Independent State of Samoa

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Flag of Samoa Red with a blue rectangle in the upper hoist-side quadrant bearing five white five-pointed stars representing the Southern Cross constellation.

New Zealand occupied the German protectorate of Western Samoa at the outbreak of World War I in 1914. It continued to administer the islands as a mandate and then as a trust territory until 1962, when the islands became the first Polynesian nation to reestablish independence in the 20th century. The country dropped the "Western" from its name in 1997. - CIA World Factbook.

Samoa's Savage Symbols
Nothing better symbolizes what it means to be a Samoan male than the pe’a, the elaborate tattoo that is applied from mid-thigh to waist level.
www.pacificmagazine.net/issue/2003/04/01/samoas-savage-symbols

Talking Tattoos
The quest for identity marks the individual desire to be tattooed, and is a connection to the ancestral and cultural past.
www.abc.net.au/arts/artok/bodyart/s258279.htm

Samoa - Fotw
Construction of the flag, Naval Ensign.
www.fotw.us/flags/ws.html

Samoa - wikipedia.org
People from the Lau islands in Fiji and Tonga arrived on the Samoan islands approximately 3500 years ago and from there settled most of Polynesia. Each century people were either exiled or traveled from Tonga settling in Samoa due to loss of war, battle or allies.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samoa

Samoa - U.S. Department of State
Samoa consists of the two large islands of Upolu and Savai'i and seven small islets located about halfway between Hawaii and New Zealand in the Polynesian region of the South Pacific. The main island of Upolu is home to nearly three-quarters of Samoa's population and its capital city of Apia. The climate is tropical, with a rainy season from November to April.
        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 systems, and language, which is believed to be the oldest form of Polynesian speech still in existence. Only the Maoris of New Zealand outnumber the Samoans among Polynesian groups.
www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/1842.htm