Western Samoa

views updated Jun 11 2018

Western Samoa is a group of mountainous South Pacific islands with a population of about 165,000. Since 1962 they have been formed into an independent nation and joined the Commonwealth in 1970. The capital is Apia and the main crops are copra, cocoa, and bananas. In 1899 eastern Samoa was annexed by the USA, Western Samoa by Germany. In 1914 troops from New Zealand, 1,600 miles to the south, occupied Western Samoa and it became a New Zealand mandate in 1920.

J. A. Cannon