ve NA note: Armed Forces
Radio/Television Service (AFRTS) radio service provided by satellite
(1998)

Television broadcast stations: 0 (1997)

Transportation Wake Island

Waterways: none

Ports and harbors: none; two offshore anchorages for large ships

Airports: 1 (2001)

Airports - with paved runways: total: 1 2,438 to 3,047 m: 1 (2001)

Transportation - note: formerly an important commercial aviation base,
now used by US military, some commercial cargo planes, and for emergency
landings

Military Wake Island

Military - note: defense is the responsibility of the US

Transnational Issues Wake Island

Disputes - international: claimed by Marshall Islands

This page was last updated on 1 January 2002

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Samoa

Introduction

Samoa

Background: New Zealand occupied the German protectorate of Western Samoa
at the outbreak of World War I in 1914. It continued to administer the
islands as a mandate and then as a trust territory until 1962, when the
islands became the first Polynesian nation to reestablish independence in
the 20th century. The country dropped the "Western" from its name in 1997.

Geography Samoa

Location: Oceania, group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean, about
one-half of the way from Hawaii to New Zealand

Geographic coordinates: 13 35 S, 172 20 W

Map references: Oceania

Area: total: 2,944 sq km water: 10 sq km land: 2,934 sq km

Area - comparative: slightly smaller than Rhode Island

Land boundaries: 0 km

Coastline: 403 km

Maritime claims: exclusive economic zone: 200 NM territorial sea: 12 NM

Climate: tropical; rainy season (October to March), dry season (May
to October)

Terrain: narrow coastal plain with volcanic, rocky, rugged mountains
in interior

Elevation extremes: lowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 m highest point:
Mauga Silisili 1,857 m

Natural resources: hardwood forests, fish, hydropower

Land use: arable land: 19% permanent crops: 24% other: 57% (1998 est.)

Irrigated land: NA sq km

Natural hazards: occasional typhoons; active volcanism

Environment - current issues: soil erosion

Environment - international agreements: party to: Biodiversity, Climate
Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Law of the Sea,
Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection signed, but not ratified:
none of the selected agreements

Geography - note