The History of the Samoan Tattoo

There is no documented date or written background of how and when the Samoan Tattoo, or Tatau, originated, because of the fact that back in Polynesia well even before the Europeans had arrived, every event was spoken by word of mouth.

There was no form of writing or transcribing, it was all by word of mouth until the missionaries arrived, the first being in the the early 1800's by various denominations,eg - Wesley/Togan missionaries, Tahiti missionaries, etc.