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Samoa :: Brief History
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The Flag of Samoa The National Emblem of Samoa
Capital CityCapital City: Apia


PopulationPopulation: 177,287


National HolidayNational Holiday: Independence Day Celebration, 1 June (1962)


National AnthemNational Anthem: Click here for anthem.


Brief History: Settled as early as 1000 BC, Samoa was "discovered" by European explorers in the 18th century. International rivalries in the latter half of the 19th century were settled by an 1899 treaty in which Germany and the US divided the Samoan archipelago.

Shortly after the outbreak of World War I, in August 1914, New Zealand sent an expeditionary force to seize and occupy German Samoa. This was to stop German Samoa being used a naval refuelling base in the Pacific. The German forces on the islands did not surrender, nor did they put up a fight.

German Samoa was renamed Western Samoa, New Zealand continued the occupation of Western Samoa throughout World War I. In 1919, under the Treaty of Versailles, Germany dropped its claims to the islands and they were granted to New Zealand as a mandate.

New Zealand administered Western Samoa under the auspices of the League of Nations and then as a United Nations trusteeship until the country received its independence on January 1, 1962 as Western Samoa, making it the first Polynesian nation to re-establish independence in the 20th century.
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