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73-538: Falealupo is a village in Samoa situated at the west end of Savai'i island 20 miles (32 km) from the International Date Line used until 29 December 2011. The village has two main settlements, Falealupo-Uta, situated inland by the main island highway and Falealupo-Tai, situated by the sea. The road to the coastal settlement is about 9 km, most of it unsealed, from the main highway. The village's population

146-470: A matai chief title, Nafanua, by Falealupo in honour of his work. The title is registered with the Samoan Lands and Title Court. In 1999, the village announced that beginning 1 January 2000 monthly tourist revenues from the aerial canopy walkway would be used to fund a modest retirement fund for village elders. In February 2008, the canopy walkway was closed due to rot in the 10m wooden tower leading up to

219-488: A better school or teachers would be removed and their children would not be educated. Education in Samoa is a partnership between villages and the government, and with most of the land under customary ownership, villages provide land and school buildings with the government providing teachers and the curriculum. Most of the island's economy is based on subsistence living from plantations and fishing and with no other source of revenue,

292-403: A covenant protecting the 30,000-acre (120 km) rainforest. The Falealupo Rainforest School was constructed, and the village bestowed matai titles on Paul Cox, Ken Murdock, and Rex Maughan. In recognition of his achievement, in 1997 Cox together with the late High Chief Fuiono Senio shared the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize . Cox donated his share of the prize to Seacology, which uses

365-521: A covenant with chiefs to protect their lowland rainforest from logging. In 1988, he was bestowed the Nafanua matai chief title by Falealupo, one of the highest legendary titles in Samoa, in honor of his conservation efforts. Dr. Cox founded the environmental nonprofit organization, Seacology , located in Berkeley, California , which has preserved over 1.5 million acres of island forests and coral reefs, and

438-598: A grave, in the midst of the white men's sugar fields". The Germans, in particular, began to show great commercial interest in the Samoan Islands , especially on the island of Upolu, where German firms monopolised copra and cocoa bean processing. The United States laid its own claim, based on commercial shipping interests in Pearl Harbor in Hawaii and Pago Pago Bay in eastern Samoa, and forced alliances, most conspicuously on

511-639: A larger force of Samoan rebels loyal to Mataʻafa Iosefo . Supporting Prince Tanu were landing parties from four British and American warships. After several days of fighting, the Samoan rebels were finally 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 and divided

584-575: A larger-scale war seemed imminent. A massive storm on 15 March 1889 damaged or destroyed the warships, ending the military conflict. The Second Samoan Civil War reached a head in 1898 when Germany , the United Kingdom , and the United States were locked in dispute over who should control the Samoan Islands. The Siege of Apia occurred in March 1899. Samoan forces loyal to Prince Tanu were besieged by

657-661: A new approach to the evolution of different size sperm and eggs, known as anisogamy , a topic he continued to pursue with Japanese biologist Tatsuya Togashi. He discovered with colleagues Sandra Banack and James Metcalf in cyanobacteria AEG, a hypothesized backbone of peptide nucleic acids in the pre- RNA world early in the earth's history. They are studying possible health consequences of exposure to isomers of AEG and other cyanobacterial toxins, including beta-Methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA). Although trained in evolutionary ecology , because of his fluency in Polynesian languages , Cox

730-450: A population of some 38,000 Samoans and 1,500 Europeans. However, native Samoans greatly resented New Zealand's colonial rule, and blamed inflation and the catastrophic 1918 flu epidemic on its misrule. By the late 1920s the resistance movement against colonial rule had gathered widespread support. One of the Mau leaders was Olaf Frederick Nelson , a half Samoan and half Swedish merchant. Nelson

803-671: A student of John L. Harper at the University of Wales in Bangor by studying dioecy in plants. At Harvard University where he served for four years as Teaching Fellow for E. O. Wilson , he studied how vertebrate pollination influenced breeding system evolution in tropical lianas. Collaborating at Harvard with tropical botanist P. B. Tomlinson , at Berkeley with Herbert G. Baker , and Melbourne with Bruce Knox, he used mathematical search theory to analyze seagrass pollination and later, with mathematician James Sethian used search theory to develop

