Natural history guide to American Samoa

Abstract

This chain of 13 Pacific islands (9 inhabited) plus two remote atolls is located 14° south of the equator near the international date line. It is divided into two political entities, the US Territory of American Samoa and the neighboring independent country- of Samoa, formerly known as Western Samoa. The youngest islands in this chain lie towards the east (Ta'u). The land area of (western) Samoa (2934 km2, 1132 mi2) is approximately 15 times larger than the land area of American Samoa (197.1 km2, 76.1 mi2).