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Samoa Introduction

Update Date:2018-2-14 16:20:22     Source:www.3737580.com     Views:588

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Samoa Introduction-- Western Samoa

Samoa officially the Independent State of Samoa, formerly known as Western Samoa, is an Oceanian country encompassing the western part of the Samoan Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. It became independent from New Zealand in 1962. The two main islands of Samoa are Upolu and Savai'i, one of the biggest islands in Polynesia. The capital city, Apia, and Faleolo International Airport are situated on the island of Upolu.

 

Samoa was admitted to the United Nations on 15 December 1976.The entire island group, inclusive of American Samoa, was called "Navigator Islands" by European explorers before the 20th century because of the Samoans' seafaring skills.The oldest date so far from remains in Samoa has been calculated by New Zealand scientists to a likely true age of circa 3,000 years ago from a Lapita site at Mulifanua during the 1970s.

 

Samoa Introduction-- Origins
The origins of the Samoans are closely studied in modern research about Polynesia in various scientific disciplines such as genetics, linguistics and anthropology. Scientific research is ongoing although a number of different theories exist; including one proposing that the Samoans originated from Austronesian predecessors during the terminal eastward Lapita expansion period from Southeast Asia and Melanesia between 2,500 and 1,500 BCE. The Samoan origins are currently being reassessed due to new scientific evidence and carbon dating findings from 2003 and onwards.

 

Intimate sociocultural and genetic ties were maintained between the eastern Lapita colonies and the archaeological record supports oral tradition and native genealogies that indicate inter-island voyaging and intermarriage between prehistoric Samoans, Fijians, and Tongans.

 

Studio photo depicting preparation of the Samoa 'ava ceremony. 1911. Interior of Samoan house, Apia, Urville 1842.Contact with Europeans began in the early 18th century. Jacob Roggeveen (1659–1729), a Dutchman, was the first known European to sight the Samoan islands in 1722. This visit was followed by French explorer Louis-Antoine de Bougainville (1729–1811), who named them the Navigator Islands in 1768. Contact was limited before the 1830s which is when English missionaries and traders began arriving.

 

 

Samoa Introduction--Mission work
Mission work in Samoa had begun in late 1830 by John Williams, of the London Missionary Society arriving in Sapapali'i from The Cook Islands and Tahiti. According to Barbara A. West, "The Samoans were also known to engage in 'headhunting,' a ritual of war in which a warrior took the head of his slain opponent to give to his leader, thus proving his bravery." There is recorded history of an event which took place when two German lives were taken and then their corpses beheaded by a citizen during that nation's administration of Samoa. A return attempt between two Samoans led to similar beheading although the practice was known not to be condoned amongst Samoans. The event precedes the short time before further tripartite conflict for the territories. Robert Louis Stevenson, the author, who lived in Samoa from 1889 wrote in his record of the period 1882–1892 A Footnote to History: Eight Years of Trouble in Samoa, "The Samoans are gentle people."

 

 

Samoa Introduction--- Relationship with Britain

Britain also sent troops to protect British business enterprise, harbour rights, and consulate office. There followed an eight-year civil war, where each of the three powers supplied arms, training, and in some cases, combat troops to the warring Samoan parties. The Samoan crisis came to a critical juncture in March 1889 when all three colonial contenders sent warships into Apia harbour, and a larger-scale war seemed imminent, until a massive storm on 15 March 1889 damaged or destroyed the warships, ending the military conflict.

 

 

Samoa Introduction-- Relationship with Germany
The Second Samoan Civil War was a conflict that reached a head in 1898 when Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States were locked in dispute over who should have control over the Samoa Islands. The Siege of Apia occurred during the Second Samoan Civil War in March 1899 at Apia. Samoan forces loyal to Prince Tanu were besieged by a larger force of Samoan rebels loyal to Mata'afa Iosefo. Supporting Prince Tanu were landing parties from four British and American warships. Over the course of several days of fighting, the Samoan rebels were defeated. American and British warships shelled Apia on 15 March 1899; including the USS Philadelphia. Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States quickly resolved to end the hostilities; with the partitioning of the island chain at the Tripartite Convention of 1899.

 


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