Samoa profile - Timeline
- Published
A chronology of key events
A monument in Mulinu'u marks Germany's annexation of Samoa
1722 - Dutch navigator Jacob Roggeveen is the first European to explore Samoa.
1830 - London Missionary Society arrives in Samoa.
1899 - Germany annexes Western Samoa (now called the Independent State of Samoa, or just Samoa), the US takes over eastern Samoa (American Samoa) and Britain withdraws its claim to the islands in accordance with treaty between Germany, Britain and the US.
1914 - New Zealand occupies Western Samoa during World War I and continues to administer it after the war by virtue of a League of Nations mandate (and a United Nations mandate after World War II).
1928 - New Zealand authorities shoot dead 11 members of the mau passive resistance movement.
Samoa is regarded by some as the cradle of Polynesian culture
1939-45 - US troops stationed in Western Samoa during World War II, but no battles are fought on the islands.
Independence
1962 - Western Samoa becomes independent, the first Pacific island nation to do so.
1990 - Voters narrowly approve universal suffrage for parliament and increase the legislature's term from three to five years; 10,000 people are left homeless by Cyclone Ofa.
1997 - Western Samoa changes its name to Samoa, a move which causes some tension with American Samoa.
1998 - Government imposes stringent restrictions on media freedom.
2000 - Two former cabinet ministers are sentenced to death for the murder of a fellow politician who had threatened to expose a corruption scandal, but the death sentences are commuted.
2001 March - Prime Minister Tuila'epa Sailele Malielegaoi is re-elected for a second term after a his Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP) wins a narrow majority in a tight election.
2002 June - At a ceremony marking 40 years of Samoan independence, New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark formally apologises to Samoa for its poor treatment of Samoan citizens in colonial times.
Beach fales: Samoan buildings, large or small, are known as fales
2004 February - Australia says it will give Samoa $7m to help train its security forces.
2006 April - Prime Minister Tuila'epa's ruling HRPP wins parliamentary elections.
2007 March - The rights group Mau Sitiseni prepares to take its fight for most indigenous Samoans to be granted New Zealand citizenship to the UN.
Republic
2007 May - King Malietoa Tanumafili II dies aged 94, after 45 years on the throne. He was appointed king for life at independence in 1962. He was the world's third-longest reigning monarch.
Samoa becomes republic. Parliament elects former PM Tuiatua Tupua Tamasese Efi head of state.
A tsunami triggered by an undersea earthquate destroyed coastal settlements in 2009
2008 December - Eleven independent MPs form opposition Tautua Samoa Party (TSP).
2009 September - Samoa switches to driving on the left, bringing it in line with other South Pacific countries and becoming the first country since the 1970s to change the side of the road on which cars are driven.
Tsunamis caused by a powerful earthquake in the Pacific kill more than 200 people in Samoa, also hitting American Samoa and Tonga.
2011 March - Governing Human Rights Protection Party wins landslide victory in parliamentary elections.
Dateline skip
2011 December - Samoa "skips" a day at the end of the year, going straight from 29 to 31 December and jumping westward across the international dateline to bring it in line with its main trade partners, Australia and New Zealand.
2012 May - Samoa joins the World Trade Organisation.
2013 June - Constitution amended to create parliamentary quota system designed to ensure that after next election, women will hold at least 10% of seats in the 49-seat parliament or Fono. The law stipulates that if fewer than five women are elected, enough additional seats will be automatically created to raise the female Fono membership to five. The additional seats will be awarded to unsuccessful female candidates who received the highest number of votes.
2016 March - Prime Minister Tuila'epa's ruling HRPP wins parliamentary elections with increased majority, taking all but two of the seats in the 49-member Fono. Only four women are elected, so an extra seat is created for the next-in-line female candidate, taking the number of seats up to 50.
2019 Autumn-Winter - Measles outbreak kills over 63 people, mostly young children, partly blamed on false information about vaccinations. Samoa declares a state of emergency and makes vaccinations compulsory.