Samoan people
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 500,000–621,225 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 Samoa
|
194,320 |
 United States
|
184,440 |
 New Zealand
|
131,103 |
 American Samoa
|
55,519 |
 Australia
|
55,843 |
| Languages | |
| Samoan, English | |
| Religion | |
| Predominantly Christianity of Protestant denominations (chiefly Congregational Christians, Methodists, Latter-day Saints, and Assemblies of God) and also Roman Catholicism. Non-Christian minorities include the Bahá'í Faith and Islam. | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Māori, Fijians, other Polynesian peoples, Malays, Filipinos and other Austronesian People | |
The Samoan people are a Polynesian ethnic group of the Samoan Islands, sharing genetics, language, history and culture. As a result of colonialism, the home islands are politically and geographically divided between the country of Samoa, official name Independent State of Samoa (formerly Western Samoa until country name change in 1997) and American Samoa, an unincorporated territory of the United States.
Samoans living in Samoa in 2006 were estimated at 188,000. The majority of ethnic Samoans now reside in other countries, primarily in the United States (180,000 in 2012), New Zealand (115,000 in 2001) and Australia (55,843 in 2011).
Although the Samoan Natives (Tagata Māo‘i) have long claimed to be the indigenous people of their islands — holding firm to the belief that Samoans were birthed by special creation in Samoa — it has been theorized by many linguists and anthropologists, based on linguistic commonalities as well as archaeological findings, that migrants from Southeast Asia arrived in the Samoan Islands approximately 3500 years ago, settling in what has come to be known as Polynesia further to the east. This approximation is based on the Lapita pottery that has been dated to that time.
It is possible, as the natives suggest, that the Samoan Islands were settled some time before 1000 BC and that the original settlement predates the arrival of those to whom the pottery was culturally relevant. Furthermore, the Samoans have developed a language, culture, and social practice most divergent from the other ethnic groups associated with the Lapita pottery and the term "Austronesia".
Early contact with Europeans was established in the 18th century. Christianity was formally introduced with the arrival of L.M.S. Christian missionaries in August 1830.
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