Editing Samoa (section)

==History==
{{Main|History of Samoa}}

===Geological history===
The islands of Samoa were formed from the [[Miocene]] period. For the past 2 million years, the Samoan archipelago has experienced activity related to [[Samoa hotspot|volcanic hotspots]].<ref name="HartCoetzee">{{cite journal|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/222556459|last1=Hart|first1=S.R.|last2=Coetzee|first2=M|last3=Workman|first3=R|last4=Blusztajn|first4= Jerzy|title=Genesis of the Western Samoa seamount province: Age, geochemical fingerprint and tectonics|journal=Earth and Planetary Science Letters|year=2004|volume=227 |issue=1–2 |page=38|doi=10.1016/j.epsl.2004.08.005|bibcode=2004E&PSL.227...37H }}</ref>

===Early history===
Samoa was discovered and settled by the [[Lapita people]] (Austronesian people who spoke [[Oceanic languages]]), who travelled from [[Island Melanesia]]. The earliest human remains found in Samoa are dated to between roughly 2,900 and 3,500 years ago. The remains were discovered at a Lapita site at [[Mulifanua]], and the scientists' findings were published in 1974.<ref name=green>{{cite journal |url=http://www.jps.auckland.ac.nz/document/Volume_98_1989/Volume_98,_No._3/New_information_for_the_Ferry_Berth_site,_Mulifanua,_Western_Samoa,_by_H._M._Leach,_p_319-330/p1 |title=New Information for the Ferry Berth Site, Mulifanua, Western Samoa |first1=Roger C. |last1=Green |first2=Helen M. |last2=Leach |journal=Journal of the Polynesian Society |volume=98 |issue=3 |year=1989 |pages=319–330 |access-date=30 January 2011 |archive-date=4 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220704062837/http://www.jps.auckland.ac.nz/document/Volume_98_1989/Volume_98,_No._3/New_information_for_the_Ferry_Berth_site,_Mulifanua,_Western_Samoa,_by_H._M._Leach,_p_319-330/p1?page=0&action=searchresult&target= |url-status=live }}</ref> The Samoans' origins have been studied in modern times through scientific research on Polynesian [[genetics]], [[linguistics]], and [[anthropology]]. Although this research is ongoing, a number of theories have been proposed. One theory is that the original Samoans were [[Austronesian peoples|Austronesians]] who arrived during a final period of eastward expansion of the Lapita peoples out of Southeast Asia and [[Melanesia]] between 2,500 and 1,500 BCE.<ref>The Political Economy of Ancient Samoa: Basalt Adze Production and Linkages to Social Status (Winterhoff 2007)</ref>

Intimate sociocultural and genetic ties were maintained between Samoa, Fiji, and Tonga, and the archaeological record supports oral tradition and native genealogies that indicate interisland voyaging and intermarriage among precolonial Samoans, [[Fijians]], and [[Tongans]]. Notable figures in Samoan history included the [[Tui Manu'a]] line, Queen [[Salamasina]], [[Falefa|King Fonoti]] and the four ''tama a ʻāiga'': [[Malietoa]], [[Tupua Tamasese]], [[Mataʻafa]], and [[Tuimalealiʻifano]]. [[Nafanua]] was a famous woman warrior who was deified in ancient Samoan religion and whose patronage was highly sought after by successive Samoan rulers.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |editor1-last=Suaalii-Sauni |editor1-first=Tamasailau M. |editor2-last=Tuagalu |editor2-first=I'uogafa |editor3-last=Kirifi-Alai |editor3-first=Tofilau Nina |editor4-last=Fuamatu |editor4-first=Naomi |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1057446674 |title=Su'esu'e manogi in search of fragrance : Tui Atua Tupua Tamasese Ta'isi Efi and the Samoan indigenous reference |date=November 2017 |publisher=Huia Publishers |isbn=978-1-77550-296-8 |oclc=1057446674 |access-date=17 June 2020 |archive-date=18 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200618025906/http://worldcat.org/oclc/1057446674 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Today, all of Samoa is united under its two principal royal families: the Sā Malietoa of the ancient Malietoa lineage that defeated the Tongans in the 13th century; and the Sā Tupua, Queen Salamasina's descendants and heirs who ruled Samoa in the centuries that followed her reign. Within these two principal lineages are the four highest titles of Samoa – the elder titles of Malietoa and Tupua Tamasese of antiquity and the newer Mataʻafa and Tuimalealiʻifano titles, which rose to prominence in 19th-century wars that preceded the colonial period.<ref name=":1" /> These four titles form the apex of the Samoan matai system as it stands today.

