American Samoa
American Samoa is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean, comprised of seven islands including Tutuila, Ta'u, Ofu, and Olosega. With a rich Polynesian heritage dating back over three thousand years, the territory's culture is deeply rooted in the traditions and practices of its indigenous people. The islands are characterized by rugged volcanic terrain, lush forests, and a tropical climate, providing a stunning natural environment. The capital, Pago Pago, boasts one of the best natural harbors in the region and has historical significance as a former US naval base.
The population, estimated at around 50,826, is predominantly Pacific Islander, with the majority identifying as Samoan. American Samoa has a unique political status, as residents are considered American nationals but do not have voting rights in US elections. The local economy relies heavily on the canned tuna industry, alongside other agricultural exports. American Samoa is also home to the National Park of American Samoa, a protected area that showcases its natural beauty and the island's cultural heritage. This park offers insights into the ancient Samoan way of life and serves as a habitat for rare species.
American Samoa
Samoa was settled as early as 1000 BCE, and it is believed that the first people on the Samoan Islands arrived by sea from southwest Asia. At three thousand years old, the Samoan culture is Polynesia's oldest. The population today remains largely Polynesian.
The Territory of American Samoa is defined as unincorporated and unorganized territory of the United States, administered by the Office of Insular Affairs. It is the most southerly of lands under US sovereignty.
History
European explorers came to Samoa in the eighteenth century. Present-day American Samoa was defined by the Tripartite Convention of 1899 between the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany, in which Germany and the United States divided the Samoan archipelago in the central South Pacific Ocean into German Samoa (later Western Samoa, now the independent nation of Samoa) and American Samoa. American Samoa was under the jurisdiction of the US Navy Department from 1900 until 1951, when administration was transferred to the Department of the Interior. Its first popularly elected governor was inaugurated in 1978.
Western Samoa, which included the larger islands of the Samoan group, was a New Zealand mandate and United Nations Trusteeship until it became the independent nation Samoa on January 1, 1962.
Land and People
American Samoa comprises a group of seven small islands, which represent the eastern half of the Samoa island chain. The group of 76 square land miles, roughly the size of Washington, DC, includes the islands of Tutuila, the Manu'a group (Ta'u, Ofu, and Olosega), Rose and Sand Islands, and Swain's Island. The capital, Pago Pago, on the island of Tutuila, has one of the best natural deepwater harbors in the South Pacific Ocean. The US naval base at Pago Pago was closed in 1951. More than 90 percent of the land is communally owned by Polynesian natives.
The islands are located 2,300 miles southwest of Honolulu, Hawaii, and are characterized by mountains and wooded terrain, surrounded by coral reefs. Five of the islands are volcanic, with rugged peaks and limited coastal plains, while Rose Island and Swain's Island are coral atolls. The climate is tropical, and is moderated by southeast trade winds with little seasonal variation, although typhoons are common from December to March.
The population of American Samoa was estimated at 50,826 as of July 2018. In 2010, the vast majority of residents (92.6 percent) were Pacific Islanders, primarily Samoan (88.9) percent, with Tongans accounting for another 2.9 percent. Asians made up 3.6 percent of the population, and 2.7 percent were multiracial. The literacy rate is 97 percent, and most Pacific Islander residents are fluent in their native languages (among them Samoan and Tongan) in addition to English.
American Samoa has a bicameral legislature, the Fono Aoao Faitulafono o Samoa (Legislative Assembly of Samoa), consisting of an eighteen-member Senate and a twenty-one-member House of Representatives, the latter of which includes one nonvoting member representing Swains Island. American Samoa also elects one delegate by simple majority vote to the US House of Representatives; this representative serves a two-year term and has no vote except in committees. Residents are considered American nationals, not citizens, and cannot vote in US elections.
Economy
American Samoa conducts the majority of its trade with the United States. Canned tuna is its primary export, accounting for 93 percent of all exports. The tuna is supplied by foreign fishing vessels and processed at two tuna canneries, which accounted for 13.1 percent of employment in 2013. Other exports include handicrafts, fish products, taro, yams, coconuts, pineapples, oranges, and bananas.
Development of a larger and broader economy has been restrained by American Samoa's remote location, its limited transportation, and its seasonal typhoons. An earthquake and subsequent tsunami that hit American Samoa and Samoa in 2009 killed about two hundred people and disrupted transportation and power generation, causing economic upheaval, including the closure of one of American Samoa's two canneries. Subsequent US government relief helped bolster the economy, as did the reopening of a second cannery in 2015. However, another economic blow came in late 2016 when Tri Marine International, the operator of the new cannery, elected to shut it down, citing the "challenging economics" of the location.
In 2012, the Bank of Hawaii, the only bank in American Samoa, announced that it would be withdrawing from the territory because it was not profitable to operate there, and began scaling back services. The territory responded by creating a public bank, the Territorial Bank of American Samoa (TBAS), owned by the territorial government. When the TBAS opened in 2016, it became the first public bank to open in the United States in almost one hundred years; there was only one other in the country at that time, the Bank of North Dakota.
The National Park of American Samoa
Part of American Samoa's spectacular natural beauty is now protected as the National Park of American Samoa, which was authorized by the US Congress in 1988 and officially established in 1993, when a fifty-year lease was signed. The park was formed when the National Park Service began negotiations with nine chiefs in village councils for land on the islands of Ofu, Ta'u, and Tutuil. The park's visitor center is maintained in Pago Pago. One of the most remote US national parks, the 10,520-acre park includes more than 400 acres underwater.
The park preserves the only mixed-species paleotropic rain forest in the United States, the habitat of rare flying foxes (fruit bats). In addition, the National Park of American Samoa offers visitors a look at the three-thousand-year-old Samoan culture through its archaeological resources.
Bibliography
"American Samoa." The World Factbook, Central Intelligence Agency, 19 Apr. 2019, www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/aq.html. Accessed 1 Mar. 2018.
Creevey, Peter Raymond, et al. "American Samoa." Encyclopædia Britannica, 26 Feb. 2018, www.britannica.com/place/American-Samoa. Accessed 1 Mar. 2018.
A History of American Samoa. Amerika Samoa Humanities Council, 2009.
Sagapolutele, Fili. "Tuna Cannery in American Samoa to Halt Production." The Seattle Times, 13 Oct. 2016, www.seattletimes.com/business/tuna-cannery-in-american-samoa-to-halt-production/. Accessed 22 Mar. 2018.
Van Dam, Andrew. "When Banks Abandoned American Samoa, the Islands Found a Solution Nobody Had Used in a Century." The Washington Post, 9 May 2018, www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2018/05/09/when-banks-abandoned-american-samoa-the-islands-found-a-century-old-solution-that-could-be-the-future-of-finance/. Accessed 30 Apr. 2019.