Political sketch
A territory of the United States.
The islands that are now American Samoa were probably inhabited by Polynesians more than 2,500 years ago. The Dutch navigator Jacob Roggeveen sighted the Manua Islands in 1722 and made contact with the islanders. In 1787, 11 members of a French expedition were massacred. For the next 40 years European explorers avoided the islands, during which time the islands became a haven for runaway sailors and escaped convicts; after that time, the islands became increasingly connected to the rest of the world. From 1848 to 1873, rival Samoan groups armed by foreign merchants warred to establish supremacy. In January 1872, the United States signed a treaty with the kingdom of Samoa obtaining rights to establish a naval station at Pago Pago. In 1889, the United States, United Kingdom, and Germany agreed to keep Samoa neutral and created a joint protectorate over the islands. However, after warfare the Samoan king and chiefs resumed, the three powers in 1899 annulled the agreement. The Treaty of Berlin, signed on 2 December 1899 and ratified on 16 February 1900, recognized a U.S. sphere of influence east of longitude 171 degrees West and a German sphere to the west. On 17 April 1900, the chiefs of the islands of Tutuila and Anun'u ceded sovereignty to the United States. In 1904, the king and chiefs of the Manu'a group of islands ceded sovereignty to the United States in 1904. A U.S. citizen had founded a settlement on Swain's Island in October 1856. The United Kingdom granted Swain's Island to the United States, and it became part of the territory on 4 March 1925. On 20 February 1929 the U.S. Congress formally accepted sovereignty over the whole group of islands. The U.S. Navy had jurisdiction of the islands from 1900 to 1 July 1951, when they were placed under the U.S. Department of the Interior. American Samoa was beyond the front lines of the Second World War and therefore was not invaded by Japanese forces.
In 1960, a constitutional convention approved the first constitution of American Samoa. The first elected governor took office on 3 January 1978. American Samoa remains a U.S. territory. Fishing and tourism are major industries, but the U.S. administration is the main employer.
Wars since 1500
Samoan Wars for Supremacy, 1848-1873; Samoan Civil War of 1898-1899.
Convertibility
[Material on the US dollar will be inserted here when the country table for the United States is ready.]
Other
Defaults on or restructurings of debt to the private sector (mainly from Purcell and Kaufman 1993 and Standard & Poor's 2004): None.
Banking crises (data since 1970s mainly from Caprio and Klingebiel 1999 and Frydl 1999): None.
Frankel and Rose (1996) list of currency crashes: None.
No exchange rate data in Reinhart and Rogoff (2003).
References
Primary sources:
--Laws and decrees:
American Samoa. Government newspaper. 1903-present? O Le Fa'atonu (1903-1953); Samoan Information Bulletin (1953-?); Failauga Samoa (?-present?). Tutuila: Government of American Samoa. (In English and Samoan.)
United States. Gazette. 1936-present. Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Service, General Services Administration.Federal Register. Washington: Superintendent of Documents, United States Government Printing Office, distributor. More recent issues are also at <http://www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/index.html>.
--Publications of monetary authorities:
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (United States). Annual report. 1915-present. Annual Report for the Federal Reserve System Covering Operations for the Year... (1915-1965); Annual Report (1966-present). Washington: Government Printing Office.
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (United States). Bulletin. 1915-present. Federal Reserve Bulletin. Washington: Government Printing Office.
United States. Department of the Treasury. Annual report. 1876-1981. Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances for the Year.... Washington: Government Printing Office.
--Web site of the current monetary authority (viewed January 2005):
<http://www.federalreserve.gov>
--Other publications or Web sites:
American Samoa. Governor. 1952/1953-? Information on the Territory of American Samoa Transmitted by the United States to the Secretary General of the United Nations Pursuant to Article 73(e) of the Charter. Pago Pago: Office of the Governor of American Samoa.
American Samoa. Annual report. 1913?-present (apparently irregular to 1952). American Samoa, Naval Governor, American Samoa, a General Report by the Governor,... (1913-?); American Samoa, Governor, Annual Report of the Governor of American Samoa: To the Secretary of the Interior (1952-196?); American Samoa, Annual Report to the Secretary of the Interior for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30 (196?-1970); American Samoa, Annual Report, Fiscal Year … (1971); Office of Samoan Information, Annual Report to the Secretary of the Interior for the Territory of American Samoa for Fiscal Year 1972; Office of Samoan Information, Annual Report, American Samoa, 1972/1973; Office of Samoan Information, Annual Report to the Secretary of the Interior for Fiscal Year ... (1974-1976); Annual Report (1977-present). Washington: Government Printing Office (1913-1971); Pago Pago: Office of Samoan Information (1972, 1974-present); Washington: Office of Samoan Information (1972/1973).
Main secondary sources:
IMF ARER. 1950-present. International Monetary Fund. Annual Report on Exchange Restrictions (1950-1978), Annual Report on Exchange Arrangements and Exchange Restrictions (1979-1988), Exchange Arrangements and Exchange Restrictions: Annual Report (1989-present). Washington: International Monetary Fund. (Contains information on IMF member countries and some of their dependencies.) (No direct information on American Samoa, but some information can be inferred from data on the United States.)
Monetary authorities: American Samoa
| Dates | Type | Name | Source | Remarks |
| 1900
-present (2005) |
dollarization | US dollar (issued by free banks and by government issuer US Treasury [headquarters Washington, DC, United States] / by central bank US Federal Reserve System [headquarters Washington, DC, United States] from 16 November 1914) | United States, chapter 5 of 17 July 1861; Federal Reserve Act, chapter 6, 23 December 1913 | The United States introduced the US dollar in 1900 after taking over the territory. The first bank was perhaps the government-sponsored Bank of American Samoa (headquarters Pago Pago, Tutuila), which opened in Pago Pago, Tutuila in 1914. The second bank was perhaps the Amerika Samoa Bank, (headquarters Pago Pago, Tutuila), which opened in Pago Pago, Tutuila, year unknown to me. American Samoa has never issued its own coins. |
Exchange rate arrangements: American Samoa
| Dates | Official arrangement | Source | Unofficial arrangement, if different | Remarks |
| 1830s
-1900 |
fixed; used Spanish silver dollar | starting date an educated guess | Spanish and similar silver dollars were in general use across the Pacific Ocean. The starting date is an educated guess. | |
| 1900
-present (2005) |
fixed; uses US dollar | starting date an educated guess | The United States introduced the US dollar after taking over the territory. |