Contact with Europeans began in the early 18th century. [[Jacob Roggeveen]], a Dutchman, was the first known non-Polynesian to sight the Samoan islands in 1722. This visit was followed by French explorer [[Louis Antoine de Bougainville]], who named them the Navigator Islands in 1768. Contact was limited before the 1830s, which is when British [[missionaries]] of the London Missionary Society, whalers, and traders began arriving.<ref>{{Cite book |title=International Dictionary of Historic Places, Volume 5: Asia and Oceania |publisher=Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers |year=1996 |isbn=1-884964-04-4 |editor-last=Schellinger |editor-first=Paul |location=Chicago |pages=724 |editor-last2=Salkin |editor-first2=Robert}}</ref>

===19th century===
Visits by American trading and [[whaling]] vessels were important in the early economic development of Samoa. The [[Salem, Massachusetts|Salem]] brig ''Roscoe'' (Captain Benjamin Vanderford), in October 1821, was the first American trading vessel known to have called, and the ''Maro'' (Captain Richard Macy) of [[Nantucket]], in 1824, was the first recorded United States whaler at Samoa.<ref>Rhys Richards, (1992), ''Samoa's forgotten whaling heritage; American whaling in Samoan waters 1824-1878'', Wellington, Lithographic Services, pp.18-20.</ref> The whalers came for fresh drinking water, firewood, provisions and, later, for recruiting local men to serve as crewmen on their ships. The last recorded whaler visitor was the ''Governor Morton'' in 1870.<ref>Langdon, Robert (1984) ''Where the whalers went; an index to the Pacific ports and islands visited by American whalers (and some other ships) in the 19th century'', Canberra, Pacific Manuscripts Bureau, p.215. {{ISBN|086784471X}}</ref>

Christian missionary work in Samoa began in 1830 when [[John Williams (missionary)|John Williams]] of the [[London Missionary Society]] arrived in [[Sapapali'i]] from the [[Cook Islands]] and [[Tahiti]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Watson |first=R.M. |title=History of Samoa: THE ADVENT OF THE MISSIONARY. (1830.1839) |year=1919 |pages=Chapter III |url=http://www.samoa.co.uk/books/history-of-samoa/history-of-samoa-3.html |no-pp=true |access-date=27 November 2007 |archive-date=3 May 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110503192826/http://www.samoa.co.uk/books/history-of-samoa/history-of-samoa-3.html |url-status=live }}</ref> According to Barbara A. West, "The Samoans were also known to engage in 'headhunting', a ritual of war in which a warrior took the head of his slain opponent to give to his leader, thus proving his bravery."<ref>West, Barbara A. (2008). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=pCiNqFj3MQsC Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Asia and Oceania] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170324213507/https://books.google.com/books?id=pCiNqFj3MQsC |date=24 March 2017 }}''. Infobase Publishing. p. 704. {{ISBN|0-8160-7109-8}}</ref>

In ''[[A Footnote to History: Eight Years of Trouble in Samoa]]'' (1892), [[Robert Louis Stevenson]] details the activities of the [[great power]]s battling for influence in Samoa&nbsp;– the United States, Germany and Britain&nbsp;– and the political machinations of the various Samoan factions within their indigenous political system.<ref name="rlssite">{{cite web |url=http://www.robert-louis-stevenson.org/other-writing/22-footnote-to-history |title=A Footnote to History: Eight Years of Trouble in Samoa, 1892 |publisher=RLS website |access-date=January 23, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150109161424/http://www.robert-louis-stevenson.org/other-writing/22-footnote-to-history |archive-date=January 9, 2015}}</ref><ref name=":0">Stevenson, Robert Louis (1892). ''[http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/536 A Footnote to History: Eight Years of Trouble in Samoa] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210506083402/https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/536 |date=6 May 2021 }}'' at Gutenberg. {{ISBN|978-1847187598}}</ref> Even as they descended into ever greater interclan warfare, what most alarmed Stevenson was the Samoans' economic innocence. In 1894, just months before his death, he addressed the island chiefs:

{{Blockquote|text=There is but one way to defend Samoa. Hear it before it is too late. It is to make roads, and gardens, and care for your trees, and sell their produce wisely, and, in one word, to occupy and use your country&nbsp;... if you do not occupy and use your country, others will. It will not continue to be yours or your children's, if you occupy it for nothing. You and your children will in that case be cast out into outer darkness.}}

