sans, Hawaiians, Tahitians, etc. Like many other Polynesian peoples, the Samoans are often quite good-looking and are generally well-formed. Tradition and legend make the Samoan Archipelago the centre from which a large portion of the island-world of the Pacific was peopled. The Samoans have always been noted as sailors and boat-builders. They are famous for their legends and tales. Though they have practically all become Christians, the European and later American colonization has not been altogether to their benefit. In matter of population they seem to be about holding their own. Beneath the acquired new religion and borrowed culture survive many old traits and habits. The ancient arts and inventions of the natives are, however, disappearing before the labor-saving devices of the whites.
History. The Samoan Islands are probably identical with the Baumann's Islands, discovered by the Dutch navigator Roggoveen in 1722. In 1708 Bougainville gave the name of Navigators' Islands to the group. Christianity was introduced by John Williams in 1830. The various islands were ruled by independent chiefs, who acknowleilged, however, the nominal authority of a king elected from one of the noble families. After 1868 the islands became subject to continual disturbances, owing to the struggle between rival candidates for the throne. These dissensions were fostered by the representatives of the three foreign Powers possessing considerable interests in Samoa—Germany, Great Britain, and the United States. In 1888 interests hostile to the Germans brought about the election of Mataafa as opposition King to Tamasese, and civil war broke out. Mataafa made himself master of Apia, and in December defeated a small force of German marines. The German consul's truculent action nearly brought on war between the Powers, but a conference was finally called to adjust the difficulties. The Act of Berlin, June 14, 1889, proclaimed the independence and neutrality of the islands and guaranteed the natives full liberty in the election of their King. The interests of the Europeans were to be protected by the creation of a Supreme Court, consisting of a Chief Justice, and the erection of Apia into a municipality, the president of which, as well as the Chief Justice, was to be nominated by the three powers. In 1898 King Malietoa Laupepa died, and Mataafa was elected his successor by an overwhelming majority of the people. The election was contested by Malietoa Tanu, a nephew of the dead King, who was declared by Chief Justice Chambers, an American, rightful King. Fighting thereupon ensued between the forces of Malietoa and Mataafa, who now enjoyed German support. The latter was victorious, and in January, 1899, was recognized as provisional ruler of the islands. In March the United States man-of-war Philadelphia arrived at Apia. Rear-Admiral Kautz, after conferring with the representatives of the other Powers, refused to lend further recognition to the Government of Mataafa. The German consul issued a proclamation in favor of Mataafa, who accordingly maintained his attitude of resistance. On March 15th the villages around Apia were bombarded by the British and American ships. Germany again showed herself conciliatory, and by the agreement of December 2, 1899, between Germany, Great Britain, and the United States, the Samoan Islands were partitioned between Germany and the United States. Great Britain received compensation in the Solomon and Toga Islands. On March 16, 1889, a tidal wave destroyed the American and German fleets in Apia roadstead. Of the American vessels, the Trenton and the Vandalia were sunk, and the Nipsic cast on shore, the loss of life being 52 officers and men. Consult: Turner, Samoa a Hundred Years Ago (London, 1884); Robert Louis Stevenson, A Footnote to History (London, 1892).
SA′MOS (Lat., from Gk. Σάμος; Turk, Susam Adassi). An island off the western coast of Asia Minor, separated by a strait (called by the Turks Little Boghaz), about one mile in width, from the rocky promontory of Mycale, of which its mountains are a prolongation. Its length is about 30 miles; its mean breadth about 8 miles. A range of mountains runs through the whole island, attaining its greatest height at the west, where Mount Kerkis (the ancient Cerceteus) reaches an elevation of 4725 feet. Samos is still, as in ancient times, well wooded. Though mountainous toward the north and west, the east and south contain fertile and well-watered ground, and the island exports considerable quantities of grapes, wine, oil, carob beans, and hides; its mountains furnish quarries of marble, and zinc, lead, iron ore, emery, lodestone, and ochre are to be found. The ancient city of Samos was in the southeastern part of the island, near the modern Tigani, where can still be seen the remains of the great moles of the harbor, the ancient fortifications, and the aqueduct cut through the mountain for Polycrates by Eupalinos. About four miles away was the celebrated Heræum, or temple of Hera, one of the largest Greek temples known to Herodotus, but of which only scanty remains are now visible. Excavations begun in 1902 by the Greek Archæological Society are said to have shown that it had two rows of Ionic columns on the sides and three at the ends, and that its dimensions were 54.5 by 109 meters. On the north coast lies the modern capital, Vathy, which derives its name from its deep (Gk. βαθύς, bathys) harbor. The population of the island in 1896 was 49,733, mostly Greeks.
The early Greek settlers of the island were said to have come from Epidaurus, and the worship of Hera certainly points to a connection with Argolis. In the early history of the Ionic Confederation Samos seems to have held a prominent place. The inhabitants were bold seamen and built up a large commerce with Asia Minor, the Black Sea, Egypt, and the west. Its greatest splendor was reached under the tyrant Polycrates (q.v.) in the latter part of the sixth century B.C. After his death the island suffered severely from civil strife and the Persians. In B.C. 479 it joined the Greeks and became a member of the League of Delos, and later a free ally of Athens. A revolt in B.C. 440 led to its reduction to the position of a vassal of Athens, but it received renewed privileges in the later years of the Peloponnesian War, when it proved a faithful ally of the Athenian democracy, and was the headquarters for the Athenian fleet. After the fall of Athens it was occupied by Lysander, who established an oligarchical government. By the Peace of Antalcidas (B.C. 387) the island passed into the possession of Persia. In B.C. 365 it was again conquered by the
