SAMOA SAVAI'I UPOLU APIA MOOTAA,1894 Antique Colour Map

HISTORICAL MAP CHART- Rail and Route Map

Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa, is a country comprising a group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean. The entire group was known as Navigators Islands before the 20th century because of the Samoans' excellent seafaring skills. The first Polynesians to arrive in the Samoan Islands came island-hopping over several generations from Southeast Asia, via Fiji and probably Tonga, more than 3000 years ago and from there settled the rest of Polynesia: first traveling eastward to the Marquesas Islands, and from there southwest, via the Society Islands to New Zealand, southeast to Easter Island, and northward to Hawai'i. Samoa enjoys a rich history, preserved in folklore and myth, of voyages across the ocean, conquests of different islands, and interisland warfare with other West Polynesian polities, mainly the Kingdom of Tonga and certain Fijian chieftainships. Some people believe that a temple on the island of Manono has a record, using a system of stone cairns, that commemorates more than 150 wars. Robert Louis Stevenson, who spent the last four years of his life in Samoa, remarked that "War is Samoa's favourite pastime." Contact with Europeans began in 1722, but intensified after the 1830s, when English missionaries and traders began arriving. Mission work in Samoa was begun in late 1830 by John Williams, of the London Missionary Society. By that time, the Samoans had gained a reputation of being savage and warlike, as they had clashed with French, British, German, and American forces, who, by the late nineteenth century, valued Samoa as a refueling station for coal-fired shipping.

1890s Wood Engraving, Antique Map

Approximate Overall Size: 6 X 9 1/2 inches

CONDITION: Book Plate Map - Excellent Condition. German Text. Beautiful with excellent detail. Blank on Reverse Side