He had "seen these judgments of God" in [[Hawaiian Kingdom|Hawaii]], where abandoned native churches stood like tombstones "over a grave, in the midst of the white men's sugar fields".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lang |first1=Andrew |title=The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson Vol 25, Appendix II |date=1911 |publisher=Chatto and Windnes |location=London |url=https://www.readcentral.com/mobile/chapters/Andrew-Lang/The-Works-of-Robert-Louis-Stevenson-Vol-25/011 |access-date=23 October 2020 |archive-date=27 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201027055506/https://www.readcentral.com/mobile/chapters/Andrew-Lang/The-Works-of-Robert-Louis-Stevenson-Vol-25/011 |url-status=live }}</ref>
[[File:3 Samoan girls making ava 1909.jpg|thumb|left|Studio photo depicting preparation of the [[Samoa 'ava ceremony]] {{Circa|1911}}]]
[[File:Urville-Apia-public.jpg|thumb|left|Interior of Samoan house, Apia, Urville 1842]]
[[File:Robert Louis Stevenson birthday fete, Samoa 1896.jpg|thumb|[[Robert Louis Stevenson]]'s birthday fete at Vailima, 1894]]

The Germans, in particular, began to show great commercial interest in the [[Samoan Islands]], especially on the island of Upolu, where German firms monopolised [[copra]] and [[cocoa bean]] processing. The United States laid its own claim, based on commercial shipping interests in Pearl Harbor in [[Hawaii]] and Pago Pago Bay in eastern Samoa, and forced alliances, most conspicuously on the islands of [[Tutuila]] and [[Manu'a]], which became [[American Samoa]].

Britain also sent troops to protect British business enterprise, harbour rights, and consulate office. This was followed by an [[Samoan Civil War|eight-year civil war]], during which each of the three powers supplied arms, training and in some cases combat troops to the warring Samoan parties. The [[Samoan crisis]] came to a critical juncture in March 1889 when all three colonial contenders sent warships into Apia harbour, and a larger-scale war seemed imminent. A massive storm on 15 March 1889 damaged or destroyed the warships, ending the military conflict.<ref>{{cite book |author=Stevenson, Robert Louis |title=A Footnote to History: Eight Years of Trouble in Samoa |year=1892 |publisher=BiblioBazaar |isbn=978-1-4264-0754-3 |title-link=A Footnote to History: Eight Years of Trouble in Samoa}}</ref>

The [[Second Samoan Civil War]] reached a head in 1898 when [[German Empire|Germany]], the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|United Kingdom]], and the United States were locked in dispute over who should control the Samoan Islands. The [[Siege of Apia]] occurred in March 1899. Samoan forces loyal to Prince [[Malietoa Tanumafili I|Tanu]] were besieged by a larger force of Samoan rebels loyal to [[Mata'afa Iosefo|Mataʻafa Iosefo]]. Supporting Prince Tanu were landing parties from four British and American warships. After several days of fighting, the Samoan rebels were finally defeated.<ref>Mains, P. John; McCarty, Louis Philippe (1906). The Statistician and Economist: Volume 23. p. 249</ref>
[[File:Samoan Paramount chief Mataafa Iosefa, 1896.jpg|left|thumb|upright|[[Mata'afa Iosefo|Mataʻafa Iosefo]] (1832–1912), paramount chief and rival for the kingship of Samoa]]
[[File:Escorting Tanumafili I.jpg|thumb|The joint commission of [[German Empire|Germany]], the United States and [[British Empire|Great Britain]] abolished the Samoan kingship in June 1899.]]
[[File:Lauaki Namulau'ulu Mamoe (standing 3rd from left with orator's staff) and other chiefs aboard German warship taking them to exile in Saipan, 2909.jpg|right|thumb|Exiled orator Lauaki Namulauʻulu Mamoe (standing third from left with orator's staff) and other chiefs aboard German warship taking them to exile in Saipan, 1909]]

American and British warships shelled Apia on 15 March 1899, including the [[USS Philadelphia (C-4)|USS ''Philadelphia'']]. Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States quickly resolved to end the hostilities and divided the island chain at the [[Tripartite Convention (1899)|Tripartite Convention of 1899]], signed at Washington on 2 December 1899 with ratifications exchanged on 16 February 1900.<ref name=GHR>Ryden, George Herbert. ''The Foreign Policy of the United States in Relation to Samoa''. New York: Octagon Books, 1975. (Reprint by special arrangement with Yale University Press. Originally published at New Haven: Yale University Press, 1928), p. 574</ref><ref name=":022">{{Cite book |last=Pedersen |first=Susan |author-link=Susan Pedersen (historian) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tu2kCQAAQBAJ |title=The Guardians: The League of Nations and the Crisis of Empire |date=2015 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-957048-5 |pages=169–192 |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199570485.001.0001 |access-date=19 March 2023 |archive-date=4 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404151951/https://books.google.com/books?id=tu2kCQAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref>

