Timeline American Samoa:
Samoa
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American
Samoa
A US territory. The largest island is Tutuila, home to 95 percent of
the territory's 65,000 population. It is slightly larger than
Washington, D.C.
(WSJ, 7/3/96, p.A8)(AP, 9/30/09)
The Samoan Islands in the South Pacific west of 170º W
longitude
comprise an independent state and the rest belong to the US.
(WUD, 1994, p.1265)
TravelDocs:
http://www.traveldocs.com/as/index.htm
1872
The high chief of the tribes of the eastern
Samoan
islands
gave America permission to establish a naval base in exchange for
military protection.
(SFCM, 10/14/01, p.45)
1899 A treaty between American,
Germany and Britain gave Western
Samoa to the Germans and Eastern Samoa to the Americans. In an
Anglo-German treaty the UK renounced its rights to the Samoan
Islands
(HN, 1/16/99)(SFCM, 10/14/01, p.45)
1904 The eastern Samoan islands
became territories of the United
States and later became known as American Samoa. The western islands
became known as Western Samoa (later the Independent State of
Samoa),
passing from German control to New Zealand in 1914. New Zealand
administered Western Samoa under the auspices of the League of
Nations
and then as a UN trusteeship until independence in 1962. Western
Samoa
was the first Pacific Island country to gain its independence.
(www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/1842.htm)
1951 The US Navy too over
control
of American Samoa.
(AP, 9/30/09)
1954 Oct 14, American Samoa
Government's vessel Manu'atele
sighted William Willis's raft The Seven Little Sisters, and towed it
into Pago Pago Harbor. William Willis (1893-1968) sailed a raft from
Peru to Samoa. In 2006 T.R. Pearson authored “Seaworthy: Adrift With
William Willis in the Golden Age of Rafting.”
(WSJ, 6/24/06,
p.P12)(www.asg-gov.net/026HISTORICALCAL_OCTOBER.htm)
2009 Jan 6, Pres. Bush
designated
parts of 3 Pacific island
chains as national monuments to protect them from oil and gas
extraction and commercial fishing. The areas totaled some 195,274
square miles and included the Mariana Trench as well as waters and
coral surrounding 3 islands in the Northern Mariana Islands, Rose
Atoll
in American Samoa and 7 islands along the equator in the central
Pacific Ocean.
(SFC, 1/6/09, p.A4)
2009 Sep 29, A magnitude
8.0-8.3
earthquake struck about 120
miles south of the islands of Samoa, which has about 180,000 people,
and American Samoa, a US territory of 65,000. Four tsunami waves 15
to
20 feet (4 to 6 meters) high roared ashore on American Samoa,
reaching
up to a mile (1.5 kilometers) inland. At least 136 were killed in
Samoa
and at least 32 on American Samoa and leaving dozens missing.
Authorities in Tonga, south of the Samoas, confirmed at least 9
dead.
(AP, 9/30/09)(AFP, 10/1/09)(AP, 10/5/09)
Samoa
CIA Factbook: http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ws.html
Travel Docs: http://www.traveldocs.com/ws/index.htm
Samoa, formerly known as
Western
Samoa or the Navigators Islands, was a protectorate of Britain,
Germany
and New Zealand at various times. Slightly smaller than Rhode
Island,
Samoa con-sists of two main islands, Savaii and Upolu, as well as
several smaller islands and uninhabited islets.
(SFC, 3/20/99, p.A21)(WUD, 1994 p.1265)(SFCM,
10/14/01, p.19)
The Samoan Islands in the South Pacific west of 170º W
longitude
comprise an independent state and the rest belong to the US.
Samoa is about 40 miles (65km) west of American Samoa.
(WUD, 1994, p.1265)
1300BC The
Lapita people took once again to the open seas about this time,
pushing east past the Solomon Islands to the Bismarck archipelago
and beyond to Vanuatu, Fiji and Samoa. Theses Southeast Asian
peoples had headed south from Taiwan to Papua New Guinea and as far
as the main Solomon islands, where they stopped some 40,000 years
ago.
