Apia (Samoan:[a.pi.a]) is the capital and only city of Samoa. It is located on the central north coast of Upolu, Samoa's second-largest island. Apia falls within the political district (itūmālō) of Tuamasaga.
The Apia Urban Area (generally known as the City of Apia) has a population of 35,974 (2021 census).[2] Its geographic boundaries extend from the east approximately from Letogo village in Vaimauga to the west in the newer, industrialized region of Apia which extends to Vaitele village in Faleata.
Apia was originally a small village (the 1800 population was 304[2]), from which the country's capital took its name. Apia Village still exists within the larger modern capital of Apia, which has grown into a sprawling urban area that encompasses many villages. Like every other settlement in the country, Apia Village has its own matai (leaders) and fa'alupega (genealogy and customary greetings) according to fa'a Samoa.[citation needed]
The modern city of Apia was founded in the 1850s, and it has been the official capital of Samoa since 1959.[3]Seumanutafa Pogai was high chief until his death in 1898.
The harbour was the site of a notorious 15 March 1889 naval standoff in which seven ships — from Germany, the US, and Britain — refused to leave the harbour, even though a typhoon was clearly approaching, lest the first one to move lose face. All the ships sank or were damaged beyond repair, except for the British cruiser Calliope, which managed to leave port, travelling at a rate of one mile per hour, and was able to ride out the storm. Nearly 200 American and German people died.[4]
Western Samoa was ruled by Germany as German Samoa from 1900 to 1914, with Apia as its capital.[citation needed]
The country underwent a struggle for political independence in the early 1900s, organised under the aegis of the national Mau movement. During this period, the streets of Apia were the site of non-violent protests and marches, in the course of which many Samoans were arrested. On what became known as "Black Saturday" (28 December 1929), during a peaceful Mau gathering in the town, the New Zealand constabulary killed the paramount chief Tupua Tamasese Lealofi III.[6]
Orbital view of Apia (on 16 June 2002, from STS-111).
Apia is situated on a natural harbour at the mouth of the Vaisigano River. It is on a narrow coastal plain with Mount Vaea (elevation 472 metres (1,549ft)), the burial place of writer Robert Louis Stevenson, directly to its south. Two main ridges run south on either side of the Vaisigano River, with roads on each. The more western of these is Cross Island Road, one of the few roads cutting north to south across the middle of the island to the south coast of Upolu.[citation needed]
Climate
Apia features a tropical rainforest climate (Af according to the Köppen climate classification) with consistent temperatures throughout the year. Nevertheless, the climate is not equatorial because the trade winds are the dominant aerological mechanism and besides there are a few cyclones. Apia's driest months are July and August when on average about 80 millimetres (3.1in) of rain falls. Its wettest months are December through March when average monthly precipitation easily exceeds 300 millimetres (12in). Apia's average temperature for the year is 26°C (79°F). Apia averages roughly 3,000 millimetres (120in) of rainfall annually.
Climate data for Apia (Elevation: 2m or 6.6ft) (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1971–2020)
Apia is part of the Tuamasagapolitical district and of election district Vaimauga 1,2,3,4 and Faleata 1,2, and 3. There is no city administration for Apia, as it consists of some 45 individual, independent traditional and freehold villages. Apia proper is just a small village between the mouths of the Vaisigano (east) and Mulivai (west) rivers, and is framed by Matautu and Vaiala traditional villages. Together with several freehold villages (no traditional village council), these 45 villages constitute "Downtown Apia".
The Planning and Urban Management Act 2004[11] was passed by parliament to better plan for the urban growth of Samoa's built-up areas, with particular reference to the future urban management of Apia. The city's historical haphazard growth from village to colonial trading post to the major financial and business centre of the country has resulted in major infrastructural problems in the city. Problems of flooding are commonplace in the wet season, given the low flood-prone valley that the city is built on. In the inner-city village of Sogi, there are major shoreline pollution and effluent issues given that the village is situated on swamplands. The disparate village administrations of the Apia Urban Area has resulted in a lack of a unified and codified legislative approach to sewerage disposal. The significant increase in vehicle ownership has resulted in traffic congestion in the inner city streets and the need for major projects in road-widening and traffic management. The PUMA legislation sets up the Planning Urban Management Authority to manage better the unique planning issues facing Apia's urban growth.
Mulinu'u, the old ceremonial capital, lies at the city's western end, and is the location of the Parliament House (Maota Fono), and the historic observatory built during the German era is now the meteorology office.
The historic Catholic cathedral in Apia, the Immaculate Conception of Mary Cathedral, was dedicated 31 December 1867. It was pulled down mid-2011, reportedly due to structural damage from the earthquake of September 2009. A new cathedral was built and dedicated 31 May 2014.
