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Samoan Culture
According to archaeological evidence, Samoan people are Polynesians who have migrated from the West, (the East Indies, the Malay Peninsula or the Philippines). The oldest known site of human occupation in Samoa is Mulifanua on Upolu dating back to about 1000 BC (about 3,000 years ago). This site is associated with Lapita people who left many pieces of broken Lapita pottery.
The first European to discover Samoa was Jacob Roggeveen, a Dutchman, who sighted the islands in 1722 whilst searching for the great unknown southern continent.
By far the most important agents of change in Samoa (who have had a profound influence on Samoan culture and society) were the Western missionaries. The missionary influence on Samoan life was so strong, that we are now a devoutly religious people with much time and resource devoted to church activities.
Immediately after the outbreak of World War I, Britain persuaded New Zealand to seize Samoa, which at the time had been under German regime since the Berlin Treaty was established in 1889. New Zealand administered Samoa from 1918 up to the day of our independence in January 1962, making Samoa the first independent Island Nation in the South Pacific.
Samoa is a traditional society with a distinctive Polynesian cultural heritage. Our wish to preserve this traditional lifestyle, provides one of the most enticing principal attractions for tourists. Traditional authority is vested in the Matai, or chief, of the village. Each extended family or aiga has at least one Matai at its head, who is appointed by consensus of the aiga. Ownership of customary land is legally vested in the Matai who directs the economic, social and political affairs of the aiga.
There are 362 villages in Samoa with a total of 18,000 matai's. Citizens 21 years and over, vote for 45 matai members of the Legislative Assembly in national elections, with a further two seats under the individual voters roll.
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