Samoa celebrates its Independence Day on June 1.
The country's independence was proclaimed on January 1, however, the celebration was moved to June 1 in order to avoid high concentration of public holidays in the beginning of the year.
The first Europeans arrived on the archipelago in the early 18th century.
The United States, Great Britain and Germany sought to take control over the Samoan Islands.
This led to the Samoan crisis of 1887—1889.
As a result, the archipelago was divided into German Samoa and American Samoa.
During the First World War, German Samoa was seized and occupied by New Zealand.
After the war, Germany relinquished its claim to Western Samoa.
The islands were administered by New Zealand as a League of Nations Mandate, and after the Second World War as a UN trusteeship.
On January 1, 1962, Western Samoa became the first independent small-island country in the Pacific.
It was renamed Samoa (officially the Independent State of Samoa) in 1997.
