Savaiʻi is the largest and highest island in Samoa and the Samoa Islands chain. It is also the biggest landmass in Polynesia outside Hawaii and New Zealand. The island of Savai'i is also referred to by Samoans as Salafai, a classical Samoan term used in oratory and prose. The island is home to 43,142 people (2006 Census) who make up 24% of the country's population. The only township and ferry terminal is Salelologa, the main entry point to the is...
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Savaiʻi is the largest and highest island in Samoa and the Samoa Islands chain. It is also the biggest landmass in Polynesia outside Hawaii and New Zealand. The island of Savai'i is also referred to by Samoans as Salafai, a classical Samoan term used in oratory and prose. The island is home to 43,142 people (2006 Census) who make up 24% of the country's population. The only township and ferry terminal is Salelologa, the main entry point to the island, situated at the east end of Savai'i. A tar sealed road serves as the one main highway, connecting most of the villages with local buses reaching most settlements.
Savai'i is made up of six itūmālō (political districts). Each district is made up of villages with strong traditional ties of kinship, history, land and matai chief titles. There are also some limited ecotourism development which operate mostly within the villages. The Mau, Samoa's non-violent movement for political independence during colonialism in the early 1900s, had its...
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