Tutuila
Aunu'u from Earth orbit | |
Geography | |
---|---|
Location | Pacific Ocean |
Coordinates | 14°17′42″S 170°42′00″W / 14.295°S 170.70°W |
Archipelago | Samoan Islands |
Area | 142.3 km2 (54.9 sq mi) |
Highest elevation | 653 m (2142 ft) |
Highest point | Matafao Peak |
Administration | |
United States | |
Territory | American Samoa |
Largest settlement | Pago Pago (pop. 11,500) |
Demographics | |
Population | 55,876 (2000) |
Pop. density | 394.89/km2 (1022.76/sq mi) |
Tutuila is the largest and most populous island of American Samoa and is part of the archipelago of the Samoan Islands. It is the third largest island in the Samoan Islands chain of the Central Pacific. It is located roughly 4,000 kilometers (2,500 mi) northeast of Brisbane, Australia and lies over 1,200 kilometers (750 mi) to the northeast of Fiji. It contains a large, natural harbor, Pago Pago Harbor, where Pago Pago, the capital of American Samoa, is situated. Pago Pago International Airport is also located on Tutuila. The island's land expanse is about 68% of the total land area of American Samoa. With 56,000 inhabitants, it is also home to 95% of the population of American Samoa.[1] The island has six terrestrial and three marine ecosystems.[2]
Tutuila has mountainous regions, the highest point of which is 653 meters (2,142 feet)). The island is attractive to tourists because of its beaches, coral reefs, and World War II relics, as well as its suitability for sporting activities such as scuba diving, snorkeling, and hiking.[1]
Etymology
It is said that the name Tutuila may have been given to the island by a woman named Salaia. She named the island after a combination of the names of her parents: Tutu and Ila. Another name for the island is based on the name of Salaia herself: 'o le motu o Salaia ("the island of Salaia") or motu sā (literally, "the sacred island").[3]
Legend
A popular island legend holds that, when called to in a particular way, a shark and a turtle will appear near the shore. According to the legend, a long time ago, an old blind woman and her granddaughter, both suffering the pangs of starvation, jumped off a cliff in the village of Vaitogi and into the roiling ocean below. But instead of drowning, the old woman was transformed into a shark, and her granddaughter was transformed into a turtle. When the villagers utter a particular chant, the shark and the turtle promptly appear.[4]
Another Samoan legend concerns a species of bat, known as the
History
The Polynesians first reached Samoa around 1000 BC. By 600 BC, they had established a settlement on Tutuila at Tula.[6] Over the centuries, the Samoans on Tutuila kept in contact with the inhabitants of the neighboring islands of Western Polynesia, Tonga, and Fiji.
Tutuila served as a place of exile for warriors and chiefs who had been defeated in the wars that ravaged much of Upolu for centuries. It was also used as a place to which Upolu rulers banished political opponents.[7]
European contact
In 1722,
However, in 1872, the US Navy recognized that Tutuila's Pago Pago Harbor would be the ideal place for a refueling station for the new San Francisco-to-Sydney steamship service,[6] and negotiated a treaty with the inhabitants that would allow the harbor to be used for this purpose. Six years later, in 1878, the US Congress finally ratified this treaty, enabling it to be implemented.[6] However, the US was not the only foreign government with an interest in Tutuila and other Samoan islands. Great Britain and Germany had been showing their interest since the 1860s. In 1879, with the Samoans having declared that they were open to dealing with all three countries, the United States, Great Britain, and Germany together formed a tripartite government over the islands.[8]
In 1889, the three foreign governments held a conference in Berlin to discuss the political future of the islands and try to resolve their differences on that topic. The Americans expressed dissatisfaction with not having complete control of the islands. The countries' ongoing differences led to a proposal, in 1899, to apportion their control among different parts of the Samoan islands, with the eastern islands, including Tutuila and Aunu'u, forming American Samoa, and the western islands forming Western Samoa under European control. The Samoans signed off on this proposal in 1900, and the US flag was raised on Tutuila on April 17 of that year.[8] However, the name "American Samoa" was not formally bestowed on the eastern islands until 1911, and the apportionment agreement was not formally ratified until 1929.[6][8]
During
In 1956, Peter Tali Coleman became the first Samoan-born governor of American Samoa. In 1960, during his tenure, protections for the islanders were approved, including protection from confiscation of their lands and from loss of their cultural practices. After 1960, the Flag of American Samoa was made the country's official flag.[8] In 1961, the US president, John F. Kennedy, appointed H. Rex Lee governor, and approved US expenditure of massive funds to develop Tutuila, which throughout the 1960s was used to finance the building of an international airport, seaport facilities, roads, schools, houses, a hospital, a tuna cannery, a modern hotel, and the installation of electricity throughout the country.[6] in 1962, Western Samoa became independent of New Zealand, leading to uncertainty about whether the US would continue to have control of American Samoa. The massive US development efforts during the 1960s served to effectively solidify support for the continuation of Tutuila and the rest of American Samoa as a dependency of the United States.
