Mea'ole died in 1963, leaving Malietoa Tanumafili II sole head of state until his death on 11 May 2007. The next Head of State was Tui Atua Tupua Tamasese Efi, who was elected by the legislature on 17 June 2007 for a fixed five-year term,[72] and was re-elected unopposed in July 2012. He was succeeded by Tuimalealiifano Va'aletoa Sualauvi II in 2017. Tuimaleali’ifano was reappointed for a second term of five years in 2022.[73]

The unicameral legislature (the Fono) consists of 51 members serving 5-year terms. Forty-nine are matai title-holders elected from territorial districts by Samoans; the other two are chosen by non-Samoans with no chiefly affiliation on separate electoral rolls. At least, 10% of the MPs are women.[74] Universal suffrage was adopted in 1990, but only chiefs (matai) may stand for election to the Samoan seats. There are more than 25,000 matais in the country, about 5% of whom are women.[75] The prime minister, chosen by a majority in the Fono, is appointed by the head of state to form a government. The prime minister's choices for the 12 cabinet positions are appointed by the head of state, subject to the continuing confidence of the Fono.

Prominent women in Samoan politics include the late Laulu Fetauimalemau Mata'afa (1928–2007) from Lotofaga constituency, the wife of Samoa's first prime minister. Their daughter Fiame Naomi Mataʻafa is a high chief and a long-serving senior member of cabinet, who was elected Prime Minister in 2021. Other women in politics include Samoan scholar and eminent professor Aiono Fanaafi Le Tagaloa, orator-chief Matatumua Maimoana and Safuneitu'uga Pa'aga Neri (as of 2016 the Minister of Communication and Technology).

The judicial system incorporates English common law and local customs. The Supreme Court of Samoa is the court of highest jurisdiction. The Chief Justice of Samoa is appointed by the head of state upon the recommendation of the prime minister.

Administrative divisions

Main articles: Districts of Samoa and Electoral constituencies of Samoa

Samoa comprises eleven itūmālō (political districts). These are the traditional eleven districts which predate European arrival. Each district has its own constitutional foundation (fa'avae) based on the traditional order of title precedence found in each district's faalupega (traditional salutations).[76] The capital village of each district administers and coordinates the affairs of the district and confers each district's paramount title, amongst other responsibilities.

For example:

A'ana has its capital at Leulumoega. The paramount 'tama-a-'aiga' (royal lineage) title of A'ana is Tuimalealiifano. The paramount pāpā title of A'ana is the Tui A'ana. The orator group which confers this title – the Faleiva (House of Nine) – is based at Leulumoega.

Ātua has its capital at Lufilufi. The paramount 'tama-a-'aiga' (royal lineage) titles of Ātua are Tupua Tamasese (based in Falefa and Salani) and Mata'afa (based in Amaile and Lotofaga). The two main political families who confer the respective titles are 'Aiga Sā Fenunuivao and 'Aiga Sā Levālasi. The paramount pāpā title of Ātua is the Tui Ātua. The orator group which confers this title - the Faleono (House of Six) - is based at Lufilufi.

Tuamasaga has its capital at Afega. The paramount 'tama-a-'aiga' (royal lineage) title of Tuamasaga is the Malietoa title, based in Malie. The main political family that confers the Malietoa title is 'Aiga Sā Malietoa, with Auimatagi as the main speaker for the family. The paramount pāpā titles of Tuamasaga are Gatoaitele (conferred by Afega) and Vaetamasoalii (conferred by Safata).[26]

The eleven itūmālō are identified to be:

 
Political districts of Samoa, including minor islands

On Upolu

1. Tuamasaga (Afega)1
2. A'ana (Leulumoega)
3. Aiga-i-le-Tai (Mulifanua)2
4. Atua (Lufilufi)3
5. Va'a-o-Fonoti (Samamea)

On Savai'i

6. Fa'asaleleaga (Safotulafai)
7. Gaga'emauga (Saleaula)4
8. Gaga'ifomauga (Safotu)
9. Vaisigano (Asau)
10. Satupa'itea (Satupa'itea)
11. Palauli (Vailoa)

1 including the faipule district of Siumu
2 including islands Manono, Apolima and Nu'ulopa
3 including the Aleipata Islands and Nu'usafe'e Island
4 smaller parts also on Upolu (Salamumu, incl. Salamumu-Uta and Leauvaa villages)

Human rights

See also: Human rights in Samoa

Major areas of concern include the under-representation of women, domestic violence and poor prison conditions. Homosexual acts are illegal in Samoa.[77]

State religion

In June 2017, an Act was passed changing the country's constitution to include a reference to the Trinity. As amended, Article 1 of the Samoan Constitution states that "Samoa is a Christian nation founded on God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit".[78] According to The Diplomat, "What Samoa has done is shift references to Christianity into the body of the constitution, giving the text far more potential to be used in legal processes."[79] The preamble to the constitution already described the country as "an independent State based on Christian principles and Samoan custom and traditions."[79]

Military and police

Samoa has no formal defence structure or regular armed forces. It has informal defence ties with New Zealand, which is required to consider any request for assistance from Samoa under the bilateral Treaty of Friendship of 1962.[80]

Officers of the national police force, the Samoa Police Service, are regularly unarmed, but may be armed in exceptional circumstances with ministerial approval.[81] In 2022 there is about 900–1,100 police officers in Samoa.

Geography

 
Samoa waterfall scenery
Main article: Geography of Samoa
 
A map of Samoa
 
Topography of Samoa

Samoa lies south of the equator, about halfway between Hawaii and New Zealand, in the Polynesian region of the Pacific Ocean. The total land area is 2,842 km2 (1,097 sq mi),[82] consisting of the two large islands of Upolu and Savai'i (which together account for 99% of the total land area) and eight small islets.

The islets are:[83]

  • the three islets in the Apolima Strait (Manono Island, Apolima and Nu'ulopa)
  • the four Aleipata Islands off the eastern end of Upolu (Nu'utele, Nu'ulua, Namua, and Fanuatapu)
  • Nu'usafe'e, which is less than 1 ha (2+1⁄2 acres) in area and lies about 1.4 km (0.87 mi) off the south coast of Upolu at the village of Vaovai

The main island of Upolu is home to nearly three-quarters of Samoa's population, and to the capital city, Apia.

The Samoan islands result geologically from volcanism, originating with the Samoa hotspot, which probably results from a mantle plume.[84][85] While all of the islands have volcanic origins, only Savai'i, the westernmost island in Samoa, remains volcanically active, with the most recent eruptions at Mt Matavanu (1905–1911), Mata o le Afi (1902) and Mauga Afi (1725). The highest point in Samoa is Mt Silisili, at 1,858 m (6,096 ft). The Saleaula lava fields situated on the central north coast of Savai'i result from the Mt Matavanu eruptions, which left 50 km2 (19 sq mi) of solidified lava.[86]

Savai'i is the largest of the Samoan islands and the sixth-largest Polynesian island (after New Zealand's North, South and Stewart Islands and the Hawaiian islands of Hawaiʻi and Maui). The population of Savai'i is 42,000 people.

Climate

Samoa has an equatorial climate, with an average annual temperature of 26.5 °C (79.7 °F) and a main rainy season from November to April, although heavy rain may fall in any month.[87]

Climate data for Apia
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Average high °C (°F) 30.4
(86.7) 		30.6
(87.1) 		30.6
(87.1) 		30.7
(87.3) 		30.4
(86.7) 		30.0
(86.0) 		29.5
(85.1) 		29.6
(85.3) 		29.9
(85.8) 		30.1
(86.2) 		30.3
(86.5) 		30.5
(86.9) 		30.2
(86.4)
Average low °C (°F) 23.9
(75.0) 		24.2
(75.6) 		24.0
(75.2) 		23.8
(74.8) 		23.4
(74.1) 		23.2
(73.8) 		22.6
(72.7) 		22.8
(73.0) 		23.1
(73.6) 		23.4
(74.1) 		23.6
(74.5) 		23.8
(74.8) 		23.5
(74.3)
Average rainfall mm (inches) 489.0
(19.25) 		368.0
(14.49) 		352.1
(13.86) 		211.2
(8.31) 		192.6
(7.58) 		120.8
(4.76) 		120.7
(4.75) 		113.2
(4.46) 		153.9
(6.06) 		224.3
(8.83) 		261.7
(10.30) 		357.5
(14.07) 		2,965
(116.72)
Source: World Meteorological Organization (UN)[88]

Ecology

Further information: List of mammals of Samoa and Samoan plant names
See also: List of birds of Samoa and List of protected areas of Samoa

Samoa forms part of the Samoan tropical moist forests ecoregion.[89] Since human habitation began, about 80% of the lowland rainforests have disappeared. Within the ecoregion about 28% of plants and 84% of land birds are endemic.[90]

Economy

Main article: Economy of Samoa
 
A proportional representation of Samoa exports, 2019
 
Samoa electricity production by source
 
Taro, a root crop, traditionally was Samoa's largest export, generating more than half of all export revenue in 1993. A fungal blight decimated the plants, and in each year since 1994 taro exports have accounted for less than 1% of export revenue.

