Palau - History

History

The archipelago is also known as "The Black Islands." Vintage maps and village drawings, as well as photos of the tattooed and pierced Ibedul of Koror and Lundee, can be found at the Australian Library Online listed in the external links section of this article.

Palau was originally settled between the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC, most likely via the Philippines or Indonesia. The islands sustained a population of short-statured Negrito or Pygmy people up until the 12th century, when they were replaced. The modern population, judging by its language, may have come from the Sunda Islands. Sonsorol, part of the Southwest Islands, an island chain approximately 600 kilometres (370 mi) from the main island chain of Palau, was sighted by Europeans as early as 1522, when the Trinidad, the flagship of Ferdinand Magellan's voyage of circumnavigation, sighted two small islands around the 5th parallel north, naming them "San Juan". British traders became prominent visitors in the 18th century, followed by expanding Spanish influence in the 19th century. Following its defeat in the Spanish-American War, Spain sold Palau and most of the rest of the Caroline Islands to Germany in 1899. Control passed to Japan in 1914 and during World War II the islands were taken by the United States in 1944, with the costly Battle of Peleliu between September 15 and November 25 when more than 2,000 Americans and 10,000 Japanese were killed. The islands passed formally to the United States under United Nations auspices in 1947 as part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands.

Four of the Trust Territory districts formed a single federated Micronesian state in 1979, but the districts of Palau and the Marshall Islands declined to participate. Palau, the westernmost cluster of the Caroline Islands, instead opted for independent status in 1978, approved a new constitution and became the Republic of Palau in 1981, and signed a Compact of Free Association with the United States in 1982. After eight referenda and an amendment to the Palauan constitution, the Compact was ratified in 1993. The Compact went into effect on October 1, 1994, marking Palau de jure independent, although it had been de facto independent since May 25, 1994, when the trusteeship was cancelled.

Legislation making Palau an "offshore" financial center was passed by the Senate in 1998. In 2001, Palau passed its first bank regulation and anti-money laundering laws.