Samoa (officially the Independent State of Samoa) consists of two main islands, Savai’i and Upolu as well as 4 smaller islands. The country is situated in the Pacific Ocean east of northern Queensland, and north of Tonga. The capital is Apia. In 1900, the eastern islands became part of the United States and the western islands became part of Germany. From 1918 until 1962, western Samoa was controlled by New Zealand. In 1962, it became the first small-island country to become independent. In July 1997, the name was changed from western Samoa to Samoa. American Samoa protested, as it had always been known as Samoa. When looking at an atlas, the islands are referred to as Samoa (independent) and American Samoa. Christianity is a state religion of (western) Samoa.

Samoa issued its first stamps in 1877. The stamps were inscribed “Samoa Express”. Subsequently these stamps were reprinted and forged. In 1886, Germany opened a post office in Samoa and used stamps of the German Empire. In that year with New Zealand support, a competing service was set up servicing mainly British and American interests. These stamps were withdrawn in 1899 when Germany annexed Samoa. The first stamps were overprinted “Samoa” and appeared in 1900. German stamps were used until 1919. Stamps of the New Zealand administration were replaced by those of independent Samoa in 1962. In American Samoa, stamps of the United States are used today.