Lotofaga is a village on the south coast of

Upolu 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 long and in area, making it the second largest of the Samoan Islands by area. With approxi ...

island in

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands ( Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands ( Manono and Apolima); ...

. Lotofaga is also the name of the larger Lotofaga Electoral Constituency (''Faipule District'') which includes Lotofaga village and two other villages, Vavau and Matatufu. The villages and Lotofaga Electoral Constituency all come within the larger political district of

Atua Atua are the gods and spirits of the Polynesian peoples such as the Māori or the Hawaiians (see also ); the Polynesian word literally means "power" or "strength" and so the concept is similar to that of '' mana''. Today, it is also used for ...

. The population of Lotofaga village is 971. The population of Lotofaga Electoral Constituency is 1,816.

Politics

To Sua Ocean Trench - Lotofaga village - Samoa

The first Prime Minister of Samoa, Fiame Mata'afa Faumuina Mulinu'u II (5 August 1921 – 20 May 1975), a

paramount chief A paramount chief is the English-language designation for the highest-level political leader in a regional or local polity or country administered politically with a chief-based system. This term is used occasionally in anthropological and arc ...

, entered politics at the 1957 general election from the Lotofaga Electoral Constituency. The high chief title Fiame is from Lotofaga. His wife was Laulu Fetauimalemau Mata'afa, who was bestowed the chief title of Laulu, also from Lotofaga. At her husband's death in 1975, Laulu Featauimalemau Mata'afa entered politics, winning the Lotofaga seat in the same year and becoming only the second woman in Samoa to become a Member of Parliament. Their daughter, Fiame Naomi Mata'afa, a high chief with the Fiame chief title once held by her father, has been the Member of Parliament for Lotofaga constituency for many years in the

Legislative Assembly of Samoa The Legislative Assembly ( sm, Fono Aoao Faitulafono a Samoa), also known as the Parliament of Samoa ( sm, Palemene o Samoa), is the national legislature of Samoa, seated at Apia, where the country's central administration is situated. Samoan P ...

. She is the first woman in Samoa appointed to Cabinet, the first woman to become Deputy Prime Minister and in April 2021, was elected as the nation’s first female Prime Minister.

Archaeology

During the 1960s,

archaeologists Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscapes ...

investigating the early settlement of the

Pacific Islands Collectively called the Pacific Islands, the islands in the Pacific Ocean are further categorized into three major island groups: Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Depending on the context, the term ''Pacific Islands'' may refer to one of se ...

uncovered a prehistoric settlement inland from Lotofaga in an area marked Tafagamanu Sand. The date obtained from the cultural deposit was 735 plus or minus 85 years BP. Tafagamanu Sand is a geological name given to beach and beach ridge deposits of carbonate sand occurring up to 2 m or more above sea level.
Coastal Morphology, shoreline stability and nearshore mineral resources of Upolu, Western Samoa by Bruce M. Richmond, January 1992

References

{{Atua Populated places in Atua (district)