Overview
Oct 04, 2007
The southernmost US territory in the Pacific Ocean is American Samoa. It is located in the central Pacific Ocean, northeast of New Zealand and southwest of the Hawaiian Islands. The main island is Tutuila, and is also the largest and most populous. American Samoa?s capital is Pago Pago. Land is considered as one of the most important assets of the American Samoan people and has traditionally been the primary basis for family organization and family identity. Over 90 percent of American Samoa's total land area is "customary land," communally owned by families or clans and passed on from generation to generation. The existing law on land tenure prohibits the transfer of land ownership, except freehold land, to any person whose blood is less than one-half Samoan.