American Samoar

American Samoar Sāmoa Amelika) is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of the Independent State of Samoa (formerly known as Western Samoa).[2] The main (largest and most populous) island is Tutuila, with the Manuʻa Islands, Rose Atoll, and Swains Islandalso included in the territory. TOSHIBA Satellite M645-S4070 Laptop Keyboard American Samoa is part of the Samoan Islands chain, located west of the Cook Islands, north of Tonga, and some 300 miles (500 km) south of Tokelau. To the west are the islands of the Wallis and Futunagroup.  HP Probook 4515S Laptop Keyboard The 2010 census showed a total population of 55,519 people.[3] The total land area is 76.1 square miles (197.1 km2), slightly more than Washington, D.C. American Samoa is the southernmost territory of the United States.[4] SONY VAIO VGN-AR630E Laptop Keyboard Contact with Europeans began in the early 18th century. Jacob Roggeveen (1659–1729), a Dutchman, was the first known European to sight the Samoan islands in 1722. This visit was followed by the French explorer Louis-Antoine de Bougainville (1729–1811), who named them the Navigator Islands in 1768. Contact was limited before the 1830s which is when English missionaries and traders began arriving. SONY VAIO PCG-FR315M Laptop Keyboard Early Western contact included a battle in the eighteenth century between French explorers and islanders in Tutuila, for which the Samoans were blamed in the West, giving them a reputation for ferocity. The site of this battle is called Massacre Bay. DELL Latitude D620 Laptop Keyboard Mission work in the Samoas had begun in late 1830 when John Williams of the London Missionary Societyarrived from The Cook Islands and Tahiti.[5] By that time, the Samoans had gained a reputation for being savage and warlike, as violent altercations had occurred between natives and European visitors. DELL Latitude D620 Laptop Keyboard Nevertheless, 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. SAMSUNG N150 Laptop Keyboard In March 1889, a German naval force invaded a village in Samoa, and by doing so destroyed some American property. Three American warships then entered the Apia harbor and prepared to engage three German warships found there.[6] Before guns were fired, a typhoon wrecked both the American and German ships. A compulsory armistice was called because of the lack of warships.[6] HP Pavilion G6-1B59WM Laptop Keyboard t the turn of the twentieth 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 parts:[7] HP G62-367DX Laptop Keyboard the eastern island group became a territory of the United States (the Tutuila Islands in 1900 and officially Manu'a in 1904) and is today known as American Samoa; the western islands, by far the greater landmass, DELL V119525BS1 Laptop Keyboard became known as German Samoa after Britain vacated all claims to Samoa and accepted termination of German rights in Tonga and certain areas in the Solomon Islands and West Africa.[8] 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.  SONY Vaio PCG-K33 Laptop Keyboard The following year, the U.S. formally occupied its portion: a smaller group of eastern islands, one of which surrounds the noted harbor of Pago Pago. After the United States Navy took possession of eastern Samoa on behalf of the United States, the existing coaling station at Pago Pago Bay was expanded into a full naval station,  DELL INSPIRON 1464 Laptop Keyboard known as United States Naval Station Tutuila under the command of a commandant. The Navy secured a Deed of Cession of Tutuila in 1900 and aDeed of Cession of Manuʻa in 1904. The last sovereign of Manuʻa, the Tui Manuʻa Elisala, was forced to sign a Deed of Cession of Manuʻa following a series of U.S. Naval trials, known as the "DELL XPS 15 L502X Laptop Keyboard Trial of the Ipu", in Pago Pago, Taʻu, and aboard a Pacific Squadron gunboat.[9] 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, Aunu'u and Manu'a, was officially renamed American Samoa.[10][11] DELL Vostro 1015 Laptop Keyboard Swains Island, which had been included in the list of guano islands appertaining to the US and bonded under the Guano Islands Act, was annexed in 1925 by Pub. Res. 68-75.[12] HP 643263-001 Laptop Keyboard After World War I, during the time of the Mau movement in Western Samoa (then a League of Nations mandate governed by New Zealand), there was a corresponding American Samoa Mau movement,[9] led by Samuelu Ripley, a World War I veteran who was from Leone village, Tutuila. After meetings in the United States mainland, SAMSUNG N140 Laptop Keyboard he was prevented from disembarking from the ship that brought him home to American Samoa and was not allowed to return because the American Samoa Mau movement was suppressed by the U.S. Navy. In 1930 the U.S. Congress sent a committee to investigate the status of American Samoa, led by Americans who had had a part in the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii.