50 Fun Facts About Palau

Palau lies in which subregion of Oceania?

Its roughly 340 islands sit at the western edge of the region, closer to the Philippines than to most of its Micronesian neighbours.

Palau forms the western part of which larger archipelago?

The eastern and central Carolines went on to form the Federated States of Micronesia in 1979, a union Palau voted against joining.

What is the seat of government of Palau, moved there from Koror in 2006?

The purpose-built capitol complex on Babeldaob was funded partly by a $20 million loan from Taiwan and cost more than $45 million.

Palau's capital holds what unusual distinction among the world's sovereign capitals?

With no permanent residents, it is essentially a government complex; its name means 'place of fermented angelfish'.

Palau's most populous island and city share which name?

About two-thirds of Palauans live there, and it served as the provisional capital until 2006 and as capital of Japan's South Seas Mandate before the war.

With about 466 square kilometres of land, Palau ranks roughly where among the world's smallest countries?

That is a little larger than Andorra and smaller than the Isle of Man; the sea territory it controls is over a thousand times bigger.

Which country lies northwest of Palau, close enough that its people are Palau's second-largest ethnic group?

Palau was even given a seat at the 1898 Malolos Congress, the first revolutionary Philippine parliament.

In 1696, stranded Palauan islanders showed a missionary their homeland's layout using what?

Jesuit Paul Klein met the sailors on Samar in the Philippines; three failed attempts to reach the islands followed and the Spanish dubbed them the Enchanted Islands.

Prince Lee Boo, son of the ruler of Koror, was taken to London in 1784 and died there within months of what?

London society called him 'The Black Prince'; his tomb at St Mary's, Rotherhithe, is a listed monument and George Keate's book about him ran through 20 languages.

Which East India Company ship wrecked off Ulong Island in 1783, leading to Lee Boo's voyage?

Captain Henry Wilson's crew spent three months in Palau; the friendship with the ruler Abba Thulle led to Lee Boo joining them home.

After the Spanish-American War, Spain sold Palau in 1899 to which country?

It was run as part of German New Guinea for just 15 years before Japan seized the islands in 1914.

Between the world wars, Palau was governed by Japan under a League of Nations arrangement known as what?

Japan made Koror the mandate's capital, brought baseball, Shinto and Buddhism, and used the islands to launch its 1941 invasion of the Philippines.

The 1944 Battle of Peleliu is remembered for its cost. Roughly how many Japanese soldiers died there?

More than 2,000 Americans also died in a fight the US commander had predicted would take four days; it dragged on for more than two months.

The last Japanese holdouts on Peleliu, hiding in caves, finally surrendered in which year?

A former Japanese admiral had to be sent into the caves to convince the lieutenant and his 34 men that the war was really over.

Peleliu's Japanese defenders were dug into a coral ridge honeycombed with about 500 caves. What was it called?

Many caves were old phosphate mine shafts; the Marines' nickname for the ridge system was Bloody Nose Ridge.

After World War II, Palau became part of a US-administered area under UN auspices known as what?

Palau was the very last piece of that territory to gain independence, in 1994.

Palau's 1981 constitution was the world's first of its kind in what respect?

Banning nuclear material without a 75 percent referendum majority clashed with US Navy wishes and delayed independence for over a decade.

Palau became fully sovereign in 1994 under what kind of agreement with the United States?

The US handles defence and funding and even delivers the mail: Palau has the ZIP codes 96939 and 96940.

What currency does Palau use?

Government is the biggest employer and depends heavily on American compact money; tourism, fishing and subsistence farming make up the rest.

Palau's two official languages are English and which Austronesian language?

It is one of only two indigenous Micronesian languages outside the Oceanic branch, the other being Guam's Chamorro; Sonsorolese and Tobian are recognised regionally.

Palau's flag is light blue with an off-centre yellow disc. What does the disc represent?

Palauans regard the full moon as the best time for fishing, planting, harvesting and canoe carving; the designer denied any nod to Japan's rising sun.

Palau's flag was adopted on 1 January of which year, the day it became a republic?

Before then the old territorial flag flew alongside the UN and US flags; full independence came only in October 1994.

Palau's famous Rock Islands are made mostly of what?

Between 250 and 300 uprises sit in the Southern Lagoon between Koror and Peleliu; grazing snails, urchins and sponges eat away the bases into mushroom shapes.

In which year were the Rock Islands Southern Lagoon inscribed as Palau's UNESCO World Heritage Site?

Four more Palauan sites, including the Ngebedech terraces and a stone coffin, sit on the tentative list.

