Palau

Palau, officially the Republic of Palau, is an island country in the Micronesia subregion of Oceania in the western Pacific Ocean. The Republic of Palau consists of approximately 340 islands and is the western part of the Caroline Islands, while the eastern and central parts make up the Federated States of Micronesia.

It has a total area of 466 square kilometers (180 sq mi), making it the sixteenth smallest country in the world. The most populous island is Koror, home to the country's most populous city of the same name. The capital, Ngerulmud, is located on the largest island of Babeldaob, in Melekeok State. Palau shares maritime boundaries with international waters to the north, the Federated States of Micronesia to the east, Indonesia to the south, and the Philippines to the northwest.

The country was originally settled approximately 3,000 years BP by migrants from Maritime Southeast Asia. Palau was first drawn on a European map by the Bohemian missionary Paul Klein based on a description given by a group of Palauans shipwrecked on the Philippine coast on Samar. The Palau islands were made part of the Spanish East Indies in 1885. Following Spain's defeat in the Spanish–American War in 1898, the islands were sold to Germany in 1899 under the terms of the German–Spanish Treaty, where they were administered as part of German New Guinea.

After World War I, the islands were made a part of the Japanese-ruled South Seas Mandate by the League of Nations. During World War II, skirmishes including the major Battle of Peleliu were fought between American and Japanese troops as part of the Mariana and Palau Islands campaign. Along with other Pacific Islands, Palau was made a part of the United States-governed Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands in 1947. Having voted in a referendum against joining the Federated States of Micronesia in 1978, the islands gained full sovereignty in 1994 under a Compact of Free Association with the United States.

Politically, Palau is a presidential republic in free association with the United States, which provides defense, funding, and access to social services. Legislative power is concentrated in the bicameral Palau National Congress. Palau's economy is based mainly on tourism, subsistence agriculture, and fishing, with a significant portion of gross national product (GNP) derived from foreign aid. The country uses the United States dollar as its official currency. The islands' culture mixes Micronesian, Melanesian, Asian, and Western elements. Ethnic Palauans, the majority of the population, are of mixed Micronesian, Melanesian, and Austronesian descent. A smaller proportion of the population is of Japanese descent. The country's two official languages are Palauan (a member of the Austronesian language family) and English, with Japanese, Sonsorolese, and Tobian recognized as regional languages.

The name for the islands in the Palauan language, Belau, derives from the Palauan word for "village", beluu (thus ultimately from Proto-Austronesian *banua), or from aibebelau ("indirect replies"), relating to a creation myth. The name "Palau" originated in the Spanish Los Palaos, eventually entering English via the German Palau. An archaic name for the islands in English was the "Pelew Islands". The name of the country "Palau" is most likely not derived from the Malay word Pulau (island), despite the similarity in its word form.

Bourbon Spain (Spanish East Indies) 1710–1785
Kingdom of Spain (Spanish East Indies) 1785–1808
Napoleonic Spain (Spanish East Indies) 1808–1813
Kingdom of Spain (Spanish East Indies) 1813–1873
First Spanish Republic (Spanish East Indies) 1873–1874
Kingdom of Spain (Spanish East Indies) 1873–1899
First Philippine Republic January 23–February 12, 1899
German Empire (German New Guinea) 1899–1914
Empire of Japan (South Seas Mandate) 1914–1944
United States 1944–1962
United Nations (Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands) 1947–1965
United Nations (Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands) 1965–1979
Federated States of Micronesia 1979–1981
Palau 1981–present

Palau was originally settled between the 3rd and 2nd millennia BCE by Austronesian peoples, most likely from what is now the Philippines or Indonesia. Sonsorol was sighted by the Spanish as early as 1521, when the Spanish mission of the Trinidad, the flagship of Ferdinand Magellan's voyage of circumnavigation, sighted two small islands around the 5th parallel north, naming them "San Juan".