The United Nations has classified Samoa as an economically developing country since 2014.[91] As of 2017 Samoa's gross domestic product in purchasing-power parity was estimated at $1.13 billion U.S. dollars, ranking the country 204th in the world. The services sector accounted for 66% of GDP, followed by industry and agriculture at 23.6% and 10.4% respectively.[92] For the same year, the Samoan labour force was estimated at 50,700.[92]

The Central Bank of Samoa issues and regulates Samoa's currency, the Samoan tālā.[93] The economy of Samoa has traditionally depended on agriculture and fishing at the local level. In modern times, development aid, private family remittances from overseas, and agricultural exports have become key factors in the nation's economy. Agriculture employs two-thirds of the labour force and furnishes 90% of exports, featuring coconut cream, coconut oil, noni (juice of the nonu fruit, as it is known in Samoan), and copra.[1]

Sixty percent of Samoa's electricity comes from renewable hydro, solar, and wind sources, with the remainder produced by diesel generators. The Electric Power Corporation set a goal of 100% renewable energy by 2021.[94]

Agriculture

In the period before German colonisation (from the late 19th century), Samoa produced mostly copra. German merchants and settlers were active in introducing large-scale plantation operations and in developing new industries, notably cocoa beans and rubber, relying on imported labourers from China and Melanesia. When the value of natural rubber fell drastically, about the end of the Great War (World War I) in 1918, the New Zealand government encouraged the production of bananas, for which there is a large market in New Zealand.[95]

Because of variations in altitude, Samoa can cultivate a large range of tropical and subtropical crops. Land is not generally available to outside interests. Of the total land area of 2,934 km2 (725,000 acres), about 24.4% is in permanent crops and another 21.2% is arable. About 4.4% is Western Samoan Trust Estates Corporation (WSTEC).[96]

The staple products of Samoa are copra (dried coconut meat), cocoa beans (for chocolate), rubber, and bananas.[97] The annual production of both bananas and copra has been[when?] in the range of 13,000 to 15,000 metric tons (about 14,500 to 16,500 short tons). If the Asiatic rhinoceros beetle in Samoa were eradicated, Samoa could produce in excess of 40,000 metric tons (44,000 short tons) of copra. Samoan cocoa beans are of very high quality and are used in fine New Zealand chocolates. Most are Criollo-Forastero hybrids. Coffee grows well, but production has been uneven. WESTEC is the biggest coffee producer.

Other agricultural industries have proven less successful. Sugarcane production was originally established by Germans in the early 20th century. Old train tracks for transporting cane can be seen at some plantations east of Apia. Pineapples grow well in Samoa, but have not moved beyond local consumption to become a major export.[98][99]

Demographics

 
A Samoan family
Main article: Demographics of Samoa

Samoa reported a population of 194,320 in its 2016 census.[4] About three-quarters of the population live on the main island of Upolu.[71]

Health

Main article: 2019 Samoa measles outbreak

A measles outbreak began in October 2019. As of 7 December, there have been 68 deaths (0.31 per 1,000, based on a population of 201,316[100]) and over 4,460 cases (2.2% of the population) of measles in Samoa,[101][102] mainly children under four years old, and 10 reported cases in Fiji.[103] It is expected that 70 people will die and up to 6,500 people will be infected.[104]

Ethnic groups

The population is 96% Samoans, 2% dual Samoan-New Zealander and 1.9% other, according to a 2011 estimate in the CIA World Factbook.[92]

Languages

Further information: Polynesian languages

Samoan (Gagana Fa'asāmoa) and English are the official languages. Including second-language speakers, there are more speakers of Samoan than English in Samoa.[105] Samoan Sign Language is also commonly used among the deaf population of Samoa. To emphasize the importance of full inclusion with sign language, elementary Samoan Sign Language was taught to members of the Samoa Police Service, Red Cross Society, and public during the 2017 International Week of the Deaf.[106]

Religion

Further information: Religion in Samoa

Since 2017, Article 1 of the Samoan Constitution states that "Samoa is a Christian nation founded of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit".[2]

Samoans' religious adherence includes the following: Christian Congregational Church of Samoa 31.8%, Roman Catholic 19.4%, Methodist 15.2%, Assembly of God 13.7%, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 7.6%, Seventh-day Adventist 3.9%, Worship Centre 1.7%, other Christian 5.5%, other 0.7%, none 0.1%, unspecified 0.1% (2011 estimate).[1] The Head of State until 2007, Malietoa Tanumafili II, was a Baháʼí. Samoa hosts the seventh (of nine current) Baháʼí Houses of Worship in the world; completed in 1984 and dedicated by the Head of State, it is located in Tiapapata, 8 km (5.0 mi) from Apia.

Education

The Samoan government provides eight years of primary and secondary education that is tuition-free and is compulsory through age 16.[107]

Samoa's main post-secondary educational institution is the National University of Samoa, established in 1984. The country is also home to several branches of the multi-national University of the South Pacific and the Oceania University of Medicine.[108]

Education in Samoa has proved to be effective as a 2012 UNESCO report stated that 99 per cent of Samoan adults are literate.[109]

The Human Rights Measurement Initiative (HRMI)[110] finds that Samoa is fulfilling only 88.0% of what it should be fulfilling for the right to education based on the country's level of income.[111] HRMI breaks down the right to education by looking at the rights to both primary education and secondary education. While taking into consideration Samoa's income level, the nation is achieving 97.7% of what should be possible based on its resources (income) for primary education but only 78.3% for secondary education.[112]

Culture

Main article: Culture of Samoa
See also: Music of Samoa
 
A view of Falefa Valley from Le Mafa Pass, east Upolu
 
A young man in an ie'toga

The fa'a Samoa, or traditional Samoan way, remains a strong force in Samoan life and politics. As one of the oldest Polynesian cultures, the fa'asamoa developed over a period of 3,000 years, withstanding centuries of European influence to maintain its historical customs, social and political systems, and language. Cultural customs such as the Samoa 'ava ceremony are significant and solemn rituals at important occasions including the bestowal of matai chiefly titles. Items of great cultural value include the finely woven 'ie toga.[113][114]

Samoan mythology includes many gods with creation stories and figures of legend such as Tagaloa and the goddess of war Nafanua, the daughter of Saveasi'uleo, ruler of the spirit realm Pulotu. Other legends include the well known story of Sina and the Eel which explains the origins of the first coconut tree.

Some Samoans are spiritual and religious, and have subtly adapted the dominant religion of Christianity to 'fit in' with fa'a Samoa and vice versa. Ancient beliefs continue to co-exist side by side with Christianity, particularly in regard to the traditional customs and rituals of fa'a Samoa. The Samoan culture is centred on the principle of vāfealoa'i, the relationships between people. These relationships are based on respect, or fa'aaloalo. When Christianity was introduced in Samoa, most Samoan people converted. Currently 98% of the population identify themselves as Christian.[115]

Some Samoans live a communal way of life, participating in activities collectively. Examples of this are the traditional Samoan fale (houses) which are open with no walls, using blinds made of coconut palm fronds during the night or bad weather.

The Samoan siva dance has unique gentle movements of the body in time to music and tells a story, although the Samoan male dances can be more snappy.[116] The sasa is also a traditional dance where rows of dancers perform rapid synchronised movements in time to the rhythm of wooden drums (pate) or rolled mats. Another dance performed by males is called the fa'ataupati or the slap dance, creating rhythmic sounds by slapping different parts of the body. This is believed to have been derived from slapping insects on the body.[citation needed]

The form and construction of traditional architecture of Samoa was a specialised skill by Tufuga fai fale that was also linked to other cultural artforms.

Tattooing

 
A Samoan woman with a traditional malu

As with other Polynesian cultures (Hawaiian, Tahitian and Māori) with significant and unique tattoos, Samoans have two gender specific and culturally significant tattoos. For males, it is called the Pe'a and consists of intricate and geometrical patterns tattooed that cover areas from the knees up towards the ribs. A male who possesses such a tatau is called a soga'imiti. A Samoan girl or teine is given a malu, which covers the area from just below her knees to her upper thighs.[117]

Contemporary culture

Albert Wendt is a significant Samoan writer whose novels and stories tell the Samoan experience. In 1989, his novel Flying Fox in a Freedom Tree was made into a feature film in New Zealand, directed by Martyn Sanderson.[118] Another novel Sons for the Return Home had also been made into a feature film in 1979, directed by Paul Maunder.[119]

The late John Kneubuhl, born in American Samoa, was an accomplished playwright and screenwriter and writer. His play Think of Garden premiered in Auckland in 1993 a year after his death, it was directed by Nathaniel Lees, is set in 1929 and is about Samoa's struggle for independence.[120][121]

Sia Figiel won the 1997 Commonwealth Writers' Prize for fiction in the south-east Asia/South Pacific region with her novel "Where We Once Belonged".

