American Samoa

American Samoa is an unincorporated and unorganized territory of the United States located in the Polynesia region of the south Pacific Ocean. Centered on, it is southeast of the island country of Samoa, east of the International Date Line and the Wallis and Futuna Islands, west of the Cook Islands, north of Tonga, and some south of Tokelau. American Samoa is the southernmost territory of the United States, situated southwest of the U.S. state of Hawaii, and one of two U.S. territories south of the Equator, along with the uninhabited Jarvis Island.
American Samoa consists of the eastern part of the Samoan archipelagothe inhabited volcanic islands of Tutuila, Aunuʻu, Ofu, Olosega and Taʻū and the uninhabited Rose Atollas well as Swains Island, a remote coral atoll in the Tokelau volcanic island group. The total land area is, slightly larger than Washington, D.C.; including its territorial waters, the total area is, about the size of New Zealand. American Samoa has a tropical climate, with 90 percent of its land covered by rainforests. As of 2024, the population is approximately 47,400 and concentrated on Tutuila, which hosts the capital and largest settlement, Pago Pago. The vast majority of residents are indigenous ethnic Samoans, most of whom are fluent in the official languages, Samoan and English.
Inhabited by Polynesians since prehistory, American Samoa was first contacted by Europeans in the 18th century. The islands attracted missionaries, explorers, and mariners, particularly to the highly protected natural harbor of Pago Pago. The United States took possession of American Samoa in the late 19th century, developing it into a major naval outpost; the territory's strategic value was reinforced by the Second World War and subsequent Cold War. In 1967, American Samoa became self-governing with the adoption of a constitution; its local government is republican in form, with separate executive, legislative, and judicial branches. It remains officially unorganized and is thus directly administered by the federal government. American Samoa is listed among seventeen "non-self-governing territories" but is a member of several intergovernmental organizations, including the Pacific Community, Pacific Islands Forum, Alliance of Small Island States, and International Olympic Committee.
Due to the territory's strategic location, the U.S. military has a significant presence and plays a major role in its economy and society. The territory is noted for having the highest rate of military enlistment of any U.S. state or territory; as of 2021, the local U.S. Army recruiting station in Pago Pago ranked first in recruitment. Tuna products are the main exports, with the U.S. proper serving as the largest trading partner. Tourism is a nascent but underdeveloped sector, owing in part to the territory's relative geographic isolation, which also accounts for its high rate of poverty and emigration.
Since the Deeds of Cession were signed in 1900 and 1904, Samoans have avoided further integration into the U.S. system. In 1949, the Department of Interior moved to incorporate American Samoa through an Organic Act. Afraid that incorporation might undermine the Samoan culture and traditional land ownership, Samoan matai intervened and Congress halted incorporation. Instead, Samoa created its own government, the Samoan Fono, based on indigenous system of governance. Since then, Samoans have declined to establish a federal district court, refused birthright citizenship, and remains the only U.S. territory with its own immigration system.
Many consider residents of American Samoa to be politically disenfranchised, with no voting representation in the U.S. Congress, though American Samoa itself has a democratic system of governance. However, many Samoans have prioritized indigenous culture and government over integration into the United States. American Samoa is the only permanently inhabited territory of the United States in which citizenship is not granted at birth, and people born there are considered "non-citizen nationals" with limited rights. A primary reason that Samoans do not have birthright citizenship is that many Samoans oppose birthright citizenship, as evidenced by the unanimous resolution of the Samoan Fono in 2021 against birthright citizenship, and multiple statements and actions by government officials over the decades. The elected representatives of American Samoan people unanimously fear that birthright citizenship, which may complicate the territory's political structure, would lead to the erosion of indigenous governance, collective ownership of indigenous lands, and the indigenous language of Samoa, gagana Samoa.

Etymology

The origin of the name "Samoa" means "Holy Center", taken from a compound of the Samoan sa and moa. The name is alternatively derived from a local chieftain named Samoa or an indigenous word meaning "place of the moa", a now-extinct bird, though the bird was known only from New Zealand.
Although the sovereign state of Samoa changed its name from Western Samoa in 1997, the territory is also sometimes referred to as Eastern Samoa to distinguish from its neighbor.

