Sapapaliʻi

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]

Sapapaliʻi
Village
Sunset at Sapapaliʻi
Sapapaliʻi
Coordinates: 13°41′21″S 172°11′11″W
Country	Samoa
District	Faʻasaleleaga
Population  (2006)
• Total	868
Time zone	-11

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.[3]

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.[4]

References

1. , Lagaga: a short history of Western Samoa By Malama Meleisea & Penelope Schoeffel Meleisea
2. "Population and Housing Census Report 2006" (PDF). Samoa Bureau of Statistics. July 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 19 December 2009.
3. Democracy and custom in Sāmoa: an uneasy alliance by Asofou Soʻo, p.33. Retrieved 2 November 2009
4. 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