Momoe Malietoa Von Reiche is an internationally recognised poet and artist.

Tusiata Avia is a performance poet. Her first book of poetry Wild Dogs Under My Skirt was published by Victoria University Press in 2004. Dan Taulapapa McMullin is an artist and writer.

Other Samoan poets and writers include Sapa'u Ruperake Petaia, Eti Sa'aga and Savea Sano Malifa, the editor of the Samoa Observer.

In music, popular local bands include The Five Stars, Penina o Tiafau and Punialava'a. The Yandall Sisters' cover of the song Sweet Inspiration reached number one on the New Zealand charts in 1974.

King Kapisi was the first hip hop artist to receive the prestigious New Zealand APRA Silver Scroll Award in 1999 for his song Reverse Resistance. The music video for Reverse Resistance was filmed in Savai'i at his villages.

Other successful Samoan hip hop artists include rapper Scribe, Dei Hamo, Savage and Tha Feelstyle whose music video Suamalie was filmed in Samoa.

Lemi Ponifasio is a director and choreographer who is prominent internationally with his dance Company MAU.[122]Neil Ieremia's company Black Grace has also received international acclaim with tours to Europe and New York.

Hip hop has had a significant impact on Samoan culture. According to Katerina Martina Teaiwa, PhD from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, "Hip hop culture in particular is popular amongst Samoan youth."[123] As in many other countries, hip hop music is popular. In addition, the integration of hip hop elements into Samoan tradition also "testifies to the transferability of the dance forms themselves," and to the "circuits through which people and all their embodied knowledge travel."[124] Dance both in its traditional form and its more modern forms has remained a central cultural currency to Samoans, especially youths.[123]

The arts organisation Tautai Pacific Arts Trust was an informal collective of visual artists including Fatu Feu'u, Johnny Penisula, Shigeyuki Kihara, Michel Tuffery, and Lily Laita in the 1980s and formalised into a trust in 1995 and is now a leading Pacific arts organisation directed by Courtney Sina Meredith.[125][126] Marilyn Kohlhase ran a Pacific focused gallery called Okaioceanikart from 2007 - 2013.[127]

Director Sima Urale is a filmmaker. Urale's short film O Tamaiti won the prestigious Best Short Film at the Venice Film Festival in 1996. Her first feature film Apron Strings opened the 2008 NZ International Film Festival. The feature film Siones Wedding, co-written by Oscar Kightley, was financially successful following premieres in Auckland and Apia. The 2011 film The Orator was the first ever fully Samoan film, shot in Samoa in the Samoan language with a Samoan cast telling a uniquely Samoan story. Written and directed by Tusi Tamasese, it received much critical acclaim and attention at film festivals throughout the world.

Sport

See also: Sport in Samoa
 
Samoa (blue) vs. South Africa in June 2007

The main sports played in Samoa are rugby union, Samoan cricket and netball. Rugby union is the national football code[clarification needed] of Samoa. In Samoan villages, volleyball is also popular.

Rugby union is the national sport in Samoa and the national team, nicknamed the Manu Samoa, is consistently competitive against teams from vastly more populous nations. Samoa has competed at every Rugby World Cup since 1991, and made the quarter finals in 1991, 1995 and the second round of the 1999 World Cup.[128] At the 2003 world cup, Manu Samoa came close to beating eventual world champions, England. Samoa also played in the Pacific Nations Cup and the Pacific Tri-Nations. The sport is governed by the Samoa Rugby Football Union, who are members of the Pacific Islands Rugby Alliance, and thus, also contribute to the international Pacific Islanders rugby union team.

At club level, there is the National Provincial Championship and Pacific Rugby Cup. They also took home the cup at Wellington and the Hong Kong Rugby Sevens in 2007—for which the Prime Minister of Samoa, also Chairman of the national rugby union, Tuila’epa Sa’ilele Malielegaoi, declared a national holiday. They were also the IRB World Sevens Series Champions in 2010 capping a year of achievement for the Samoans, following wins in the US, Australia, Hong Kong and Scotland Sevens tournaments.

Prominent Samoan players include Pat Lam and Brian Lima. In addition, many Samoans have played for or are playing for New Zealand.

Rugby league is mostly played by Samoans living in New Zealand and Australia.[citation needed] Samoa reached the quarter finals of the 2013 Rugby League World Cup, the team comprising players from the NRL and Super League plus domestic players. Many Samoans and New Zealanders or Australians of Samoan descent play in the Super League and National Leagues in Britain, including Francis Meli, Ta'ane Lavulavu of Workington Town, Maurie Fa'asavalu of St Helens, David Fatialofa of Whitehaven and Setaimata Sa, who signed with London Irish rugby club. Other noteworthy players from NZ and Australia have represented the Samoan National team. The 2011 domestic Samoan rugby league competition contained 10 teams with plans to expand to 12 in 2012.[129][failed verification][130] Samoa reached the final of the 2021 Rugby League World Cup to face Australia.

Samoans have been very visible in boxing, kickboxing, wrestling, and sumo; some Samoan sumo wrestlers, most famously Musashimaru and Konishiki, have reached the highest rank of Ozeki and yokozuna.

American football is occasionally played in Samoa, reflecting its wide popularity in American Samoa, where the sport is played under high school sanction. About 30 ethnic Samoans, many from American Samoa, currently play in the National Football League. A 2002 article from ESPN estimated that a Samoan male (either an American Samoan or a Samoan living in the mainland United States) is 40 times more likely to play in the NFL than a non-Samoan American.[131]

See also

Footnotes

  1. ^ /ˈsɑːmɔːə/ SAH-maw-ə;[10][11] British/American pronunciation: /səˈmoʊə/ sə-MOH-ə.[12][13]
  2. ^ Samoan: Malo Saʻoloto Tutoʻatasi o Sāmoa; Samoan: Sāmoa, IPA: [ˈsaːmʊa]

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Further reading

  • Watson, R M, History of Samoa (Wellington, 1918)
  • Meleisea, Malama. The Making of Modern Samoa: Traditional Authority and Colonial Administration in the Modern History of Western Samoa. (Suva, 1987) Institute of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific.
  • 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.
  • Stevenson, Robert Louis. A Footnote to History: Eight Years of Trouble in Samoa. BiblioBazaar. ISBN 978-1-4264-0754-3.
  • Mead, Margaret. 1928, Coming of Age in Samoa: A Study of Adolescence and Sex in Primitive Societies.
  • Freeman, Derek. 1983. Margaret Mead in Samoa: the Making and Unmaking of an Anthropological Myth.
  • Urmenyhazi Attila. 2013 Samoan & Marquesan Life in Oceania: a probing travelogue. ISBN 9780646909127 – National Library of Australia, Bib ID: 6377055.
  • Mallon, Sean. 2002. Samoan Art and Artists. O Measina a Samoa. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 0-8248-2675-2
  • Gill, B.J. (1993). "The land reptiles of Western Samoa". Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 23 (2): 79–89. doi:10.1080/03036758.1993.10721219.

External links

  • "Western Samoa Act, 1961". New Zealand Law online. 1961.