The eastern island-group became a territory of the United States (the Tutuila Islands in 1900 and officially Manu'a in 1904) and was known as American Samoa. The western islands, by far the greater landmass, became [[German Samoa]]. The United Kingdom had vacated all claims in Samoa and in return received (1) termination of German rights in [[Tonga]], (2) all of the Solomon Islands south of Bougainville, and (3) territorial alignments in West Africa.<ref>Ryden, p. 571</ref>

===German Samoa (1900–1914)===
[[File:Funeral of Tamesese.jpg|thumb|Chiefs from all around Samoa mourning the 1929 death of Mau Movement leader, Tupua Tamesese Lealofi III, after the Black Saturday killings by NZ soldiers]]
{{Main|German Samoa}}
The [[German Empire]] governed the western part of the Samoan archipelago from 1900 to 1914. [[Wilhelm Solf]] was appointed the colony's first governor. In 1908, when the non-violent [[Mau movement|Mau a Pule]] resistance movement arose, Solf did not hesitate to banish the Mau leader [[Lauaki Namulauulu Mamoe|Lauaki Namulau'ulu Mamoe]] to Saipan in the German [[Northern Mariana Islands]].<ref>[http://www.zum.de/whkmla/region/pacific/wsamoa18991918.html World History at KMLA] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131217013354/http://www.zum.de/whkmla/region/pacific/wsamoa18991918.html |date=17 December 2013 }}, zum.de</ref>

The German colonial administration governed on the principle that "there was only one government in the islands."<ref>Lewthwaite, Gordon R. "Life, Land and Agriculture to Mid-Century," in ''Western Samoa''. Edited by James W. Fox and Kenneth Brailey Cumberland. Christchurch, New Zealand: Whitcomb & Tombs Ltd. 1962, p. 148</ref> Thus, there was no Samoan ''Tupu'' (king), nor an ''alii sili'' (similar to a governor), but two ''Fautua'' (advisors) were appointed by the colonial government. ''Tumua'' and ''Pule'' (traditional governments of Upolu and Savai'i) were for a time silent; all decisions on matters affecting lands and titles were under the control of the colonial Governor.

In the first month of [[World War I]], on 29 August 1914, troops of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force landed unopposed on Upolu and [[Occupation of German Samoa|seized control]] from the German authorities, following a request by Great Britain for New Zealand to perform this "great and urgent imperial service."<ref>{{cite news |title=New Zealand goes to war: The Capture of German Samoa |url=http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/war/new-zealand-goes-to-war-first-world-war |work=nzhistory.net.nz |access-date=27 November 2007 |archive-date=14 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161114222018/http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/war/new-zealand-goes-to-war-first-world-war |url-status=live }}</ref>

===New Zealand rule (1914–1961)===
{{Main|Western Samoa Trust Territory}}
From the end of [[World War I]] until 1962, New Zealand controlled Western Samoa as a [[Western Samoa Trust Territory|Class C Mandate]] under [[trusteeship]] through the [[League of Nations]],<ref name=":022" /><ref>{{cite news |title=Imperialism as a Vocation: Class C Mandates |url=http://www.jamesrmaclean.com/archives/archive_vocational_imperialism.html |access-date=27 November 2007 |archive-date=25 August 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070825102909/http://www.jamesrmaclean.com/archives/archive_vocational_imperialism.html |url-status=usurped }}</ref> then through the United Nations. Between 1919 and 1962, Samoa was administered by the [[Department of Island Territories (New Zealand)|Department of External Affairs]], a government department which had been specially created to oversee New Zealand's Island Territories and Samoa.<ref name="External Affairs Bill 1919">"External Affairs Bill", in ''New Zealand Parliamentary Debates'', Vol. 185 (3 October–5 November 1919), p.337.</ref> In 1943, this department was renamed the [[Department of Island Territories (New Zealand)|Department of Island Territories]] after a separate [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs (New Zealand)|Department of External Affairs]] was created to conduct New Zealand's foreign affairs.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Templeton |first1=Malcolm |title=An Eye, An Ear, and a Voice: 50 Years in New Zealand's External Relations, 1943–1993 |date=1993 |publisher=Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade |location=Wellington |page=1}}</ref> During the period of New Zealand control, their administrators were responsible for two major incidents.

