HISTORY
Settled
as early as 1000 B. C., Samoa was 'discovered' by European explorers
in the 18th century. International rivalries in the latter half
of the 19th century were settled by an 1899 treaty in which Germany
and the US divided the Samoan archipelago. The US formally occupied
its portion - a smaller group of eastern islands with the excellent
harbor of Pago Pago - the following year.
American Samoa is a group of six Polynesian islands in the South
Pacific. Fourteen degrees below the equator, it is the United
States' southern-most territory. It is known as the heart of Polynesia.
If you drew a triangle from Hawaii, New Zealand and Tahiti you
would find Samoa in the middle. Western Samoa is a neighboring
independent country that shares the same culture. American Samoa
became an unorganized U.S. territory in 1900.
The
Samoas arguably represent the largest population of polynesian
people and they take pride in a strong culture that has survived
outside incursions amazingly well.
