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Asia and Oceania
Samoa |
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Last reviewed: 10 July 2009 |
Country information
History
Recent history
Samoa became the first South Pacific Island country to gain independence, on 1 January 1962. Samoa joined the UN in 1976. In 1997 Samoa changed its formal name from the Independent State of Western Samoa to the Independent State of Samoa.
Longer historical perspective
Before first European contact in the 1720s, the Samoan Islands experienced long periods of contact with both Tongans and Fijians. As with other Pacific Island groups, intermittent European visitations followed. The first major settlements of missionaries and traders took place in the 1830s. Samoa became a German colony in 1899 after a succession of wrangles between the UK, the USA and Germany.
New Zealand assumed control of Samoa following the outbreak of the First World War and the islands became a mandated territory of New Zealand under a League of Nations mandate. Between the wars there was a considerable agitation for the removal of foreign control over Samoan affairs. After the Second World War Samoa was administered by New Zealand as a UN trust territory, and measures were gradually introduced to prepare the islands for self-government.
BBC News Country Timeline: Samoa
