Territory gained political independence from New Zealand in 1962. It was known as the Navigator Islands, German Samoa (Deutsch-Samoa) from 1900 to 1914, and the Territory of Western Samoa under New Zealand trusteeship from 1914 until the New Zealand Western Samoa Act of November 24, 1961 terminated the trusteeship agreement. The territory declared independence and called itself the Independent State of Western Samoa effective January 1, 1962. On July 4, 1997, it dropped "Western" and proclaimed itself "Malo Saʻoloto Tutoʻatasi o Sāmoa" (the Independent State of Samoa). Samoa was the first Polynesian nation to establish independence in the 20th century. Present-day Samoa is a six-island nation with eleven political districts (itūmālō).
The country of Samoa is still usually called Western Samoa by people in neighboring American Samoa.