====Flu pandemic====
In the first incident, approximately one fifth of the Samoan population died in the [[Influenza epidemic of 1918|influenza epidemic of 1918–1919]].<ref>{{cite news |title=The 1918 flu pandemic |url=http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/culture/influenza-pandemic |work=NZHistory.net.nz |access-date=26 November 2007 |archive-date=27 September 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927010718/http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/culture/influenza-pandemic |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=":022" />

In 1918, during the final stages of [[World War I]], the [[Spanish flu]] had taken its toll, spreading rapidly from country to country. On Samoa, there had been no epidemic of pneumonic influenza in Western Samoa before the arrival of the [[SS Talune|SS ''Talune'']] from [[Auckland]] on 7 November 1918. The NZ administration allowed the ship to berth in breach of quarantine; within seven days of this ship's arrival, influenza became epidemic in Upolu and then spread rapidly throughout the rest of the territory.<ref name=Wendt>{{Cite news |title=Guardians and Wards: (A study of the origins, causes, and the first two years of the Mau in Western Samoa.) |url=http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-WenGua-c2.html |author=Albert Wendt |access-date=20 March 2008 |archive-date=6 July 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080706155117/http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-WenGua-c2.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Samoa suffered the most of all Pacific islands, with 90% of the population infected; 30% of adult men, 22% of adult women and 10% of children died.<ref>{{cite journal |title=The Influenza Epidemic of 1918-19 in Western Samoa |last1=Tomkins |first1=Sandra M. |journal=Journal of Pacific History |volume=27 |issue=2 |year=1992 |pages=181–197 |doi=10.1080/00223349208572706 |jstor=25169127}}</ref> The cause of the epidemic was confirmed in 1919 by a [[Royal Commission]] of Inquiry into the Epidemic concluded that there had been no epidemic of pneumonic influenza in Western Samoa before the arrival of the ''Talune'' from Auckland on 7 November 1918.<ref name=Wendt/>

The pandemic undermined Samoan confidence in New Zealand's administrative capacity and competence.<ref name=":022" /> Some Samoans asked that the rule of the islands be transferred to the Americans or the British.<ref name=":022" />

====Mau movement====
The second major incident arose out of an initially peaceful protest by the [[Mau movement|Mau]] (which literally translates as "strongly held opinion"), a non-violent popular pro-independence movement which had its beginnings in the early 1900s on Savai'i, led by [[Lauaki Namulauulu Mamoe]], an orator chief deposed by Solf. In 1909, Lauaki was exiled to [[Saipan]] and died en route back to Samoa in 1915.

By 1918, Western Samoa had a population of some 38,000 Samoans and 1,500 Europeans.<ref>{{cite news |title=Wartime administration – capture of German Samoa |url=http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/war/capture-of-samoa/administration |work=NZHistory.net.nz |access-date=18 October 2010 |archive-date=24 May 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100524060134/http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/war/capture-of-samoa/administration |url-status=live }}</ref>

However, native Samoans greatly resented New Zealand's colonial rule, and blamed inflation and the catastrophic 1918 flu epidemic on its misrule.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hiery |first1=Hermann |year=1992 |title=West Samoans between Germany and New Zealand 1914–1921 |journal=War and Society |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=53–80 |doi=10.1179/072924792791198986}}</ref> By the late 1920s the resistance movement against colonial rule had gathered widespread support. One of the Mau leaders was [[Olaf Frederick Nelson]], a half Samoan and half Swedish merchant.<ref>{{DNZB|title=Nelson, Olaf Frederick 1883 – 1944|last=Laracy|first=Hugh|id=4N5 |access-date=29 June 2011}}</ref> Nelson was eventually [[exile]]d during the late 1920s and early 1930s, but he continued to assist the organisation financially and politically. In accordance with the Mau's non-violent philosophy, the newly elected leader, High Chief Tupua Tamasese Lealofi, led his fellow uniformed Mau in a peaceful demonstration in downtown Apia on 28 December 1929.<ref>{{cite news |title=The Mau Movement |url=http://www.globaled.org.nz/comm/documents/GlobalBits_Parihaka_000.pdf |access-date=27 November 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071127054637/http://www.globaled.org.nz/comm/documents/GlobalBits_Parihaka_000.pdf |archive-date=27 November 2007}}</ref>

