Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa, is a country governing the western half of the Samoan Islands archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean. Previous names were Samoa from 1900 to 1919, and Western Samoa from 1914 to 1997. It was admitted to the United Nations on 15 December 1976 as Samoa. The entire island group, inclusive of American Samoa, was known as Navigators Islands before the 20th century because of the Samoans' seafaring skills.
The fa'a Samoa, or traditional Samoan way, remains a strong force in Samoan life and politics. Despite centuries of European influence, Samoa maintains its historical customs, social and political systems, and language. Samoans are a typically open, friendly, welcoming, and good-humoured people with great pride in their culture, traditions, history, and nationhood. Samoan hospitality and generosity are widely noted.
Samoans had gods of their own, as their mythological story of creation tells. At the head of the hierarchy of gods (aitu) was the supreme god called Tagaloaalagi, who dwelt in the 9th heaven. The Samoan culture is centred around the principle of vafealoa'i -the relationships- between people. These relationships are based on respect, or fa'aaloalo at the centre. At the time that Christianity was introduced in Samoa, most Samoan people converted. Currently 98% of the population identify themselves as Christian. The other 2 percent either identify themselves as unreligious, or do not belong to any congregation. Church or going to church is a strongly held value for Samoans, and usually, the only members of the population who do not attend a church on Sunday are preparing the Sunday meal.
Tourism is an expanding sector; more than 70,000 tourists visited the islands in 1996. The Samoan government has called for deregulation of the financial sector, encouragement of investment, and continued fiscal discipline. Observers point to the flexibility of the labor market as a basic strength for future economic advances.
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