Sapapaliʻi

Village in Faʻasaleleaga, Samoa

13°41′21″S 172°11′11″W / 13.68917°S 172.18639°W / -13.68917; -172.18639Country

SamoaDistrictFaʻasaleleagaPopulation

(2016)

• Total896Time zone-11

Sapapaliʻi is a village on the north east coast of Savaiʻi island in Samoa. It is the village where John Williams, the first missionary to bring Christianity to Samoa landed in 1830.^[1] Sapapali'i is in the Fa'asaleleaga political district^[2] and has a population of 896.^[3]

Sapapaliʻi became the second Malietoa base in the district in 1750 when Malietoa Tiʻa married a woman from the village. Their son Malietoa Fitisemanu was the father of Malietoa Vaiinupo who received Williams in 1830.^[4]

Sapapaliʻi is 8 km north of Salelologa ferry terminal and township.

Archaeology

In the 1970s, Gregory Jackmond carried out archaeological surveys inland from Sapapali'i. Jackmond, a Peace Corps in Samoa, surveyed a 20 hectare area with extensive pre-historic settlements. Jackmond later carried out field work at Palauli on the south east coast where the Pulemelei Mound is situated.^[5]

References

^ [1], Lagaga: a short history of Western Samoa By Malama Meleisea & Penelope Schoeffel Meleisea
^ "Electoral Constituencies Act 2019" (PDF). Parliament of Samoa. 31 January 2019. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
^ "Census 2016 Preliminary count" (PDF). Samoa Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
^ [2] Democracy and custom in Sāmoa: an uneasy alliance by Asofou Soʻo, p.33. Retrieved 2 November 2009
^ [3] Samoan Village Patterns: Four Examples by Jesse D. Jennings, Richard Holmer and Gregory Jackmond, University of Utah, Journal of the Polynesian Society, Vol. 91, No. 1, 1982. Retrieved 6 November 2009