Today is January 1, 2023. We have broken all the chains, we are blind, we are looking for excitement, we are going to American Samoa, an hour away by private plane, crossing the date line in the east direction. We return again to December 31, 2022, “Flashback”, return to the past, we are in 2022 again.

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Date change line; We use the expression “history line” a lot. It is useful to review the current issues in this region in order to fully understand it. We all know where the prime meridian, day line or date line passes, but let’s give a brief reminder.

In order to precisely determine the geographical regions and places on our world and to accurately describe the sunrise time depending on the side of the world facing the sun, our world is divided into equal intervals, horizontally and longitudinally, by lines called latitude meridians and longitude meridians.

In this process carried out on the map, the first prime meridian, that is, the 0° point, was taken into account in the town of Greenwich in England, and this place was accepted as the prime meridian. Starting from the prime meridian, meridians are numbered and local time systems are created by taking into account the distances to this meridian. In addition, geographical locations on the world are described with meridian numbers. For example, Türkiye is between 260-450 east longitude meridian.

According to the prime meridian, the opposite meridian passing right behind the world is 1800. From the prime meridian to the opposite meridian of 1800, the regions east and west are referred to as the eastern hemisphere or the western hemisphere. The meridian located 180 degrees east or 1800 west of the prime meridian is the same meridian and this meridian is called the date change line or international day line. There is a 12 hour difference between the prime meridian and the opposite meridian of 1800, and the date skips when it crosses the 1800 meridian line. So, if you go from England towards the east, you will move forward in time. Turkey is 3 hours ahead of England in terms of time zone, China is 6 hours ahead of Turkey, the Republic of Fiji is 9 hours ahead, if you pass the point where the 1800 meridian is located, you will move to the western hemisphere and the date will change, it will be one day back. In the western hemisphere the opposite happens.

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American Samoa is a country with a total surface area of 199 km2 and consisting of 7 islands, the largest of which is Tutuila Island, where the capital Pago Pago is located. The majority of the total population of 70 thousand lives here. The smallest island is an island near Tutuila Island, where only 100 people live in total, but all the basic structures required for life, such as electricity, water and infrastructure, are complete. Probably all the people living there are related to each other, so it’s like they’re living on their own private island.

The first missionaries from the London Missionary Society came to the islands, known today as American Samoa, in the 1830s and carried out studies on Christianity. As the influence of the missionaries increases, the number of Christian missionaries coming to Tatuila and the Manua Islands begins to increase.

In 1872, the United States signs a treaty with the Kingdom of Samoa to obtain the right to establish a naval base in Pago Pago. In 1889, the USA, England and Germany agreed that Samoa would remain neutral, and the islands came under the protection of these three states. In a meeting held in 1899, the islands were shared so that the USA had the advantage in the east of 171° west longitude, and Germany had the advantage in the west.

As a result of an agreement with local chiefs, some islands were ceded to the USA in 1904. Swains Island was transferred to the USA with the agreement made by England in 1925. These islands, which were under the administration of the US Navy until 1951, were transferred to the US Department of Internal Affairs after this date, and in 1960, a constituent assembly formed by the islanders approved the law to connect these lands to America. In 1978, the first elected governor of American Samoa took office.