The New Zealand police attempted to arrest one of the leaders in the demonstration. When he resisted, a struggle developed between the police and the Mau. The officers began to fire randomly into the crowd and used a [[Lewis machine gun]], mounted in preparation for the demonstration, to disperse the demonstrators.<ref>{{cite book |author=Field, Michael |title=Black Saturday: New Zealand's tragic blunders in Samoa |publisher=Reed Publishing (NZ) |location=Auckland, N.Z. |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-7900-1103-5}}</ref> Mau leader and paramount chief [[Tupua Tamasese Lealofi III]] was shot from behind and killed while trying to bring calm and order to the Mau demonstrators. Ten others died that day and approximately 50 were injured by gunshot wounds and police batons.<ref>{{cite news |title=History and migration: Who are the Samoans? |url=http://www.teara.govt.nz/NewZealanders/NewZealandPeoples/Samoans/1/en |work=Ministry for Culture and Heritage / Te Manatū Taonga |access-date=27 November 2007 |archive-date=14 June 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090614111823/http://www.teara.govt.nz/NewZealanders/NewZealandPeoples/Samoans/1/en |url-status=live }}</ref> That day would come to be known in Samoa as Black Saturday.

On 13 January 1930, the New Zealand authorities banned the organisation. As many as 1500 Mau men took to the bush, pursued by an armed force of 150 marines and seamen from the [[light cruiser]] [[HMS Dunedin|HMS ''Dunedin'']], and 50 military police. They were supported by a seaplane flown by Flight Lieutenant [[Sidney Wallingford]] of the [[New Zealand Permanent Air Force]]. Villages were raided, often at night and with fixed bayonets. In March, through the mediation of local Europeans and missionaries, Mau leaders met New Zealand's Minister of Defence and agreed to disperse.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |date=2020 |title=New Zealand in Samoa, pp. 7–8 |url=https://nzhistory.govt.nz/politics/samoa |access-date=2022-12-12 |website=nzhistory.govt.nz |language=en |archive-date=12 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221212085257/https://nzhistory.govt.nz/politics/samoa |url-status=live }}</ref>

Supporters of the Mau continued to be arrested, so women came to the fore rallying supporters and staging demonstrations. The political stalemate was broken following the victory of the Labour Party in New Zealand's 1935 general election. A 'goodwill mission' to Apia in June 1936 recognised the Mau as a legitimate political organisation, and Olaf Nelson was allowed to return from exile.<ref name=":2" /> In September 1936, Samoans exercised for the first time the right to elect the members of the advisory ''[[Fono of Faipule]]'',<ref>[https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-312543610/view?partId=nla.obj-312598495#page/n9/mode/1up Restless Samoan Mau] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221214215458/https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-312543610/view?partId=nla.obj-312598495#page/n9/mode/1up |date=14 December 2022 }} ''Pacific Islands Monthly'', October 1936, p8</ref> with representatives of the [[Mau movement]] winning 31 of the 39 seats.<ref name="PIM1">[https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-315282345/view?partId=nla.obj-315297578#page/n30/mode/1up "A Step Towards Self-Government"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221214215454/https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-315282345/view?partId=nla.obj-315297578#page/n30/mode/1up |date=14 December 2022 }} ''Pacific Islands Monthly'', September 1959, p29</ref>

===Independence===
After repeated efforts by the Samoan independence movement, the New Zealand Western Samoa Act of 24 November 1961 terminated the Trusteeship Agreement and granted the country independence as the ''Independent State of Western Samoa'', effective 1 January 1962.<ref>[http://www.nzlii.org/nz/legis/hist_act/wsa19611961n68189/ Western Samoa Act 1961] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160105170711/http://www.nzlii.org/nz/legis/hist_act/wsa19611961n68189/ |date=5 January 2016 }} (24 November 1961; 1961 No 68). [http://www.worldlii.org/int/other/UNGA/1961/33.pdf Resolution 1626 (XVI) of 18 October 1961] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160107121323/http://www.worldlii.org/int/other/UNGA/1961/33.pdf |date=7 January 2016 }} of the [[United Nations General Assembly]].</ref><ref>[https://www.un.org/en/sections/un-charter/chapter-xii/ Chapter XII. International Trusteeship System] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170703122531/http://www.un.org/en/sections/un-charter/chapter-xii/ |date=3 July 2017 }}. Charter of the United Nations. legal.un.org</ref> Western Samoa, the first small-island country in the Pacific to become independent, signed a [[New Zealand–Samoa relations#Treaty of Friendship|Treaty of Friendship]] with New Zealand later in 1962. Western Samoa joined the [[Commonwealth of Nations]] on 28 August 1970. While independence was achieved at the beginning of January, Samoa annually celebrates 1 June as its independence day.<ref>"[http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/4202/celebration-of-samoas-independence-day Celebration of Samoa's Independence Day] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140602200524/http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/4202/celebration-of-samoas-independence-day |date=2 June 2014 }}", ''Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand.'' Retrieved 1 June 2014.</ref><ref>"[http://www.un.int/samoa/event/independence-day Independence Day] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140605052139/http://www.un.int/samoa/event/independence-day |date=5 June 2014 }}", United Nations. Retrieved 1 June 2014.</ref>

