American Samoa
American Samoa is the only territory of the United States south of the equator. It consists of five volcanic islands and two Attols. Tutuila is the main island and home of the capital Pagopago, which holds over 90 percent of American Samoa’s population (Memea Kruse, 5).
The imperial powers United Kingdom, United States and Germany were first interested in American Samoa at the beginning of the 20th century. The US saw the strategic potential of the island group and aimed to build a coaling station there. The Berlin Act of 1889 determines a shared sovereignty over Samoa by US, UK, and Germany. Soon new inter- and intra-national troubles arose. The mau movement formed and called for a civilian government. However At the Washington Conference in the same year, Samoa is parted in two. The western part belongs to Germany, the eastern part to the US. The United Kingdom lost interest in the archipelago (Yeung, 5-10). In 1904 the Deeds od Cession was signed bei matai of Manu’a Islands. They were opposed be the mau movement and only signed in 1929 by the US (Memea Kruse, 6).
American Samoa was placed under naval administration, which lasted until 1951, when they changed from Naval governing to governance under the Department of the Interior.
Still, Samoans were able to mostly sustain tradition and culture despite modern (western) influence, unlike native Hawai’i (Yeung, 4-10). 2005 American Samoans chose to remain an unincorporated, unorganized territory of the United States. A birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment would mean that they had to give up their system of landownership fa’a Samoa (Blackford, 196)