[citation needed] TOSHIBA Mini NB 505-SP0160 Laptop Keyboard During World War II, U.S. Marines in Samoa outnumbered the local population, having a huge cultural influence. Young Samoan men from the age of 14 and above were combat trained by U.S. military personnel. Samoans served in various capacities during World War II, including as combatants, medical personnel, code personnel, and ship repairmen. HP G61-424CA laptop keyboard In 1949, Organic Act 4500, a U.S. Department of Interior-sponsored attempt to incorporate American Samoa, was introduced in Congress. It was ultimately defeated, primarily through the efforts of Samoan chiefs, led by Tuiasosopo Mariota.[14] These chiefs' efforts led to the creation of a territorial legislature, tPackard Bell Easynote TM81 laptop keyboard he American Samoa Fono, which meets in the village of Fagatogo. merican Samoa and Pago Pago International Airport had historic significance with the Apollo Program.[15] The astronautcrews of Apollo 10, 12, 13, 14, and 17 were retrieved a few hundred miles from Pago Pago and transported by helicopter to the airport prior to being flown to Honolulu on C-141 Starlifter military aircraft.[16] HP G61-424CA laptop keyboard While the two Samoas share language and ethnicity, their cultures have recently followed different paths, with American Samoans often emigrating to Hawaiʻi and the U.S. mainland, and adopting many U.S. customs, such as the playing ofAmerican football and baseball. Western Samoans have tended to emigrate instead to New Zealand, whose influence has made the sports of rugby and cricket more popular in the western islands. Compaq Presario CQ56-102SE laptop keyboard Travel writer Paul Theroux noted that there were marked differences between the societies in Samoa and American Samoa. On September 29, 2009 at 17:48:11 UTC, an 8.1 magnitude earthquake struck 120 miles (190 km) off the coast of American Samoa, followed by smaller aftershocks.[19] It was the largest earthquake of 2009. HP G42-265LA laptop keyboard The quake occurred on the outer rise of the Kermadec-Tonga Subduction Zone. This is part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, where tectonic plates in the Earth's lithosphere meet and earthquakes and volcanic activity are common. The quake struck 11.2 miles (18.0 km) below the ocean floor and generated an onsetting tsunami that killed more than 170 people in the Samoa Islands and Tonga.[20][21] TOSHIBA Satellite A305-S6841 laptop keyboard Four waves with heights from 15 feet (4.6 m) to 20 feet (6.1 m) high were reported to have reached up to one mile (1.6 km) inland on the island of Tutuila.[22] The Defense Logistics Agency (DSCP) worked with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to provide 16’ x 16’ humanitarian tents to the devastated areas of American Samoa. The government of American Samoa is defined under the Constitution of American Samoa. HP Mini 210-1081NR laptop keyboard As anunincorporated territory, the Ratification Act of 1929 vested all civil, judicial, and military powers in the President of the United States of America, who in turn delegated authority to the Secretary of the Interior in Executive Order 10264, who in turn promulgated the Constitution of A merican Samoa on June 2, 1967 effective July 1, 1967. HP G42-265LA laptop keyboard The Governor of American Samoa is the head of government and along with the Lieutenant Governor of American Samoa is elected on the same ticket by popular vote for four-year terms. The legislative power is vested in the American Samoa Fono, which has two chambers. The House of Representatives has 21 members, TOSHIBA Satellite A305-S6829 laptop keyboard elected for a two-year term, 20 in single-seat constituencies and one by a public meeting on Swain Island. The Senate also has 18 members, elected for a four-year term by and from the chiefs of the islands. TOSHIBA PK13AT10600 laptop keyboard The judiciary of American Samoa is independent of the executive and the legislature, and the High Court of American Samoa is the highest court below theUnited States Supreme Court in American Samoa, with the District Courts below it. The High Court is located in the capital of Pago Pago. It consists of a Chief Justice and an Associate Justice, appointed by