At the time of independence, [[Fiamē Mataʻafa Faumuina Mulinuʻu II]], one of the four highest-ranking [[paramount chief]]s in the country, became Samoa's first [[Prime Minister of Samoa|prime minister]]. Another paramount chief, [[Tuiaana Tuimalealiʻifano Suatipatipa II]], was admitted to the [[Council of Deputies]];<ref name="PIM2">[https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-333446652/view?partId=nla.obj-333560905#page/n103/mode/1up T.T. Suatipatipa II] ''Pacific Islands Monthly'', September 1974, p102</ref> the remaining two – [[Tupua Tamasese Meaʻole]] and [[Malietoa Tanumafili II]] – became joint heads of state for life.<ref name="1960 Constitution">{{cite web |title=Constitution of the Independent State of Western Samoa 1960 |url=http://www.paclii.org/ws/legis/consol_act/cotisows1960535/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070708171858/http://www.paclii.org/ws/legis/consol_act/cotisows1960535/ |archive-date=8 July 2007 |access-date=28 December 2007 |publisher=University of the South Pacific |df=dmy-all}}</ref>

On 15 December 1976, Western Samoa was admitted to the [[United Nations]] as the 147th [[Member states of the United Nations|member state]]. It asked to be referred to in the United Nations as the ''Independent State of Samoa''.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://search.archives.un.org/uploads/r/united-nations-archives/a/5/8/a5839a368236c935b63e43f930c35ede5935eec012fbc67f557a810d73b37250/S-0904-0070-0013-00001.PDF |title=General Assembly admits Western Samoa as 147th United Nations member state |date=15 December 1976 |page=2 |publisher=United Nations |access-date=3 June 2022 |archive-date=4 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220704062824/https://search.archives.un.org/uploads/r/united-nations-archives/a/5/8/a5839a368236c935b63e43f930c35ede5935eec012fbc67f557a810d73b37250/S-0904-0070-0013-00001.PDF |url-status=live }}</ref>

Travel writer [[Paul Theroux]] noted marked differences between the societies in Western Samoa and [[American Samoa]] in 1992.<ref>{{cite book |author=Theroux, Paul |title=The Happy Isles of Oceania: Paddling the Pacific |publisher=G.P. Putnam's Sons (NZ) |location=New York, NY |year=1992 |isbn=978-0-618-65898-5}}</ref>

On 4 July 1997 the government amended the constitution to change the name of the country from ''Western Samoa'' to ''Samoa'',<ref>[http://www.paclii.org/ws/legis/num_act/caa21997295/ Constitution Amendment Act (No 2) 1997] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190417083335/http://www.paclii.org/ws/legis/num_act/caa21997295/ |date=17 April 2019 }}. Paclii.org. Retrieved on 9 November 2016.</ref> the name it had been called by in the United Nations since it joined.<ref name="U.S Embassy in Samoa" /> [[American Samoa]] protested against the name change, asserting that it diminished its own identity.<ref name="U.S Embassy in Samoa">{{cite web |title=Samoan History |url=https://ws.usembassy.gov/our-relationship/policy-history/samoan-history/ |website=U.S. Embassy in Samoa |access-date=17 January 2017 |archive-date=14 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414084415/https://ws.usembassy.gov/our-relationship/policy-history/samoan-history/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 2002, New Zealand prime minister [[Helen Clark]] formally apologised for New Zealand's role in the Spanish influenza outbreak in 1918 that killed over a quarter of Samoa's population and for the Black Saturday killings in 1929.<ref>{{cite news |title=New Zealand's apology to Samoa |url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=2044857 |work=[[The New Zealand Herald]] |date=4 June 2002 |access-date=16 December 2013 |archive-date=30 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190330221446/https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=2044857 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://192.54.242.122/details.php?table=doc_primary&id=164 |title=Prime Minister Helen Clark's Historic Apology}}</ref>

On 7 September 2009, the government changed the rule of the road from [[Left- and right-hand traffic|right to left]], in common with most other Commonwealth countries - most notably countries in the region such as Australia and New Zealand, home to large numbers of Samoans.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/sep/08/samoa-drivers-switch-left Samoa switches smoothly to driving on the left] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201108170757/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/sep/08/samoa-drivers-switch-left |date=8 November 2020 }}, [[Associated Press]], ''[[The Guardian]]'', 8 September 2009</ref> This made Samoa the first country in the 21st century to switch to driving on the left.<ref name="BBC">{{cite news |title=Samoa switches to driving on left |date=7 September 2009 |work=[[BBC News]] |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8243110.stm |access-date=7 September 2009 |archive-date=6 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181006120158/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8243110.stm |url-status=live }}</ref>

