Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa (formerly known as Western Samoa), is a country governing the western part of the Samoan Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. It was admitted to the United Nations on 15 December 1976. The entire island group, inclusive of American Samoa, was known as Navigators Islands before the 20th century because of the Samoans' seafaring skills.

Contact then with Europeans began in the early 18th century. Jacob Roggeveen, a Dutchman, was the first European to sight the Samoan islands in 1722. This visit was followed by a French explorer by the name of Louis-Antoine de Bougainville, the man who named them the Navigator Islands in 1768.

Contact was limited before the 1830s which is when English missionaries and traders began arriving. Mission work in Samoa had begun in late 1830 by John Williams, of the London Missionary Society. By that time, the Samoans had gained a reputation of being savage and warlike, as they had clashed with French, British, German and American forces, who, by the late nineteenth century, valued Samoa as a refueling station for coal-fired shipping.

Aggie Grey's Hotel
Description

This hotel is one of the best known properties in the Pacific, largely due to the,
vibrant personality, drive and nature of its founder, the...

Hotel Kitano Tusitala
Location
Located beside the Pacific Ocean Esplanade, just 2 minutes walk to the bustling capital of Apia, in elegance and relaxation stands the Hotel Kitano Tusitala,...