Prior to the
First World War,
Samoa was a part of the
German colonial empire. German colonies used the flag of the
Imperial Colonial Office, which was the tricolour
flag of the German Empire defaced with the
Imperial Eagle. The Imperial German government intended to introduce specific flags for the colonies (also based on the tricolour) and several proposals were created, but the war and the subsequent loss of all overseas territories prevented their official adoption.
New Zealand occupied
German Samoa in 1914 and officially gained control of the territory in 1919. From the capture by New Zealand forces on 29 August 1914, a defaced ensign with three palm trees encircled, and emblazoned on the fly were used. The initial variation of the current Samoan flag adopted in 1948 depicted only four stars; a fifth smaller star was added to the flag in 1949. File:Flag of Samoa (1858-1873) as reported in the Flags of Paradise chart.svg|Flag of the
Kingdom of Samoa as depicted in the Flags of Paradise chart, similar to the
Ottoman flag (1858–1873) File:Flag of Samoa (1873-1875).svg|Flag of the Kingdom of Samoa (1873–1875) File:Flag of Samoa (1875-1879).svg|Flag of the Kingdom of Samoa (1875–1879) File:Flag of Samoa (1879).svg|Flag of the Kingdom of Samoa (1879–1887, 1889–1899). Flag was also used by the
Mau Movement File:Flag of Tuiaana line 1873-1887 1889-1900.svg|Flag of the Tui A‘ana dynasty in the Kingdom of Samoa (1875–1887, 1889–1900). File:Flag of Tupua Tamasesse 1887-1889.svg|Flag of the Tupua Tamasese in the Kingdom of Samoa (1887–1889) File:Reichskolonialflagge.svg|Flag of the German Colonial Office (1899–1914) File:Flaggenhissung Samoa.jpg|The German colonial flag is raised, 1 March 1900 File:Flag of Deutsch-Samoa.svg|Proposal for a separate flag for German Samoa, never adopted File:Flag of New Zealand.svg|The flag of New Zealand was used under the occupation by
NZ forces (1914–1920) File:Flag of the Samoa Trust Territory.svg|Official flag of
Western Samoa under
Mandate with New Zealand (17 December 1920 – 1 January 1962) File:Flag of Samoa (1948-1949).svg|Initial flag of
Western Samoa acquired but not approved (26 May 1948) File:Flag of Samoa.svg|Flag of Western Samoa, later renamed to Samoa (24 February 1949 – present) ==See also==