The Samoan Islands are an archipelago of Polynesia in the South Pacific Ocean. The islands were partitioned in 1900; the large western islands of 'Upolu and Savai'i were assigned to Germany and the smaller eastern islands to the United States. German Samoa, as it was called, was occupied by troops from New Zealand in 1914, early in World War I. Renamed Western Samoa, it remained under New Zealand administration until it became the Independent State of Samoa in 1962. The eastern islands, American Samoa, continue as an unincorporated U.S. territory. Tutuila is the major island; there are four other islands and two coral atolls also in the territory. The capital and principal town is Pago Pago on Tutuila; it has a magnificent natural harbor, one of the best in the South Pacific. The population of the territory is about 50,000. American Samoa has no traditional lighthouses but there are a small number of minor lightbeacons maintained by the U.S. Coast Guard Fourteenth District in Hawai'i. Information on these lights is scarce and photos are difficult to find. Special thanks to Elinor DeWire, author of The Field Guide to the Lighthouses of the Pacific Coast, for sharing information and historic Coast Guard photos from her files. The Samoan phrase for a lighthouse is moli uila; motu is an island, aau is a reef, and uafu is a harbor. Admiralty numbers are from volume K of the Admiralty List of Lights & Fog Signals. U.S. NGA List numbers are from Publication 111. USCG numbers are from Volume VI of the U.S. Coast Guard Light List. ARLHS does not list any lights in American Samoa.
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![]() Range Front Light, Pago Pago, 1947 U.S. Coast Guard photo courtesy of Elinor DeWire |
![]() Range Rear Light, Pago Pago, 1947 U.S. Coast Guard photo courtesy of Elinor DeWire |
Information available on lost lighthouses:
Notable faux lighthouses:
Adjoining pages: North: Kiribati | Southeast: Cook Islands | Southwest: Tonga | West: Samoa
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Posted April 30, 2014. Checked and revised October 10, 2024. Lighthouses: 2. Site copyright 2024 Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.