Samoa is in the South Pacific, between Hawaii and New Zealand. It has two main islands: Upolu, where the capital Apia is, and Savai'i, the larger but less populated island. Samoa has warm weather all year and a rainy season from November to April. The islands were formed by volcanoes and have beautiful beaches, coral reefs, and waterfalls.
Samoa’s first people came from Southeast Asia about 3,000 years ago. Europeans arrived in the 1700s, and by the late 1800s, the islands were divided between Germany and the U.S. The U.S. took American Samoa, and Germany controlled Western Samoa. After World War I, New Zealand took over. Samoa became independent in 1962 and changed its name from Western Samoa to just Samoa in 1997.