American Samoa Newspapers

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On Upolu Samoa a small community of expatriate traders and planters gained a foothold during the second part of the 19th century. German, American, and British interests competed for supremacy by interfering with local Samoan politics.Despite the small readership base, three newspapers were started up: the Samoa Times in its two entities (1877-1881 and 1888-1896) and the Samoa Weekly Herald (1892-1900).

Typical country newspapers by nature and outlook, these papers provided their readers with local and regional news, political debate through letters to the editor - and a regular dose of poetry and short fiction. While little is known about the reading habits of the expatriate community on Samoa, these papers provide a glimpse of what the traders and planters read.