Districts of American Samoa

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Updates: 

I retrieved the 2010 census data from source [5]. It says, "Note: This population count table supercedes the table released on August 25, 2011. An errata sheet has been released that details the changes." Some of the figures differ from source [2]. I've changed them in the table below.

A correspondent mentioned that the constitution of American Samoa (source [3]) names Fagatogo as the seat of government (Art. V Sec. 9) and Eastern and Western as two of the political districts (Art. V Sec. 10). I had called them Pago Pago, Eastern Tutuila, and Western Tutuila, respectively.

I agree that the districts should be named Eastern and Western. I've made those changes on this page. The capital is not a cut-and-dried issue, though. Many sources—including the widely copied CIA World Factbook—still list Pago Pago as the capital. Some sources say it's "Pago Pago (Fagatogo)". A Census Bureau map (source [4]) shows clearly that Pago Pago and Fagatogo are separate, but neighboring, villages within Ma'oputasi county. Some sources say that Pago Pago is the capital and Fagatogo is the seat of government. It can also be argued that Pago Pago is the common name for the agglomeration around Pago Pago Harbor. I generally go along with the majority of respected reference sources, and in this case most of them agree on Pago Pago. For a discussion of the principles involved in identifying a capital, click on the "i" (info) icon at the end of the next line.

Country overview: 

Short nameAMERICAN SAMOA
ISO codeAS
FIPS codeAQ
LanguagesEnglish (en), Samoan (sm)
Time zone-11
CapitalPago Pago

 

On 1900-02-19, the interested European powers recognized American Samoa as a territory of the United States. Swain's Island was added in 1925.

Other names of country: 

  1. Danish: Amerikansk Samoa
  2. Dutch: Amerikaans Samoa
  3. English: Territory of American Samoa (formal)
  4. French: Samoa fp américaines
  5. German: Amerikanisch-Samoa
  6. Icelandic: Samóaeyjar
  7. Italian: Samoa americane
  8. Norwegian: Amerikansk Samoa
  9. Portuguese: Samoa Americana
  10. Samoan: Amerika Samoa
  11. Russian: Американское Самоа
  12. Spanish: Samoa Americana, Samoa Estadounidense
  13. Turkish: Amerikan Samoası

Origin of name: 

American possessions in Samoan Islands

Primary subdivisions: 

American Samoa is divided into three districts and some additional territory which is unorganized.

DistrictHASCFIPSPopulationArea(km.²)Area(mi.²)Islands
EasternAS.ET01023,0306726Aunuu, Tutuila (part)
Manu'aAS.MA0201,1435722Ofu, Olosega, Tau
WesternAS.WT05031,3297529Tutuila (part)
UnorganizedAS.UU*1721Swain's Island, Rose Island
4 divisions55,51920077

 

* Note that this is not the same as FIPS PUB 10-4, which is shown for many countries. FIPS PUB 6-4 codes are used to represent second-level administrative divisions of the United States. The codes for American Samoa in FIPS PUB 5-2 (states and territories of the U.S.) are AS (alpha) and 60 (numeric). When the FIPS 5-2 and 6-4 codes are concatenated, as in 60020 for Manu'a, the result is a code that uniquely identifies a county-equivalent unit in the United States. In addition to the codes listed, 030 is used for Rose Island and 040 for Swain's Island.

Postal codes: 

The postal code for the entire country is 96799, part of the U.S. system.

Further subdivisions:

See the Counties of American Samoa page.

The territory is further subdivided into 15 counties.

Territorial extent: 

Western and Eastern cover Tutuila Island, and Eastern also contains the much smaller Aunu'u Island. Manu'a includes Ta'u, Ofu, and Olusega Islands. The unorganized territory includes Rose and Swain Islands.

The UN LOCODE page  for American Samoa lists locations in the country, some of them with their latitudes and longitudes, some with their ISO 3166-2 codes for their subdivisions. This information can be put together to approximate the territorial extent of subdivisions.

Other names of subdivisions: 

  1. Eastern: Eastern Tutuila (variant)
  2. Western: Western Tutuila (variant)

Population history:

District1930-04-011950-04-011980-04-011990-04-012000-04-012010-04-01
Eastern5,03210,62417,31121,17523,44123,639
Manu'a2,1472,8191,7321,7141,3781,143
Western2,7775,33013,22723,86832,43530,720
Unorganized9916429163717
Total10,05518,93732,39946,77357,29155,519

Sources: 

  1. [1] Demographic Yearbook , 7th Ed. Statistical Office of the United Nations, New York, 1955 (retrieved 2011-08-20).
  2. [2] Census Bureau press release : "U.S. Census Bureau Releases 2010 Census Population Counts for American Samoa" (dated 2011-08-24, retrieved 2011-12-11).
  3. [3] Constitution of American Samoa  (retrieved 2005-01-03).
  4. [4] Census Bureau map  (retrieved 2005-01-03).
  5. [5] 2010 Census Island Areas , United States Census Bureau (retrieved 2013-07-23).
  6. [6] Fifteenth Census of the United States: 1930. Vol. I, Population. U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, 1931.
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