States of Oceania

Modern Palau (Micronesia) (Oceania)
AD 1981 - Present Day
Incorporating Heads of State (1981-2025), Aracolonians, Ngcheangel, Ngerchelong, Autonomous Republic (1981-1986), Trust Territory (1986-1994), & Independent Republic (1994-On)

Considered in some quarters to be a watery continent in its own right, Oceania starts where South-East Asia ends, to the south-east of Indonesia and East Timor. Its territory is somewhat debatable. That area of it which constitutes Micronesia, of which Palau is a part (known traditionally as Belau), consists of islands in the South Pacific which begin in the west with Palau.

Moving progressively eastwards, the rest includes the Northern Mariana Islands and Guam, the 'Federated States' of Micronesia, Nauru, the Marshall Islands, and the Gilbert Islands (which belong to Kiribati). Far to the north is Wake Island, also part of Micronesia.

Palau is formed by a group of over three hundred islands at the western end of the Caroline Islands (the greater portion of which forms Micronesia), around fifteen hundred kilometres to the east of the Philippines, 654 kilometres to the north of New Guinea, and 1,335 kilometres to the south-west of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands. Only eight islands are inhabited.

Palau consists of two regions, Eoueldaob and Babelthuap. The first includes the state of Koror whose chief (ibedul) is the highest chief in Eoueldaob, considering himself to be the highest ranking chief in Palau. Babelthuap is dominated by one main island, and it includes on its territory the states of Melekeok (whose chief is the island's high-king or lead chief), Ngcheangel (in northern Palau, having been documented in the 1830s), and Ngerchelong, a village which is ruled by a grand chief. Aracolonians were documented as being inhabitants of Ngerchelong in the 1830s.

A wave of Malays from Indonesia settled Palau around 1000 BC. They were followed by Melanesians from New Guinea, then Philippine natives, and finally Polynesians from other parts of Micronesia. A culturally distinct population settled the south-western area, arriving by canoe at Sonsorol from Ulithi Atoll. This group remains the only distinct minority.

It is thought that the Spanish were the first Europeans to sight two small islands of Palau, in 1522, thereby ending the region's Neolithic Oceania period. Spain claimed them in 1710, naming them the Enchanted Islands, and reasserted the claim in 1874. However, Spain never settled the islands. Occasionally after the 1780s, whalers and traders introduced diseases which greatly reduced the native population, and firearms which aggravated tribal warfare.

Germans established a trading station there in 1874 and laid down their own claim in 1885. They did put an end to tribal warfare though. The revolutionary government of Aguinaldo in the Philippines nominally laid claim to Palau in 1898, but the American occupation of the Philippines ended any pretence of ownership.

Germany assigned Palau to 'German New Guinea' in 1899, but Japan seized the island in 1914, during the First World War. Germany formally relinquished the islands at the end of the war which, along with the Caroline Islands and Northern Mariana Islands, became part of the League of Nations South Seas Islands mandate. Japan later formally annexed all of the islands.

During the Second World War's Battle of Peleliu in 1944, the United States captured Palau from Japan. It subsequently became part of the American 'Trust Territory' of the Pacific Islands in 1947, a United Nations trust territory. It became an autonomous republic within the trust territory in 1981.

When Micronesia and the Marshall Islands became independent in 1986, and the Northern Mariana Islands became an American commonwealth, the Pacific Islands trust territory was dissolved, leaving the republic of Palau as the sole remaining American trust territory.

On 1 October 1994 Palau became an independent republic. On 15 December of the same year, it was admitted into the United Nations. Palau has been the beneficiary of a 'Compact of Free Association' with the United States, which gives the islands certain privileges in its relationship with its former colonial power. The United States provides the country's defensive capability whilst it governs itself under a presidency and a democratically-elected bicameral national congress which consists of a senate and a house of delegates. A council of chiefs advises the president.

The island has a population of over eighteen thousand, mainly living in the largest city of Koror. The biggest employer is the government, but subsistence farming and fishing still exist, especially in rural areas. Government-issued licences bring in some income from offshore foreign tuna fishing. Tourism has increased in recent years, making Palau's economy one of the strongest in the region.

Far East Kingdoms

Oceania

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