Samoa: Mapping the Diversity

Reviews: Samoa: Mapping the Diversity

John Connell · 2002

This review evaluates Ward and Ashcroft's atlas of Samoa, which maps over 60 socio-economic variables across 48 fipule districts, drawing primarily on the 1989 Census of Agriculture. Tracing changes back to the 1950s, the atlas links census data with agricultural studies and demonstrates how wage economies have reached areas near Apia. Connell highlights the atlas's key findings: uneven development, likely increasing inequality, and gradual population movement toward northern Upolu. While acknowledging data gaps—particularly on housing, income, nutrition, and mortality, as well as the difficulty of separating Apia from surrounding rural areas—Connell praises the atlas for elegantly revealing Samoa's diversity and unequal access to services such as water and healthcare. He commends it as a model for future Pacific geographical publications.