Territory gained political independence from New Zealand in 1962. It was known as the Navigator Islands, then German Samoa (Deutsch-Samoa) from 1900 to 1914, and as Western Samoa until July 4, 1997 when it declared itself the Independent State of Samoa. It became the first Polynesian nation to reestablish independence in the 20th century. Samoa is six-island territory with eleven administrative divisions.
In American Samoa, this country is still referred to as Western Samoa, a rejection of the name change seeming to imply sovereignty over all the Samoan islands.
