History of Palau - Spanish Rule

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 to Pope 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.