Palau
Action At Angaur, Palau 1945 World War II Pacific Film
Documents the invasion and capture of Angaur Island (Palau group) by the 81st (“Wildcat”) Infantry Division in its first battle. In July 1944 the troops relax at Honolulu. Shows activities aboard a troop transport, including a ceremony at the Equator, en route to Guadalcanal for a practice landing in August. On Sept. 17 Angaur is invaded after a bombardment by ships and carrier planes. Contains many scenes of U.S. troops burning and blasting Japanese soldiers from their cave emplacements. Explains the tactics for securing “Suicide Hill.” Shows Gen. Robert Richardson. A Treasury Department trailer urges the purchase of war bonds.
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Palau (
i/pəˈlaʊ/, sometimes spelled Belau or Pelew), officially the Republic of Palau (Palauan: Beluu er a Belau), is an island country located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is geographically part of the larger island group of Micronesia. The country’s population of around 21,000 is spread across 250 islands forming the western chain of the Caroline Islands. The most populous island is Koror. The islands share maritime boundaries with Indonesia, Philippines and the Federated States of Micronesia. The capital Ngerulmud is located in Melekeok State on the nearby island of Babeldaob.
The country was originally settled around 3,000 years ago by migrants from the Philippines and sustained a Negrito population until around 900 years ago. The islands were first visited by Europeans in the 18th century, and were made part of the Spanish East Indies in 1885. Following Spain’s defeat in the Spanish–American Warin 1898, the islands were sold to Imperial Germany in 1899 under the terms of the German–Spanish Treaty, where they were administered as part of German New Guinea. The Imperial Japanese Navy conquered Palau during World War I, and the islands were later made a part of the Japanese-ruled South Pacific 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 against joining the Federated States of Micronesia in 1979, 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 currency. The islands’ culture mixes Japanese, Micronesian and Melanesian elements. The majority of citizens are of mixed Micronesian, Melanesian, and Austronesian descent, with significant groups descended from Japanese and Filipino settlers. The country’s two official languages are Palauan (member of the wider Sunda–Sulawesi language group) and English, with Japanese, Sonsorolese, and Tobian recognised as regional languages.
Name
The name for the islands in the Palauan language, Belau, likely derives from either the Palauan word for “village”, beluu, or from aibebelau (“indirect replies”), relating to a creation myth. The name “Palau” entered the English language from the Spanish Los Palaos, via the German Palau. An archaic name for the islands in English was the “Pelew Islands.”
Palau was originally settled between the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC, most likely from the Philippines or Indonesia.
The islands sustained a population of short-statured Negrito or Pygmy people 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 15 September and 25 November 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 Carolines, instead opted for independent status in 1978. It approved a new constitution and became the Republic of Palau in 1981. It 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 1 October 1994, marking Palau de jure independent, although it had been de facto independent since 25 May 1994, when the trusteeship ended.
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.
