American Samoa is an unincorporated, unorganized territory of the United States located in Oceania. They are south of Tokelau, west of French Polynesia, east of Samoa, and north of Niue. American Samoa consists of five main islands: Tutuila, Aunu’u, Ofu-Olosega, Ta’ū and Swains Island. American Samoa form the eastern part of the Samoan archipelago, shared with the independent state of Samoa (formerly Western Samoa), an archipelago divided on December 2, 1899 by a treaty between, inter alia, the German Empire and the United States. Samoa has long called for the reunification of both parts of the archipelago.
Pago Pago, capital of American Samoa. Photo: Tavita Togia, National Park Service
Isolated in the middle of the Pacific, the small archipelago depends mainly on the help of the United States. Tourism is logically one of the engines of an important development underway in the territory, since it is relatively hot all year. However, the lack of infrastructure and the isolation block the increase in the number of tourists in recent years, while it is growing rapidly throughout the Asia-Oceania region. There is a national park (National Park of American Samoa) on the spot, which covers a large part of the territory. “Green” tourism is one of the avenues sought by the authorities to develop the number of international tourists. Of course, the climate is occasionally a little rough, with hurricanes regularly in summer (winter in the northern hemisphere). These are sometimes so violent that they can destroy a large part of the crops. Agriculture is the main activity of the archipelago, and occupies about 66% of the population.