An area of reclaimed land jutting into the harbour is the site of the Fiame Mataafa Faumuina Mulinuu II (FMFM II) building, the multi-storey government offices named after the first Prime Minister of Samoa, and the Central Bank of Samoa. A clock tower erected as a war memorial acts as a central point for the city. The new market (maketi fou) is inland at Fugalei, where it is more protected from the effects of cyclones. Apia still has some of the early, wooden, colonial buildings which remain scattered around the town, most notably the old courthouse from the German colonial era, with a museum on the upper floor (the new courthouse is in Mulinu'u). Recent infrastructural development and economic growth has seen several multi-storey buildings rise in the city. The ACC building (2001) houses the Accident Compensation Board, the National Bank of Samoa, and some government departments. The mall below it is home to shops and eateries. The Samoatel building (2004) which is the site for Samoa's international telecommunications hub, was built inland at Maluafou, also to protect it from the effects of seasonal cyclones. The DBS building (2007) in Savalalo houses the Development Bank of Samoa and new courts complex in Mulinuu, with the district, supreme, and land & titles courts (2010). The Tui Atua Tupua Tamasese Building (2012) in Sogi houses government ministries. Another addition to Apia's skyline is the SNPF Molesi shopping mall, opened in 2013. A new hospital complex was completed at Mot'ootua.
Scottish-born writer Robert Louis Stevenson spent the last four years of his life here, and is buried on Mt Vaea, overlooking both the city and the home he built, Vailima, now a museum in his honour. He made Samoa his home. A Samoan at heart, his Samoan name was Tusitala, meaning Teller of Tales.
The Bahá’íHouse of Worship for the Pacific is located in Apia, one of only eight continental Bahá’í Houses of Worship. Designed by architect Hossein Amanat and opened in 1984, it serves the island as a gathering space for people of all backgrounds and religions to meditate, reflect, and pray together.[13]
Economy
Talofa Airways and Samoa Airways have their headquarters in Apia.[14]Grey Investment Group has its headquarters in downtown Apia. This company also owned the first private National Bank of Samoa in Samoa, with Grey Investment Group, Samoa Artisan Water Company Ltd and Apia Bottling Company Ltd as shareholders. Grey Investment owns a multitude of commercial and residential property investments throughout Samoa and New Zealand.
Thirty per cent of the businesses in downtown Apia are owned by one Chinese family. Ten per cent of the downtown businesses are owned by Europeans, while the other 60% are owned by the local community.
Transport
Airplane at the airport
Apia Harbour is by far the largest and busiest harbour in Samoa. International shipping with containers, LPG gas, and fuels all dock here. Ferries to Tokelau and American Samoa depart from here.
Apia is served by a good road network, which is generally kept reasonably well maintained. Most of the main roads are sealed; the unsealed roads have lower use. Vehicles drive on the left-hand side of the road since 7 September 2009.[15]
The Samoan government started the second phase of a major upgrading of arterial routes around the Apia Urban Area in 2012, with incremental widening of major roads around the city.[16]
The country has no trains or trams, but is served by an extensive, privatised bus and taxi system. People commonly walk around the town, or even some distances outside it. There are few bicycles and motorcycles, but traffic congestion due to a huge increase in vehicle ownership has necessitated a major upgrade in road infrastructure.[17]
The main international airport, Faleolo International Airport, is a 40-minute drive west of the city. Samoa's major domestic airlines, Polynesian Airlines and Talofa Airways, service this airport. Fagali'i Airport, the small airstrip in Fagali'i, was used for internal flights and some international flights to Pago Pago in American Samoa.[18]
Education
Apia is home to a number of pre-schools, primary, secondary and post-secondary institutions,[19] including Samoa's only university, the National University of Samoa. In addition, the University of the South Pacific School of Agriculture maintains a campus at Alafua,[20] on the outskirts of Apia. Another major School in Apia is Robert Louis Stevenson School which is a private primary and secondary school. Robert Louis Stevenson school is known as Samoa's upper class school, due to many children of Samoa's wealthy classes attending it.
Apia hosted the Pacific Games in 1983 for the first time in the country's history. The Games returned to Apia for the 2007 Pacific Games, in which Samoa finished third. A crowd of 20,000 attended the 2007 Games closing ceremony at Apia Park.[21]
The complex, based in Apia, is also the venue of the Samoa national football team's home matches and has a capacity of 3,500.
