History In 1768, French navigator, Louis de Bougainville, sighted the islands of Samoa calling them the "Navigator Islands" because he encountered many Samoans sailing small canoes far from the sight of the land and assumed they must be good navigators. By the late 1700s, European traders were plying the Pacific and around 1800 ships began to call at Samoa for supplies. By the early nineteenth century, some Europeans (i.e. escaped convicts, seamen and whalers) had settled in Samoa. However by far the greatest impact of change on the culture and society of Samoa was the arrival of the Western missionaries. The strong influence of the missionaries and their teachings, have made the Samoan people devoutly religious right up until today, with much time and resources devoted to church activities.
After the arrival of the missionaries and European traders, vast plantations producing copra and cotton were developed for export, and Apia soon became a major commercial centre in the South Pacific. But, by the late 1800s, internal strife amongst the Samoan chiefs, and power struggles between the then present opposing colonial powers of Germany, America and Britain, led to a period of instability. However, by 1899, after a treaty was signed by the three colonial powers, Western Samoa was annexed by Germany and the country prospered until Germany's expulsion by New Zealand forces at the oubreak of World War One. New Zealand administered tenuously thereafter, but Samoan discontent, headed by the Mau movement, and a desire for self government led to a referendum in 1961. In January 1962, after overwhelming support for freedom from foreign rule, Western Samoa became the first independent island nation in the South Pacific. | |
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