Far East Kingdoms

Koror (Palau / Micronesia) (Oceania)
Incorporating Heads of State (1700s-2024)

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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, but the area which constitutes Micronesia consists of islands in the South Pacific which begin in the west with Palau and continue with Micronesia, Nauru, the Marshall Islands, and the Gilbert Islands (which belong to Kiribati).

Koror is a chiefdom and an island-state in the Eoueldaob region of Palau. It is also known as Oreor (the native word for 'a place of work'), and has the ritual name of Ngerekldeu. Palau's largest city, also known as Koror, is on the island of the same name and was Palau's capital until 2006. Koror is the island's commercial centre and houses the majority of the republic's population.

The name 'Koror' is derived from the native 'sureor', meaning 'somebody who does not want to take something'. According to a native legend about its creation, the children of the gods had been stealing the gods' wealth. One of the gods, Ucheleanged, decreed that the world would be flooded (yet another ancient flood story to rival that of Sumer).

A woman named Dirrabkau cooked a meal for the gods, introducing them to taro. They were so delighted that they provided her and her son with a raft to survive the coming flood. Their raft overturned and the woman died. The gods brought her back to life and renamed her Milad. She became the ancestor of all the islands of Palau. Her fourth son, Oreor (Koror) was the ancestor of the island of Koror.

Koror's chief has the title ibedul and is the highest chief in the Eoueldaob region. He considers himself the highest ranking chief in Palau as a whole. He is the head of the Idid clan, while also serving on the council of chiefs which advises the republic's president. Chiefs are selected by the highest-ranking matriarch of a clan.

Chiefs are the supreme authority for matters which relate to traditional law. Their authority has been greatly reduced since the introduction of elected state governors in 1981, when Palau's constitution was adopted.

Please note that the History Files does not regularly monitor changes in modern heads of state or their representatives. Get in touch here if this section requires updating.

Principal author(s): Page created: Page last updated:

(Information by John De Cleene and the John De Cleene Archive, with additional information from National Geographic (June 1995), and from External Links: Koror State Government, and Palau (Encyclopaedia Britannica), and Palau (Flags of the World), and Palau (Rulers.org), and Palau (World Statesmen), and PalauGov, and Prominent Palauan passes away in Taiwan (Taiwan English News).)

fl c.1710

Earliest-known chief of Koror on Palau.

fl 1700s

Chief of Koror.

fl 1700s

Chief of Koror.

fl 1700s

Chief of Koror.

1783? - 1791

Chief of Koror.

1791 - ?

Chief of Koror.

1700s / 1800s?

Chief of Koror.

fl 1800s

Chief of Koror.

? - 1867

Chief of Koror.

1867 - 1872

Chief of Koror.

1872 - ?

Chief of Koror.

1874 - 1885

Germans establish a trading station in Palau in 1874, and in 1885 they make a formal claim to possess Palau. They do put an end to tribal warfare though, with occasionally-visiting whalers and traders having introduced firearms alongside various diseases.

The Badrulchau stone monoliths can be dated to about AD 161, during Palau's 'Earthwork Era' (circa 450 BC-AD 850) and are part of the thirty-eight monoliths on the islands of Babledaob and Oreor (Koror), twenty-eight of which had human features

1883? - c.1900

Chief of Koror.

1898 - 1899

The revolutionary government of Aguinaldo in the Philippines nominally lays claim to Palau in 1898, but the American occupation of the Philippines ends any pretence of ownership of the islands. Germany assigns Palau to 'German New Guinea' in 1899.

? - 1911

Chief of Koror. Name unknown.

1911 - 1917

Chief of Koror.

1914 - 1918

Following the outbreak of the First World War, Japan seizes Palau from Germany in the same year. 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.

Japanese troops enter Haiphong in Vietnam as part of the empire's wartime expansion across the Pacific region until 1945

1917 - 1939

Chief of Koror.

1939 - ?

Chief of Koror.

1940 - 1947

During the Second World War's Battle of Peleliu in 1944, the United States captures Palau from Japan, which had already annexed the islands. Palau subsequently becomes part of the American 'Trust Territory' of the Pacific Islands in 1947, a United Nations trust territory.

1950? - 1956

Chief of Koror.

1956 - 1972

Chief of Koror.

1972 - 2021

Helped prevent nuclear presence in Palau. Died aged 77.

1981

Palau becomes an autonomous republic within the trust territory and it promulgates its own constitution. Yutaka Gibbons is instrumental in securing a constitutional prohibition on the use, storage, or disposal of nuclear weapons in Palau, but the republic's new constitution introduces elected governors at the expense of chiefly authority.

Yutaka Gibbons succeeded as paramount chief in 1972, while he was serving as a cook in the US Army, so the Palau legislature obtained his release from army service so that he could assume his duties as ibedul

1994

Palau becomes an independent republic on 1 October 1994. It becomes independent within 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 for the country's defence.

2022 - On

Brother. Chief of Koror.