In July 1997, Western Samoa changed that country's legal name to "Samoa." This name change was opposed by many Americans, including the inhabitants of American Samoa, who believed that using the unmodified word "Samoa" as the name for the country that comprised only the westernmost Samoan Islands would be confusing, and would undermine recognition of American Samoa as a distinct country with its own identity. Many American Samoans and other Americans who interact with the Samoan Islands still refer to Samoa informally as "Western Samoa," and to its inhabitants as "Western Samoans."
Today American Samoa is an unincorporated and unorganized territory of the US, under the administration of the US Interior Department's Office of Insular Affairs. American Samoa is primarily divided into two political districts: the Eastern District and the Western District.[9][10]
Geography
Tutuila lies in the Pacific Ocean, roughly 4,000 km (2,500 mi) northeast of Brisbane, Australia.[11] The village of Fagatogo is situated 1,238 km (769 mi) northeast of Suva, Fiji.[11] The island lies roughly 530 km (330 mi) north of Niue and roughly 580 km (360 mi) south of Tokelau and roughly 100 km (62 mi) southeast of the Samoan island of Upolu.[11]
Tutuila is a fairly small and narrow island, measuring roughly 33 km (21 mi) across and little more than 3 mi (4.8 km) from north to south at its widest point.
In the early 19th century, navigators passed through the Tutuila, the westward island among the Samoan group of Islands (one of the four islands called as navigators islands), when it was also known by the names of Bougainville, Manuo or Maouna. Midway between this islet and the rock the navigators sighted the Pago Pago harbor, which was marked by "a conical hill on its western side and a flat elliptical topped hill to the eastward."
The coastal road runs for a length of 50 km (31 mi) from Fagamalo in the northwest to Onenoao in the far northeast.
Demographics
The island has population of 55,876 (
Economic activity
The economy of American Samoa is dominated by grants from the U.S. Department of Interior. The tuna canning and fishing industries provide the majority of the GDP, although tourism is a promising developing sector. Economic activity is strongly linked to the US with which American Samoa conducts most of its commerce,[17] although American Samoa does not treat the US as an external trade partner. Funding from the US government adds 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. Hurricanes are relatively infrequent and although they sometimes cause substantial damage, the total number of deaths from hurricanes in the past 50 years is estimated to be less than 5. Therefore, hurricanes are simply an inconvenience and certainly not the economic development curtailing events portrayed in many writings.
More than 90% of the land is communally owned.