Government

  • Government of Samoa

General information

Coordinates: 13°44′42″S 172°13′03″W / 13.74500°S 172.21750°W / -13.74500; -172.21750

February 20, 2023
samoa, this, article, about, nation, geographical, region, islands, united, states, territory, american, other, uses, disambiguation, note, officially, independent, state, note, until, 1997, known, western, polynesian, island, country, consisting, main, island. This article is about the nation of Samoa For the geographical region see Samoan Islands For the Samoan United States territory see American Samoa For other uses see Samoa disambiguation Samoa note 1 officially the Independent State of Samoa note 2 and until 1997 known as Western Samoa is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands Savai i and Upolu two smaller inhabited islands Manono and Apolima and several smaller uninhabited islands including the Aleipata Islands Nu utele Nu ulua Fanuatapu and Namua Samoa is located 64 km 40 mi west of American Samoa 889 km 552 mi northeast of Tonga closest foreign country 1 152 km 716 mi northeast of Fiji 483 km 300 mi east of Wallis and Futuna 1 151 km 715 mi southeast of Tuvalu 519 km 322 mi south of Tokelau 4 190 km 2 600 mi southwest of Hawaii and 610 km 380 mi northwest of Niue The capital city is Apia The Lapita people discovered and settled the Samoan Islands around 3 500 years ago They developed a Samoan language and Samoan cultural identity Independent State of SamoaMalo Saʻoloto Tutoʻatasi o Samoa wbr Samoan Flag Coat of armsMotto Faʻavae i le Atua Samoa Samoa is founded on God Anthem O Le Fuʻa o le Saʻolotoga o Samoa The Banner of Freedom source source Location of SamoaMap of SamoaCapitaland largest cityApia13 50 00 S 171 45 44 W 13 83333 S 171 76222 W 13 83333 171 76222Official languagesSamoan EnglishEthnic groups 2001 92 6 Samoans7 0 Euronesians0 4 Europeans0 1 East Asian 1 Religion 2021 Christianity official 2 27 Congregational19 Catholic18 Mormon12 Methodist10 Samoan Assemblies of God16 Other 3 Demonym s SamoanGovernmentUnitary parliamentary republic O le Ao o le MaloTuimalealiʻifano Vaʻaletoʻa Sualauvi IIa Prime MinisterFiame Naomi Mataʻafa Assembly SpeakerPapali i Li o Taeu MasipauLegislatureLegislative AssemblyIndependence from New Zealand Treaty of Berlin14 June 1889 Tripartite Convention16 February 1900 Colonisation by Germany1 March 1900 Occupied by New Zealand30 August 1914 League mandate17 December 1920 UN trusteeship13 December 1946 Western Samoa Act 19611 January 1962 Admitted to the United Nations15 December 1976 Name change from Western Samoa to Samoa4 July 1997Area Total2 842 km2 1 097 sq mi 167th Water 0 3Population November 2021 census205 557 4 176th Density70 km2 181 3 sq mi GDP PPP 2018 estimate Total 1 188 billion 5 Per capita 5 962 5 GDP nominal 2018 estimate Total 881 million 5 Per capita 4 420 5 Gini 2013 38 7 6 mediumHDI 2021 0 707 7 high 111thCurrencyTala WS b WST Time zoneUTC 13c WST Date formatdd mm yyyyDriving sideleftdCalling code 685ISO 3166 codeWSInternet TLD wsHead of State Symbols SAT ST or T are in use as well The terms Tala and Sene are translations of the English words Dollar and Cent in the Samoan language Since 31 December 2011 8 Since 7 September 2009 9 Although driving is on the left side of the roadway centre line Samoa allows cars with steering wheels on either the left or the right side of the vehicle to use the roads Samoa is a unitary parliamentary democracy with 11 administrative divisions It is a sovereign state and a member of the Commonwealth of Nations Western Samoa was admitted to the United Nations on 15 December 1976 14 Because of the Samoans seafaring skills pre 20th century European explorers referred to the entire island group which includes American Samoa as the Navigator Islands 15 16 The country was a colony of the German Empire from 1899 to 1915 then came under a joint British and New Zealand colonial administration until 1 January 1962 when it became independent Contents 1 History 1 1 Early history 1 2 19th century 1 3 German Samoa 1900 1914 1 4 New Zealand rule 1914 1961 1 4 1 Flu pandemic 1 4 2 Mau movement 1 5 Independence 1 5 1 As Western Samoa 1962 1997 1 5 2 As Samoa 1997 onwards 2 Government and politics 2 1 Administrative divisions 2 2 Human rights 2 3 State religion 2 4 Military and police 3 Geography 3 1 Climate 3 2 Ecology 4 Economy 5 Agriculture 6 Demographics 6 1 Health 6 2 Ethnic groups 6 3 Languages 6 4 Religion 7 Education 8 Culture 8 1 Tattooing 8 2 Contemporary culture 8 3 Sport 9 See also 10 Footnotes 11 References 12 Further reading 13 External linksHistory EditMain article History of Samoa Early history Edit Samoa was discovered and settled by the Lapita people Austronesian people who spoke Oceanic languages who travelled from Island Melanesia The earliest human remains found in Samoa are dated to between roughly 2 900 and 3 500 years ago The remains were discovered at a Lapita site at Mulifanua and the scientists findings were published in 1974 17 The Samoans origins have been studied in modern times through scientific research on Polynesian genetics linguistics and anthropology Although this research is ongoing a number of theories have been proposed One theory is that the original Samoans were Austronesians who arrived during a final period of eastward expansion of the Lapita peoples out of Southeast Asia and Melanesia between 2 500 and 1 500 BCE 18 Intimate sociocultural and genetic ties were maintained between Samoa Fiji and Tonga and the archaeological record supports oral tradition and native genealogies that indicate interisland voyaging and intermarriage between precolonial Samoans Fijians and Tongans Notable figures in Samoan history included the Tui Manu a line Queen Salamasina King Fonoti and the four tama a aiga Malietoa Tupua Tamasese Mata afa and Tuimalealiifano Nafanua was a famous woman warrior who was deified in ancient Samoan religion and whose patronage was highly sought after by successive Samoan rulers 19 Today all of Samoa is united under its two principal royal families the Sa Malietoa of the ancient Malietoa lineage that defeated the Tongans in the 13th century and the Sa Tupua Queen Salamasina s descendants and heirs who ruled Samoa in the centuries that followed her reign Within these two principal lineages are the four highest titles of Samoa the elder titles of Malietoa and Tupua Tamasese of antiquity and the newer Mata afa and Tuimalealiifano titles which rose to prominence in 19th century wars that preceded the colonial period 19 These four titles form the apex of the Samoan matai system as it stands today Contact with Europeans began in the early 18th century Jacob Roggeveen a Dutchman was the first known non Polynesian to sight the Samoan islands in 1722 This visit was followed by French explorer Louis Antoine de Bougainville who named them the Navigator Islands in 1768 Contact was limited before the 1830s which is when English missionaries whalers and traders began arriving 20 19th century Edit Visits by American trading and whaling vessels were important in the early economic development of Samoa The Salem brig Roscoe Captain Benjamin Vanderford in October 1821 was the first American trading vessel known to have called and the Maro Captain Richard Macy of Nantucket in 1824 was the first recorded United States whaler at Samoa 21 The whalers came for fresh drinking water firewood and provisions and later they recruited local men to serve as crewmen on their ships The last recorded whaler visitor was the Governor Morton in 1870 22 Christian missionary work in Samoa began in 1830 when John Williams of the London Missionary Society arrived in Sapapali i from the Cook Islands and Tahiti 23 According to Barbara A West The Samoans were also known to engage in headhunting a ritual of war in which a warrior took the head of his slain opponent to give to his leader thus proving his bravery 24 In A Footnote to History Eight Years of Trouble in Samoa 1892 Robert Louis Stevenson details the activities of the great powers battling for influence in Samoa the United States Germany and Britain and the political machinations of the various Samoan factions within their indigenous political system 25 26 Even as they descended into ever greater interclan warfare what most alarmed Stevenson was the Samoans economic innocence In 1894 just months before his death he addressed the island chiefs There is but one way to defend Samoa Hear it before it is too late It is to make roads and gardens and care for your trees and sell their produce wisely and in one word to occupy and use your country if you do not occupy and use your country others will It will not continue to be yours or your children s if you occupy it for nothing You and your children will in that case be cast out into outer darkness He had seen these judgments of God in Hawaii where abandoned native churches stood like tombstones over a grave in the midst of the white men s sugar fields 27 Studio photo depicting preparation of the Samoa ava ceremony c 1911 Interior of Samoan house Apia Urville 1842 Robert Louis Stevenson s birthday fete at Vailima 1894 The Germans in particular began to show great commercial interest in the Samoan Islands especially on the island of Upolu where German firms monopolised copra and cocoa bean processing The United States laid its own claim based on commercial shipping interests in Pearl Harbor in Hawaii and Pago Pago Bay in eastern Samoa and forced alliances most conspicuously on the islands of Tutuila and Manu a which became American Samoa Britain also sent troops to protect British business enterprise harbour rights and consulate office This was followed by an eight year civil war during which each of the three powers supplied arms training and in some cases combat troops to the warring Samoan parties The Samoan crisis came to a critical juncture in March 1889 when all three colonial contenders sent warships into Apia harbour and a larger scale war seemed imminent