The Samoan archipelago lies midway between Hawaii and the islands of New Zealand, fourteen degrees below the equator. It consists of a volcanic island chain swathed in green and trimmed with white sandy beaches and fringing reefs of coral. The islands stretch over 300 miles, from 168 to 173 degrees west longitude. Of relatively recent origin (late Pliocene to mid-Pleistocene), the island terrain rises gently from the sea up past farming lands to mountain peaks which reach 6,000 feet on the largest island of Savai'i and 2,100 feet on the island of Tutuila.
These are tropical isles. Warm and abundant rainfall, and gentle but steady trade winds, nurture a dense, fragrant vegetation. Bushes, ferns, grasses and vines carpet the mountain slopes beneath stands of hardwood timber such as ifi lele, tavai, and asi. Mountain tops are clothed in mosses, lichens, and sprawling shrubs, but few trees.
Animals, other than the chickens, pigs, dogs, horses, and cattle maintained by man, are sparse. Nature sustains a few wild pigs, two varieties of non-poisonous snakes, a dozen species of small lizards, land crabs, and "flying foxes" (actually large fruit bats). The Polynesian rat, scarcely larger than a mouse, is found throughout Samoa, and probably arrived with the original settlers, but the large wharf rat found in port towns is of recent introduction.
There are over thirty varieties of land birds, including game fowl such as ducks, the golden plover, and pigeons. The bird of greatest importance culturally is the sega, or "chief's bird." This small green parakeet has red feathers which are used to decorate the highly prized Samoan finemat. An abundant insect life flourishes in Samoa. The mosquito, formerly a carrier of filariasis (the forerunner of elephantiasis), and the rhinoceros beetle (a major threat to the coconut palm), represent the greatest threat to the people and economy.
The Samoan Islands are divided politically into Western and American Samoa. Western Samoa is an independent nation of 160,000 people inhabiting two large islands (Upolu and Savai'I) and two islets (Manono and Apolima). American Samoa is an unincorporated territory of the United States. Here 34,000 people reside on the island of Tutuila and its adjacent islet Aunu'u as well as on the island cluster known as Manu'a, composed of Ta'u (where Margaret Mead studied the coming of age), Ofu, and Olosega.
Samoans are culturally identified as Western Polynesians, a classification they share with the people of Tonga, Niue, the Tokelaus, and Fiji. Although they are similar culturally, the peoples of Samoa and Fiji are quite different physically. Fijians display a racial affinity with Melanesians, while Samoans exhibit varying combinations of Mongol, Negro, and Caucasian, racial and physical traits. Samoans are tall and resemble Caucasians in body type, though generally sturdier. There is a suggestion of the oriental in facial features and of negro in the hair and skin tone. As there has been little history of interracial mixing on the islands the racial type provides considerable insight into the people's migratory history.
The Samoan language is a dialect of the Austronesian (formerly called Malayo-Polynesia) stock of Pacific languages and resembles the speech of the Tokelau and Ellice islands (now called Tuvalu), eastern Futuna, and Tikopia.
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