A Samoan family. Credit

Samoa is a country comprising a group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean. Previous names were German Samoa from 1900 to 1919, and Western Samoa from 1914 to 1997. It was admitted to the United Nations on 15 December 1976 (UN members) as Samoa. The entire group was known as Navigators Islands before the 20th century because of the Samoans' seafaring skills. It has a population of 176,710 (2001 census).