Here are the 2 biggest islands of Samoa, Savai' i and Upolu. With 7 other islets, they constitute a Polynesian state, independent since 1962.
Before 1997, these islands were called Western Samoa, in contrast with American Samoa , unincorporated territory of the United States located to the east in the Pacific Ocean.
On September 29th, 2009, Samoa have lived an earthquake followed by a destuctive tsunami.