Samoa

Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and Western Samoa in 1997, is a republic in Polynesia . The country includes the western part of the Samoan Islands; the eastern part is American territory American Samoa . Furthermore Samoa is surrounded by Tokelau in the north of Tonga in the South and Wallis and Futuna to the west.

Samoa was in 1962 independently from New Zealand . The country has about 220,000 inhabitants (2009), spread over a land area of ​​2831 square kilometers.

Content
[verbergen]
 * 1 History
 * 2 Date Border
 * 3 Administrative divisions
 * 4 Demographics
 * 5 Religion
 * 6 Geography
 * 7 Pictures
 * 8 Trivia
 * 9 External link

History [ edit ]
Samoa was in 1722 discovered by the Dutchman Jacob Roggeveen . The French explorer Bougainville visited the archipelago in 1768 and gave it the name Skipper Islands [4] (Iles du Navigateur).

It took until 1830 before Westerners were more interested in Samoa. In 1839 the American Wilkes signed a trade agreement with the residents, from 1850 arose German trade settlements. [4] In the second half of the 19th century, parts of the Kingdom Samoa claimed by both the United Kingdom , Germany and the United States . In the years 1878/79, all three of the major powers trade agreements on the Samoan Islands, where a throne battle raged. [4] From 1886 to 1894 raged Saomaanse Civil War between King Malietoa Laupepa and against King backed by Germany Tamasese. Laupepa sought the support of the British and the US also became involved when the Germans mistakenly destroyed some American property. In 1889 a cyclone both the German and American fleet struck heavily, came the three Western powers agree that Laupepa's kingship would be restored and they closed themselves a fragile base, but the civil war raged for five years on. When Laupepa in 1898 died, he was succeeded by Malietoa Tooa Mataafa. However, the US and the UK supported Malietoa Tanu, son of Laupepa, which broke out a new war of succession. American and British ships bombed Apia on March 15 1899 .

With the Treaty of Berlin (1899) it was decided to divide the island group: Germany was the western part, the current state Samoa, driving under the name of German Samoa ( 1900 - 1914 ), the United States acquired the eastern part as American- Samoa and the British relinquished all of their claims to Samoa, but were the Solomon Islands to compensate. The monarchy was abolished as a result of the treaty, but there was a certain degree of self-existence. [4]

Since 1908, several groups began to turn against the German occupation. After the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914 was New Zealand German Samoa inside. Germany refused to give up the islands, but the islands were defended in any way. New Zealand occupied German Samoa without firing a single shot and remained so for the rest of the First World War. After the Treaty of Versailles gave Great Britain a mandate over the areas that have transferred to New Zealand; German Samoa was renamed Western Samoa. After World War II controlled New Zealand Western Samoa as a trusteeship of the United Nations .

The New Zealand domination called opposition to the Samoans in the form of violent Mau movement. Partly because of the public in New Zealand itself, which was critical of the repressive colonial rule and elections incited a softer policy, the process of privatization was initiated. Samoa officially became independent on January 1 1962 and was the first independent Polynesian state of the 20th century . Initially there were two representatives of the old royal families Malietota and Tamasese appointed for life as head of state, but after the death of the latter in 1963, there was now only one head of state. Since the death of the Malietota representative in 2007, is head of state, the O le Ao o le Malo, elected for a period of five years.

In 1997 the country's name was changed from Western Samoa to Samoa. American Samoa condemned this decision because according to them "the name change damaged her identity."

[Date Border edit ]
Long Samoa was the country where the last New Year was celebrated, namely at 12:00 hours Dutch time. However, the island decided by 29 December 2011 to move from the eastern to the western side of the date line. This means that a day was beaten 30 December, that year in Samoa not, because after December 29, 2011 immediately following December 31, 2011. [5] This change facilitated business with the main trading partners Australia and New Zealand, both of which already lying on the other side of the date line.

In 1892, Samoa had just moved the day limit from west to east in order to trade with the United States to promote. That happened on July 4; Samoa fourth twice that day the day of the Declaration of Independence .[6]

Administrative divisions [ edit ]
Samoa consists of eleven itūmālō (districts), namely:

Map of the districts. Numbers on the map correspond to the numbers in the list. 1  including islands Manono , Apolima and Nu'ulopa 2  including the Aleipata islands and Nu'usafe'e Island island 3  including several enclaves in Upolu (Salamumu and Leauvaa villages)
 * 1) Tuamasaga ( Afega )
 * 2) A'ana ( Leulumoega )
 * 3) Aiga-i-le-Tai ( Mulifanua ) 1
 * 4) Atua (Lufilufi) 2
 * 5) Va'a-o-Fonoti (Samamea)
 * 6) Fa'asaleleaga (Safotulafai)
 * 7) Gaga'emauga (Saleaula) 3
 * 8) Gaga'ifomauga (Safotu)
 * 9) Vaisigano
 * 10) Satupa'itea ( Satupa'itea )
 * 11) Palauli (i Vailoa Palauli)

[Demographics edit ]
A Samoan family.

According to the CIA World Factbook Samoa has a population of 182 265 of which 92.6% Polynesian, 7% Euronesianen (partly Polynesian, partly European blood) and 0.4% European. Most Europeans in Samoa are of German origin.

[Religion edit ]
In 2001, about 98% of the inhabitants of Samoa Christian . These are divided into many different churches waaronder Congregationalisten (35,5%), Rooms-katholieken(19,6%), Methodisten (15%), Mormonen (12,7%), Assemblies or God (6.6%), Seventh Day Adventists (3.5%), other Christians (4.0%), Worship Centre (1.3%), unnamed (0.8%) (2001). [7] In 1963 was Malietoa Tanumafili II head of state ( O le Ao o le Malo, which means "head of government"), the first ruler who is a follower of the Bahá'í Faith . He died on May 12 2007 . At that time he was 94 years old the oldest head of state in the world. He was head of state for life. His successor, Tufuga Efi was Head of State on June 16, 2007 and was elected for five years. Near Apia is a Bahá'í House of Worship, which was inaugurated by Malietoa Tanumafili II in 1984.

[Geography edit ]
Map of Samoa

View of Upolu .

Samoa is located south of the equator, about halfway between Hawaii and New Zealand in the Polynesian region of the Pacific .

The total land area is 2934 square kilometers and consists of the two islands of Upolu and Savai'i which cover 99% of the land area of Samoa, and eight smaller islands: the three islands in the Apolima Strait ( Manono , Apolima and Nu'ulopa ) four Aleipata islands a few kilometers of Upolu ( Nu'utele , Nu'ulua , Namua and Fanuatapu ), and the islet Nu'usafe'e Island (less than 0.01 square kilometers in area and about 1.4 km from the south coast of Upolu removed)

The main island of Upolu is home to nearly three-quarters of the Samoan people, and the capital city is Apia . The climate is tropical, with an average annual temperature of about 26.5 ° C, and a rainy season from November to April. Savai'i other hand, is the largest island of Samoa and the seventh largest island of Polynesia. The population of Savai'i is 42,000.

[Pictures edit ]

 * The Sopoaga waterfall in east Upolu
 * Brass band of the police in Apia
 * Bahá'í House of Worship
 * Bahá'í House of Worship

[Trivia Edit ]

 * Since Monday, September 7th, 2009 is left drove. Despite protests from citizens and businesses, this measure has yet been made by the government. The government wanted to facilitate the importation of cars from Australia and New Zealand, where many residents of the island state relatives and where traffic drives on the left.
 * Despite the low number of inhabitants, the national rugby team of world class. Since 1991, they have to each Rugby World Cup competed.