History of Palau

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History of Palau The ancestors of modern Palauans are believed to have migrated from Indonesia, New Guinea, and possibly Polynesia. Pictographs, pottery, and other artifacts on Babeldaob and the Rock Islands provide evidence of habitation as early as 1000 BC. Organized into villages and clans, a complex matriarchal and matrilineal society developed. Sixteenth-century Spanish explorers were likely the first Europeans to sight Palau, but the first significant exchange between Palauans and Europeans occurred when a British shipwrecked there in 1783. The sailors stayed for three months while they and Koror islanders worked together to rebuild the ship. Britain traded with Palau until 1885, when Spain asserted a claim over the Caroline Islands (now Palau and the Federated States of Micronesia). In 1899, the Spanish sold the Carolines to Germany, whose interest focused on exporting phosphate and coconut products. At the conclusion of World War I in1919, the Treaty of Versailles passed the islands’ ownership from Germany to Japan. The Japanese built roads and causeways, brought electricity to Koror, and introduced individual property ownership to replace clan ownership. During the final years of World War II, Palau was the site of fierce fighting between Allied and Japanese forces. After Japan’s defeat in 1945, the United Nations declared the Caroline, Mariana, and Marshall islands under U.S. administration as the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. The United States was given the mandate to improve the region’s education, health care, and infrastructure in preparation for nationhood. Palauans voted against becoming part of the Federated States of Micronesia, which became independent in 1979. Instead, Palau remained under U.S. administration for another 15years, during which the Palauan and U.S. governments negotiated the terms of independence. The major impasse in the negotiations was a clause in Palau’s constitution that banned nuclear weapons and testing in the islands. Wanting to secure nuclear weapons access to Palau, the United States made this a condition of its proposed post- independence agreement, the Compact of Free Association. In eight referendums between 1983 and 1990, a proposal to suspend the constitution’s nuclear-free clause repeatedly failed to gain approval from the required 75 percent of voters. When the Palauan government changed the requirement for approval to a simple majority in 1993, the proposal passed and the Compact of Free Association was ratified. The United States granted Palau independence on 1 October 1994. Page 1 of 2 History of Palau Under the terms of the 50-year agreement, the United States gives Palau US$700 million over the first 15 years and provides for Palau’s defense. In exchange, Palau gives the U.S. military access to Palauan territory. Palau is heavily reliant on U.S. funding, which gives it a per capita income higher than most Pacific countries. The nation has also sought to develop its own industries. Capitalizing on the islands’ natural beauty, tourism has become the most successful economic sector. References: “Republic of Palau.” CultureGrams World Edition. 2008. Page 2 of 2 .

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The Bioarchaeology of Initial Human Settlement in Palau
THE BIOARCHAEOLOGY OF INITIAL HUMAN SETTLEMENT IN PALAU, WESTERN MICRONESIA by JESSICA H. STONE A DISSERTATION Presented to the Department of Anthropology and the Graduate School of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy June 2020 DISSERTATION APPROVAL PAGE Student: Jessica H. Stone Title: The Bioarchaeology of Initial Human Settlement in Palau, Western Micronesia This dissertation has been accepted and approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in the Department of Anthropology by: Scott M. Fitzpatrick Chairperson Nelson Ting Core Member Dennis H. O’Rourke Core Member Stephen R. Frost Core Member James Watkins Institutional Representative and Kate Mondloch Interim Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School Original approval signatures are on file with the University of Oregon Graduate School. Degree awarded June 2020 ii © 2020 Jessica H. Stone iii DISSERTATION ABSTRACT Jessica H. Stone Doctor of Philosophy Department of Anthropology June 2020 Title: The Bioarchaeology of Initial Human Settlement in Palau, Western Micronesia The initial settlement of Remote Oceania represents the world’s last major wave of human dispersal. While transdisciplinary models involving linguistic, archaeological, and biological data have been utilized in the Pacific to develop basic chronologies and trajectories of initial human settlement, a number of elusive gaps remain in our understanding of the region’s colonization history. This is especially true in Micronesia, where a paucity of human skeletal material dating to the earliest periods of settlement have hindered biological contributions to colonization models. The Chelechol ra Orrak site in Palau, western Micronesia, contains the largest and oldest human skeletal assemblage in the region, and is one of only two known sites that represent some of the earliest settlers in the Pacific.
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Genocide and the Indians of California, 1769-1873 Margaret A
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Wikipedia on Palau
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Reclaiming and Decolonizing Palauan-American Cultural Heritage" (2020)
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