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876-517: Is Apia . The Lapita people discovered and settled the Samoan Islands around 3,500 years ago. They developed a Samoan language and Samoan cultural identity . Samoa is a unitary parliamentary democracy with 11 administrative divisions . It is a sovereign state and a member of the Commonwealth of Nations . Western Samoa was admitted to the United Nations on 15 December 1976. Because of

949-465: Is 545. Due to its location in the west of the country, and because Samoa was just to the east of the International Date Line, Falealupo has been described as "the last village in the world to see the sunset of each day". This has now changed, as the Samoan government has moved the International Date Line east of the country in 2011. Families have moved inland for the convenience of living by

1022-414: Is a matai and a long-serving senior member of cabinet, who was elected Prime Minister in 2021. Other women in politics include Samoan scholar and eminent professor Aiono Fanaafi Le Tagaloa , orator-chief Matatumua Maimoana and Safuneituʻuga Paʻaga Neri (former Minister of Communication and Technology). The judicial system incorporates English common law and local customs. The Supreme Court of Samoa

1095-742: Is a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry , a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London , and appointed adjunct professor at the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and at the College of Pharmacy by the University of Illinois, Chicago . Currently, he is searching for a cure for ALS , Alzheimer's , and other tangle diseases. In 1997 he received

1168-558: Is also associated with the legend of Moso. Nafanua , the goddess of war, fertility, and tattooing, is revered as the protector of her home village of Falealupo in Samoa. The History of the Tātau It is believed that the tatau, a traditional form of Samoan tattooing, was introduced to Samoa in the village of Falealupo. The origins of the tatau in Falealupo are steeped in legends and stories, passed down through generations of Samoans. The tatau

1241-424: Is appointed by the head of state to form a government. The prime minister's choices for the 12 cabinet positions are appointed by the head of state, subject to the continuing confidence of the legislative assembly. Prominent women in Samoan politics include the late Laʻulu Fetauimalemau Mataʻafa (1928–2007) from Lotofaga constituency, the wife of Samoa's first prime minister. Their daughter Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa

1314-455: Is known as O le Ao o le Malo in Samoan, and since its establishment only paramount chiefs have held the office. The current head of state is Tuimalealiʻifano Vaʻaletoʻa Sualauvi II , who was elected by the legislature in 2017 and again in 2022. The Legislative Assembly or Fono is the unicameral legislature, consisting of 51 members serving five year terms. Forty-nine are matai title-holders elected from territorial districts by Samoans;

1387-449: Is part of Falealupo Electoral Constituency ( Faipule District ) which forms part of the larger political district of Vaisigano . Roman Catholic Cardinal Pio Taofinu'u (1923–2006), the first Polynesian bishop and cardinal, was born in Falealupo and attended the village school. Falealupo is mentioned in different myths and legends in Samoan mythology . In the sea at the farthest point of

1460-525: Is the court of highest jurisdiction. The Chief Justice of Samoa is appointed by the head of state upon the recommendation of the prime minister. Samoa comprises eleven itūmālō (political districts). These are the traditional eleven districts which predate European arrival. Each district has its own constitutional foundation ( faʻavae ) based on the traditional order of title precedence found in each district's faalupega (traditional salutations). The capital village of each district administers and coordinates

1533-570: The Goldman Environmental Prize for the conservation efforts described in his book, Nafanua: Saving the Samoan Rainforest (New York: W.H. Freeman), which has been translated into German , Japanese , and Samoan . He speaks a variety of island languages and is internationally-renowned for his advocacy of indigenous peoples. Cox lived with his family in the village of Falealupo on Savai'i island in Samoa where he helped create

