KOROR STATE GOVERNMENT MARINE TOUR GUIDE ... - C3

5.1.1 Pre-Contact Times
Caroline Islanders are thought to have originated in Southeast Asia, and Malaysia,
probably inhabiting the area in about 1000BC. In Palau, there was ongoing political
rivalry between two main village groupings, (now Koror and Melekeok), and
archaeological evidence confirms the existence of highly specialized shell and stone
technology and extensive agricultural terracing. See Culture section for information on
traditional society in these times.
5.1.2 Contact Times
The first European visitors were Spanish, in 1710 and 1712 and they called the islands
Los Palos. In 1783, the wreck of the British ship, Antelope, led to the introduction of the
chief of Koror’s son, Lebuu, to London society.
European ships made a number of later contacts and some mapping of the islands was
conducted by the French explorer, Duperrey in 1824 and a Russian expedition in 1828.
Spain attempted to retain its sovereignty over the region, but it was challenged by the
Germans and the British. Finally, the Germans purchased the Carolines from Spain in
1898 and although its commercial interests in Palau lay in the possibilities of plantations
and phosphate, the German colonial administration was responsible for introducing
health regulations to control epidemics that had hugely ravaged the populations since
first European contact.
PVA
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