This script opens a separate window with the Census 2000 glossary Census 2000 Gateway Glossary Brief History of the Island Areas
[text adapted from the Census Bureau's Geographic Areas Reference Manual (GARM)] American Samoa American Samoa is an unorganized, unincorporated territory of the United States. It consists of five major volcanic islands and two coral atolls (see Figure 1) that lie in the heart of Polynesia, 2,500 miles south-southwest of Honolulu and 1,800 miles north-northeast of New Zealand. It is the only U.S. jurisdiction that lies south of the equator. Tutuila Island, which contains the historic capital of Pago Pago, the seat of government at Fagatogo, and the office of the Governor at Utulei, encompasses 70 percent of American Samoa's 77.3 square miles and over 95 percent of its 46,773 inhabitants (see Figure 1). In 1839, the visit of an American naval vessel marked the first official United States contact with this area. In 1872, the need for a coaling station brought about an agreement between the commander of the U.S. naval vessel Narragansett and the chief of Pago Pago; although the agreement was never ratified by the U.S. Senate, it prevented other nations from making claims on Pago Pago Harbor as international competition for bases in the South Pacific increased. | |
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