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1606-999: The Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa ( Samoan : Sāmoa i Sisifo ), is an island country in Polynesia , consisting of two main islands ( Savai'i and Upolu ); two smaller, inhabited islands ( Manono and Apolima ); and several smaller, uninhabited islands, including the Aleipata Islands ( Nuʻutele , Nuʻulua , Fanuatapu and Namua ). Samoa is located 64 km (40 mi) west of American Samoa , 889 km (552 mi) northeast of Tonga , 1,152 km (716 mi) northeast of Fiji , 483 km (300 mi) east of Wallis and Futuna , 1,151 km (715 mi) southeast of Tuvalu , 519 km (322 mi) south of Tokelau , 4,190 km (2,600 mi) southwest of Hawaii , and 610 km (380 mi) northwest of Niue . The capital and largest city

1679-604: The League of Nations , then through the United Nations. Between 1919 and 1962, Samoa was administered by the Department of External Affairs , a government department which had been specially created to oversee New Zealand's Island Territories and Samoa. In 1943, this department was renamed the Department of Island Territories after a separate Department of External Affairs was created to conduct New Zealand's foreign affairs. During

1752-606: The election , ending the rule of long-term Prime Minister Tuilaʻepa Saʻilele Malielegaoi of the Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP), although the constitutional crisis complicated and delayed this. On 24 May 2021, she was sworn in as the new prime minister, though it was not until July that the Supreme Court ruled that her swearing-in was legal, thus ending the constitutional crisis and bringing an end to Tuilaʻepa's 22-year premiership. The FAST party's success in

1825-496: The 2021 election and subsequent court rulings also ended nearly four decades of HRPP rule. The 1960 constitution , which formally came into force with independence from New Zealand in 1962, builds on the British pattern of parliamentary democracy , modified to take account of Samoan customs. The national modern Government of Samoa is referred to as the Malo . The head of state of Samoa

1898-548: The Americans or the British. The second major incident arose out of an initially peaceful protest by the Mau (which literally translates as "strongly held opinion"), a non-violent popular pro-independence movement which had its beginnings in the early 1900s on Savai'i, led by Lauaki Namulauulu Mamoe , an orator chief deposed by Solf. In 1909, Lauaki was exiled to Saipan and died en route back to Samoa in 1915. By 1918, Western Samoa had

1971-494: The Mau as a legitimate political organisation, and Olaf Nelson was allowed to return from exile. In September 1936, Samoans exercised for the first time the right to elect the members of the advisory Fono of Faipule , with representatives of the Mau movement winning 31 of the 39 seats. After repeated efforts by the Samoan independence movement, the New Zealand Western Samoa Act of 24 November 1961 terminated

2044-543: The New Zealand authorities banned the organisation. As many as 1500 Mau men took to the bush, pursued by an armed force of 150 marines and seamen from the light cruiser HMS Dunedin , and 50 military police. They were supported by a seaplane flown by Flight Lieutenant Sidney Wallingford of the New Zealand Permanent Air Force . Villages were raided, often at night and with fixed bayonets. In March, through

2117-599: The Samoans' seafaring skills, pre-20th-century European explorers referred to the entire island group , including American Samoa, as the "Navigator Islands". The country was a colony of the German Empire from 1899 to 1915, then came under a joint British and New Zealand colonial administration until 1 January 1962, when it became independent. The islands of Samoa were formed during the Miocene period around 7 million years ago. For

2190-673: The Solomon Islands south of Bougainville, and (3) territorial alignments in West Africa. The German Empire governed the western part of the Samoan archipelago from 1900 to 1914. Wilhelm Solf was appointed the colony's first governor. In 1908, when the non-violent Mau a Pule resistance movement arose, Solf did not hesitate to banish the Mau leader Lauaki Namulau'ulu Mamoe to Saipan in the German Northern Mariana Islands . The German colonial administration governed on

2263-593: The Trusteeship Agreement and granted the country independence as the Independent State of Western Samoa , effective 1 January 1962. Western Samoa, the first small-island country in the Pacific to become independent, signed a Treaty of Friendship with New Zealand later in 1962. Western Samoa joined the Commonwealth of Nations on 28 August 1970. While independence was achieved at the beginning of January, Samoa annually celebrates 1 June as its independence day. At

