Leasina County
Leasina County is a county in the Western District in American Samoa. The name of the county, Leasina, is derived from the Samoan language and translates into English as “White".
The official county name was changed to Leasina ma Aitulagi County following the 2022 [American Samoan constitutional referendum].
Leasina contains the villages of Aʻasu and Aʻoloau in the northwestern part of Tutuila Island. The principal place is the village of Aʻoloau, where the powerful Fuimaono resides. At Aʻasu Bay, also known as Massacre Bay, French sailors were massacred in 1787. Aʻoloau is also referred to as Aʻoloaufou, which means "New Aʻoloau", while the abandoned village on the north coast, on Aʻoloau Bay, is called Aʻoloautuai, meaning "Old Aʻoloau". Similarly, the village of Aʻasu is known as Aʻasufou. The original village, located on Massacre Bay, is called Aʻasutuai.
History
During World War II, a communications and radar station was built atop Tutuila’s central mountain ridge, above the village of Aʻoloau. The project required clearing a square mile of plateau land and constructing a long, winding mountain road that climbed up from the south coast highway at Mapusaga.In 1976, Lualemaga Faoliu, the senator representing the county and a native of Aʻoloau, was shot and killed during a family trip to the island of Savaiʻi.