Tropical Paradise Trivia Quiz

Answer: Madagascar

Samoa is considered to be the centre from which the many islands of Polynesia were settled. Many of the islands have an oral tradition telling of magnificent feats of ocean navigation, in boats that were little more than canoes with a sail, and had no instruments to make navigation easier. Until Europeans arrived in the 18th century, Samoa ruled an empire in the western part of what is now called Polynesia. Nearby islands both fought the Samoans and intermarried with them - the royal families of Samoa, Fiji and Tonga have blood links that are still recognized in official ceremonies. The picture is a sketch map drawn in 1934 as an illustration for 'The Origins of International Rivalry in Samoa: 1845-1884'.

Answer: French

Jacob Roggeveen failed to reach Terra Australis (now known as Australia), but in the attempt he discovered and named Easter Island (sighted on Easter Sunday in 1722). He also sailed past a number of other islands, including the Society Islands and Samoa. Admiral Bougainville was the first Frenchman to circumnavigate the world, in a voyage that started on 15th November 1766, and was completed on 16th March 1769.

In the Pacific leg of his journey, he not only named the Navigator Islands (the name by which they were known until the end of the 19th century), but also claimed for France the Tuamotu archipelago, and tried to claim the island now known as Tahiti, but was found to have arrived a year later than the Englishman Samuel Wallis.

He charted what is now Vanuatu, along with the Solomon Islands, where he named the largest island (now part of Papua New Guinea) after himself. The picture shows one of the many sketches of Pacific islands and their people made by Admiral Edward Gennys Fanshawe (1814-1906) during his voyages in the area.

Answer: Germany

The German company J. C. Godeffroy & Sohn, as part of the expansion under the control of Johann Cesar VI Godeffroy, established plantations in many of the islands in the region then referred to as the South Seas. They were centred in Apia, the largest settlement on Upolu, and now the capital of Samoa, and produced mostly coconut oil, copra (dried coconut which is produced as a byproduct of extracting coconut oil) and cocoa, along with some rubber.

While the Germans ran the plantations, the British established themselves in control of the harbours through which all shipping had to pass.

The United States established themselves on the islands of Tutuila and Manu'a, later to form the separate political entity of American Samoa. The Dutch had already established themselves in the Dutch East Indies, and had little interest in the Polynesian area. The picture shows two ships of the Godeffroy fleet.

Answer: Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Louis Stevenson is more familiar for 'Treasure Island' than for this treatise in which he attempted to expose what he saw as the incompetency of the European colonial administrators in Samoa. He was not alone in his views (which he shared freely with the indigenous Samoans). Stevenson's house at Vailima, about 4 kilometres (2.5 miles) south of Apia, has had a number of functions in subsequent years, including acting as the residence for governors and other dignitaries while Samoa was under external control.

It is now a museum to Stevenson, and has been substantially restored to its condition during his residence. The picture, taken at his funeral, shows the grave of Robert Louis Stevenson atop Mt Vaea.

Answer: A storm destroyed most of the ships

This episode in the struggle between Germany, Great Britain and the United States for control of Samoa (then still called the Navigator Islands) is referred to as the Samoan Crisis. Battleships from all three countries held each other at bay in Apia harbour for a period of nearly two years, before a tropical cyclone struck the islands, and the six German and US ships were destroyed. The British warship HMS Calliope managed to escape, and the British maintained control of the harbour.
The picture shows some of the wrecked ships in Apia harbour after the storm.

Answer: Upolu and Savai'i

The Tripartite Convention of 1899 saw Tutuila and Manu'a (later to be the largest islands in American Samoa) allocated to the control of the United States, while Upolu and Savai'i were placed under German control. Minor islands were also divied up, basically acknowledging the previously-established spheres of influence. Great Britain was given control of previously German-held areas of Tonga and the Solomon Islands, as well as some changes to colonial claims in Africa, in exchange for giving up claims in Samoa.

The Navigator Islands were renamed German Samoa and American Samoa as a result of this partitioning. The picture shows the raising of the German flag being raised at Mulinu'u, the centre for colonial administration on the island of Upolu.

Answer: New Zealand

In August of 1914 New Zealand troops occupied German Samoa, with no fighting taking place, even though the Germans did not officially surrender the islands to New Zealand. New Zealand control continued until Samoan independence was officially declared, first as part of the conditions of war, then (after Germany surrendered claims with the Treaty of Versailles) as a League of Nations Mandate, and finally under the auspices of the United Nations.

The picture shows the Union Jack being raised as part of the ceremony recognizing New Zealand control of German Samoa.

Answer: 1962

The word 'mau' is a Samoan word that can be roughly translated as 'unwavering opinion'. The movement started in the 1900s on the island of Savai'i, and had widespread support by the 1920s. Members of the movement identified themselves by wearing a navy lavalava (the rectangular piece of cloth worn, tied around the waist, like a skirt that you probably envisage when you think of South Sea islanders) with a white stripe. On 28th December 1929, known as Black Saturday, a demonstration turned violent when New Zealand military police tried to arrest one of the demonstrators at a rally in Apia. The other members of the demonstration tried to prevent the arrest, and the troops fired on the crowd. Around ten Samoans were killed, including the Mau leader Tupua Tamasese Lealofi III, and many were wounded. The picture used for this question shows a Mau demonstration in Apia during 1929.

Samoan independence was granted on 1st January 1962, and the Samoan chief Fiame Mata'afa Faumuina Mulinu'u II became the new country's first prime minister. Samoa was the first Polynesian nation to achieve independence.

Answer: No

This change of name was, in a sense, purely cosmetic, as the name Samoa (rather than Western Samoa) had been the official name used in the UN since the country joined that organization in 1976. However, it was not without controversy, since American Samoa, still a US territory, felt that it made a claim that they were in some way less Samoan than the people of (previously Western) Samoa. American Samoans still refer to Western Samoa, emphasizing that they too are part of the Samoan traditional identity.

The picture shows the Samoan flag, both before and after the name change. The five white stars show the Southern Cross, a constellation included as part of the flag of a number of countries in the region.

Answer: To be in a better time zone from economic considerations

The International Date Line is full of zigs and zags for this type of reason, and similar reasons such as keeping all the islands of a nation in the same time zone. As agreed in 1892, Samoa was on the east of the Date Line, because that made their time close to that in the western part of the United States, where most of their international trade was based. During the 20th century, Australia and New Zealand became much more significant trading partners, and it was seen to be more convenient to be working on the same day as those countries. Samoa is now three hours ahead of the east coast of Australia, instead of being 21 hours behind. The picture shows the position of the International Date Line, albeit not very clearly, as a yellow-green line around the edges of the map.