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2336-678: The UN treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons . In June 2017, Parliament amended Article 1 of the Samoan Constitution to make Christianity the state religion. In September 2019, a measles outbreak resulted in the deaths of 83 people. Following the outbreak, the government imposed a curfew in December later during the same year. In May 2021, Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa became Samoa's first female prime minister. Mataʻafa's FAST party narrowly won

2409-457: The activities of the great powers battling for influence in Samoa ;– the United States, Germany and Britain – and the political machinations of the various Samoan factions within their indigenous political system. Even as they descended into ever greater interclan warfare, what most alarmed Stevenson was the Samoans' economic innocence. In 1894, just months before his death, he addressed

2482-608: The aerial rope walkway and platforms in a giant banyan tree. Seacology funded and constructed a new aluminium tower which was completed and opened on 10 June 2010. Entry to the Falealupo rainforest walkway is about 2 km from the main road, on the way to the Falealupo Tai. A modest fee is charged by the village to visitors who wish to ascend the walkway. Notable Samoans from Falealupo include; 13°30′S 172°48′W  /  13.500°S 172.800°W  / -13.500; -172.800 Samoa Samoa , officially

2555-655: The affairs of the district and confers each district's paramount title, amongst other responsibilities. For example: Paul Alan Cox After receiving his B.S. in Botany and Philosophy from Brigham Young University, he was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to read for his M.Sc. in Ecology at the University of Wales at Bangor . He received a Danforth Fellowship and a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship for his Ph.D. studies at Harvard University in Biology where, twice, he

2628-464: The archaeological record supports oral tradition and native genealogies that indicate interisland voyaging and intermarriage among precolonial Samoans, Fijians , and Tongans . Notable figures in Samoan history included the Tui Manu'a line, Queen Salamasina , King Fonoti and the four tama a ʻāiga : Malietoa , Tupua Tamasese , Mataʻafa , and Tuimalealiʻifano . Nafanua was a famous woman warrior who

2701-542: The arrival of the SS Talune from Auckland on 7 November 1918. The NZ administration allowed the ship to berth in breach of quarantine; within seven days of this ship's arrival, influenza became epidemic in Upolu and then spread rapidly throughout the rest of the territory. Samoa suffered the most of all Pacific islands, with 90% of the population infected; 30% of adult men, 22% of adult women and 10% of children died. The cause of

2774-584: The demonstration. When he resisted, a struggle developed between the police and the Mau. The officers began to fire randomly into the crowd and used a Lewis machine gun , mounted in preparation for the demonstration, to disperse the demonstrators. Mau leader and paramount chief Tupua Tamasese Lealofi III was shot from behind and killed while trying to bring calm and order to the Mau demonstrators. Ten others died that day and approximately 50 were injured by gunshot wounds and police batons. That day would come to be known in Samoa as Black Saturday. On 13 January 1930,

2847-675: The early economic development of Samoa. The Salem brig Roscoe (Captain Benjamin Vanderford), in October 1821, was the first American trading vessel known to have called, and the Maro (Captain Richard Macy) of Nantucket , in 1824, was the first recorded United States whaler at Samoa. The whalers came for fresh drinking water, firewood, provisions and, later, for recruiting local men to serve as crewmen on their ships. The last recorded whaler visitor

2920-562: The epidemic was confirmed in 1919 by a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Epidemic concluded that there had been no epidemic of pneumonic influenza in Western Samoa before the arrival of the Talune from Auckland on 7 November 1918. The pandemic undermined Samoan confidence in New Zealand's administrative capacity and competence. Some Samoans asked that the rule of the islands be transferred to

2993-533: The first known non-Polynesian to sight the Samoan islands in 1722. This visit was followed by French explorer Louis Antoine de Bougainville , who named them the Navigator Islands in 1768. Contact was limited before the 1830s, which is when British missionaries of the London Missionary Society, whalers, and traders began arriving. Visits by American trading and whaling vessels were important in

