Upolu is an

island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...

, formed by a massive

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

shield volcano A shield volcano is a type of volcano named for its low profile, resembling a shield lying on the ground. It is formed by the eruption of highly fluid (low viscosity) lava, which travels farther and forms thinner flows than the more viscous lava ...

which rises from the seafloor of the

western Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

. The island is long and in area, making it the second largest of the

Samoan Islands The Samoan Islands () are an archipelago covering in the central Pacific Ocean, South Pacific, forming part of Polynesia and of the wider region of Oceania. Political geography, Administratively, the archipelago comprises all of the Samoa, Indep ...

by area. With approximately 145,000 inhabitants, it is by far the most populous of the Samoan Islands. Upolu is situated to the southeast of Savai'i, the "big island".

Apia Apia () is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Samoa. It is located on the central north coast of Upolu, Samoa's second-largest island. Apia falls within the political district (''itūmālō'') of Tuamasaga. The Apia Urban A ...

, the capital, is in the middle of the north coast, and Faleolo International Airport at the western end of the island. The island has not had any historically recorded eruptions, although there is evidence of three lava flows, dating back only to between a few hundred and a few thousand years ago. In the

n branch of

Polynesian mythology Polynesian mythology encompasses the oral traditions of the people of Polynesia (a grouping of Central and South Pacific Ocean island archipelagos in the Polynesian Triangle) together with those of the scattered cultures known as the Polyne ...

, Upolu was the first woman on the island. James Michener based his character Bloody Mary in ''

Tales of the South Pacific ''Tales of the South Pacific'' is a Pulitzer Prize-winning collection of sequentially related short stories by James A. Michener about the Pacific campaign in World War II. The stories are based on observations and anecdotes he collected while s ...

'' (later a major character in the

Rodgers and Hammerstein Rodgers and Hammerstein was a theater-writing team of composer Richard Rodgers (1902–1979) and lyricist-dramatist Oscar Hammerstein II (1895–1960), who together created a series of innovative and influential American musicals. Their musical ...

musical, '' South Pacific'') on the owner of Aggie Grey's Hotel on the south end of the island. She was still running the hotel in 1960. A branch was later opened in Apia, overlooking the harbor.

History

In 1841, the island was the site of the Bombardment of Upolu, an incident during the

United States Exploring Expedition The United States Exploring Expedition of 1838–1842 was an exploring and surveying expedition of the Pacific Ocean and surrounding lands conducted by the United States. The original appointed commanding officer was Commodore Thomas ap Catesby ...

. In the late 19th century, the Scottish writer

Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll ...

owned a estate in the village of Vailima in Upolu. He died there in 1894 and is buried at the top of Mount Vaea overlooking his former estate. The Vailima estate was purchased in 1900 to serve as the official residence for the German governor of German Samoa. When the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

Dominion A dominion was any of several largely self-governance, self-governing countries of the British Empire, once known collectively as the ''British Commonwealth of Nations''. Progressing from colonies, their degrees of self-governing colony, colon ...

took over governance of the islands, they confiscated the estate and put it to the same use. It later served as the residence for the

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

administrator and, after independence, for the Samoan head of state. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the US Navy built

Naval Base Upolu Naval Base Upolu was a naval base built by the United States Navy in 1942 to support the World War II effort. The base was located on Upolu Island, Samoa in the Western Pacific Ocean, part of the Samoan Islands's Naval Base Samoa. After the A ...

on the island.

2009 Samoa tsunami

The island of Upolu was hit by a

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from , ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and underwater explosions (including detonations, ...

at 06:48:11 local time on 29 September 2009 (17:48:11 UTC). Twenty villages on Upolu's south side were reportedly destroyed, including Lepā, the home of Samoa's

prime minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

, Tuila'epa Sa'ilele Malielegaoi. In Lepā, only the church and the village's welcome sign remained standing after the disaster.

2024 HMNZS ''Manawanui'' sinking

On 5 October 2024 the

Royal New Zealand Navy The Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN; ) is the maritime arm of the New Zealand Defence Force. The fleet currently consists of eight ships. The Navy had its origins in the Naval Defence Act 1913, and the subsequent acquisition of the cruiser , whi ...

ship HMNZS ''Manawanui'' ran aground and sunk off the coast of Siumu on the southern coast of Upolu. The ''Manawanui'' had been surveying a nearby reef and was caught up in a storm. The sinking of the ''Manawanui'' polluted the surrounding sea and disrupted the livelihoods of local communities in the Safata district, who were unable to fish due to restrictions around the wreckage site. The Samoan and New Zealand authorities were criticised by local villagers for a lack of compensation and engagement with local communities. This led local villagers to seek financial assistance from the Chinese Embassy in

. On 12 February 2025 the Samoan Government lifted a "precautionary zone" around the wreckage of HMNZS ''Manawanui'' following testing by the Scientific Research Organisation of Samoa (SROS). However, a two km prohibition zone around the sunken ship remained in force.

Wildlife

An extremely small species of

spider Spiders (order (biology), order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight limbs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude spider silk, silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and ran ...

lives on Upolu. According to the

Guinness Book of World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, listi ...

, the spider is the size of a period (full stop) on a printed page.

Depictions in popular culture

Upolu was the filming location for the 1953

South Seas Today the term South Seas, or South Sea, most commonly refers to the portion of the Pacific Ocean south of the equator. The term South Sea may also be used synonymously for Oceania, or even more narrowly for Polynesia or the Polynesian Triangle ...

film '' Return to Paradise'', starring Gary Cooper. The island was also the filming location for several seasons of several editions of the competition

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...

series, ''

Survivor Survivor(s) may refer to: * one who survives Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Survivors, characters in the 1997 KKnD series#Armies, ''KKnD'' video-game series * ''The Survivors'', or the ''New Survivors Foundation'', a fictional ...

''. This included: * Five seasons of '' Australian Survivor'': the 3rd season in 2016 and the 4th season in 2017; '' Australian Survivor: Heroes vs Villains'' in 2023 (10th season); '' Australian Survivor: Titans vs Rebels'' in 2024 (11th season); and '' Australian Survivor: Brains vs Brawn II'' in 2025 (12th season). * Four seasons of the '' American version'' of ''Survivor'', '' Survivor: Samoa'' (19th season); '' Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains'' (20th season); '' Survivor: South Pacific'' (23rd season); and '' Survivor: One World'' (24th season). * One season of '' Survivor South Africa'': '' Survivor South Africa: Island of Secrets'' (7th season) in 2019.

Gallery

File:Samoa upolu.jpg, Falefa Valley File:Cyclone Evan, Samoa, 2012 (10690555895).jpg, Damage from Cyclone Evan in 2012 File:USNS Richard E. Byrd sits pierside in Upolu Samoa.jpg, USNS ''Richard E. Byrd'' docked at Upolu File:View of the south-eastern coast of Upolu, Samoa - August 2016.jpg, The south-eastern coast of Upolu, Nu'utele island can be seen in the far distance.

Notes

References

External links

* *
Samoa Tourism Authority
{{authority control Islands of Samoa Mountains of Samoa Samoan mythology Polygenetic shield volcanoes Volcanoes of Samoa