The Samoan Islands
are a group of islands in the South Pacific, first sighted by the Dutch
explorer Jacob Roggeveen in 1722. The western part of the archipelago
eventually became a German protectorate and is now the independent state of
Samoa. The eastern islands became a territory of the United States after the
Second Samoan Cilvil War and the Tripartite Convention of 1899. In 1925 Swains
Island was annexed and added to the territory.
Nowadays American
Samoa is an unincorporated territory of the United States. The head of state is
the US president. The governor of American Samoa is the head of government.
There is a territorial legislature, the Fono, that consists of a House of
Representatives and a Senate. Capital of the territory is Pago Pago.
Since there are no
American Samoan stamps, I chose for my envelope the four United States stamps
that were issued with a Samoan theme. The most prominent is the issue of 17
April 2000 with the alia, traditional canoe, issued for the centenary of the
islands belonging to the United States. Then there are the flag from the Flags
of our nation series of 2009, the coral reefs issue of 1980 and the cardinal
honeyeater from the tropical birds issue of 1998.
The coral reefs stamp
was damaged during its voyage from the Pacific to the Netherlands, but the
envelope remains a beautiful piece in my collection.
Date sent: 14 April
2017
Date postmark: 27
April 2017
Date received: 13 May
2017
Number of days: 29
Envelope in
collection: 38
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