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3066-536: The first month of World War I , on 29 August 1914, troops of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force landed unopposed on Upolu and seized control from the German authorities, following a request by Great Britain for New Zealand to perform this "great and urgent imperial service." From the end of World War I until 1962, New Zealand controlled Western Samoa as a Class C Mandate under trusteeship through

3139-401: The four highest titles of Samoa – the elder titles of Malietoa and Tupua Tamasese of antiquity and the newer Mataʻafa and Tuimalealiʻifano titles, which rose to prominence in 19th-century wars that preceded the colonial period. These four titles form the apex of the Samoan matai system as it stands today. Contact with Europeans began in the early 18th century. Jacob Roggeveen , a Dutchman, was

3212-494: The funds to maintain the Falealupo Rainforest Canopy Aerial Walkway, dedicated in 1997. Seacology funded the walkway, which is owned and operated by the village, in order to help the community generate revenues from eco-tourism. At the ceremonial dedication, it was announced that the village would extend the 50-year covenant and promised to protect the rainforest in perpetuity. In 1989, Cox was bestowed

3285-475: The government changed the rule of the road from right to left , in common with most other Commonwealth countries - most notably countries in the region such as Australia and New Zealand, home to large numbers of Samoans. This made Samoa the first country in the 21st century to switch to driving on the left. At the end of December 2011, Samoa changed its time zone offset from UTC−11 to UTC+13, effectively jumping forward by one day, omitting Friday, 30 December from

3358-679: The island chain at the Tripartite Convention of 1899 , signed at Washington on 2 December 1899 with ratifications exchanged on 16 February 1900. The eastern island-group became a territory of the United States (the Tutuila Islands in 1900 and officially Manu'a in 1904) and was known as American Samoa. The western islands, by far the greater landmass, became German Samoa . The United Kingdom had vacated all claims in Samoa and in return received (1) termination of German rights in Tonga , (2) all of

3431-560: The island chiefs: There is but one way to defend Samoa. Hear it before it is too late. It is to make roads, and gardens, and care for your trees, and sell their produce wisely, and, in one word, to occupy and use your country ... if you do not occupy and use your country, others will. It will not continue to be yours or your children's, if you occupy it for nothing. You and your children will in that case be cast out into outer darkness. He had "seen these judgments of God" in Hawaii , where abandoned native churches stood like tombstones "over

3504-481: The islands of Tutuila and Manu'a , which became American Samoa . Britain also sent troops to protect British business enterprise, harbour rights, and consulate office. This was followed by an eight-year civil war , during which 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

3577-598: The local calendar. This also had the effect of changing the shape of the International Date Line , moving it to the east of the territory. This change aimed to help the nation boost its economy in doing business with Australia and New Zealand. Before this change, Samoa was 21 hours behind Sydney , but the change means it is now three hours ahead. The previous time zone, implemented on 4 July 1892, operated in line with American traders based in California . In October 2021, Samoa ceased daylight saving time . In 2017, Samoa signed

3650-404: The main road near public transport, as well as the extensive damage to the coastal village from cyclones in the early 1990s, which left behind old church ruins along the coast. There are rock pools, caves, and sandy beaches in the area. Falealupo-Uta has small shops and facilities for Western Union money transfer while there are beach fale accommodation and a shop at Falealupo-tai. The settlement

3723-521: The mediation of local Europeans and missionaries, Mau leaders met New Zealand's Minister of Defence and agreed to disperse. Supporters of the Mau continued to be arrested, so women came to the fore rallying supporters and staging demonstrations. The political stalemate was broken following the victory of the Labour Party in New Zealand's 1935 general election. A 'goodwill mission' to Apia in June 1936 recognised

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3796-533: The name it had been called by in the United Nations since it joined. American Samoa protested against the name change, asserting that it diminished its own identity. In 2002, New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark formally apologised for New Zealand's role in the Spanish influenza outbreak in 1918 that killed over a quarter of Samoa's population and for the Black Saturday killings in 1929. On 7 September 2009,