the Secretary of the Interior. SONY VGN-FE21B laptop keyboard Politics of American Samoa takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic dependency, whereby the Governor is the head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. American Samoa is an unincorporated and unorganized territory of the United States, administered by theOffice of Insular Affairs, COMPAQ Presario CQ50-210US laptop keyboard U.S. Department of the Interior. Its constitution was ratified in 1966 and came into effect in 1967. Executive power is exercised by the governor. Legislative power is vested in the two chambers of the legislature. The American political parties (Republican and Democratic) exist in American Samoa, but few politicians are aligned with the parties. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. DELL V119525BS1 laptop keyboard There is also the traditional village politics of the Samoa Islands, the "fa'amatai" and the "fa'asamoa", which continues in American Samoa and in independent Samoa, and which interacts across these current boundaries. The Fa'asamoa is the language and customs, and the Fa'amatai the protocols of the "fono" (council) and the chief system. The Fa'amatai and the Fono take place at all levels of the Samoan body politic, from the family, to the village, to the region, to national matters.  TOSHIBA 9J.N9282.W01 laptop keyboard The "matai" (chiefs) are elected by consensus within the fono of the extended family and village(s) concerned. The matai and the fono (which is itself made of matai) decide on distribution of family exchanges and tenancy of communal lands. The majority of lands in American Samoa and independent Samoa are communal. A matai can represent a small family group or a great extended family that reaches across islands, and to both American Samoa and independent Samoa. SONY KFRMBA151B laptop keyboard One issue that has caused quite a bit of criticism was a decision approved by the "Constitution Convention", held locally. The decision was to allow only U.S Nationals with Samoan ancestry to be legislators.[23] HP Pavilion G6-1223TX Laptop Keyboard American Samoa, located within the geographical region of Oceania, is one of only two possessions of the United States in the Southern Hemisphere, the other being Jarvis Island. Its total land area is 76.1 square miles (197.1 km2) – slightly larger than Washington, D.C. – consisting of five rugged, volcanic islands and two coral atolls.[4] SONY VAIO VGN-FS315M Laptop Keyboard The five volcanic islands are: Tutuila, Aunu'u, Ofu, Olosega, Tau. The coral atolls are: Swains, and Rose Atoll. Of the seven islands, ASUS F3M Laptop Keyboard Rose Atoll is an uninhabited Marine National Monument. Due to its positioning in the South Pacific Ocean, it is frequently hit by tropical cyclones between November and April. Rose Atoll is the easternmost point of the territory. American Samoa is the southernmost part of the United States. American Samoa is home to the National Park of American Samoa. TOSHIBA Satellite C650-182 Laptop Keyboard Employment on the island falls into three relatively equal-sized categories of approximately 5,000 workers each: the public sector, the single remainingtuna cannery, and the rest of the private sector. Lenovo 63Y0047 Laptop Keyboard There are only a few federal employees in American Samoa and no active duty military personnel except members of the U.S. Coast Guard, although there is an Army Reserve unit. There is also a U.S. Army recruiting station in Utulei.  HP Pavilion dv6-3107ax Laptop Keyboard The overwhelming majority of public sector employees work for the American Samoa territorial government. The one tuna cannery, StarKist, exports several hundred million dollars worth of canned tuna to the United States each year. The other tuna cannery, Samoa Packing, a Chicken of the Sea subsidiary, SONY VAIO VGN-C2S Series Laptop Keyboard closed in 2009 due to American Samoans being granted minimum wage.[34] In early 2007 the Samoan economy was highlighted in the Congress as it was not mentioned in the minimum wage bill, at the request of the Samoan delegate to the United States House of Representatives, Eni Faleomavaega.[clarification needed] HP 488590-001 Laptop Keyboard From 2002 to 2007, real GDP of American Samoa increased at an average annual rate of 0.4 percent. The annual growth rates of real GDP ranged from -2.9 percent to +2.1 percent. The volatility in the growth rates of real GDP was primarily accounted for by changes in the exports of canned tuna. The tuna canning industry was the largest private employer in American Samoa during this period. TOSHIBA P000482730 Laptop Keyboard rom 2002 to 2007, the population of American Samoa increased at an average annual rate of 2.3 percent, and real GDP per capita decreased at an average annual rate of 1.9 percent. The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 has, since inception, contained special provisions for American Samoa, citing its limited economy.