History of Palau

The archipelago is also known as "The Black Islands".Palau was originally settled between the 3 rd and
2nd millennia BC , most likely from 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 Palaude 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.

Palau was initially settled over 3,000 years ago, and perhaps 4,500 years ago, probably by migrants
from the Philippines. 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 with more than 2,000 Americans
and 10,000 Japanese 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 referendums and an amendment to the Palauan constitution, the
Compact was ratified in 1993 and went into effect on October 1, 1994, marking Palau independent de
jure (after Palau was independent de facto since May 25, 1994, when the trusteeship 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
During World War II The Japanese presence made Palau a major target for the Allied forces in
World War II. Peleliu was a scene of intense fighting between American and Japanese forces in 1944.
The battle ended in an Allied victory, but at a high cost for both sides. All surviving Japanese were
repatriated after the end of the war. There are still about 100 American servicemen listed as Missing
In Action in Palau. Starting in 1993, a small group of American volunteers called The BentProp
Project has searched the waters and jungles of Palau for information that could lead to the
identification and recovery of these remains.

Europeon Contact
Historians take note of the early navigational routes of European explorers in the Pacific. There is
disagreement as to whether Spaniard Ruy López de Villalobos, who landed in several Caroline
Islands, spotted the Palau archipelago in 1543. No conclusive evidence exists, but some believe he
could have seen the tip of a southernmost island in the group.Palau had limited relations before the
18th century, mainly with Yap and Java. Had it not been for shipwrecked islanders who took refuge in
the Philippines, Europeans likely would not have found Palau until much later. Englishman Henry
Wilson, captain of the East India Company's packet Antelope, was shipwrecked off the island of Ulong
in 1783. The King of Palau allowed Captain Wilson to take his son, Prince Lee Boo, to England,
where he arrived in 1784. However, the prince died soon after of smallpox. The East India Company
erected a monument over his grave in St Mary's Churchyard, Rotherhithe. It was Wilson who gave the
archipelago the name "Pelew Islands".

Spanish Rule
In the late 19th century, possession of the islands was claimed by Britain, Spain, and Imperial
Germany. In 1885, the matter was brought toPope Leo XIII for a decision. The Pope recognized the
Spanish claim, but granted economic concessions to Britain and Germany. Palau then became part of
the Spanish East Indies, along with the Mariana Islands, the Marshall Islands. and the rest of
the Caroline Islands. They were all administered from the Philippines.

Under the Spanish administration, Palau underwent its first forms of extreme foreign influence.
Catholicism is the most highlighted amongst all these forms, having been introduced to the native
population and accepted rather easily, despite the fact that Palauans were ardent followers of their
traditional faith. Elements from the Spanish language were also integrated into the Palauan lexicon;
the Palauan word for hammer, "martiliong", is derived from the Spanish "martillo". Even with these
forms of influence, Palau has predominantly very little influence from the Spanish occupation
compared to other islands within the region, such as Guam. This is partly due to the reason that,
aside from Spanish Jesuit missionaries, Spain had very little economic and colonization activity on the
islands.

After being defeated in 1898 in the Spanish-American War and losing possession of the Philippine
Islands, Spain sold the Palau archipelago to Imperial Germany in the 1899 German-Spanish Treaty.
 View of part of the town of Pelew, and the place of Council, 1788

Japanese Mandate
Under the terms of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance, the Empire of Japan declared war on the German
Empire in 1914 and invaded German overseas territories in the Pacific Ocean. Palau was seized by
ships of the Japanese navy. After the war, the League of Nations awarded Palau to Japan as a Class
C League of Nations Mandate. Japan incorporated the islands as an integral part of its empire,
establishing the Nanyo-cho government with Koror Island as the capital.[6] From 1914 to 1922, the
Japanese Imperial Navy had been in control. Civilian control was introduced from 1922, and Palau
was one of six administrative districts within the Mandate. Japan mounted an aggressive economic
development program and promoted large scale immigration by Japanese,Okinawans and Koreans.
Native Palauans soon became a small minority in their own homeland. The Japanese continued the
German mining activities, and also established bonito (skipjack tuna) canning and copra processing
plants in Palau. Japanese economic activity was so extreme during their occupation, that the
industrial capital, Koror, was once termed by Japanese officials and tourists as "chiisai Tokyo",
meaning "little Tokyo."

