The last place to see yesterday — Polynesian capital where time moves differently
Apia is the capital of Samoa, a small Polynesian island nation that made headlines in 2011 by jumping the international date line to be on the same day as Australia and New Zealand. The town mixes colonial German and British architecture, a busy fish market, and the grave of Robert Louis Stevenson — who lived his final years here and called Samoa 'the most beautiful sight I have ever seen.' Samoan fa'a Samoa (the Samoan Way) is one of the Pacific's most intact living cultures.
Samoa was divided between Germany and the US in 1899 (American Samoa to the east, German Samoa to the west). After WWI, German Samoa became a New Zealand mandate, and Samoa gained full independence in 1962 as the first Pacific Island nation to do so. Robert Louis Stevenson chose Apia as his final home in 1889, building the estate Vailima and involving himself in Samoan politics until his death in 1894. The 2009 Samoa earthquake and tsunami killed 189 people and reshaped the southern coastline.