History

Traditional oral literature of Samoa and Manua talks of a widespread Polynesian network or confederacy that was prehistorically ruled by the successive Tui Manua dynasties. Manuan genealogies and religious oral literature also suggest that the Tui Manua had long been one of the most prestigious and powerful paramounts of Samoa. Oral history suggests that the Tui Manua kings governed a confederacy of far-flung islands which included Tutuila, as well as smaller western Pacific chiefdoms and Polynesian outliers such as Uvea, Futuna, Tokelau, Tuvalu and bigger islands like the Samoa in the North. Commerce and exchange routes between the western Polynesian societies are well documented and it is speculated that the Tui Manua dynasty grew through its success in obtaining control and manufacturing goods such as finely woven ceremonial mats "" for the Tu'i Tonga, whale ivory "tabua" for their Fijian masters, obsidian and basalt tools, chiefly red feathers, and seashells reserved for royalty.

18th century: First Western contacts

Contact with Europeans began in the early 18th century. Dutchman Jacob Roggeveen was the first known European to sight the Samoan Islands in 1722, calling them the "Baumann Islands" after one of his captains. The next explorer to visit the islands was Louis-Antoine de Bougainville, who named them the "Îles des Navigateurs" in 1768. British explorer James Cook recorded the island names in 1773, but never visited.
The 1789 visit by Lapérouse was ended by an attack, on Tutuila island where Lapérouse's men were trying to obtain water. His second in command Capt. de Langle, and scientist Robert de Lamanon and several of his crew were surrounded by over a thousand Samoans and killed. La Pérouse named the island "Massacre Island", and the bay near Aasu is still called Massacre Bay.
HMS Pandora, under the command of Admiral Edward Edwards, visited the island in 1791 during its search for the H.M.S. Bounty mutineers. Von Kotzebue visited in 1824.

19th century

in the Samoas had begun in late 1830 when John Williams of the London Missionary Society arrived from the Cook Islands and Tahiti. By the late nineteenth century, French, British, German, and American vessels routinely stopped at Samoa, as they valued Pago Pago Harbor as a refueling station for coal-fired shipping and whaling.
The United States Exploring Expedition visited the islands in 1839.
In 1872, Commander Richard W. Meade of the USS Narragansett sailed from Hawai'i to Pago Pago to explore the establishment of a U.S. naval station. At the request of Henry A. Peirce, the U.S. minister to Hawai'i, he was also tasked with negotiating a treaty that would secure American interests in Sāmoa. The Narragansett reached Pago Pago on February 14, and Meade informed High Chief Mauga of his intention to lease land for a naval base. Mauga granted the United States exclusive rights to build and maintain such a station in exchange for “the friendship and protection of the great government of the United States.” During his stay, Meade also arranged commercial port regulations for Pago Pago with Mauga.
In March 1889, an Imperial German naval force entered a village in Samoa, and in doing so destroyed some American property. Three American warships then entered the Apia harbor and prepared to engage the three German warships found there. Before any shots were fired, a typhoon wrecked both the American and German ships. A compulsory armistice was then called because of the lack of any warships.

20th century

Early 20th century

At the turn of the 20th century, international rivalries in the latter half of the century were settled by the 1899 Tripartite Convention in which Germany and the United States partitioned the Samoan Islands into two: the eastern island group became a territory of the United States and is today known as American Samoa; the western islands, by far the greater landmass, became known as German Samoa, after Britain gave up all claims to Samoa and in return accepted the termination of German rights in Tonga and certain areas in the Solomon Islands and West Africa. Forerunners to the Tripartite Convention of 1899 were the Washington Conference of 1887, the Treaty of Berlin of 1889 and the Anglo-German Agreement on Samoa of 1899.

American colonization

The following year, the U.S. formally annexed its portion, a smaller group of eastern islands, one of which contains the noted harbor of Pago Pago. After the United States Navy took possession of eastern Samoa for the United States government, the existing coaling station at Pago Pago Bay was expanded into a full naval station, known as United States Naval Station Tutuila and commanded by a commandant. The Navy secured a Deed of Cession of Tutuila in 1900 and a Deed of Cession of Manua in 1904 on behalf of the U.S. government. The last sovereign of Manua, the Tui Manua Elisala, signed a Deed of Cession of Manua following a series of U.S. naval trials, known as the "Trial of the Ipu", in Pago Pago, Tau, and aboard a Pacific Squadron gunboat. The territory became known as the U.S. Naval Station Tutuila.
On July 17, 1911, the U.S. Naval Station Tutuila, which was composed of Tutuila, Aunuu and Manua, was officially renamed American Samoa. People of Manua had been unhappy since they were left out of the name "Naval Station Tutuila". In May 1911, Governor William Michael Crose authored a letter to the Secretary of the Navy conveying the sentiments of Manua. The department responded that the people should choose a name for their new territory. The traditional leaders chose "American Samoa", and, on July 7, 1911, the solicitor general of the Navy authorized the governor to proclaim it as the name for the new territory.