[35]  SONY 147977821 Laptop Keyboard American Samoa wages are based on the recommendations of a Special Industry Committee meeting bi-annually.[36] Originally, the Act contained provisions for other territories, provisions which were phased out as those territories developed more diverse economies.[37] TOSHIBA Tecra M9-S5514 Laptop Keyboard In 2007, the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007 was passed, increasing minimum wage in American Samoa by 50¢ per hour in 2007 and another 50¢ per hour each year thereafter until the minimum wage in American Samoa equals the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour in the United States.[38] GATEWAY NV-54 Laptop Keyboard Purportedly in response to the minimum wage increase, one of the two major tuna canning plants in American Samoa, Chicken of the Sea, was shut down in 2009 and 2,041 employees were laid off in the process.[39] The other major tuna canning plant in American Samoa, StarKist, began laying off workers in August 2010, FUJITSU Lifebook P1510 Laptop Keyboard with plans to lay off a total of 800 workers, purportedly due to the minimum wage increases and other rising operation costs.[40] American Samoa Governor Togiola Tulafono has suggested that, rather than laying off minimum wage workers, the companies could reduce salaries and bonuses of top-tier employees.[41]  FUJITSU Lifebook P1610 Laptop Keyboard The Unemployment rate was 29.8% (2005), but has been improved to 23.8% as of (2010). Samoa GDP is $537 million and its GDP - per capita (PPP) is $8,000 (2007). American Samoa economy is generally better than that of its neighbors like Samoa as American Samoa GDP - per capita (PPP) is more than twice as high as Samoa's.  DELL Precision M4500 Laptop Keyboard The population of American Samoa stands at about 55,519 people, 95% of whom live on the largest island, Tutuila.[24] Of the population, 91.6 percent are native Samoans, 2.8% are Asian, 1.1% are Caucasian, 4.2% are Mixed, and 0.3% are of other origin. Samoan, a language closely related to Hawaiian and other Polynesian languages,  SONY VAIO VGN-N325QE/W Laptop Keyboard is spoken by 90.6 percent of the people, while 2.9% speak English, 2.4% speak Tongan, 2.1% speak other languages, and 2% speak other Pacific islander languages, with most people being bilingual. American Samoa is largely Christian (50% Christian Congregationalist, 20% Roman Catholic, 30% Protestant and other).[27]  TOSHIBA Satellite A205-S4618 Laptop Keyboard American Samoa is small enough to have just one ZIP code, 96799, and uses the U.S. Postal Service (state code "AS") for mail delivery.[44][45] The island contains 23 primary schools and 10 secondary schools, 5 are operated by the American Samoa Department of Education.[46] and the other 5 are administered by either religious denominations or are privately owned.American Samoa Community College, founded in 1970, Lenovo 3000 N200 Laptop Keyboard provides post-secondary education on the islands. About 30 ethnic Samoans, many from American Samoa, currently play in the National Football League, and more than 200 play NCAA Division I college football.[51] In recent years, it has been estimated that a Samoan male (either an American Samoan, or a Samoan living in the 50 United States) is anywhere from 40[52]  HP Pavilion zv6223ea Laptop Keyboard to 56 times[51] more likely to play in the NFL than a non-Samoan American. Nine-time All-Pro Junior Seau was one of the most famous Americans of Samoan heritage ever to play in the NFL, having been elected to the NFL 1990s All-Decade Team. Pittsburgh Steelers safety Troy Polamalu, though born and raised in the mainland U.S.,  Lenovo Thinkpad T520 Laptop Keyboard is perhaps the most famous Samoan currently in the NFL, not having his hair cut since 2000 (and only because a USC coach told him he had to) and wearing it down during games in honor of his heritage. The football culture was featured on 60 Minutes January 17, 2010. ACER Aspire 4736Z laptop keyboard Track and field is not a popular sport in American Samoa, but it hit the limelight when they sent a 130 kg sprinter, (Sogelau Tuvalu) to compete in the men's 100m of the IAAF World Championships at Daegu, South Korea, in August 2011. The 17-year-old finished last in his preliminary rounds but clocked a personal best 15.66 seconds despite running into a headwind of -0.9,  HP Pavilion DV7t-3100 laptop keyboard surprisingly not the slowest time in the world championships history as the time is faster than 21.73 seconds set in 1997 by an injured Kim Collins who became the world champion six years later.