Leasina County is a county in the Western District in American Samoa. The name of the county, Leasina, is derived from the Samoan language and translates into English as “White".Churchill, W. (1913). "Geographical Nomenclature of American Samoa". Bulletin of the American Geographical Society, 45(3), page 191. Retrieved on December 6, 2024,
The official county name was changed to Leasina ma Aitulagi County following the 2022 American Samoan constitutional referendum.
Leasina contains the villages of Aʻasu and Aʻoloau in the northwestern part of Tutuila Island. The principal place is the village of Aʻoloau, where the powerful Fuimaono resides. At Aʻasu Bay, also known as Massacre Bay, French sailors were massacred in 1787.Krämer, Augustin (1994). The Samoa Islands: An Outline of a Monograph with Particular Consideration of German Samoa. University of Hawaiʻi Press. Page 451. Aʻoloau is also referred to as Aʻoloaufou, which means "New Aʻoloau", while the abandoned village on the north coast, on Aʻoloau Bay, is called Aʻoloautuai, meaning "Old Aʻoloau".Talbot, Dorinda and Deanna Swaney (1998). Samoa. Lonely Planet. Page 173. Similarly, the village of Aʻasu is known as Aʻasufou (“New Aʻasu”). The original village, located on Massacre Bay, is called Aʻasutuai (“Old Aʻasu”).Pearl, Frederic B. and Sandy Loiseau-Vonruff (2007). “Father Julien Vidal and the Social Transformation of a Small Polynesian Village (1787–1930): Historical Archaeology at Massacre Bay, American Samoa”. International Journal of Historical Archaeology 11, 32–59 (2007). ISSN 1092-7697. Retrieved on December 2, 2024, from
History During World War II, a communications and radar station was built atop Tutuila’s central mountain ridge, above the village of Aʻoloau. The project required clearing a square mile of plateau land and constructing a long, winding mountain road that climbed up from the south coast highway at Mapusaga.Gray, John Alexander Clinton (1960). Amerika Samoa: A History of American Samoa and its United States Naval Administration. United States Naval Institute. Pages 242-243.
In 1976, Lualemaga Faoliu, the senator representing the county and a native of Aʻoloau, was shot and killed during a family trip to the island of Savaiʻi.Sunia, Fofō Iosefa Fiti (2001). Puputoa: Host of Heroes - A record of the history makers in the First Century of American Samoa, 1900-2000. Suva, Fiji: Oceania Printers. Page 77.
Demographics Leasina County was first recorded beginning with the 1912 special census. Regular decennial censuses were taken beginning in 1920.
Villages Aitulagi Aoloau Aasu
References