Samoa (/səˈmoʊə/), officially the Independent State of Samoa (Samoan: Malo Saʻoloto Tutoʻatasi o Sāmoa; Samoan: Sāmoa, IPA: [ˈsaːmoa]) and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai’i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono and Apolima), and several smaller, uninhabited islands, including the Aleipata Islands (Nu’utele, Nu’ulua, Fanuatapu and Namua). The capital city is Apia. The Lapita people discovered and settled the Samoan Islands around 3,500 years ago. They developed a Samoan language and Samoan cultural identity.
Samoa is a unitary parliamentary democracy with eleven administrative divisions. The sovereign state is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations as a Commonwealth republic. Western Samoa was admitted to the United Nations on 15 December 1976.[8] Because of the Samoans’ seafaring skills, pre-20th-century European explorers referred to the entire island group (which includes American Samoa) as the “Navigator Islands.”[9][10] The country was occupied by the German Empire from 1899 to 1915, and by a joint British and New Zealand colonial administration until 1 January 1962, when it achieved independence.
In July 2017, Tuimalealiifano Va’aletoa Sualauvi II became the head of state, succeeding Tui Ātua Tupua Tamasese Efi. The Prime Minister Tuila’epa returned to power after a landslide victory in March 2016, beginning a fifth term as premier.[11]
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