In the harbor there is a workshop of the Marine Railways, which takes care of the maintenance and repair of fishing ships.Ecosystem
The island has six terrestrial and three marine ecosystems. There are two protected areas in the island namely, the
Flora
Flora in the island is dominated by lowland and montane rain forests. The lowland rain forest at elevation less than 300 m (980 ft) is dominated by
Fauna
There are 19 species of
- Aquafauna
Hard corals recorded are 174 species of 48 genera and sub-genera.[2]
- Avifauna
The bird species recorded are under endemic category. These are: The Aplonis atrifuscus (
Four species of native doves and pigeons are also recorded in all the islands of Samoa. The four species are:
Butterflies are another category of avifauna in the island. The recorded species are: the Hypolimnas thompsoni and Papilio godeffroyi (butterfly).[2]
National Park of American Samoa
The
The two species of flying foxes (bats) protected in the park are:
The park which is divided into three zones has a network of hiking trails. The National Park Service (NPS) maintains good information system about these trails. One such trail goes up Mount ʻAlava, a high peak within the park rising to a height of 491 meters (1,611 feet). A TV tower exists on this mountain and also the ruins of a cable car station of a 1.8 km (1.1 mi)
Natural disasters
Hurricanes or tropical cyclones have been frequently striking the Samoan Island for centuries. To monitor and give advance warning of the cyclones, several Observation stations have been established under the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), in American Samoa. After the first recorded hurricane (at least in modern times) hit the Samoan islands on February 10, 1966, which was declared a major disaster, "hurricane homes" called as "fale afa" have been built in the islands for people to take shelter during cyclonic storms. After the hurricane in 1966 the islands have witnessed many disasters due to heavy rains, hurricanes and drought; due to drought in 1974, due to floods, mudslides and landslides in 1979; and due to hurricanes in 1981, 1987, 1990, 1991 and 2004; and a tsunami in 2009.
The hurricane of December 4–13, 1991, was the worst disaster faced by entire group of Samoan Islands which was named "
In response to this disaster,
Places of historical interest
At
Notable buildings in
At the defunct cable car terminal on the Solo Hill in
See also
Notes
- ^ ISBN 978-1-56691-411-6. Retrieved December 18, 2010.
Report on Hurricane Val in American Samoa.
- ^ UN System-Wide Earthwatch Web Site. Retrieved November 24, 2010.
- ISBN 9780824822194.
- ^ Stanley, p.480
- ^ ISBN 978-1-74104-818-6. Retrieved December 18, 2010.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-918373-05-2. Retrieved 21 December 2010.
- ^ Va'a, Unasa L.F. "Aspects of Western Sāmoa Migration to American Sāmoa" (PDF). The Journal of Sāmoan Studies. 3: 1.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8248-2265-1. Retrieved 21 December 2010.
- ^ a b "Tutuila: Eastern District and Western District". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved December 19, 2010.
- ISBN 9781147952896.
- ^ a b c "Travel distance calculator between cities". Map Crow. Retrieved December 19, 2010.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-470-50070-5.
- ^ Hills, J.W. (2022). O Upu Muamua I Le Tala I Le Lalolagi Mo E Ua Faatoa A'oa'oina U Lea Mataupu. Legare Street Press. Page 59. ISBN 9781019136812.
- ^ The Nautical magazine. Fisher, Son & Co. 1840. p. 754. Retrieved December 19, 2010.
- ^ Google Maps (Map). Google.
- ^ Bing Maps (Map). Microsoft and Harris Corporation Earthstar Geographics LLC.
- ^ a b "Economy of American Samoa". Nation Master Encyclopedia. Retrieved December 19, 2010.
- ^ a b c d "Effect of Cyclone Val on areas proposed for inclusion in the National Park of American Samoa" (PDF). A report to the U.S. National Park Service. Botany.hawaii.edu. pp. 3–4. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 4, 2012. Retrieved December 18, 2010.
- ^ a b c d Dragicevich, p.88
- ^ "FEMA posts 11 disaster declarations for territory over last 40 yrs". Samoanews. November 4, 2010. Archived from the original on July 17, 2011. Retrieved December 18, 2010.
- ISBN 978-982-02-0134-7. Retrieved December 17, 2010.
- ^ "Fagatele Bay Marine Sanctuary". Research and Monitoring. Official Site of the Fagatele Bay National Marine Sanctuary. Archived from the original on October 28, 2010. Retrieved December 17, 2010.
- ^ Stanley, pp. 475–477
- ^ Stanley, pp. 479–481
References
- Siebert L, Simkin T (2002–present). Volcanoes of the World: an Illustrated Catalog of Holocene Volcanoes and their Eruptions. Smithsonian Institution, Global Volcanism Program Digital Information Series, GVP-3 (http://www.volcano.si.edu).
- Tutuila: Eastern District and Western District, United States Census Bureau
External links
- Media related to Tutuila Island at Wikimedia Commons