High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Samoan Islands or Samoa Islands is an archipelago covering 3,030 km2 (1,170 sq mi) in the central South Pacific, forming part of Polynesia and the wider region of Oceania. The population of the Samoa Islands is approximately 250,000, sharing a common language, Samoan, and culture, known as fa'a Samoa. Due to colonialism, the Samoa Islands and people were divided by Western powers. It was also referred to by early European explorers as the Navigators' Islands. Today, politically there are two jurisdictions on the islands: The Independent State of Samoa, situated at the western half of the islands, gained political independence in 1962 American Samoa, an unincorporated territory of the United States consisting of the islands to the east.