Just saying that if this is "BS" or "inaccurate" let me know. Faafetai lava :)
American Samoa:
The Samoan islands were settled by Polynesians about as far back as 1000bce.
A Dutch navigator by the name of Jacob Roggeveen discovered Samoa in 1722 and other European explorers soon followed.
In 1878 the U.S. signed a treaty for the establishment of a naval station in Pago Pago Harbor.
However, an 1899 agreement was stated between colonial powers of influence:
Germany took control of the Western Islands while the U.S. took the Eastern Islands.
But by 1904 the eastern islands have ceded into the U.S. although U.S. Congress did not formally accept the deeds of cession until February 20, 1929.
American Samoa became a strategic naval base but, in 1951 control of the territory was transferred to the U.S. Department of interior. The U.S. Government appointed a governor who had the power to fully administer the territory and so, had some help.
By then the Samoans agitated for control of their countries affair's. And by 1977 a person named by Peter Coleman was first elected as American Samoa's governor.
Furthermore, in 1981 American Samoans for the first time voted for a nonvoting delegate to serve a two year term in the U.S. House of Rep.
[Option: Comment if you or your parents are from/born in American Samoa. And if so, comment the village.]
Independent State of Samoa
In 1830 an explorer by the name of Reverend John Williams arrived to Savai'i. He saw how the Christian Gospel had impacted on the Samoan life.
As the years of war were past, the Samoan archipelago were divided as stated above -
Germans taking Western islands and Americans taking Eastern islands (American Samoa)
Soon after the outbreak of WW1, New Zealand captured Western Samoa from the German Company that was stationed on the islands.
As the following end of the war took administrative control on behalf of the United Nations from 1918 until they took independence on the 1st of January 1962.
It was now known that Western Samoa became the first Pacific Island to gain Independence.
Soon from 1962 to 1997, the nation was now known as 'Western Samoa', until the "Western" title from the name was dropped to become the "Independent State of Samoa" (or maybe just Samoa)
As of now, Samoa celebrates its Independence every year of each June.
[Option: Comment if you or your parents were born in Samoa. If so comment the Village.]
Dec. 10, 2017 Updated
So, I just edited this chapter of this book because I wanted to do more research on this and to put out any information. Comment if anything is wrong or you just wanted to add anything on here. Thank you to everyone for the support. Much alofa and blessings.
Sili <3
