Interesting Fact

Samoa is officially called the Independent State of Samoa, formerly known as Western Samoa. The geographical region of Samoa (Samoan Islands) includes the island of American Samoa, to the east, which is a territory of the US. It was first inhabited in around 1000 BCE, and European contact first began in the early 1700s. Several nations have fought over the region since then. New Zealand controlled Samoa from the end of WWI as part of the League of Nations agreement. Western Samoa gained independence in 1962.

It has a total area of 2,842 sq km, a population of 194,000, and a medium HDI of 0.702.