Talk:Flag of Samoa

Flag colour meaning

I am doing a presentation... and I have been searching the internet for like every to know what the colors of the Samoa flag stand for! That includes the white, red coloring, the blue coloring, and what do the stars represent? I was told it represents 5 islands in Upolu... but now I'm not sure because someone else told me it is a map of how Samoa used to be before the islands split... ask me about that there, I have no idea... but I'm leaning more to the "it represents 5 islands in Upolu."

GiNNy

Its just the southern cross. nothing more, look at australia for example.

Earlier flag

The flag of German Samoa was not the first Samoan flag. In the 19th century, a nominally independent Samoan kingdom was recognised by Germany, the UK and the US. There was a Samoan flag by 1873, described as "a red flag with a white star". (see mention here, p.20) Aridd (talk) 19:51, 3 November 2008 (UTC)

NZ occupation

Samoa was under NZ military occupation, not "the control of NZ-forces".Royalcourtier (talk) 06:00, 11 March 2016 (UTC)

GA review

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

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This review is transcluded from Talk:Flag of Samoa/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Nominator: Yue (talk · contribs) 00:24, 1 July 2026 (UTC)

Reviewer: AdobongPogi (talk · contribs) 07:06, 1 July 2026 (UTC)

Interesting article. I will review this within a week. AdobongPogi ^{masarap 🍛} 07:05, 1 July 2026 (UTC)

My review focuses only on areas of the article that I believe would benefit from improvements or recommendations. Any aspects not mentioned below appear satisfactory and do not require, means passed Y AdobongPogi ^{masarap 🍛} 00:26, 4 July 2026 (UTC)

Good Article review progress box

Criteria:

1a. prose (Y)
1b. MoS (Y)
2a. ref layout (Y)
2b. cites WP:RS (Y)
2c. no WP:OR (Y)
2d. no WP:CV (Y)

3a. broadness (Y)
3b. focus (Y)
4. neutral (Y)
5. stable (Y)
6a. free or tagged images (Y)
6b. pics relevant (Y)

Lead

• The lead is informative, although it gives relatively detailed coverage of the nineteenth-century flags. Per WP:LEAD, consider shortening that discussion and placing greater emphasis on the current national flag.

• Consider replacing "The smaller fifth star was added the following year" with "A smaller fifth star was added in 1949" for greater precision.

• "Initially designed" appears unnecessary because the following sentence already explains the later modification to the flag.

Prose

• There is some repeated wording throughout the article, particularly:
  • "bearing five white five-pointed stars"
  • "bearing four white five-pointed stars"
  • "arranged to resemble the Southern Cross"

Consider varying the wording where practical to improve readability.

• There are several consecutive sentences beginning with "The flag was...". Varying sentence structure would improve the prose.

• "stipulates protocols and regulations in regard to the handling of the flag" could be simplified to "establishes protocols governing the use of the flag."

Design and symbolism

• The legislative quotation is appropriate, but the introductory sentence could read more naturally, for example:

  "The schedule to the Official Flag and National Anthem of Samoa Act 1994 specifies the dimensions and placement of the flag's elements."

• "While the act does not officially assign significance to the flag's symbols or colours..." might read more smoothly as:

  "The Act does not assign official symbolism to the flag's colours or design elements..."

History

• Consider adding a sentence, if supported by reliable sources, explaining why the fifth star was added in 1949 rather than simply stating that it was added.

• Likewise, if reliable sources discuss why a local flag was introduced in 1948 before independence in 1962, that context would further strengthen the historical narrative.

References

• Please verify that:
  • archive URLs are functioning;
  • citation formatting is consistent across all references.

(I recommend merging sources 1, 4, and 6 into source 11, since they cite the same material.)

Images

• Please verify that all files on Wikimedia Commons have accurate source details such as (File:Flaggenhissung Samoa.jpg).

Overall

(On hold). The article appears to satisfy most of the Good Article criteria. My comments are largely copyediting and manual of style suggestions rather than substantive concerns. Once the prose has been polished and the minor points above addressed, I believe the article would be well positioned to meet the Good Article criteria. GL!

@AdobongPogi: Hello! Thanks for doing this review. I made these edits based on your feedback. Let me know if I missed anything or if you'd like to see further improvements. Yue🌙 (talk) 03:25, 6 July 2026 (UTC)

I have seen your changes, and everything else in the section seems fine to me. But since one of the image file I had suggested has already been archived, there is one thing I am concerned about. Is (File:Flag of Samoa (construction sheet).svg) which was obtained from the Flag and National Anthem of Samoa Act 1994, is still available to access or not? AdobongPogi ^{masarap 🍛} 04:33, 6 July 2026 (UTC)

@AdobongPogi: Fixed. Yue🌙 (talk) 08:10, 6 July 2026 (UTC)

Nice. I only have a few optional suggestions for future improvement. These are not required for GA status, so it's entirely up to you whether you decide to work on them.

• In case there are reliable sources about the matter, it would be interesting to add some information regarding the guidelines on the use of the flag to the "Protocol" section.
• In case there is any information about the reasoning behind adding the fifth star in 1949, it would be a good addition to the article.

Again, these are only suggestions for future development. Well done! Y AdobongPogi ^{masarap 🍛} 08:58, 6 July 2026 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Did you know nomination

The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. Track your hook after promotion. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by NewAccount7295 (talk) 01:49, 27 July 2026 (UTC)

(

• Comment or view
• Article history

)

Flag of Samoa

• ... that the flag of Samoa (pictured) derived its colours and design elements, including its Southern Cross, from the flag of New Zealand?

• Source: Smith, Whitney (16 February 2001). "Flag of Samoa". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Archived from the original on 16 July 2020. Retrieved 6 July 2026. A local flag for these islands was developed that reflected the New Zealand flag in its red-white-blue colours, Southern Cross constellation, and field-and-canton design. Introduced on May 26, 1948, the new Samoan flag was red with four white stars on a blue canton; on February 24, 1949, a fifth star was added.

• • ALT1: ... that the Southern Cross in the flag of Samoa (pictured) initially had four stars instead of five because the design was based on that of the flag of New Zealand? Source: Same as ALT0.
  • Reviewed: Template:Did you know nominations/Nicolas Mathieu (writer)

Improved to Good Article status by Yue (talk). Number of QPQs required: 1. Nominator has 54 past nominations.

Yue🌙 (talk) 22:16, 6 July 2026 (UTC).

• New enough (Good Article on the same day), long enough, well sourced, no obvious copyright violations. The nominator has reviewed another nomination. I think both hooks are interesting and are supported by the source. The photo is not copyrighted and suits the hook perfectly. Edward056686 (talk) 01:35, 7 July 2026 (UTC)