Samoan Timeline of Events. By B0B0 1000 BCE Polynesian Settlers Arrive in Samoa 200 Local pottery manufacturing ceased 1025 Started Colonizing to the central society islands 1721 The First European, Dutchman Jacob Roggeveen, sights the Samoan Islands 1820 A number of Europeans Settled in Samoa 1830 Christian Mission Period: 1886 to 1893 Samoan Civil War 1961 Samoa became independent and was first founded