A massive storm on 15 March 1889 damaged or destroyed the warships ending the military conflict 28 The Second Samoan Civil War reached a head in 1898 when Germany the United Kingdom and the United States were locked in dispute over who should control the Samoan Islands The Siege of Apia occurred in March 1899 Samoan forces loyal to Prince Tanu were besieged by a larger force of Samoan rebels loyal to Mata afa Iosefo Supporting Prince Tanu were landing parties from four British and American warships After several days of fighting the Samoan rebels were finally defeated 29 Mata afa Iosefo 1832 1912 paramount chief and rival for the kingship of Samoa The joint commission of Germany the United States and Great Britain abolished the Samoan kingship in June 1899 Exiled orator Lauaki Namulau ulu Mamoe standing third from left with orator s staff and other chiefs aboard German warship taking them to exile in Saipan 1909 American and British warships shelled Apia on 15 March 1899 including the USS Philadelphia Germany the United Kingdom and the United States quickly resolved to end the hostilities and divided the island chain at the Tripartite Convention of 1899 signed at Washington on 2 December 1899 with ratifications exchanged on 16 February 1900 30 31 The eastern island group became a territory of the United States the Tutuila Islands in 1900 and officially Manu a in 1904 and was known as American Samoa The western islands by far the greater landmass became German Samoa The United Kingdom had vacated all claims in Samoa and in return received 1 termination of German rights in Tonga 2 all of the Solomon Islands south of Bougainville and 3 territorial alignments in West Africa 32 German Samoa 1900 1914 Edit Chiefs from all around Samoa mourning the 1929 death of Mau Movement leader Tupua Tamesese Lealofi III after the Black Saturday killings by NZ soldiers Main article German Samoa The German Empire governed the western part of the Samoan archipelago from 1900 to 1914 Wilhelm Solf was appointed the colony s first governor In 1908 when the non violent Mau a Pule resistance movement arose Solf did not hesitate to banish the Mau leader Lauaki Namulau ulu Mamoe to Saipan in the German Northern Mariana Islands 33 The German colonial administration governed on the principle that there was only one government in the islands 34 Thus there was no Samoan Tupu king nor an alii sili similar to a governor but two Fautua advisors were appointed by the colonial government Tumua and Pule traditional governments of Upolu and Savai i were for a time silent all decisions on matters affecting lands and titles were under the control of the colonial Governor In the first month of World War I on 29 August 1914 troops of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force landed unopposed on Upolu and seized control from the German authorities following a request by Great Britain for New Zealand to perform this great and urgent imperial service 35 New Zealand rule 1914 1961 Edit Main article Western Samoa Trust Territory From the end of World War I until 1962 New Zealand controlled Western Samoa as a Class C Mandate under trusteeship through the League of Nations 31 36 then through the United Nations Between 1919 and 1962 Samoa was administered by the Department of External Affairs a government department which had been specially created to oversee New Zealand s Island Territories and Samoa 37 In 1943 this department was renamed the Department of Island Territories after a separate Department of External Affairs was created to conduct New Zealand s foreign affairs 38 During the period of New Zealand control their administrators were responsible for two major incidents Flu pandemic Edit In the first incident approximately one fifth of the Samoan population died in the influenza epidemic of 1918 1919 39 31 In 1918 during the final stages of World War I the Spanish flu had taken its toll spreading rapidly from country to country On Samoa there had been no epidemic of pneumonic influenza in Western Samoa before the arrival of the SS Talune from Auckland on 7 November 1918 The NZ administration allowed the ship to berth in breach of quarantine within seven days of this ship s arrival influenza became epidemic in Upolu and then spread rapidly throughout the rest of the territory 40 Samoa suffered the most of all Pacific islands with 90 of the population infected 30 of adult men 22 of adult women and 10 of children died 41 The cause of the epidemic was confirmed in 1919 by a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Epidemic concluded that there had been no epidemic of pneumonic influenza in Western Samoa before the arrival of the Talune from Auckland on 7 November 1918 40 The pandemic undermined Samoan confidence in New Zealand s administrative capacity and competence 31 Some Samoans asked that the rule of the islands be transferred to the Americans or the British 31 Mau movement Edit The second major incident arose out of an initially peaceful protest by the Mau which literally translates as strongly held opinion a non violent popular movement which had its beginnings in the early 1900s on Savai i led by Lauaki Namulauulu Mamoe an orator chief deposed by Solf In 1909 Lauaki was exiled to Saipan and died en route back to Samoa in 1915 By 1918 Western Samoa had a population of some 38 000 Samoans and 1 500 Europeans 42 However native Samoans greatly resented New Zealand s colonial rule and blamed inflation and the catastrophic 1918 flu epidemic on its misrule 43 By the late 1920s the resistance movement against colonial rule had gathered widespread support One of the Mau leaders was Olaf Frederick Nelson a half Samoan and half Swedish merchant 44 Nelson was eventually exiled during the late 1920s and early 1930s but he continued to assist the organisation financially and politically In accordance with the Mau s non violent philosophy the newly elected leader High Chief Tupua Tamasese Lealofi led his fellow uniformed Mau in a peaceful demonstration in downtown Apia on 28 December 1929 45 The New Zealand police attempted to arrest one of the leaders in the demonstration When he resisted a struggle developed between the police and the Mau The officers began to fire randomly into the crowd and used a Lewis machine gun mounted in preparation for the demonstration to disperse the demonstrators 46 Mau leader and paramount chief Tupua Tamasese Lealofi III was shot from behind and killed while trying to bring calm and order to the Mau demonstrators Ten others died that day and approximately 50 were injured by gunshot wounds and police batons 47 That day would come to be known in Samoa as Black Saturday On 13 January 1930 the New Zealanders banned the organisation As many as 1500 Mau men took to the bush pursued by an armed force of 150 marines and seamen from the light cruiser HMS Dunedin and 50 military police Villages were raided often at night and with fixed bayonets In March through the mediation of local Europeans and missionaries Mau leaders met New Zealand s Minister of Defence and agreed to disperse 48 Supporters of the Mau continued to be arrested so women came to the fore rallying supporters and staging demonstrations The political stalemate was broken following the victory of the Labour Party victory in New Zealand s 1935 general election A goodwill mission to Apia in June 1936 recognised the Mau as a legitimate political organisation and Olaf Nelson was allowed to return from exile 48 In September 1936 Samoans exercised for the first time the right to elect themembers of the advisory Fono of Faipule 49 with representatives of the Mau movement winning 31 of the 39 seats 50 Independence Edit As Western Samoa 1962 1997 Edit After repeated efforts by the Samoan independence movement the New Zealand Western Samoa Act 1961 of 24 November 1961 terminated the Trusteeship Agreement and granted the country independence as the Independent State of Western Samoa effective on 1 January 1962 51 52 Western Samoa the first small island country in the Pacific to become independent signed a Treaty of Friendship with New Zealand later in 1962 Western Samoa joined the Commonwealth of Nations on 28 August 1970 While independence was achieved at the beginning of January Samoa annually celebrates 1 June as its independence day 53 54 On 15 December 1976 Western Samoa was admitted to the United Nations as the 147th member state It asked to be referred to in the United Nations as the Independent State of Samoa 55 Travel writer Paul Theroux noted marked differences between the societies in Western Samoa and American Samoa in 1992 56 As Samoa 1997 onwards Edit On 4 July 1997 the government amended the constitution to change the name of the country from Western Samoa to Samoa 57 the name it had been called by in the United Nations since it joined 58 American Samoa protested against the name change asserting that it diminished its own identity 58 In 2002 New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark formally apologised for New Zealand s role in the Spanish influenza outbreak in 1918 that killed over a quarter of Samoa s population and for the Black Saturday killings in 1929 59 60 On 7 September 2009 the government changed the rule of the road from right to left in common with most other Commonwealth countries most notably countries in the region such as Australia and New Zealand home to large numbers of Samoans 61 This made Samoa the first country in the 21st century to switch to driving on the left 62 At the end of December 2011 Samoa changed its time zone offset from UTC 11 to UTC 13 effectively jumping forward by one day omitting Friday 30 December from the local calendar This also had the effect of changing the shape of the International Date Line moving it to the east of the territory 63 This change aimed to help the nation boost its economy in doing business with Australia and New Zealand Before this change Samoa was 21 hours behind Sydney but the