European history begins with the discovery by the Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen who sighted the islands in 1722 and the French de Bougainville who was the first to land in 1768. European involvement accelerated in the mid 19th Century with missionaries and traders. Britain, Germany and the USA all had interests in the Samoan islands and in the 1870s reached a tripartite power sharing arrangement. Needless to say it was not too successful. War was averted in 1889 by a hurricane which sank six warships in Apia harbour. In the treaty of Berlin the three powers agreed to Samoa's independence and neutrality but friction remained.
In 1899 Britain relinquished its interests in Samoa to Germany in return for German assets and interests in West Africa, New Hebrides and elsewhere in the Pacific, even though Britain boasted the largest number of colonialists. Samoa though had come to epitomize the German dream for an empire rivaling Britain's (due mainly to the death of some German soldiers in a skirmish with the Samoans) and it was prepared to relinquish much to gain control. The USA also still had its interests, which were partly strategic since in the days of steamships the deep-sea harbour at Pago Pago was a valuable coaling station. Thus in 1899 (typically, without consulting the Samoans) the three powers anulled the Berlin treaty and the islands were annexed by Germany and the USA. The USA took the islands east of the 171 degree meridian including Tutuila, with the harbour at Pago Pago, and the Manua group. This lead to what is now known as American Samoa. Germany took the Western islands including the politically dominant island of Upolu and the largest island, Savaii, and the minor islands of Manono and Apolima.
New Zealand and Australia though were deeply suspicious of a German colony so "close" (the islands are 2,900 km NE of New Zealand) and when World War I broke out in 1914 New Zealand's first act was to send a small contingent to seize the islands --- which it managed without difficulty as there were no German troops there to oppose them. Interestingly, the German Pacific fleet sailed by a few days later but the commander considered that the real war was in Europe and decided he had better things to do than waste time with a few pesky New Zealanders. He continued on his way.
After the War ended, New Zealand retained control and in 1920 was given a League of Nations mandate to govern the islands.
New Zealand's administration was not always benevolent however and through the 1920s was characterized by neglect. After a devastating influenza epidemic in 1918 wiped out 20% of the population the Samoans petitioned Britain to take over direct control from New Zealand but nothing happened. During the 1920s the Mau movement for independence grew and some tragic deaths occurred in 1929 during a (reputedly) peaceful street demonstration when New Zealand troops opened fire. The situation improved somewhat when the Labour Party gained power in New Zealand in 1935, promising in their campaign to give the islands a better deal.
After World Way II New Zealand continued administering the islands as a United Nations trust territory. A limited Council of State and parliament (Fono) was established in 1947.
Western Samoa finally won independence on January 1st 1962 after a referendum in 1961 approved a United Nations sponsored constitution for Samoan style parliamentary government. It was the first Polynesian state to free itself of colonialism.
(American Samoa is still an unincorporated US territory. Since the Americans provide heaps of money, and American Samoans can move to the mainland US, there is little opposition to continued US control, though the Samoans did win the right to elect their own governor in 1977.)
In the 1960s, when unemployment in New Zealand was very low there was a concerted effort to encourage islanders to move there to perform the menial tasks that New Zealanders were reluctant to take on. As New Zealand's economy deteriorated, rising unemployment led to government moves to ship "overstayers" back to their islands. This resulted in the infamous "dawn raids" of the 1970s when island overstayers were singled out by immigration authorities and islanders were stopped at random in the streets and asked for their passports. Charges of racism fortunately brought a halt to the 5am visits and random street checks. However, immigration authorities pursued their clamp down on overstayers.
[Need to check this stuff out.] In a famous case in 1980? a Miss Lesa (prounced LeSAH) appealed her overstayer conviction all the way to the Privy Council in Britain --- which was at that time still New Zealand's highest court of appeal. In a decision that deeply embarrassed the New Zealand government, she won. The British law Lords based their decision on somewhat technical grounds related to New Zealand's League of Nation's mandate and New Zealand's adoption of the Statute of Westminster in 1947. Prior to this New Zealand had been a Dominion of Britain, since 1907, and its residents were simply British citizens. Now it was able to grant its own citizenship. Those in New Zealand, or Samoa, in 1947 automatically became New Zealand citizens. In effect the decision meant that every person born in Samoa between 1920 and 1947 was automatically a New Zealand citizen. In a state of little less than panic the NZ government, apparently fearing that all of Samoa would board the next plane for New Zealand, passed emergency legislation confirming Miss Lesa's NZ citizenship and granting NZ citizenship to all(?) other Samoans currently in New Zealand but abrogating citizenship for those Samoans in Samoa. As many as 10,000 (?) Samoans in New Zealand --- most legally but merely permanent residents --- were affected.