[56] Tuvalu was actually a shot putter but did not qualify for the shotput event so instead competed in the 100m. He was said to have trained for 4 months for the 100m, though did not wear spikes, and instead wore shot putters smooth bottom shoes. HP Pavilion dv6-2150es laptop keyboard The American Samoa national rugby league team represents the country in international rugby league. The team competed in the 1988, 1992, 1998 and 2004Pacific Cup competitions. The team has also competed in the 2003 and 2004 world sevens qualifiers in the 2005 World sevens. America Samoa's first match in international Rugby League was in 1988 pacific cup against Tonga, HP Pavilion dv6-3107ax laptop keyboard Tonga won the match 38-14 which is still the biggest lost by an American Samoan side. American Samoa's biggest win was in 2004 against New Caledonia with the score ending at 62-6. The Samoan Islands or Samoa Islands is an archipelago covering 3,030 km2 (1,170 sq mi) in the central South Pacific, forming part of Polynesia and the wider region of Oceania.  SONY VAIO VGN-FS415E laptop keyboard The population of the Samoan Islands is approximately 250,000, sharing a common language, Samoan, a culture, known as fa'a Samoa and an indigenous form of governance called fa'amatai.[1] HP Pavilion DV7-3165dx laptop keyboard Today, the islands have two jurisdictions, the independent country of Samoa in the western half of the islands, and the territory of American Samoa comprising the islands to the east. The two regions are separated by 64 km of ocean. Most Samoans are full-blooded and are one of the largest Polynesian populations in the world.[2] SONY VAIO VGN-NW25GF laptop keyboard3] In 1768, the eastern islands were visited by French explorer Bougainville, who named them the Navigator Islands, a name used by missionaries until about 1845 and in official European dispatches until about 1870.[4] Compaq Presario CQ71-317EA laptop keyboard In the late 1800s, rivalry between the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom resulted in the Tripartite Convention (1899) that formally partitioned the Samoan archipelago into a German colony (German Samoa) and a United States territory (American Samoa). Forerunners to the Tripartite Convention of 1899 were the Washington Conference of 1887, HP Pavilion dv6-2129ev laptop keyboard the Treaty of Berlin of 1889, and the Anglo-German Agreement on Samoa of 1899. New Zealand occupied the German colony through 1920, then governed the western islands until independence in 1962 as a (1) League of Nations Class C Mandate[5] and (2) United Nations Trust Territory after 1946. FUJITSU Lifebook P1610 laptop keyboard The pro-independence Mau movement across the islands eventually led to the political independence of the western islands from New Zealand in 1962 while the eastern islands, American Samoa, remains a political territory of the United States.[6]  Packard Bell NEW90 laptop keyboard The two large islands of Upolu and Savai'i in Samoa, are among the largest of Polynesian islands, at 1,718 km2(663 sq mi) and 1,125 km2 (434 sq mi), respectively,[10] exceeded in size only by the two main islands of Fiji and the Hawaiian islands of Hawaiʻi and Maui. The island of Upolu is more populated than Savai'i. SONY VAIO VGN-FS640/W laptop keyboard The next largest island is Tutuila, where the city and harbor Pago Pago (population 3,519 in 1990) is located. Tutuila is much smaller than Upolu and Savai‘i at 136.2 km2 (52.6 sq mi) in area, but it is the largest island in American Samoa. The highest peak on Tutuila is Matafao Peak. Smaller islands in the archipelago include the three islets (Manono Island, Apolima and Nu'ulopa) in the Apolima Straitbetween Savai'i and Upolu;  HP 405963-001 laptop keyboard the four Aleipata Islands off the eastern end of Upolu (Nu'utele, Nu'ulua, Namua, andFanuatapu); and Nu‘usafe‘e.[11] To the east of Tutuila, the Manu'a group comprises Ofu, Olosega, Ta’u, and Aunu'u. An uninhabited coral atoll, Rose Atoll, is the southernmost point in the territory of the United States. Another coral atoll, Swains Island, is within the territory of American Samoa but is geographically distant from the Samoan archipelago.[12] SONY VAIO VGN-CR123E laptop keyboard