Land and People

American Samoa, officially Territory of American Samoa, unincorporated territory of the United States (2000 pop. 57,291), comprising the eastern half of the Samoa island chain in the South Pacific. The group (76 sq mi/197 sq km) consists of several major islands: Tutuila, the Manu'a group (Ta'u, Ofu, and Olosega), Rose and Sand Islands, and Swains Island. Pago Pago, the capital, is on Tutuila. Most of the islands are mountainous, heavily wooded, and surrounded by coral reefs. Polynesians account for a large majority of the population. Christian Congregationalism and other Protestant denominations are practiced by over half of the people; some 20% are Roman Catholic. Most Samoans are bilingual, speaking the native Polynesian tongue and English. Subsistence agriculture and the export of canned tuna and handicrafts became the mainstays of the economy after the U.S. naval base at Pago Pago closed down in 1951. There is also some light industry. Almost 90% of its foreign trade is with the United States. Nearly all the land is owned by the Polynesian natives, who are considered American nationals, not citizens, and do not vote in U.S. elections. They do, however, send one nonvoting delegate to the U.S. Congress. American Samoa was defined by a treaty in 1899 between the United States, Great Britain, and Germany, which gave the United States control of all Samoan islands east of 171°W. American Samoa was under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Navy Dept. until 1951, at which time administration was transferred to the Dept. of the Interior, which appointed the governor. In 1978 the first popularly elected Samoan governor was inaugurated. Tauese P. F. Sunia, first elected in 1996, died in 2003; Lieutenant Governor Togiola Tulafona succeeded him as acting governor. There is a bicameral legislature (Fono), consisting of a senate (18 members chosen by county councils) and a house of representatives (20 members elected by popular vote, plus one nonvoting member from Swains Island, which is privately owned). There is also an independent judiciary.

Economy

This is a traditional Polynesian economy in which more than 90% of the land is communally owned. Economic activity is strongly linked to the US, with which American Samoa conducts the great bulk of its foreign trade. Tuna fishing and tuna processing plants are the backbone of the private sector, with canned tuna the primary export. Transfers from the US Government add substantially to American Samoa's economic well-being. Attempts by the government to develop a larger and broader economy are restrained by Samoa's remote location, its limited transportation, and its devastating hurricanes. Tourism, a developing sector, may be held back by the current financial difficulties in East Asia.

History

Originally inhabited as early as 1000 BC, Samoa was not reached by European explorers until the 18th century.
International rivalries in the latter half of the 19th century were settled by an 1899 Treaty of Berlin in which Germany and the U.S. divided the Samoan archipelago. The U.S. formally occupied its portion—a smaller group of eastern islands with the noted harbor of Pago Pago—the following year. The western islands are now the independent state of Samoa.
After the U.S. took possession of American Samoa, the U.S. Navy built a coaling station on Pago Pago Bay for its Pacific Squadron and appointed a local Secretary. The navy secured a Deed of Cession of Tutuila in 1900 and a Deed 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 US Naval trials, known as the "Trial of the Ipu", in Pago Pago, Taʻu, and aboard a Pacific Squadron gunboat.
During World War II, U.S. Marines in American Samoa outnumbered the local population, having a huge cultural influence. After the war, Organic Act 4500, a U.S. Department of Interior-sponsored attempt to incorporate American Samoa, was defeated in Congress, primarily through the efforts of American Samoan chiefs, led by Tuiasosopo Mariota. These chiefs' efforts led to the creation of a local legislature, the American Samoa Fono, which meets in the village of Fagatogo, the territory's de facto and de jure capital. (See the Trivia section below for more information on Fagatogo.)
In time, the Navy-appointed governor was replaced by a locally elected one. Although technically considered "unorganized" in that the U.S. Congress has not passed an Organic Act for the territory, American Samoa is self-governing under a constitution that became effective on July 1, 1967. The U.S. Territory of American Samoa is on the United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories, a listing which is disputed by territorial government officials.
Employment on the island basically falls into three relatively equally-sized categories of approximately 5,000 workers each: the public sector, the two tuna canneries, and the rest of the private sector. There are only a few federal employees in American Samoa and no active military personnel (there is an Army Reserve unit, however); the overwhelming majority of public sector employees work for the American Samoa Government. The two tuna canneries (StarKist and Samoa Packing) export several hundred million dollars worth of canned tuna to the United States.