Current New Zealand immigration policy includes family reunion as grounds for admittance to New Zealand and Samoan immigration continues.
In the 1991 census, 68,565 persons identified themselves as Samoan. This constitutes 2% of the New Zealand population and is to be compared with the population of Samoa which was 165,000 in 1990. By far the majority live in the North Island; many in Auckland which has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world.
(One should not conclude from this that Samoa has the closest relationship of the Island states with New Zealand. The Cook Islands, Niue and Tokelau are much more intimately affiliated but their populations are much smaller and so Samoans are the largest Pacific Island group in New Zealand.)
A central element of Samoan society is the extended family, known as the aiga. There is no limit to how far this reaches and basically includes every remembered relationship. While family obligations diminish as the connection becomes remote, Samoans will commonly know their third cousins and quite possibly some fourth or even fifth ones. In former times family lineage was traced back tens of generations.
Whenever a family event such as a wedding or death occurs then the aiga will call in contributions from its members so that the burden is shared. Many Samoan families in New Zealand continue this tradition and quite a few habitually send money back to family in Samoa. (Overseas remittances are a major item in the Samoan economy.)
Thus NZ Samoans retain close ties with relatives back in Samoa.
And so it is that when a NZ Samoan excells in rugby they are regarded as "own sons" by all of Samoa and these same NZ Samoans retain considerable affection for the home of their ancestors.
Sometime about ten years ago (?) it seems that Samoan rugby authorities decided to actively scout the Samoan community in New Zealand for talent for their national team. Their success at the 1991 World Cup is a direct result of this policy. Most members of the current Samoan team were either born in New Zealand or have lived there for many years --- after immigrating for reasons quite unrelated to rugby (e.g. their parents moved).
Naturally enough, Samoans growing up in New Zealand dream of becoming an All Black just like any other child in New Zealand. But they are getting approached by the Samoan selectors often before they are recognized by New Zealand's provincial selectors. Naturally enough they jump at the chance to play international rugby --- for a country too for which they have much affection and identify strongly with.
Most of the criticism comes when a few of these players turn out to be good enough for All Black selection --- something that only a rash person would predict when they first start playing for Samoa. Several of them then decide to seek what is frequently perceived as a higher honour.
The situation is therefore far more complex than someone simply discovering that they have an Irish grandmother.
To combat switches back and forth the New Zealand and Samoan unions toughened their qualification rules to insist that a player must declare himself for one country or another at the beginning of the season. But many in other countries were still not satisfied, claiming that the Samoan team was being used as a development squad by New Zealand --- a belief that doesn't actually gel with the reluctance of some NZ provincial selectors to pick Samoans, who might take off on a National Team commitment in mid-season. So in March 1994 the IRFB tightened their international eligibility rules to have the effect that a Samoan living in New Zealand who gets selected for Samoa cannot then play for New Zealand until a time of three years has passed.
Of course some are still not satisfied and consider that a player should never play for more than one country. While everyone is entitled to their opinions, this view is not consistent with the fact that many Samoans are entitled to dual citizenship quite apart from their being eligible, under IRFB rules, to play for more than one country. The IRFB rules recognize that rugby players are amateurs who move from one country to another for reasons quite unrelated to rugby and who may have multiple loyalties for quite genuine reasons. It just happens that in the case of Samoans in New Zealand there is a high concentration of players who meet IRFB criteria.
Contrary to widespread belief, there is no significant scouting of the Pacific Islands by New Zealand clubs for rugby talent. Indeed there is no mechanism under New Zealand's immigration laws that a rugby player could move to New Zealand solely to play rugby. On the contrary, one can find several examples of athletes whose potential to reap sporting honours for New Zealand has held absolutely no sway with New Zealand's immigration authorities. An example would be the Tongan loose forward, Willie Ofahengaue who attended school in New Zealand but was told by New Zealand to go home when he had finished. He soon ended up in Australia where he became a Wallaby and helped them defeat New Zealand in the semi-final of the 1991 World Cup.
The high proportion of Samoans in the All Blacks (roughly one third of the team?) can instead be attributed to their natural athleticism and the cultural value the Samoan community place on that. One can for example also find a relatively high proportion of American Samoans playing professional football in the USA.