Upolu
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- In Hawaii, Upolu Point is the northern cape of the Big Island of Hawai‘i.
 Map of Samoa |
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| Geography | |
|---|---|
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|
| Location | Pacific Ocean |
| Coordinates | 13°55′S 171°45′W / 13.917°S 171.75°W |
| Area | 1,125 square kilometres (434 sq mi) |
| Length | 75 kilometres (47 mi) |
| Country | |
| Samoa | |
| Largest city | Apia (58,800) |
| Demographics | |
| Population | 134,400 (as of 2001) |
| Density | 119.47 /km² (309.4 /sq mi) |
| Ethnic groups | 92.6% Samoans, 7% Euronesians (persons of European and Polynesian blood), 0.4% Europeans |
Upolu is an island in Samoa, formed by a massive basaltic shield volcano which rises from the seafloor of the western Pacific Ocean. The island is 75 kilometres (47 mi) long, 1,125 km2 (434 sq mi) in area, and is the second largest and most populated of the Samoan islands, lying to the east of the "big island", Savai'i. The capital Apia is in the middle of the north coast with Faleolo International Airport at the western end of the island. The island has not had any historically recorded eruptions.
In Polynesian mythology (specifically Samoan), Upolu is the first woman on the island of the same name. In the late 18th and early 19th century, the island was sometimes called Ojalava or Ojolava.
In the late 19th century Robert Louis Stevenson owned a four-hundred acre (1.6 km²) estate at Vailima and died there in 1894.[1] The Vailima estate was purchased in 1900 as official residence for the German governor and, after British/Dominion confiscation, served successively as residence for the New Zealand administrator and for the Samoan head of state after independence.
An extremely small species of spider lives on Upolu. According to the Guinness Book of World Records 2005, the spider is the size of a period on a page from that book.[citation needed]
[edit] Notes and references
- ^ It is speculated by Swiss author Alex Capus that Stevenson found the Treasure of Lima around 1890 on the near island of Tafahi which made him and his family very rich
- "Upolu". Global Volcanism Program. Smithsonian Institution. http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/volcano.cfm?vnum=0404-03-. Retrieved on 2008-12-18.
Coordinates: 13°55′S 171°45′W / 13.917°S 171.75°W
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