change means it is now three hours ahead The previous time zone implemented on 4 July 1892 operated in line with American traders based in California 64 In October 2021 Samoa ceased daylight saving time 65 In 2017 Samoa signed the UN treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons 66 In June 2017 Parliament amended Article 1 of the Samoan Constitution to make Christianity the state religion 2 67 In May 2021 Fiame Naomi Mataʻafa became Samoa s first female prime minister Mataʻafa s FAST party narrowly won the election ending the rule of long term Prime Minister Tuila epa Sa ilele Malielegaoi of the Human Rights Protection Party HRPP 68 although the constitutional crisis complicated and delayed this On 24 May 2021 she was sworn in as the new prime minister though it was not until July that the Supreme Court ruled that her swearing in was legal thus ending the constitutional crisis and bringing an end to Tuila epa s 22 year premiership The FAST party s success in the 2021 election and subsequent court rulings also ended nearly four decades of HRPP rule 69 In August 2022 Samoa s Legislative Assembly reappointed Tuimaleali ifano Vaaletoa Sualauvi II as the Head of State for a second term of five years 70 Government and politics EditMain articles Politics of Samoa and Fa amatai Government buildings in Apia The 1960 constitution which formally came into force with independence from New Zealand in 1962 builds on the British pattern of parliamentary democracy modified to take account of Samoan customs 71 The national modern Government of Samoa is referred to as the Malo Fiame Mata afa Faumuina Mulinu u II one of the four highest ranking paramount chiefs in the country became Samoa s first Prime Minister Two other paramount chiefs at the time of independence were appointed joint heads of state for life Tupua Tamasese Mea ole died in 1963 leaving Malietoa Tanumafili II sole head of state until his death on 11 May 2007 The next Head of State was Tui Atua Tupua Tamasese Efi who was elected by the legislature on 17 June 2007 for a fixed five year term 72 and was re elected unopposed in July 2012 He was succeeded by Tuimalealiifano Va aletoa Sualauvi II in 2017 Tuimaleali ifano was reappointed for a second term of five years in 2022 73 The unicameral legislature the Fono consists of 51 members serving 5 year terms Forty nine are matai title holders elected from territorial districts by Samoans the other two are chosen by non Samoans with no chiefly affiliation on separate electoral rolls At least 10 of the MPs are women 74 Universal suffrage was adopted in 1990 but only chiefs matai may stand for election to the Samoan seats There are more than 25 000 matais in the country about 5 of whom are women 75 The prime minister chosen by a majority in the Fono is appointed by the head of state to form a government The prime minister s choices for the 12 cabinet positions are appointed by the head of state subject to the continuing confidence of the Fono Prominent women in Samoan politics include the late Laulu Fetauimalemau Mata afa 1928 2007 from Lotofaga constituency the wife of Samoa s first prime minister Their daughter Fiame Naomi Mataʻafa is a high chief and a long serving senior member of cabinet who was elected Prime Minister in 2021 Other women in politics include Samoan scholar and eminent professor Aiono Fanaafi Le Tagaloa orator chief Matatumua Maimoana and Safuneitu uga Pa aga Neri as of 2016 update the Minister of Communication and Technology The judicial system incorporates English common law and local customs The Supreme Court of Samoa is the court of highest jurisdiction The Chief Justice of Samoa is appointed by the head of state upon the recommendation of the prime minister Administrative divisions Edit Main articles Districts of Samoa and Electoral constituencies of Samoa Samoa comprises eleven itumalō political districts These are the traditional eleven districts which predate European arrival Each district has its own constitutional foundation fa avae based on the traditional order of title precedence found in each district s faalupega traditional salutations 76 The capital village of each district administers and coordinates the affairs of the district and confers each district s paramount title amongst other responsibilities For example A ana has its capital at Leulumoega The paramount tama a aiga royal lineage title of A ana is Tuimalealiifano The paramount papa title of A ana is the Tui A ana The orator group which confers this title the Faleiva House of Nine is based at Leulumoega Atua has its capital at Lufilufi The paramount tama a aiga royal lineage titles of Atua are Tupua Tamasese based in Falefa and Salani and Mata afa based in Amaile and Lotofaga The two main political families who confer the respective titles are Aiga Sa Fenunuivao and Aiga Sa Levalasi The paramount papa title of Atua is the Tui Atua The orator group which confers this title the Faleono House of Six is based at Lufilufi Tuamasaga has its capital at Afega The paramount tama a aiga royal lineage title of Tuamasaga is the Malietoa title based in Malie The main political family that confers the Malietoa title is Aiga Sa Malietoa with Auimatagi as the main speaker for the family The paramount papa titles of Tuamasaga are Gatoaitele conferred by Afega and Vaetamasoalii conferred by Safata 26 The eleven itumalō are identified to be Political districts of Samoa including minor islands On Upolu 1 Tuamasaga Afega 1 2 A ana Leulumoega 3 Aiga i le Tai Mulifanua 2 4 Atua Lufilufi 3 5 Va a o Fonoti Samamea On Savai i 6 Fa asaleleaga Safotulafai 7 Gaga emauga Saleaula 4 8 Gaga ifomauga Safotu 9 Vaisigano Asau 10 Satupa itea Satupa itea 11 Palauli Vailoa 1 including the faipule district of Siumu 2 including islands Manono Apolima and Nu ulopa 3 including the Aleipata Islands and Nu usafe e Island 4 smaller parts also on Upolu Salamumu incl Salamumu Uta and Leauvaa villages Human rights Edit See also Human rights in Samoa Major areas of concern include the under representation of women domestic violence and poor prison conditions Homosexual acts are illegal in Samoa 77 State religion Edit In June 2017 an Act was passed changing the country s constitution to include a reference to the Trinity As amended Article 1 of the Samoan Constitution states that Samoa is a Christian nation founded on God the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit 78 According to The Diplomat What Samoa has done is shift references to Christianity into the body of the constitution giving the text far more potential to be used in legal processes 79 The preamble to the constitution already described the country as an independent State based on Christian principles and Samoan custom and traditions 79 Military and police Edit Samoa has no formal defence structure or regular armed forces It has informal defence ties with New Zealand which is required to consider any request for assistance from Samoa under the bilateral Treaty of Friendship of 1962 80 Officers of the national police force the Samoa Police Service are regularly unarmed but may be armed in exceptional circumstances with ministerial approval 81 In 2022 there is about 900 1 100 police officers in Samoa Geography Edit Samoa waterfall scenery Main article Geography of Samoa A map of Samoa Topography of Samoa Samoa lies south of the equator about halfway between Hawaii and New Zealand in the Polynesian region of the Pacific Ocean The total land area is 2 842 km2 1 097 sq mi 82 consisting of the two large islands of Upolu and Savai i which together account for 99 of the total land area and eight small islets The islets are 83 the three islets in the Apolima Strait Manono Island Apolima and Nu ulopa the four Aleipata Islands off the eastern end of Upolu Nu utele Nu ulua Namua and Fanuatapu Nu usafe e which is less than 1 ha 2 1 2 acres in area and lies about 1 4 km 0 87 mi off the south coast of Upolu at the village of VaovaiThe main island of Upolu is home to nearly three quarters of Samoa s population and to the capital city Apia The Samoan islands result geologically from volcanism originating with the Samoa hotspot which probably results from a mantle plume 84 85 While all of the islands have volcanic origins only Savai i the westernmost island in Samoa remains volcanically active with the most recent eruptions at Mt Matavanu 1905 1911 Mata o le Afi 1902 and Mauga Afi 1725 The highest point in Samoa is Mt Silisili at 1 858 m 6 096 ft The Saleaula lava fields situated on the central north coast of Savai i result from the Mt Matavanu eruptions which left 50 km2 19 sq mi of solidified lava 86 Savai i is the largest of the Samoan islands and the sixth largest Polynesian island after New Zealand s North South and Stewart Islands and the Hawaiian islands of Hawaiʻi and Maui The population of Savai i is 42 000 people Climate Edit Samoa has an equatorial climate with an average annual temperature of 26 5 C 79 7 F and a main rainy season from November to April although heavy rain may fall in any month 87 Climate data for ApiaMonth Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec YearAverage high C F 30 4 86 7 30 6 87 1 30 6 87 1 30 7 87 3 30 4 86 7 30 0 86 0 29 5 85 1 29 6 85 3 29 9 85 8 30 1 86 2 30 3 86 5 30 5 86 9 30 2 86 4 Average low C F 23 9 75 0 24 2 75 6 24 0 75 2 23 8 74 8 23 4 74 1 23 2 73 8 22 6 72 7 22 8 73 0 23 1 73 6 23 4 74 1 23 6 74 5 23 8 74 8 23 5 74 3 Average rainfall mm inches 489 0 19 25 368 0 14 49 352 1 13 86 211 2 8 31 192 6 7 58 120 8 4 76 120 7 4 75 113 2 4 46 153 9 6 06 224 3 8 83 261 7 10 30 357 5 14 07 2 965 116 72 Source World Meteorological Organization UN 88 Ecology Edit Further information List of mammals of Samoa and Samoan plant names See also List of birds of Samoa and List of protected areas of Samoa Samoa forms part of the Samoan tropical moist forests ecoregion 89 Since human habitation began about 80 of the lowland rainforests have disappeared Within the ecoregion about 28 