Matautu (Gagaemauga)

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Matautu on Savaiʻi 1902

Matautu is the name of a village on the north coast of Savaiʻi . The group of villages includes the pito-nuʻu Fagamalo , Avao , Lelepa , Safaʻi and Saleia and is named after the Matautu Bay . It belongs to the political district (itūmālō; electoral district) Gaga'emauga .

geography

The villages of Matautu are grouped around Matautu Bay and Cape Matautu Point ( ⊙ ). From there the towns stretch along the coast: Lelepa ( ⊙ ), Avao ( ⊙ ) and Saleiʻa ( ⊙ ) to the west, while the political district of Gagaifomauga begins further west with the town of Manase ( ⊙ ) . Eastward pull from the Cape places Fagamalo ( ⊙ ) Sato'alepai ( ⊙ ) and Safa'i ( ⊙ ). The village of Saleʻaula ( ⊙ ) is further east . Sato'alepai came to the Matautu unit only recently. Inland from Lelepa is the place Vaipouli ( ⊙ ) with the Vaipouli College and the Itu-o-Tane High School . The water supply also comes from there. Numerous cul-de-sacs lead inland.

The landscape is characterized by the old coral reefs, which have also resulted in larger beds near Fagamalo. Younger fringing reefs slide into the sea.

Matautu Bay

Matautu Bay ( ⊙ ) stretches from Matautu Point to the southwest. There is a cut in the reef edge , probably because the rivers Muliolo (Matavai, ⊙ ) and Muligaauau ( ⊙ ) flow into the sea there. There are numerous restaurants and hotels along the bay.

history

In the late 18th century, the colonial era in Samoa, Fagamalo, which even then had a quay and an anchorage, became the main administrative center of Savaiʻi. There was a hospital, school, and courthouse.

George Pratt (1817-1894), a missionary with the London Missionary Society, lived in Matautu for many years. He wrote the first Samoan-English dictionary, A Grammar and Dictionary of the Samoan Language, with English and Samoan Vocabulary (printed in 1862).

Oral tradition has it that Matautu is the district that directs the attacks during war. It is said that the first settlers were people of Fiji or Fiti .

Legends

Tui Fiti a deity of Samoan mythology lives in the sacred grove vao sa in Fagamalo.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Te'o Tuvale: An Account of Samoan History up to 1918. NZ Electronic Text Center, Victoria University of Wellington.
  2. ↑ Matautu Point , geoview.info.
  3. ↑ geonames.org
  4. ^ John Garrett: To live among the stars: Christian origins in Oceania. University of the South Pacific 1982, ISBN 2-8254-0692-9 , p. 126. (books.google.com)
  5. ↑ Malama Meleisea, Penelope Schoeffel Meleisea: Lagaga: a short history of Western Samoa. 1987, ISBN 982-02-0029-6 , p. 42. (books.google.com)