Samoan Islands with black sand beaches. The highest peak is Mt. Silisili, on the island of Savai'i, one of the highest peaks in Polynesia at . The highest point in American Samoa is on Ta’u, Lata Mountain, at . The two large islands of Upolu and Savai'i in Samoa, are among the largest of Polynesian islands, at and , respectively, exceeded in size only by the two main islands of Fiji and the Hawaiian islands of Hawaiʻi and Maui. The island of Upolu is more populated than Savai'i. The next largest island is Tutuila, where the city and harbor Pago Pago (population
Hawaiian Islands the Earth's mantle. The islands are about from the nearest continent. Captain James Cook visited the islands on January 18, 1778 and named them the "Sandwich Islands" in honor of John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, who was one of his sponsors as the First Lord of the Admiralty. This name was in use until the 1840s, when the local name "Hawaii" gradually began to take precedence. The Hawaiian Islands have a total land area of . Except for Midway, which is an unincorporated territory of the United States, these islands and islets are administered as Hawaii—the 50th state of