Judo
The capital also hosted from 2009 to 2012 the IJF Judo World Cup, which was downgraded in 2013 to become a regional tournament called the 'Oceania Open'.[24]
Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands ; two smaller, inhabited islands ; and several smaller, uninhabited islands, including the Aleipata Islands. 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 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.
Upolu is an island in Samoa, formed by a massive basaltic shield volcano which rises from the seafloor of the western Pacific Ocean. The island is 75 kilometres long and 1,125 square kilometres in area, making it the second largest of the Samoan Islands by area. With approximately 145,000 inhabitants, it is by far the most populous of the Samoan Islands. Upolu is situated to the southeast of Savai'i, the "big island". Apia, the capital, is in the middle of the north coast, and Faleolo International Airport at the western end of the island. The island has not had any historically recorded eruptions, although there is evidence of three lava flows, dating back only to between a few hundred and a few thousand years ago.
Savaiʻi is the largest and highest island both in Samoa and in the Samoan Islands chain. The island is also the sixth largest in Polynesia, behind the three main islands of New Zealand and the Hawaiian Islands of Hawaii and Maui. While it is larger than the second main island, Upolu, it is significantly less populated.
Samoa is made up of eleven itūmālō. These are the traditional eleven districts that were established well before European arrival. Each district has its own constitutional foundation (faavae) based on the traditional order of title precedence found in each district's faalupega.
Tuamāsaga is a district of Samoa, with a population of 95,907. This makes it the most populous district in Samoa. The geographic area of Tuamasaga covers the central part of Upolu island, and includes the capital, Apia.
Faleolo International Airport is an airport located 40 kilometres (25 mi) west of Apia, the capital of Samoa. Until 1984, Faleolo could not accommodate jets larger than a Boeing 737. Services to the United States, Australia, or New Zealand, could only land at Pago Pago International Airport in American Samoa. Since the airport's expansion, most international traffic now uses Faleolo.
Letogo is a village on the central north coast of Upolu island in Samoa. Letogo is situated east of the capital Apia.
Lauli'i is a village on the island of Upolu in Samoa. It is located on the central north coast of the island to the east of the capital Apia. Lauli'i is part of Vaimauga East Electoral Constituency which forms part of the larger political district of Tuamasaga.
Alafua is an urban village in the Faleata District in the Samoan capital of Apia.
Pesega is a village on the island of Upolu in Samoa. It is located on western outskirts of Apia, the country's capita. Pesega is part of Faleata West Electoral Constituency which forms part of the larger political district of Tuamasaga.
Satapuala is a village situated on the north west coast Upolu island in Samoa. The village is part of A'ana Alofi 4 Electoral Constituency which forms part of the larger political district A'ana. It has a population of 1963.
Fagaliʻi or Fagaliʻi-uta is a village on the island of Upolu in the Samoa archipelago approximately 5 kilometres south-east of Apia. It is in the electoral constituency of Vaimauga East which forms part of the larger political district of Tuamasaga.
Archaeology of Samoa began with the first systematic survey of archaeological remains on Savai'i island by Jack Golson in 1957. Since then, surveys and studies in the rest of Samoa have uncovered major findings of settlements, stone and earth mounds including star mounds, Lapita pottery remains and pre-historic artifacts.
Vailele is a village situated on the central north coast of Upolu island in Samoa. It’s not to be confused with the far bigger Vaitele.
The Samoan crisis was a standoff between the United States, the German Empire, and the British Empire from 1887 to 1889 over control of the Samoan Islands during the First Samoan Civil War.
Mount Vaea is a 472 m summit overlooking Apia, the capital of Samoa located on the north central coast of Upolu island. The mountain is situated south about 3 km inland from Apia township and harbour. The settlement at the foothills on the northern side of the mountain is called Lalovaea.
Lepea is a village on the island of Upolu in Samoa. The picturesque settlement of round Samoan houses built in a concentric pattern in large open grounds (malae) is situated 5 minutes drive west of the capital Apia on the north central coast of the island. It is part of the Tuamasaga electoral district.
Samoa College is a secondary school in Samoa officially opened in 1953. It is co-educational and teaches from years 9 to 13. It is in Apia on the island of Upolu and is considered the main college in the country. The early college and curriculum was modeled on secondary schools in New Zealand, reflecting the country's colonial history.
The Vaisigano River is a river on Upolu, one of the two main islands of Samoa. It is one of several rivers and streams which flow through the nation's capital, Apia. The river has three main branches, all of which have their sources in the central volcanic ridge which runs the length of the island. The main (central) branch of the river rises on the northern slopes of Mount Le Pu'e, and joins with the eastern branch 4 km south of central Apia. The western branch joins one kilometre further north.
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