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above: The Samoa Islands contains of the political independent state Western Samoa, which includes the both largest islands Savai'i and 'Uplou as well as several smaller offshore islands, and American Samoa, associated with the USA. Swains Island is a political part of American Samoa, but geographically it belongs to the Tokelau Archipelago. All islands of the Samoa archipelagoare of volcanic origin. the uprise from a so called 'hotspot', which slides the islands eastwardly. Thus Savai'i in the most western is the youngest of the islands, it is still volcanically aktiv. In the easternmost end of the chain lies the Rose atoll, its former land mass is now completely eroded, it consists only of coral sand. The same has to be said about Swains Island. The flora, especially of the two largest islands, is relative rich in species. Within the polynesian region only the Hawai'i Islands and Fiji harbour more species. The rate of endemic species lies at around 30 %. The genus Sarcopygme of the Rubiaceae family is the only endemic genus. annotation for pronunciation: g - is vocalized as ng in long |
| The islands of the archipelago: |
Apolima
'Aunu'u
Fanuatapu
Manono
Namu'a
Nu'ulua
Nu'utele
Ofu
Olosega
Rose Atoll
Savai'i
Swains Island
Ta'u
Tutuila
'Upolu |