The marine lake on Eil Malk island is famous for millions of which creatures migrating daily?

They have almost lost their sting and live partly off algae in their tissues; an El Nino warm spell once caused their near-total disappearance.

Jellyfish Lake is one of roughly how many marine lakes scattered through the Rock Islands?

It is permanently stratified, with an oxygen-free layer below about 15 metres, one of only a few hundred such meromictic lakes known worldwide.

In 2009 Palau created the world's first sanctuary for which animal?

Commercial fishing for them was banned across an exclusive economic zone about the size of France; President Toribiong announced it at the UN.

Palau's exclusive economic zone, patrolled by two long-range boats, covers roughly how much ocean?

That is more than a thousand times its land area, so poachers and unlicensed tuna boats are a constant headache.

In 2017 the country became the first to stamp an environmental promise into visitors' passports. What is it?

Ol'au Palau, launched in 2022, is a separate responsible-tourism programme; the pledge is written as a promise to Palau's children.

Which reptile is native to Palau's mangroves and has killed only one person there in modern history?

That single fatal attack in 1965 triggered an eradication and hide-trade programme; conservation since the 1990s has stabilised numbers.

Palau's highest point, 242-metre Mount Ngerchelchuus, is on which island?

Unlike most of Palau it is mountainous; it is also the second-largest island in Micronesia after Guam.

Palau's bridge linking Koror to the main island collapsed in September 1996, cutting off what between the two?

Two people died, a state of emergency was declared, and Japan built the replacement cable-stayed bridge that opened in 2002.

Traditional society in Palau passes titles, land and inheritance how?

Matrilineal custom shapes funerals, marriages and chiefly titles; the female clan heads choose the male chiefs.

Which unusual dish is a traditional delicacy in Palau?

The bat is served whole; taro, cassava, fish and pork are the everyday staples, with heavy Japanese and Filipino influence.

Which sport, introduced by the Japanese in the 1920s, has long been Palau's most popular?

The national team won gold at three Micronesian Games and the 2007 Pacific Games; Palau's football team is not even a FIFA member.

Bligh Madris became the first MLB player of Palau ancestry in 2022, debuting for which team?

His first game was against the Cubs on 20 June 2022.

Palau has formal diplomatic ties with which government, which helped fund its capitol?

Palau hosted the first Taiwan-Pacific Allies Summit in 2006, and Taiwanese support helps it keep a seat at UN climate talks.

In 2009 Palau agreed to resettle detainees released from which US facility?

Six Uyghurs eventually moved to Palau; the government insisted a US aid deal signed months later was unrelated.

Surangel Whipps Jr., Palau's president from 2021, lost a 2016 run to which relative?

Thomas Remengesau Jr. beat him by about 250 votes; Whipps was born in Baltimore and won a Senate seat in 2008 as a write-in candidate.

Palau withdrew from the Pacific Islands Forum in 2021 over a dispute about what?

Micronesian members felt it was their turn to lead the forum, and Henry Puna's win triggered the walkout.

Palau is divided into how many states?

Until 1984 they were called municipalities; Koror alone holds most of the population, and the remote Southwest Islands form two of them.

According to the 2020 census, Palau's largest religious group is which of these?

Modekngei, a home-grown blend of Christianity, traditional religion and fortune-telling, is followed by about 5 percent.

Palau's per-person CO2 emissions, the world's highest in 2019, came mostly from what?

About 60 tonnes per person, driven by boats and flights serving a tiny population spread over hundreds of islands.

By what archaic name was Palau once known in English?

The modern name came from Spanish Los Palaos via German; the Palauan name Belau relates to the word for village.

Under the Compact of Free Association, the US military got access to Palau for how long?

Palau has no military of its own; a US Air Force over-the-horizon radar station on the islands was planned to go live in 2026.

Which three storms are the only systems on record to have struck Palau as typhoons?

Palau sits on the edge of the typhoon belt and gets about 3,800 mm of rain a year.

Palau's ship registry is tiny, yet in 2019 it covered nearly three-fifths of which category of vessel?

The pattern suggests companies use it to dodge end-of-life scrapping responsibilities.

What rate is Palau's Goods and Services Tax, introduced on 1 January 2023?

Corporate tax is just 4 percent and there are no property taxes.

Which airline took over the weekly Brisbane-Palau 'Palau Paradise Express' in December 2024?

Nauru Airlines had launched the route in May 2024; Qantas flies it with a Boeing 737-800.

Which language was made an official language of Angaur state in its 1982 constitution?

Some elders still spoke it then, but it is no longer in use; Sonsorolese and Tobian are national languages.