(AFP, 11/9/10)
c1850 European ties to Samoa
increased due to trade and religious ministry.
(SFCM, 10/14/01, p.45)
1892 Samoa made a decision to
stay behind a day on the international date line and align itself
with US traders based in California. In 2011 it planned to leap 24
hours into the future so that it can be on the same weekday as
Australia, New Zealand and eastern Asia.
(AP, 5/9/11)
1894 Dec 3, Robert Louis
Stevenson (b.1850), Scottish-American writer, died in Samoa. He was
the author of such works as "Treasure Island," "Dr. Jekyll and Mr.
Hyde," "The Master of Ballantrae," "The Silverado Squatters,
"Kidnapped" and "Travels with a Donkey." In 2005 Clair Harman
authored “Robert Louis Stevenson: A Biography.”
(Smith., 8/95, p.51-58)(AP, 12/3/97)(Econ,
1/29/05, p.79)
1895 Photographer John Davis
shot his classic Samoan Princess Fa’ane.
Samoa
(WSJ, 7/3/96, p.A8)
1899 A treaty between American,
Germany and Britain gave Western Samoa to the Germans and Eastern
Samoa to the Americans. In an Anglo-German treaty the UK renounced
its rights to the Samoan Islands
(HN, 1/16/99)(SFCM, 10/14/01, p.45)
1900 Jan 16, The U.S. Senate
consented to the Anglo-German treaty of 1899 by which the UK
renounced its rights to the Samoan Islands.
(HN, 1/16/99)
1900 By this time Samoa
supported three residential. Commercial photographers.
(WSJ, 7/3/96, p.A8)
1904 The eastern Samoan islands
became territories of the United States and later became known as
American Samoa. The western islands became known as Western Samoa
(later the Independent State of Samoa), passing from German control
to New Zealand in 1914. New Zealand administered Western Samoa under
the auspices of the League of Nations and then as a UN trusteeship
until independence in 1962. Western Samoa was the first Pacific
Island country to gain its independence.
(www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/1842.htm)
c1914 When WW I began New
Zealand pried Western Samoa from the Germans.
(SFCM, 10/14/01, p.45)
1923-1924 Frances and Robert Flaherty, who made
the documentary "Nanook of the North," settled in Samoa to make the
silent-film classic "Moana: A Romance of the Golden Age."
(WSJ, 7/3/96, p.A8)
1928 “Coming of Age in Samoa”
by Margaret Mead was published. Franz Boas had sent Mead to study
the lives of adolescent girls. Boas held that the surrounding
culture determines all human action and that thus human nature lacks
a biological component. In 1983 Derek Freeman published "Margaret
Mead in Samoa," in which he laid waste Mead's portrayal of 1920s
Samoan society. Other books on the Mead controversy followed and in
1999 Freeman published "The Fateful Hoaxing of Margaret Mead: A
Historical Analysis of Her Samoan Research."
(SFEC, 8/18/96, BR p.7)(WSJ, 3/3/99, p.A17)
1953 The film “Return to
Paradise” starred Gary Cooper and Roberta Haynes. It was directed by
Mark Robson, set in Samoa and based on a book by James Michener.
(TVM, 1975, p.475)(SFCM, 10/14/01, p.45)
1962 Jan 1, Samoa became
independent from New Zealand. Malietoa Tanumafili II nursed Samoa to
independence and presided as head of state jointly for 16 months and
thereafter on his own for 43 years.
(www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/1842.htm)(SFCM,
10/14/01, p.45)(Econ, 5/26/07, p.101)
1971 Australia joined with New
Zealand and 14 independent of self-governing island nations to form
the South Pacific Forum. The name was changed in 2000 to Pacific
Islands Forum. Member states include: Australia, the Cook Islands,
the Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, the Marshall
Islands, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa,
the Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu. Since 2006,
associate members territories are New Caledonia and French
Polynesia.
(Econ, 10/20/07,
p.61)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Islands_Forum)
1978 Nov 15, Margaret Mead
(b.1901), American cultural anthropologist, died in NY. Her books
included “Coming of Age in Samoa.” In 1983 Derek Freeman authored
"Margaret Mead and Samoa: The Making and Unmaking of an
Anthropological Myth," in which he challenged all of Mead’s major
findings.