of plants and 84 of land birds are endemic 90 Economy EditMain article Economy of Samoa A proportional representation of Samoa exports 2019 Central Bank of Samoa Samoa electricity production by source Taro a root crop traditionally was Samoa s largest export generating more than half of all export revenue in 1993 A fungal blight decimated the plants and in each year since 1994 taro exports have accounted for less than 1 of export revenue The United Nations has classified Samoa as an economically developing country since 2014 91 As of 2017 update Samoa s gross domestic product in purchasing power parity was estimated at 1 13 billion U S dollars ranking the country 204th in the world The services sector accounted for 66 of GDP followed by industry and agriculture at 23 6 and 10 4 respectively 92 For the same year the Samoan labour force was estimated at 50 700 92 The Central Bank of Samoa issues and regulates Samoa s currency the Samoan tala 93 The economy of Samoa has traditionally depended on agriculture and fishing at the local level In modern times development aid private family remittances from overseas and agricultural exports have become key factors in the nation s economy Agriculture employs two thirds of the labour force and furnishes 90 of exports featuring coconut cream coconut oil noni juice of the nonu fruit as it is known in Samoan and copra 1 Sixty percent of Samoa s electricity comes from renewable hydro solar and wind sources with the remainder produced by diesel generators The Electric Power Corporation set a goal of 100 renewable energy by 2021 94 Agriculture EditIn the period before German colonisation from the late 19th century Samoa produced mostly copra German merchants and settlers were active in introducing large scale plantation operations and in developing new industries notably cocoa beans and rubber relying on imported labourers from China and Melanesia When the value of natural rubber fell drastically about the end of the Great War World War I in 1918 the New Zealand government encouraged the production of bananas for which there is a large market in New Zealand 95 Because of variations in altitude Samoa can cultivate a large range of tropical and subtropical crops Land is not generally available to outside interests Of the total land area of 2 934 km2 725 000 acres about 24 4 is in permanent crops and another 21 2 is arable About 4 4 is Western Samoan Trust Estates Corporation WSTEC 96 The staple products of Samoa are copra dried coconut meat cocoa beans for chocolate rubber and bananas 97 The annual production of both bananas and copra has been when in the range of 13 000 to 15 000 metric tons about 14 500 to 16 500 short tons If the Asiatic rhinoceros beetle in Samoa were eradicated Samoa could produce in excess of 40 000 metric tons 44 000 short tons of copra Samoan cocoa beans are of very high quality and are used in fine New Zealand chocolates Most are Criollo Forastero hybrids Coffee grows well but production has been uneven WESTEC is the biggest coffee producer Other agricultural industries have proven less successful Sugarcane production was originally established by Germans in the early 20th century Old train tracks for transporting cane can be seen at some plantations east of Apia Pineapples grow well in Samoa but have not moved beyond local consumption to become a major export 98 99 Demographics Edit A Samoan family Main article Demographics of Samoa Samoa reported a population of 194 320 in its 2016 census 4 About three quarters of the population live on the main island of Upolu 71 Health Edit Main article 2019 Samoa measles outbreak A measles outbreak began in October 2019 As of 7 December there have been 68 deaths 0 31 per 1 000 based on a population of 201 316 100 and over 4 460 cases 2 2 of the population of measles in Samoa 101 102 mainly children under four years old and 10 reported cases in Fiji 103 It is expected that 70 people will die and up to 6 500 people will be infected 104 Ethnic groups Edit The population is 96 Samoans 2 dual Samoan New Zealander and 1 9 other according to a 2011 estimate in the CIA World Factbook 92 Languages Edit Further information Polynesian languages Samoan Gagana Fa asamoa and English are the official languages Including second language speakers there are more speakers of Samoan than English in Samoa 105 Samoan Sign Language is also commonly used among the deaf population of Samoa To emphasize the importance of full inclusion with sign language elementary Samoan Sign Language was taught to members of the Samoa Police Service Red Cross Society and public during the 2017 International Week of the Deaf 106 Religion Edit Further information Religion in Samoa Since 2017 Article 1 of the Samoan Constitution states that Samoa is a Christian nation founded of God the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit 2 Samoans religious adherence includes the following Christian Congregational Church of Samoa 31 8 Roman Catholic 19 4 Methodist 15 2 Assembly of God 13 7 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints 7 6 Seventh day Adventist 3 9 Worship Centre 1 7 other Christian 5 5 other 0 7 none 0 1 unspecified 0 1 2011 estimate 1 The Head of State until 2007 Malietoa Tanumafili II was a Bahaʼi Samoa hosts the seventh of nine current Bahaʼi Houses of Worship in the world completed in 1984 and dedicated by the Head of State it is located in Tiapapata 8 km 5 0 mi from Apia Education EditThe Samoan government provides eight years of primary and secondary education that is tuition free and is compulsory through age 16 107 Samoa s main post secondary educational institution is the National University of Samoa established in 1984 The country is also home to several branches of the multi national University of the South Pacific and the Oceania University of Medicine 108 Education in Samoa has proved to be effective as a 2012 UNESCO report stated that 99 per cent of Samoan adults are literate 109 The Human Rights Measurement Initiative HRMI 110 finds that Samoa is fulfilling only 88 0 of what it should be fulfilling for the right to education based on the country s level of income 111 HRMI breaks down the right to education by looking at the rights to both primary education and secondary education While taking into consideration Samoa s income level the nation is achieving 97 7 of what should be possible based on its resources income for primary education but only 78 3 for secondary education 112 Culture EditMain article Culture of Samoa See also Music of Samoa A view of Falefa Valley from Le Mafa Pass east Upolu A young man in an ie toga The fa a Samoa or traditional Samoan way remains a strong force in Samoan life and politics As one of the oldest Polynesian cultures the fa asamoa developed over a period of 3 000 years withstanding centuries of European influence to maintain its historical customs social and political systems and language Cultural customs such as the Samoa ava ceremony are significant and solemn rituals at important occasions including the bestowal of matai chiefly titles Items of great cultural value include the finely woven ie toga 113 114 Samoan mythology includes many gods with creation stories and figures of legend such as Tagaloa and the goddess of war Nafanua the daughter of Saveasi uleo ruler of the spirit realm Pulotu Other legends include the well known story of Sina and the Eel which explains the origins of the first coconut tree Some Samoans are spiritual and religious and have subtly adapted the dominant religion of Christianity to fit in with fa a Samoa and vice versa Ancient beliefs continue to co exist side by side with Christianity particularly in regard to the traditional customs and rituals of fa a Samoa The Samoan culture is centred on the principle of vafealoa i the relationships between people These relationships are based on respect or fa aaloalo When Christianity was introduced in Samoa most Samoan people converted Currently 98 of the population identify themselves as Christian 115 Some Samoans live a communal way of life participating in activities collectively Examples of this are the traditional Samoan fale houses which are open with no walls using blinds made of coconut palm fronds during the night or bad weather The Samoan siva dance has unique gentle movements of the body in time to music and tells a story although the Samoan male dances can be more snappy 116 The sasa is also a traditional dance where rows of dancers perform rapid synchronised movements in time to the rhythm of wooden drums pate or rolled mats Another dance performed by males is called the fa ataupati or the slap dance creating rhythmic sounds by slapping different parts of the body This is believed to have been derived from slapping insects on the body citation needed The form and construction of traditional architecture of Samoa was a specialised skill by Tufuga fai fale that was also linked to other cultural artforms Roman Catholic Immaculate Conception of Mary cathedral A Samoan fire dancer A fale on Manono Island LDS Apia Samoa TempleTattooing Edit A Samoan woman with a traditional malu As with other Polynesian cultures Hawaiian Tahitian and Maori with significant and unique tattoos Samoans have two gender specific and culturally significant tattoos For males it is called the Pe a and consists of intricate and geometrical patterns tattooed that cover areas from the knees up towards the ribs A male who possesses such a tatau is called a soga imiti A Samoan girl or teine is given a malu which covers the area from just below her knees to her upper thighs 117 Contemporary culture Edit Albert Wendt is a significant Samoan writer whose novels and stories tell the Samoan experience In 1989 his novel Flying Fox in a Freedom Tree was made into a feature film in New Zealand directed by Martyn Sanderson 118 Another novel Sons for the Return Home had also been made into a feature film in 1979 directed by Paul Maunder 119 The late John