Samoa history · History of Samoa
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History of Samoa
History of Samoa
Samoans originally arrived from Southeast Asia around 1500-1000 BC. The oldest known site of human occupation dates back to that time and is at Mulifanua on Upolu island.
In 1830 missionaries from the London Missionary Society, notably John Williams, arrived and Samoa rapidly embraced Christianity. More recently, Mormons (Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints) have constructed several sizeable churches.
By the end of the 19th Century Samoans had developed a reputation for being warlike, as fights had taken place between them and the British, Germans and Americans, who wanted to use Samoa as a refuelling station for coal-fired shipping and whaling and for commodities. On the
island of 'Upolu German firms monopolized copra and cocoa bean production, while the United States formed alliances with local chieftains, mainly on the islands to the east, which were later annexed to the USA as American Samoa and have not been granted Independence. Britain also sent troops to protect business interests. Germany, America and Britain supplied arms and training to warring Samoans, stoking tribal battles. All three sent warships into Apia harbour when, fortunately for Samoa, a large storm in 1889 damaged or destroyed the warships, ending the conflict.
An important arrival was Robert Louis Stevenson, the Scottish author, who travelled to the South Pacific for his health and settled in Samoa in the early 1890s. His house at Vailima in Upolu and his grave on the hill above it can be visited. Stevenson was known as "Tusitala" (teller of tales) and this name lives on in one of Apia's hotels.
In the early 1900s an Independence movement began on the island of Savai'i. Known as the Mau a Pule this had widespread support throughout the country by the late 1920s. Supporters wore a Mau uniform of a navy blue lavalava with a white stripe, which was later banned by the colonial administration. On 28 December 1929 the New Zealand military fired on a peaceful Mau procession, killing 11 Samoans. New Zealand had occupied the German protectorate of Western Samoa at the outbreak of World War I in 1914. It continued to administer the islands until 1962, when they became the first Polynesian nation in the 20th century to re-establish independence. The country dropped the "Western" (which distinguished it from American Samoa) from its name in 1997. It celebrates Independence Day on 1 June.
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Samoa Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.