On December 11th

In December 1787, Samoans killed twelve French sailors of La Pérouse’s expedition at Aʻasu—hence "Massacre Bay." The record dates it to 1787-12-11. The site's documented history is the record the rest of the file stands on. This belongs to the verified spine of the entry, the layer everything else is measured against. Sources including 'Aʻasu' carry the record. It anchors the timeline the rest of

On December 11, 1787, a shore party from La Perouse's expedition was attacked at A'asu — twelve French sailors killed, including the expedition's second-in-command. The French named it Massacre Bay; modern scholarship suggests the Samoans may have been responding to earlier violence. A monument marks where Pacific-European contact turned lethal.