The Japanese had perhaps the most profound impact on Palauan society. Under the Japanese
government, Palau underwent extreme social, economic, and political changes. Unlike other parts of
the Japanese Empire, the local Japanese administration recognized the benefits of utilizing the
traditional government to their advantage, given the extreme adherence the natives followed towards
their clans and traditions. Under the Japanese government, heads of the Palauan traditional
government were replaced by more "Japanese" natives, as a way of securing the obedience of the
Palauan people. This proved rather successful, as more and more Palauans so the benefits the
Japanese government was providing. Under the Japanese administration, all Palauan children were
required to attend school, and by the 1930s, nearly all Palauan children were literate in Japanese,
with the exception of children in outlier islands, specifically the Southwest Islands.

Koror during the Japanese Mandate

Geography of Palau
The Republic of Palau consists of eight principal islands and more than 250 smaller ones lying
roughly 500 miles southeast of the Philippines. The islands of Palau constitute part of the Caroline
Islands chain.

Location: Oceania, group of islands in the North Pacific Ocean, southeast of the Philippines

Geographic coordinates: 7°30′N 134°30′E

Map references: Oceania

Area:
total: 458 km²
land: 458 km²
water: 0 km²

Area - comparative: slightly more than 2.5 times the size of Washington, DC

Land boundaries: 0 km

Coastline: 1,519 km

Maritime claims:
continental shelf: 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation
exclusive fishing zone: 12 nm
extended fishing zone: 200 nm
territorial sea: 3 nm

Climate: wet season May to November; hot and humid

Terrain: varying geologically from the high, mountainous main island of Babeldaob to low, coral
islands usually fringed by large barrier reefs

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 m
highest point: Mount Ngerchelchauus 242 m (on Babeldaob)

Natural resources: forests, minerals (especially gold), marine products, deep-seabed minerals

Land use:
arable land: NA%
permanent crops: NA%
permanent pastures: NA%
forests and woodland: NA%
other: NA%

Irrigated land: NA km²

Natural hazards: typhoons (June to December)

Environment - current issues: inadequate facilities for disposal of solid waste; threats to the marine
ecosystem from sand and coral dredging, illegal fishing practices, and overfishing

Environment - international agreements : party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-
Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Law of the Sea
Geography - note: includes World War II battleground of Peleliu and world-famous rock islands;
archipelago of six island groups totaling over 200 islands in the Caroline .
Belize Barrier Reef
Belize is one of the smallest countries in North America, but it is home to many of the most important
features in the second largest coral reef system in the world. The Belize Barrier Reef is important
geographically, geologically, and ecologically. Diverse plants and animals live both above and below
the crystal-clear warm water. However, the Belize Barrier Reef has been recently scarred because
changes are occurring in the environment. The Belize Barrier Reef has been a UNESCO World
Heritage Site since 1996. UNESCO, scientists, and ordinary citizens must conserve this special coral
reef system.

The Belize Barrier Reef is a series of coral reefs straddling the coast of Belize, roughly 300 meters
(980 ft) offshore in the north and 40 kilometers (25 mi) in the south within the country limits. The
Belize Barrier Reef is a 300 kilometers (190 mi) long section of the 900 kilometers (560 mi)
long Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System, which is continuous from Cancún on the northeast tip of
the Yucatán Peninsula through the Riviera Maya up to Honduras making it one of the largest coral
reef systems in the world after the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and the New Caledonia Barrier
Reef. It is Belize's top tourist destination, popular for scuba diving and snorkeling and attracting
almost half of its 260,000 visitors, and is vital to its fishing industry.

Charles Darwin described it as "the most remarkable reef in the West Indies" in 1842.

Species
The Belize Barrier Reef is home to a large diversity of plants and animals, and is one of the most
diverse ecosystems of the world:

 70 hard coral species

 36 soft coral species
 500 species of fish
 hundreds of invertebrate species
With 90% of the reef still needing to be researched, it is estimated that only 10% of all species have
been discovered.

Environmental protection
Belize also became the first country in the world to completely ban bottom trawling in December of
2010. A large portion of the reef is protected by the Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System, which
includes seven marine reserves, 450 cays, and three atolls. It totals 960 square kilometres
(370 sq mi) in area, including:

 Glover's Reef Marine Reserve

 Great Blue Hole
 South Water Caye Marine Reserve
 Half Moon Caye Natural Monument
 Hol Chan Marine Reserve
In 1996 the Reserve System was designated a World Heritage Site due to its vulnerability and the fact
that it contains the most important and significant natural habitats for in-situ conservation of biological
diversity (according to criteria VII, IX, and X).