Kneubuhl born in American Samoa was an accomplished playwright and screenwriter and writer His play Think of Garden premiered in Auckland in 1993 a year after his death it was directed by Nathaniel Lees is set in 1929 and is about Samoa s struggle for independence 120 121 Sia Figiel won the 1997 Commonwealth Writers Prize for fiction in the south east Asia South Pacific region with her novel Where We Once Belonged Momoe Malietoa Von Reiche is an internationally recognised poet and artist Tusiata Avia is a performance poet Her first book of poetry Wild Dogs Under My Skirt was published by Victoria University Press in 2004 Dan Taulapapa McMullin is an artist and writer Other Samoan poets and writers include Sapa u Ruperake Petaia Eti Sa aga and Savea Sano Malifa the editor of the Samoa Observer In music popular local bands include The Five Stars Penina o Tiafau and Punialava a The Yandall Sisters cover of the song Sweet Inspiration reached number one on the New Zealand charts in 1974 King Kapisi was the first hip hop artist to receive the prestigious New Zealand APRA Silver Scroll Award in 1999 for his song Reverse Resistance The music video for Reverse Resistance was filmed in Savai i at his villages Other successful Samoan hip hop artists include rapper Scribe Dei Hamo Savage and Tha Feelstyle whose music video Suamalie was filmed in Samoa Lemi Ponifasio is a director and choreographer who is prominent internationally with his dance Company MAU 122 Neil Ieremia s company Black Grace has also received international acclaim with tours to Europe and New York Hip hop has had a significant impact on Samoan culture According to Katerina Martina Teaiwa PhD from the University of Hawaii at Manoa Hip hop culture in particular is popular amongst Samoan youth 123 As in many other countries hip hop music is popular In addition the integration of hip hop elements into Samoan tradition also testifies to the transferability of the dance forms themselves and to the circuits through which people and all their embodied knowledge travel 124 Dance both in its traditional form and its more modern forms has remained a central cultural currency to Samoans especially youths 123 The arts organisation Tautai Pacific Arts Trust was an informal collective of visual artists including Fatu Feu u Johnny Penisula Shigeyuki Kihara Michel Tuffery and Lily Laita in the 1980s and formalised into a trust in 1995 and is now a leading Pacific arts organisation directed by Courtney Sina Meredith 125 126 Marilyn Kohlhase ran a Pacific focused gallery called Okaioceanikart from 2007 2013 127 Director Sima Urale is a filmmaker Urale s short film O Tamaiti won the prestigious Best Short Film at the Venice Film Festival in 1996 Her first feature film Apron Strings opened the 2008 NZ International Film Festival The feature film Siones Wedding co written by Oscar Kightley was financially successful following premieres in Auckland and Apia The 2011 film The Orator was the first ever fully Samoan film shot in Samoa in the Samoan language with a Samoan cast telling a uniquely Samoan story Written and directed by Tusi Tamasese it received much critical acclaim and attention at film festivals throughout the world Sport Edit See also Sport in Samoa Samoa blue vs South Africa in June 2007 The main sports played in Samoa are rugby union Samoan cricket and netball Rugby union is the national football code clarification needed of Samoa In Samoan villages volleyball is also popular Rugby union is the national sport in Samoa and the national team nicknamed the Manu Samoa is consistently competitive against teams from vastly more populous nations Samoa has competed at every Rugby World Cup since 1991 and made the quarter finals in 1991 1995 and the second round of the 1999 World Cup 128 At the 2003 world cup Manu Samoa came close to beating eventual world champions England Samoa also played in the Pacific Nations Cup and the Pacific Tri Nations The sport is governed by the Samoa Rugby Football Union who are members of the Pacific Islands Rugby Alliance and thus also contribute to the international Pacific Islanders rugby union team At club level there is the National Provincial Championship and Pacific Rugby Cup They also took home the cup at Wellington and the Hong Kong Rugby Sevens in 2007 for which the Prime Minister of Samoa also Chairman of the national rugby union Tuila epa Sa ilele Malielegaoi declared a national holiday They were also the IRB World Sevens Series Champions in 2010 capping a year of achievement for the Samoans following wins in the US Australia Hong Kong and Scotland Sevens tournaments Prominent Samoan players include Pat Lam and Brian Lima In addition many Samoans have played for or are playing for New Zealand Rugby league is mostly played by Samoans living in New Zealand and Australia citation needed Samoa reached the quarter finals of the 2013 Rugby League World Cup the team comprising players from the NRL and Super League plus domestic players Many Samoans and New Zealanders or Australians of Samoan descent play in the Super League and National Leagues in Britain including Francis Meli Ta ane Lavulavu of Workington Town Maurie Fa asavalu of St Helens David Fatialofa of Whitehaven and Setaimata Sa who signed with London Irish rugby club Other noteworthy players from NZ and Australia have represented the Samoan National team The 2011 domestic Samoan rugby league competition contained 10 teams with plans to expand to 12 in 2012 129 failed verification 130 Samoa reached the final of the 2021 Rugby League World Cup to face Australia Samoans have been very visible in boxing kickboxing wrestling and sumo some Samoan sumo wrestlers most famously Musashimaru and Konishiki have reached the highest rank of Ozeki and yokozuna American football is occasionally played in Samoa reflecting its wide popularity in American Samoa where the sport is played under high school sanction About 30 ethnic Samoans many from American Samoa currently play in the National Football League A 2002 article from ESPN estimated that a Samoan male either an American Samoan or a Samoan living in the mainland United States is 40 times more likely to play in the NFL than a non Samoan American 131 See also Edit Geography portal Islands portal Oceania portalOutline of SamoaFootnotes Edit ˈ s ɑː m ɔː e SAH maw e 10 11 British American pronunciation s e ˈ m oʊ e se 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play Think of a Garden to be staged literally in a garden Stuff 17 January 2018 Archived from the original on 27 January 2022 Retrieved 27 January 2022 Home Archived 12 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine Mau co nz Retrieved on 9 November 2016 a b Dances of Life American Samoa piccom org Henderson April K Dancing Between Islands Hip Hop and the Samoan Diaspora In The Vinyl Ain t Final Hip Hop and the Globalization of Black Popular Culture ed by Dipannita Basu and Sidney J Lemelle 180 199 London Ann Arbor MI Pluto Press 2000 Courtney Sina Meredith writer bursting with talent honoured The University of Auckland www auckland ac nz Archived from the original on 27 January 2022 Retrieved 27 January 2022 Yamauchi C 2014 Talking Story about Art and Life Narratives of Contemporary Oceanic Artists and Their Work Kohlhase Marilyn The Okaioceanikart Story Pantograph Punch Retrieved 27 January 2022 Rugby in Samoa ManuSamoa net Archived from the original on 19 February 2012 Retrieved 26 November 2007 Samoa rugbyleagueplanet com Archived from the original on 20 September 2012 Retrieved 20 September 2012 2019 Oceania Cup Preview Toa Samoa Archived 13 February 2020 at the Wayback Machine www rugbyleagueplanet com accessed 13 February 2020 American football Samoan style ESPN Archived from the original on 16 November 2007 Retrieved 26 November 2007 Further reading EditWatson R M History of Samoa Wellington 1918 Meleisea Malama The Making of Modern Samoa Traditional Authority and Colonial Administration in the Modern History of Western Samoa Suva 1987 Institute of Pacific Studies University of the South Pacific 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 amp Unwin Eustis Nelson 1979 1980 Aggie Grey of Samoa Adelaide South Australia Hobby Investments ISBN 0 9595609 0 4 Stevenson Robert Louis A Footnote to History Eight Years of Trouble in Samoa BiblioBazaar ISBN 978 1 4264 0754 3 Mead Margaret 1928 Coming of Age in Samoa A Study of Adolescence and Sex in Primitive Societies Freeman Derek 1983 Margaret Mead in Samoa the Making and Unmaking of an Anthropological Myth Urmenyhazi Attila 2013 Samoan amp Marquesan Life in Oceania a probing travelogue ISBN 9780646909127 National Library of Australia Bib ID 6377055 Mallon Sean 2002 Samoan Art and Artists O Measina a Samoa Honolulu University of Hawaii Press ISBN 0 8248 2675 2 Gill B J 1993 The land reptiles of Western Samoa Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand 23 2 79 89 doi 10 1080 03036758 1993 10721219 External links Edit Western Samoa Act 1961 New Zealand Law online 1961 Samoa at Wikipedia s sister projects Definitions from Wiktionary Media from Commons News from Wikinews Quotations from Wikiquote Texts from Wikisource Textbooks from Wikibooks Resources from Wikiversity Travel information from Wikivoyage Data from Wikidata Government Government of Samoa Chief of State and Cabinet MembersGeneral information Samoa The World Factbook Central Intelligence Agency University of Colorado Archived 19 November 2010 at the Wayback Machine from UCB Libraries GovPubs Samoa at Curlie Samoa from the BBC News Wikimedia Atlas of Samoa Samoa Tourism Authority Key Development Forecasts for Samoa from International Futures Geographic data related to Samoa at OpenStreetMapCoordinates 13 44 42 S 172 13 03 W 13 74500 S 172 21750 W 13 74500 172 21750 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Samoa amp oldid 1134901706, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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