We can say that the Americans used American Samoa for expansionism along with the Philippines, Guam and the Marshall Islands. In other words, the country known as American Samoa is a territory of the United States. Fishing forms the economic basis of American Samoa, where the US dollar is used as currency. Unlike other places, there is a deep sea fishery and fish processing center here. With its Gross National Product (2007) of 537 million dollars and a per capita national income of 8,000 dollars, it is one of the highest income earners among the Pacific Islands. Agricultural production is mostly aimed at domestic consumption. Most nutrients are imported. The capital, Pago Pago, is an important tourism centre. The country’s only international airport is in Tutuila. America has different practices in its countries overseas. American Samoa is independent in its internal affairs, has its own flag, parliament and constitution, but all these are under the observation and control of the American appointed official. There is also a representative from here in the US Senate, but he does not have the right to vote. American Samoa has no army or armed force, only a small police force for security. This is one of the logistics centers of the United States in the Pacific Ocean. This is one of the places in the American base where all kinds of materials such as fuel storage and weapons are transferred. People here can go to America with a visa more easily than other countries and work there, but they do not have citizenship rights and must obtain a permit for long-term residence. Social living standards in American Samoa are different compared to other Samoan states, the roads, landscaping, cinema, restaurants etc. are all American, there is even a Mc Donald’s. There is a matai culture here, as in the other Samoan state, and matai people have gathering places called Polefomo in front of the houses. The deceased marai family can be buried in front of their house if they wish. In fact, the tradition of burying the deceased in the garden of his house exists in many Asian countries and even in the Turks. This is a tradition that means preventing these lands from being sold or fragmented in the future and preserving them as ancestral lands. Although this place is different from my other island countries, it does not have a self-sufficient economy. As in other Pacific island countries, there are more than a hundred churches affiliated with many Christian denominations such as Catholic, Protestant, Mormon and Baha’i. One church for every few hundred people of the same denomination. Be religious, go to church, get your regular money every month, don’t get involved in anything else, do as I say policy. Everyone is happy, life goes like this here. In general, everyone receives a salary from the state, life goes on like this, people are more modern and civilized, and there is a more educated social structure than certain other places. Life is good when they have the security of having America behind them and no problems making ends meet. Tropical climate, heavy showers, the sun from behind, greenery everywhere, life springing from the soil. During the pandemic, this is the first country to close its borders and the last to open it, and we are among the first foreigners to arrive after the pandemic. When it was completely closed to the outside, no Covid cases were seen. We spend our day, wandering around the city center and coastal areas. A calm, peaceful, green country. We are celebrating New Year’s Eve with the last people in the world to enter the year 2023 in American Samoa, which is the westernmost part of the date line. First, celebration and dinner with champagne and beautiful music. As we said American, the portions are also American, one portion for three people. People are devouring the huge plate and adding dessert on top, they are all like sumo wrestlers. None of them seem to care about being chubby. We are the first foreigners to come here after the pandemic, and when we said that we were Turks, the winds of brotherhood started to blow. The last celebration is at the hotel, we are trying to start 2023 well and have a great time! In this case, while we were the first in the world to enter 2023 last night, here we are the last in the world to enter 2023. We are going back to Fiji in the morning, “back to future”, we are back, but the date has already become 02 January 2023 before we live.

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In the Pacific Ocean, we saw Fiji, the Kingdom of Tonga, Vanuatu, the Republics of Samoa and American Samoa in the Polynesia and Melanesia regions. We came here from Turkey in the east direction, we continue in the east direction. Departing from Fiji, we will return to Turkey via America and Los Angeles.

While we were 9 hours ahead of Turkey in Fiji, when we crossed the date line in the east direction again and crossed into the western hemisphere, time reversed and we started to be behind Turkey in terms of time difference. This time, in America, we were 11 hours behind Turkey. Which date is which day is completely confused, now we readjust our clocks almost every day. How can we, as children of a country that cannot manage daylight saving, adapt to all these time changes! We have lost the concept of time, sometimes we do not even agree on what day and date we are, anyway, we have come to the end of the road, we will get used to the current time.

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All 30 thousand islands in the Pacific Ocean are considered to be in the Oceania continent and are divided into three regions: Polynesia, Melanesia and Micronesia. These are places where western tourists rarely visit. We had the opportunity to visit some of the prominent island countries in the Melanesia and Polynesia region. Except for a very few, all of them were colonies of western countries for many years in the past. As such, they moved away from their own traditions and culture and adopted the religion, language and culture of the occupying states. It is known that in some of the hard-to-reach islands of these countries, which consist of more than one island, there are still communities and tribes living with their own traditions and cultures, disconnected from the world.

Since these are places where tourists and foreigners do not come often, it may take time for some infrastructure and services to be established. A world where the concept of time is not very important in the flow of life.

Being close to the equator, the state of not working, that is, being lazy, caused by the hot and humid weather is very obvious, and as such, these are places where there is no production. In other words, people here seek to live without working hard and producing, and then they become close to the culture, language and religion of the countries that control and help them. The dominant language is English, and the songs listened to are generally American music.

Since we set out on the road, we always went east. If you always go in the same direction, you come to the same point again, we realized that the world is round.

Countries of people far from our world, living within themselves, with their own truths. Friendly people who welcome you with flowers despite struggling with economic and social difficulties.

The end of an era.

Best regards

Hayrettin Kaknici

31 December 2022 – January 2023