3869-451: The other two are chosen by non-Samoans with no chiefly affiliation on separate electoral rolls. At least ten per cent of the MPs must be women. Universal suffrage was adopted in 1990, but only chiefs ( matai ) may stand for election to the Samoan seats. There are more than 25,000 matais in the country, about five per cent of whom are women. The prime minister , chosen by a majority in the assembly,

3942-457: The past 2 million years, the Samoan archipelago has experienced records of volcanic hotspots . Samoa was discovered and settled by the Lapita people (Austronesian people who spoke Oceanic languages ), who travelled from Island Melanesia . The earliest human remains found in Samoa are dated to between roughly 2,900 and 3,500 years ago. The remains were discovered at a Lapita site at Mulifanua , and

4015-490: The peninsula, the Fafā-o-Sauali’i, an outcropping of volcanic rocks, is said in legend to be the gateway to the underworld Pulotu , where aitu , the spirits of deceased persons, reside. The ruler of Pulotu is Saveasi'uleo , the father of Nafanua , a goddess of war from Falealupo. Another legend tells that Nafanua's mother is Tilafaiga , who brought the art of Samoan tattoo with her sister Taema from Fiti. The village

4088-487: The period of New Zealand control, their administrators were responsible for two major incidents. In the first incident, approximately one fifth of the Samoan population died in the influenza epidemic of 1918–1919 . In 1918, during the final stages of World War I , the Spanish flu had taken its toll, spreading rapidly from country to country. On Samoa, there had been no epidemic of pneumonic influenza in Western Samoa before

4161-419: The principle that "there was only one government in the islands." Thus, there was no Samoan Tupu (king), nor an alii sili (similar to a governor), but two Fautua (advisors) were appointed by the colonial government. Tumua and Pule (traditional governments of Upolu and Savai'i) were for a time silent; all decisions on matters affecting lands and titles were under the control of the colonial Governor. In

4234-598: The research funds to pursue his interests in mathematical biology and ethnobotany. After serving as professor and dean at Brigham Young University he became the first King Carl XVI Gustaf Professor of Environmental Science at the Swedish Agricultural University and the Uppsala University , a visiting professorship established by the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences . For seven years he

4307-619: The scientists' findings were published in 1974. The Samoans' origins have been studied in modern times through scientific research on Polynesian genetics , linguistics , and anthropology . Although this research is ongoing, a number of theories have been proposed. One theory is that the original Samoans were Austronesians who arrived during a final period of eastward expansion of the Lapita peoples out of Southeast Asia and Melanesia between 2,500 and 1,500 BCE. Intimate sociocultural and genetic ties were maintained between Samoa, Fiji, and Tonga, and

4380-421: The tatau. House of Rock The phrase "e au le inailau a tamaitai" originates from an ancient Samoan legend that tells a story of the village people of Falealupo; a group of women completed the thatching of a fale's roof before the men did. This proverb exemplifies the strong work ethic of Samoan women and their resolute commitment to accomplishing their goals, no matter the challenges they may face. It underscores

4453-483: The time of independence, Fiamē Mataʻafa Faumuina Mulinuʻu II , one of the four highest-ranking paramount chiefs in the country, became Samoa's first prime minister . Another paramount chief, Tuiaana Tuimalealiʻifano Suatipatipa II , was admitted to the Council of Deputies ; the remaining two – Tupua Tamasese Meaʻole and Malietoa Tanumafili II – became joint heads of state for life. On 15 December 1976, Western Samoa

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4526-443: The value and importance that Samoan society places on the contributions of women, portraying them as skilled and determined members of their communities. Falealupo land include large tracts of lowland rainforest. Most of Samoa's land is locally village owned under customary land governed by family matai , the chiefly heads of extended families. In 1990 the Samoan government gave the remote village of Falealupo an ultimatum to build

