WESTERN SAMOA

officially Independent State of Western Samoa, Samoan Malo Sa'oloto Tuto'atasi o Samoa i Sisifo, country in the south-central Pacific Ocean, among the westernmost of the islands of Polynesia. It consists of nine islands west of the 171 W meridianUpolu, Savai'i, Manono, and Apolima, all of which are inhabited, and the uninhabited islands of Fanuatapu, Namu'a, Nu'utele, Nu'ulua, and Nu'usafee. (The six Samoan islands east of the meridian are part of American Samoa.) The total land area is 1,093 square miles (2,830 square kilometres). The capital is Apia, on Upolu. officially Independent State of Western Samoa, Samoan Malo Sa'oloto Tuto'atasi O Samoa I Sisifo island group and constitutional monarchy in the south-central Pacific Ocean, some 1,800 miles (2,900 km) northeast of New Zealand. It is bordered by the islands of American Samoa to the east. Apia, on Upolu Island, is the capital. Land area 1,093 square miles (2,831 square km). Pop. (1994 est.) 164,000. For information about regional aspects of Western Samoa, see Pacific Islands: Western Samoa. Additional reading Lowell D. Holmes, Samoan Village (1974); Margaret Mead, Coming of Age in Samoa: A Psychological Study of Primitive Youth for Western Civilization (1928), available also in later editions; and Derek Freeman, Margaret Mead and Samoa: The Making and Unmaking of an Anthropological Myth (1983), explore the traditional heritage and its interpretations. See also Paul T. Baker, Joel M. Hanna, and Thelma S. Baker (eds.), The Changing Samoans: Behavior and Health in Transition (1986); George Turner, Samoa, a Hundred Years Ago and Long Before (1884, reprinted 1984); J.W. Davidson, Samoa mo Samoa: The Emergence of the Independent State of Western Samoa (1967); and R.P. Gilson, Samoa 1830 to 1900: The Politics of a Multi-Cultural Community (1970). A modern survey is offered in Fred Henry, Samoa, an Early History (1980). For further research, see Lowell D. Holmes (comp.), Samoan Islands Bibliography (1984). The best sources for a discussion of the political development of Western Samoa include Malama Meleisea and Penelope Schoeffel Meleisea (ed.), Lagaga: A Short History of Western Samoa (1987); and Malama Meleisea, The Making of Modern Samoa (1987). History Polynesians settled in the Samoan islands in about 1000 BC, as indicated by shards of decorated Lapita ware found in Mulifanua Lagoon on Upolu. Characteristics of the Samoan language indicate that the settlers probably came from Tonga. Pottery manufacture ceased by about AD 200, by which time Samoa had become the centre of much of the settlement of eastern Polynesia. Contact between Samoans, Tongans, and Fijians continued and is recorded in hundreds of legends and genealogies. Europeans began to arrive in the first half of the 18th century, and the Samoans welcomed them at first for the technology and goods they brought. John Williams, a member of the London Missionary Society, arrived to establish a Christian mission in 1830. He converted Malietoa Vainu'upo, who had just conquered all of Samoa, and the entire population soon converted. By the 1850s a foreign settlement had sprung up around Apia Harbour. As more settlers arrived from the United States, Great Britain, and Germany and tried to persuade their respective governments to annex Samoa, the Samoans began to resist. Rival Samoan leaders played the foreign powers against each other in pursuit of their factional wars. Urged on by their nationals in Samoa, the three powers became more embroiled in Samoa's affairs. They frustrated attempts by the Samoans to establish a national government. In 1878 the United States signed a treaty for the establishment of a naval station in Pago Pago Harbor. Great Britain and Germany signed similar agreements the following year. War between the three powers in 1889 was prevented only by a great hurricane, which sank six of their warships. They signed the Berlin Act to provide for the neutrality of the islands and to avoid further conflict. Finally, in 1899, eastern Samoa was annexed by the United States and the western region, by Germany. The Samoan people were not consulted, and many resented it deeply. In Western Samoa the drive for political independence began in 1908 with the Mau a Pule. This movement was led by the orator chief, Lauaki Namulau'ulu, during the German administration. The Samoan leaders were dissatisfied with the German governor's attempts to change the fa'a Samoa (the Samoan way of life) and centralize all authority in his hands. The governor called in warships, and Lauaki and nine of his leading supporters surrendered. They were tried and exiled to Saipan in the Mariana Islands. On Aug. 30, 1914, New Zealand troops occupied Western Samoa and met no resistance from the Germans. For the next few years the Samoans did not resist New Zealand rule. The influenza epidemic of 1918, however, which killed more than 20 percent of the population, prompted accusations of official negligence and united most of the people against the New Zealand administration. In 1920 the League of Nations granted New Zealand a mandate over Western Samoa. When the New Zealand-appointed governor tried to further undermine the power of the matai leadership and that of the local business community, an organized political movement emerged. The movement, called the Mau (Strongly Held View), was led by O.F. Nelson, whose mother was Samoan. New Zealand claimed that part-Europeans such as Nelson were misleading the Samoans, and the Mau was outlawed. New Zealand troops were sent in, and Nelson was exiled to New Zealand. On Dec. 28, 1929, during a peaceful Mau demonstration in Apia, Tupua Tamasese Lealofi III, one of the Mau leaders, and other Mau supporters were shot by New Zealand troops. This only strengthened the Mau's determination to win their struggle. In 1935 the first Labour government came to power in New Zealand, and it recognized the Mau as a legal political organization. The Samoan independence movement continued until 1962, when Western Samoa regained its political independence. Albert Wendt