Despite these protective measures, the reef is under threat from oceanic pollution as well as
uncontrolled tourism, shipping, and fishing. The main threats are considered to be hurricanes along
with global warming and the resulting increase in ocean temperatures, [5] which cause coral bleaching.
It is claimed by scientists that over 40% of Belize's coral reef has been damaged since 1998. [1]

The Belize Barrier Reef has been affected by two mass-bleaching events. The first mass bleaching
occurred in 1995, with an estimated mortality of 10 percent of coral colonies, according to a report by
the Coastal Zone Management Institute in Belize. A second mass-bleaching event occurred,
when Hurricane Mitchstruck in 1998. Biologists observed a 48 percent reduction in live coral cover
across the Belize reef system.

Usually, it is hard to distinguish whether the reason for coral bleaching is human activities or natural
reasons such as storms or bacterial fluctuations. But in the case of the Belize Barrier Reef, many
factors which make the distinction difficult do not apply. Human population in this area is much more
sparse than the corresponding areas near other coral reefs, so the human activity and pollution are
much lower compared to other coral reefs and the Belize reef system is in a much more enclosed
area.

When coral bleaching occurs, a large part of the coral dies, and the remaining part of the ecosystem
begins the process of repairing the damage. But the chances of recovery is low, as corals that are
bleached become much more vulnerable to disease. Disease often kills more corals than the
bleaching event itself. With continuous bleaching, the coral reef will have little to no chance of
recovery.

Geography of Belize
Belize is a small Central American nation, located at 17°15' north of the equator and 88°45' west of
the Prime Meridian on the Yucatán Peninsula. It borders the Caribbean Sea to the east, with 386 km
of coastline. It has a total of 516 km of land borders—Mexico to the north-northwest (250 km) and
Guatemala to the south-southwest (266 km). Belize's total size is 22,960 km², of which 22,800 km² is
land and 160 km² is water; this makes the country ten times larger than the Australian Capital
Territory, about half the size of Nova Scotia, slightly larger than Wales, and slightly smaller than
the U.S. state of Massachusetts. Belize is the only English-speaking country in Central America and
the only one without a Pacific coastline. Many coral reefs, cays, and islands to the east—such
as Ambergris Caye, Lighthouse Reef, Glover Reef, and the Turneffe Islands—are part of Belize's
territory, forming the Belize Barrier Reef, the longest in the western hemisphere stemming
approximately 322 km (200 mi) and the second longest in the world after the Great Barrier Reef. The
country's largest river is the eponymous Belize River.
The Belize Barrier Reef is part of the Mesoamerican Reef System, which stretches for approximately
700 miles (1000 kilometers) from Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula to Honduras and Guatemala. Located
in the Caribbean Sea, it is the largest reef system in the Western Hemisphere, and the second largest
reef system in the world, after the Great Barrier Reefin Australia. The reef in Belize is approximately
185 miles long (300 kilometers). The Belize Barrier Reef includes numerous features of coastal
geology, such as barrier reefs, fringing reefs, sand cays, mangrove cays, lagoons, and estuaries. The
reef is home to three coral atolls, named Lighthouse Reef, Glover's Reef, and the Turneffe Islands.
Coral atolls are extremely rare outside of the Pacific Ocean. The Belizean government has
established numerous institutions like national parks, national monuments, and marine reserves to
preserve some features of the reef.

The Blue Hole : The most magnificent feature of the Belize Barrier Reef may be the Blue Hole. Formed
throughout the last 150,000 years, the Blue Hole is an underwater sinkhole, the remains of caves that flooded
when glaciers melted after ice ages. Many stalactites are present. Located about fifty miles from the coast of
Belize, the Blue Hole is approximately 1000 feet across and 400 feet deep. In 1971, famed Frenchmen Jacques
Cousteau explored the Blue Hole and claimed that it is one of the best spots in the world to scuba dive and
snorkel.

Human History of the Belize Barrier Reef : The Belize Barrier Reef has attracted people for
thousands of years for both its natural beauty and resources. From approximately 300 BCE to 900 CE, the
Mayan civilization fished from the reef and traded near it. In the 17th century, the reef was visited by European
pirates. In 1842, Charles Darwin described the Belize Barrier Reef as the "most remarkable reef in the West
Indies." Today, the reef is visited by native Belizeans and people from across the Americas and the world.

Flora and Fauna of the Belize Barrier Reef : The Belize Barrier Reef is home to thousands of
species of plants and animals. Some examples include sixty-five species of corals, five hundred species of fish,
whale sharks, dolphins, crabs, seahorses, starfish, manatees, American crocodiles, and many bird and turtle
species. Conch and lobster are caught and exported from the reef. Possibly up to ninety percent of the animals
and plants that live in the reef have not even been discovered yet.