Samoan Islands
a group in the South Pacific Ocean, formerly known as the NAVIGATOR'S ISLANDS.
Location. They are located about 2,000 miles S. and 300 miles W. of the Hawaiian Islands and 14° S. of the equator.
The group consists of 12 inhabited and 2 uninhabited islands, with an area of 1,700 square miles; aggregate population, (1917) 41,128. The islands are of volcanic origin, but fertile, producing cocoanuts, cotton, sugar, and coffee, the most important, however, being cocoanuts, from which the copra of commerce is obtained by drying the kernel of the cocoanut, the copra, which is exported to Europe and the United States, being used in the manufacture of cocoanut oil.