At the end of December 2011, Samoa changed its time zone offset from UTC−11 to UTC+13, effectively jumping forward by one day, omitting Friday, 30 December from the local calendar. This also had the effect of changing the shape of the [[International Date Line]], moving it to the east of the territory.<ref name="BBC IDL">{{cite news |title=Samoa to jump forward in time by one day |date=9 May 2011 |work=[[BBC News]] |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13330592 |access-date=9 May 2011 |archive-date=31 December 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111231024932/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13330592 |url-status=live }}</ref> This change aimed to help the nation boost its economy in doing business with Australia and New Zealand. Before this change, Samoa was 21 hours behind [[Sydney]], but the change means it is now three hours ahead. The previous time zone, implemented on 4 July 1892, operated in line with American traders based in [[California]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Samoa Sacrifices a Day for Its Future |last=Mydans |first=Seth |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/30/world/asia/samoa-to-skip-friday-and-switch-time-zones.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=29 December 2011 |access-date=16 February 2017 |archive-date=8 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210508014807/https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/30/world/asia/samoa-to-skip-friday-and-switch-time-zones.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In October 2021, Samoa ceased [[daylight saving time]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Samoa Scraps Daylight Saving Time (DST) |url=https://www.timeanddate.com/news/time/samoa-removes-dst.html |access-date=2021-10-11 |website=www.timeanddate.com |language=en |archive-date=11 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211011074903/https://www.timeanddate.com/news/time/samoa-removes-dst.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 2017, Samoa signed the UN [[treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=XXVI-9&chapter=26&clang=_en |title=Chapter XXVI: Disarmament&nbsp;– No. 9 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons |publisher=United Nations Treaty Collection |date=7 July 2017 |access-date=15 August 2019 |archive-date=6 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190806220546/https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=XXVI-9&chapter=26&clang=_en |url-status=live }}</ref>

In June 2017, Parliament amended Article 1 of the Samoan Constitution to make [[Christianity]] the state religion.<ref name="Religion"/><ref>{{cite news |last1=Feagaimaali’i-Luamanu |first1=Joyetter |title=Constitutional Amendment Passes; Samoa Officially Becomes 'Christian State' |url=http://www.pireport.org/articles/2017/06/08/constitutional-amendment-passes-samoa-officially-becomes-christian-state |access-date=16 June 2017 |publisher=Pacific Islands Report |date=8 June 2017 |archive-date=11 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201111223748/http://www.pireport.org/articles/2017/06/08/constitutional-amendment-passes-samoa-officially-becomes-christian-state |url-status=dead}}</ref>

In September 2019, a [[2019 Samoa measles outbreak|measles outbreak]] resulted in the deaths of 83 people. Following the outbreak, the government imposed a curfew in December later during the same year.

In May 2021, [[Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa]] became Samoa's first female prime minister. Mataʻafa's [[Faʻatuatua i le Atua Samoa ua Tasi|FAST]] party narrowly won the [[2021 Samoan general election|election]], ending the rule of long-term Prime Minister [[Tuilaʻepa Saʻilele Malielegaoi]] of the [[Human Rights Protection Party]] (HRPP),<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/samoa-set-appoint-first-female-prime-minister-2021-05-17/ |title=Samoa set to appoint first female prime minister |work=Reuters |date=17 May 2021 |access-date=27 June 2021 |archive-date=27 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210627231358/https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/samoa-set-appoint-first-female-prime-minister-2021-05-17/ |url-status=live }}</ref> although the [[2021 Samoan constitutional crisis|constitutional crisis]] complicated and delayed this. On 24 May 2021, she was sworn in as the new prime minister, though it was not until July that the Supreme Court ruled that her swearing-in was legal, thus ending the constitutional crisis and bringing an end to Tuilaʻepa's 22-year premiership. The FAST party's success in the 2021 election and subsequent court rulings also ended nearly four decades of HRPP rule.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2021/05/24/asia/samoa-election-uncertainty-intl-hnk/index.html |title=Pacific island swears in its first female PM in a tent after she is locked out of Parliament |work=[[CNN]] |last=Hollingsworth |first=Julia |date=25 May 2021 |access-date=27 June 2021 |archive-date=13 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210613135231/https://edition.cnn.com/2021/05/24/asia/samoa-election-uncertainty-intl-hnk/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref>