III.

History

The islands’ location between several other land masses means that they were settled by several distinct groups over the past 3,000 years. Ancient stone monoliths on the island of Ngarchelong are evidence of early Palauans. The first Europeans to visit the islands were Spanish sailors under Ruy Lopez de Villalobos; Spain retained control until 1899 when it sold them to Germany. Japan, as an allied power, seized the islands in 1914 at the outbreak of World War I, and they were formally mandated to Japan by the League of Nations in 1922. The Japanese established a naval base on the islands, which was seized by US forces in 1944, during World War II.

A.

Palau and the United States

After the war they became part of the US-administered UN Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. In 1981 a constitution for a semi-independent Republic of Palau (Belau) was adopted. The Compact of Free Association, which was to enable the Republic of Palau to become completely independent from the United States in all areas except military defence, was repeatedly submitted to referendum and defeated in the 1980s and early 1990s, largely because of the reluctance to allow US vessels armed with nuclear weapons into the republic.

B.

Independence

After the US announcement in July 1992 that its vessels would no longer carry such weapons, the ninth referendum was successful, and the Republic became independent on October 1, 1994. In December 1994 Palau became a member state of the United Nations. The presidential election of November 2000 was won by Tommy Remengesau, who replaced Palau’s first president after independence, Kuniwo Nakamura. Remengesau was re-elected in November 2004.