Latitude/Longitude: Poutasi, Western Samoa--lat. 14.00; long. 171.43
Climate: tropical; rainy season (October to March), dry season (May to October)
Terrain: narrow coastal plain with volcanic, rocky, rugged mountains in interior
Natural resources: hardwood forests, fish
Population: 0.195 million (22% urban, 78% rural)
Life expectancy: 70 (female); 65 (male)
Infant mortality: 40 per 1,000 births
Literacy rate: 90% (combined)
Ethnic divisions: Samoan; Euronesians (persons of European and Polynesian blood) about 7%, Europeans 0.4%
Principal languages: Samoan (Polynesian), English
Principal religions: Christian 99.7% (about half of population associated with the London Missionary Society; includes Congregational, Roman Catholic, Methodist, Latter Day Saints, Seventh-Day Adventist)
Rank of affluence among U.N. members: 117/183
A famously beautiful tropical place, the nine volcanic islands of Western Samoa are struggling to reconcile their ancient Polynesian traditions with the imperatives of 20th century mass culture. Two to three thousand years ago the first people arrived on these fertile shores. Accompanied by rats and dogs, they laid siege to the local ecosystems, quickly driving many species of bird extinct. But they also established an enduring culture based on fishing and farming. In an unusual semi-democratic tradition, extended family groups elected a head, or matai, who represented them in the village council, which wielded strong powers. Christian missionaries arrived in 1830, and within a decade Samoa was converted. There ensued nearly a century of struggle among colonial powers and an increasingly irate Samoan resistance.
In 1962 Western Samoa became the first Polynesian nation to regain its independence. With its parliamentary government still dominated by matai, the new state fell into debt-laden decrepitude; remittances from Samoan emigres in New Zealand and the United States created up to 90 percent of the national income. Increased tourism and logging boosted the economy but hurt the islands' fragile environment.
Economic discontent, slowly building, led to universal suffrage in 1991, though the parliament still consists mainly of matai. Change may not come rapidly, or without cost: the strain of trying to change Western Samoa into a prosperous modern nation while preserving its way of life has led to great cultural conflict, especially among the young.