(SFEC, 8/18/96, BR
p.7)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Mead)
1982-1998 Tofilau Eti Alesana (d.1999 at 74)
served as the prime minister.
(SFC, 3/20/99, p.A21)
1991 Barry and Jennifer Rose of
LA opened the Coconuts Beach Club.
(SFCM, 10/14/01, p.19)
1996 The 1st traffic light was
installed in the capital of Apia.
(SFCM, 10/14/01, p.16)
1997 Apr 14, In SF the winners
of the 1997 Goldman Environmental Prize were announced: Included
were Samoan chieftain Fuiono Senio and ethnobotonist Paul Cox for
establishing forest preserves.
(SFC, 4/14/97, p.A11)
1997 The prime minister changed
the name of the Independent State of Western Samoa to the
Independent State of Samoa.
(SFCM, 10/14/01, p.45)
1998 Nov, Tofilau Eti Alesana
stepped down as prime minister.
(SFC, 3/20/99, p.A21)
1999 Jul 16, Luagalau Levaula
Kamu (44), a government minister, was shot and killed during a
political rally. In 2000 Leafa Vitale (57) and Toi Aukuso (68) were
convicted of planning the murder.
(SFC, 4/15/00, p.A13)
2000 Global Domains
International, Inc. (GDI) launched the .WS Internet domain in
partnership with the island nation of Samoa.
(www.website.ws/about.dhtml)
2001 Samoa’s population
was about 171,000.
(SFCM, 10/14/01, p.19)
2002 Jun 4, New Zealand's prime
minister apologized for mistakes her country made during its 48-year
rule over the tiny South Pacific island chain of Samoa.
(AP, 6/3/02)
2004 Sep 30, A deal was
announced between Samoa and UC Berkeley researchers to clone a
promising anti-AIDS drug, prostratin, from the bark of the native
mamala tree.
(SFC, 10/1/04, p.B1)
2005 Feb 18, President Bush
declared American Samoa a major disaster area following Hurricane
Olaf, which wiped out nearly all homes in at least one village in
the Manua Islands.
(Reuters, 2/18/05)
2005 Feb 27, The tiny Pacific
island nation of Tokelau called for food and medical supplies, and
there were "grave concerns" for residents on Swain's Island in
American Samoa after Cyclone Percy pounded the area.
(AP, 2/27/05)
2007 May 11, Malietoa
Tanumafili II, head of state of Samoa, died at age 94-95.
(Econ, 5/26/07, p.101)
2009 Sep 29, A magnitude
8.0-8.3 earthquake struck about 120 miles south of the islands of
Samoa, population about 180,000 people, and American Samoa, a US
territory of 65,000. Four tsunami waves 15 to 20 feet (4 to 6
meters) high roared ashore on American Samoa, reaching up to a mile
(1.5km) inland. At least 142 were killed in Samoa and at least 32 on
American Samoa and leaving dozens missing. Authorities in Tonga,
south of the Samoas, confirmed at least 9 dead. In 2010 new research
indicated that 2 great earthquakes caused the tsunami.
(AP, 9/30/09)(AFP, 10/1/09)(AP, 10/5/09)(SSFC,
10/11/09, p.A14)(SFC, 8/19/10, p.A2)
2011 May 9, It was reported
that Samoa plans to leap 24 hours into the future, erasing a day and
putting a new kink in the Pacific's jagged international date line
so that it can be on the same weekday as Australia, New Zealand and
eastern Asia.
(AP, 5/9/11)
2011 Dec 29, At midnight Samoa
leaped to Dec 31 to align itself with trading partners in its South
Pacific region. For the country’s 186,000 citizens, Dec 30 will
simply not exist.
(SFC, 12/29/11, p.A2)
2011 Dec 30, At midnight on Dec
29 Samoa leaped to Dec 31 to align itself with trading partners. For
the country’s 186,000 citizens, Dec 30, 2011 will simply not exist.
(SFC, 12/29/11, p.A2)
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