"Palau" originated in the Spanish Los Palaos, eventually entering English via the German Palau. An archaic name for the islands in English was the "Pelew Islands". The name of the country "Palau" is most likely not derived from the Malay word Pulau (island), despite the similarity in its word form.

History

Early history

Palau was originally settled between the 3rd and 2nd millennia BCE by Austronesian peoples, most likely from what is now the Philippines or Indonesia.

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