 Western Samoa was ruled by Germany as German Samoa from 1900 to 1914 with Apia as capital.In August 1914, the Occupation of German Samoa by an expeditionary force from New Zealand started.New Zealand then governed the islands as the Western Samoa Trust Territory from 1920 until independence in 1962 – firstly as a League of Nations Class C Mandate and after 1945 as a United Nations Trust Territory.