Sāmoa, an archipelago in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, has many creation origin stories. One involves Tagaloalagi, creator of the universe, looking down from his place in the sky. Tuli, his son, while flying in the shape of a bird across the surface of the ocean, could not find a place to rest, returned to his father and complained about it. Tagaloalagi then threw down a rock, forming Manuʻatele, a land mass for Tuli and himself to rest on.

Tagaloalagi thought it would be great to have even more resting places in the ocean and divided the rock further into fourteen islands and two coral atolls, creating the islands of Sāmoa—the sacred center. The Samoan people thrived as ocean-goers, grounded in faʻasāmoa, the Samoan way. But how did people get from this cluster of islands created by Tagaloalagi in the middle of the Pacific Ocean to the United States, and who exactly are Samoans?

In this module you will be introduced to who Samoan people are, where they are from, and how this group of islands in the Pacific Ocean is connected to the United States. This module will also introduce the concept of faʻasāmoa and discuss how cultural values and practices continue and thrive in Samoan communities in diaspora.