4599-423: The villagers sold logging rights to their rainforests. Before the logging could take place, however, Seacology co-founder and chairman Paul Alan Cox , an American ethnobotanist who had lived with his family in the village, discovered that the pristine rainforests surrounding the village of Falealupo were to be logged. Cox worked with the village chiefs and promised to raise the funds for the school in exchange for

4672-402: Was admitted to the United Nations as the 147th member state . It asked to be referred to in the United Nations as the Independent State of Samoa . Travel writer Paul Theroux noted marked differences between the societies in Western Samoa and American Samoa in 1992. On 4 July 1997 the government amended the constitution to change the name of the country from Western Samoa to Samoa ,

4745-634: Was awarded the Bowdoin Prize , a distinction he shares with Ralph Waldo Emerson . He was appointed as a Miller Fellow at the Miller Institute for Basic Research in Science at the University of California, Berkeley and as a University of Melbourne Research Fellow in Australia . Early in his academic career he was named a National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator by Ronald Reagan , and used

4818-436: Was deified in ancient Samoan religion and whose patronage was highly sought after by successive Samoan rulers. Today, all of Samoa is united under its two principal royal families: the Sā Malietoa of the ancient Malietoa lineage that defeated the Tongans in the 13th century; and the Sā Tupua, Queen Salamasina's descendants and heirs who ruled Samoa in the centuries that followed her reign. Within these two principal lineages are

4891-464: Was director of the Congressionally-chartered National Tropical Botanical Garden (NTBG) in Hawaii and Florida . Currently, he is executive director of the Brain Chemistry Labs, in Jackson Hole, Wyoming . He is the author of over 220 scientific papers, reviews, and books and was chosen by Time magazine as one of eleven "Heroes of Medicine" in 1997 for his search for new medicines from plants . Cox began his research in evolutionary ecology as

4964-401: Was elected as president of the Society for Economic Botany and has been president of the International Society for Ethnopharmacology . Together with Michael Balick, he wrote, Plants, People, and Culture: The Science of Ethnobotany ., and for his ethnobotanical studies was awarded the E. K. Janaki Ammal Medal from India, and the Eloise Payne Luquer Medal by the Garden Club of America . He

5037-412: Was encouraged by Harvard Professor Richard Evans Schultes to pursue ethnobotanical studies. He became increasingly focused on ethnomedicine after his mother died from breast cancer . Subsequently, with his colleagues Gordon Cragg, Michael Boyd, and others at the National Cancer Institute , they discovered the anti-HIV/AIDS properties of prostratin found in the bark of the mamala tree of Samoa. He

5110-412: Was eventually exiled during the late 1920s and early 1930s, but he continued to assist the organisation financially and politically. In accordance with the Mau's non-violent philosophy, the newly elected leader, High Chief Tupua Tamasese Lealofi, led his fellow uniformed Mau in a peaceful demonstration in downtown Apia on 28 December 1929. The New Zealand police attempted to arrest one of the leaders in

5183-447: Was introduced to Samoa by two sisters, Taema and Tilafaiga, who brought it over from Fiti. Their story is often recounted in the Tatau Samoa Song, which tells of how they travelled to Samoa and sang a song that emphasized that only women should receive the tatau, not men. However, upon reaching Falealupo, they spotted a large clam and dived to see it. When they resurfaced, their song had changed to indicate that men, not women, should receive

5256-778: Was named a Laureate for the Prince's Prize for Innovative Philanthropy in 2015 by Albert II, Prince of Monaco . At the request of Governor Scott M. Mattheson , Cox helped defeat the MX missile project proposed for Utah and Nevada, led the successful effort to establish the 50th U.S. National Park, The National Park of American Samoa , and was a delegate to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species ( CITES ) in Lausanne, Switzerland to protect flying fox species in Pacific islands. As

5329-747: Was the Governor Morton in 1870. Christian missionary work in Samoa began in 1830 when John Williams of the London Missionary Society arrived 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." In A Footnote to History: Eight Years of Trouble in Samoa (1892), Robert Louis Stevenson details

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