Editing Politics of Samoa (section)

===Colonial period===

[[File:Colonel Robert Ward Tate, NZ Resident Commissioner of Western Samoa and retinue at Mulinu'u ca 1919-1923.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Colonel Robert Ward Tate, NZ Resident Commissioner of Western Samoa and retinue at [[Mulinuʻu]], c. 1919–1923]]

* 1860 – 1889 Governed by ''[[fa'amatai|Matai]]'', directed by American, British and German consuls.
* 1889 – 1899 governed conjointly by "Three Power Pact" signed in Berlin in 1899.
* 1889 – 1914 Western Samoa becomes a German colony; Eastern Samoa becomes an American Territory.
* 1914 – 1920 Western Samoa occupied by New Zealand Expeditionary Force when World War I starts.
* 1920 – 1945 Western Samoa held and administered by NZ under League of Nations Mandate.
* 1946 – 1962 Western Samoa administered by NZ under direction of UN Trusteeship Council.
* 1953 – NZ offers progressive plan towards self-government and the first Executive Council is established.
* 1954 – The Constitutional Convention accepts the NZ plan for self-government.
* 1957 – A New Executive Council established, the [[Fono of Faipule]] is abolished, Legislative Assembly reorganized and enlarged.
* 1958 – NZ Reparation Estates are handed over to Samoan control and renamed Western Samoan Trust Estates Corporation.
* 1960 – The Constitutional Convention with 174 delegates (including ten expatriates) begins process of independence.
* 1961 – Adult Samoans vote overwhelmingly in a UN sponsored plebiscite to become independent.
* 1 January 1962 – Western Samoa becomes an independent sovereign state.
* 1970 – Western Samoa becomes a member state of the [[Commonwealth of Nations]].