American Samoa

American Samoa is a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean.

It belongs to the United States. Most people are Samoan. The capital is Pago Pago.

American Samoa is in the South Pacific, about 2,600 kilometers northeast of New Zealand and 3,500 kilometers southwest of Hawaii. It is made up of the eastern Samoan islands. The country of Samoa is its closest neighbor, just to the west.

American Samoa is a territory of the United States. Its people are US nationals: they may live in the United States, but they are not US citizens. The territory elects its own governor and has its own legislature, and it uses the US dollar. English and Samoan are both official languages, and the capital is Pago Pago, on the island of Tutuila.

Britannica describes American Samoa as an unincorporated territory of the United States made up of the eastern Samoan archipelago: the six islands east of the 171st meridian west, plus Swains Island, a coral atoll about 450 km northwest of Tutuila that became part of the territory in 1925. Independent Samoa holds the nine islands west of the meridian.

Because the territory is unincorporated and unorganized, not all of the US Constitution applies, and Congress has passed no organic act; American Samoa wrote its own constitution in 1967. Its people are US nationals with the right to live in the United States, but not citizens. Since 1977 the governor has been elected; the legislature, the Fono, has an elected House and a Senate chosen by councils of chiefs. The United States is responsible for defense.

Pago Pago sits beside a big, deep harbor.

The harbor almost cuts the island in two. Other islands, called Manu'a, lie farther east.

Tutuila is the main island. Pago Pago Harbor, a long inlet surrounded by steep green mountains, cuts nearly all the way across it. The capital, Pago Pago, is an urban area made up of several villages by the harbor, and it is the territory's main port. The photo looks down from the forest onto a village by the harbor's edge.

About 100 kilometers east of Tutuila are the Manu'a Islands: Ta'ū, Ofu and Olosega. Small Aunu'u lies just off Tutuila, and far to the east is Rose Atoll, a coral atoll where no one lives.

Tutuila, 135 km², rises steeply above deep inlets, the most notable being Pago Pago Harbor, which nearly divides the island in two. Pago Pago is the main port and the administrative and commercial center; Britannica notes that the legislature sits at Fagatogo, one of several villages in the urban area collectively called Pago Pago. Only the Western District of Tutuila grew in population between 2010 and 2020, the Census Bureau reported.

The Manu'a group (Ta'ū, Olosega and Ofu), about 100 km east of Tutuila, is the second-largest island area. The National Park of American Samoa covers parts of Tutuila, Ta'ū and Ofu; off Tutuila's north coast near Vatia, Pola Island rises over 400 feet (about 120 m) straight from the sea. Rose Atoll is uninhabited.

The islands were made by volcanoes long ago.

Tall mountains are covered in rainforest. It is warm all year, and it rains a lot.

Most of the islands were built by volcanoes within the last seven million years, and their middles are high and rugged. The highest point is Lata Mountain on Ta'ū, 963 meters high. Coral reefs grow around the edges of the islands.

Rainforest with tall ferns and trees, including big banyan trees, covers the mountains. It is warm all year, from about 21 to 32 °C, and very rainy: Pago Pago gets about 5,000 millimeters of rain a year, enough to fill a pool 5 meters deep.

Except for the coral atolls, Britannica says, the islands formed by volcanic activity within the past seven million years, with high, rugged interiors. Wikidata gives Lata Mountain on Ta'ū as the highest point at 963 m; Tutuila's highest is Matafao Peak, 653 m. Reefs are common around the islands, and some form barriers that enclose lagoons.

The climate is tropical, with average temperatures from about 21 to 32 °C, 80% average humidity and prevailing southeast trade winds. Pago Pago receives about 5,000 mm of rain a year; the National Park Service gives a range from 125 inches (about 3,200 mm) in drier areas to 300 inches (about 7,600 mm) on the highest mountains. Most streams sink into the porous basalt and never reach the sea. The park describes its volcanic islands as mostly covered in tropical rainforest, from mountaintops to the coast.

Bats called fruit bats live in the rainforest.

Sea turtles and hundreds of kinds of fish swim on the reefs. Whales visit in the cooler months.

The rainforest is home to the Samoan fruit bat, also called a flying fox, and to plants and animals found only in these islands. Many kinds of seabirds nest on Pola Island.

The national park protects nearly 4,000 acres of ocean. Its coral reefs hold more than 900 kinds of fish and more than 230 kinds of coral, and green and hawksbill sea turtles swim there. Humpback whales pass through in the southern winter. The turtle photos here were taken in other places.

The National Park Service describes rainforests rich in endemic plants and animals, including the Samoan fruit bat (flying fox), with banyans, ferns and a dense understory; Pola Island is a nesting site for many seabird species. The park protects nearly 4,000 acres of ocean, where fringing reefs off Tutuila, Ofu and Ta'ū hold over 900 fish species and more than 230 coral species, along with endangered green and hawksbill sea turtles; migrating humpback whales visit in the austral winter.

The park lists coral bleaching, severe storms, invasive species such as the crown-of-thorns starfish, climate change and overfishing as threats, and works with local villages on conservation. The green turtle photo was taken off Moorea, French Polynesia, and the hawksbill photo in Egypt.

Most people here are Samoan. They speak Samoan and English.

Big families are very important. Each family has a chief, called a matai.

Nearly everyone in American Samoa is Samoan, with family roots going back more than 3,000 years. Most people speak Samoan, and most speak English too. Life follows fa'asamoa, the Samoan way, which puts family, respect for elders and working together first.

An extended family is called an aiga, and each one has a chief, a matai, chosen by the family. The chiefs meet in a village council, the fono, to make decisions. Family land is shared and is not sold outside the family. Many American Samoans have also moved to the United States.

The National Park Service says nearly all inhabitants are Indigenous Samoans, with lineage reaching back over 3,000 years, and describes fa'asamoa as a framework of family (aiga), respect (fa'aaloalo) and community. Each aiga is led by a matai chosen, Britannica adds, by family consensus; the matai of a village form its council (fono), presided over by the highest-ranking ali'i and assisted by tulafale, or talking chiefs. Land is held communally by the aiga and cannot be sold outside the family.

Britannica notes that most Samoans remain fluent in Samoan and that most American Samoans also speak English; both are official. Since the mid-20th century many have migrated to the United States. The 2020 census counted 49,710 people, over 10% fewer than in 2010. Visitors are asked to request permission before taking photos or using a beach in a village, and to wait quietly during sā, the evening prayers at dusk.