Samoa

Land Characteristics

Name of Country: Independent State of Samoa

Form of Government: Parliamentary monarchy (Commonwealth)

Capital: Apia

Area: 2831 km²

Time Zone: GMT + 13 hours

Population: 179000

Population 2015: (estimated) 182 000

Population density: 63 per km²

Life expectancy: 69.8 years

Infant mortality (per 1000): 30.7

Languages: Samoan* and English*

Literacy: 80%

Religions: Christian 99%, Other 1%

Population: Samoan 91%, mixture of Polynesians and Europeans 8%, Other 1%

Currency: Tala

Economy: Agriculture 12%; Services 61%, Industry 27%

GDP per capita: 2840 US-Dollars

Climate: Tropical, rainy season from December to April

Highest point: Mauga Silisili (1857m high)

The South Pacific state of Samoa consists of two main islands of Savaii and Upolu, and 7 other very small islands. The island located east of "American Samoa" is, as the name suggests, the United States. Tongans settled the island about 600 BC. The first European in Samoa was Louis Antoine de Bougainville. 69 years later missionaries of the London Mission Society came to the island nation. In 1899 Germany gained control of the island for a short time after a long dispute with the United States and Great Britain. However, at the end of the First World War the islands were administered by New Zealand and then declared complete independence in 1962. The name "Samoa" was derived from the sacred chickens of lu, the God of creation, the sa moa.