Palauan Americans

Last updated
Palauan Americans
Palau USC2000 PHS.svg
Total population
12,202 [1]
Regions with significant populations
California
Languages
American English, Palauan English, Palauan, Sonsorolese, Tobian, Spanish
Religion
Christianity Modekngei

Palauan Americans are Americans of Palauan descent. According to the 2020 census, there are about 12,202 Americans of Palauan origin.

Contents

History

Since the late 1940s, many Palauans have emigrated abroad. In 1953, about a hundred people from Palau founded the Palau Association in the American island of Guam. Over the years, the number of Palauans has continually grown.

In early 1970, when the Pell Grant was extended, several hundred Palauans and other students of Micronesia emigrated to study at American universities. Since then, the number of Palauan students emigrating to USA has increased by about 250 people every year.

Many Palauans live in California, most notably, Pasadena. Palauans also live in Portland, Oregon, where a few thousand Micronesians live, and Corsicana, Texas. [2]

Notable people

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Micronesia</span> Subregion of Oceania

Micronesia is a subregion of Oceania, consisting of approximately 2,000 small islands in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. It has a close shared cultural history with three other island regions: Maritime Southeast Asia to the west, Polynesia to the east, and Melanesia to the south—as well as with the wider community of Austronesian peoples.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palau</span> Country in the Western Pacific

Palau, officially the Republic of Palau, is an island country in the Micronesia subregion of Oceania in the western Pacific. The republic consists of approximately 340 islands and connects the western chain of the Caroline Islands with parts of the Federated States of Micronesia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Palau</span>

Palau was initially settled around 1000 BC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Demographics of Palau</span>

Demographic features of the population of Palau include population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands</span> US-administered UN trust territory (1947–1994)

The Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (TTPI) was a United Nations trust territory in Micronesia administered by the United States from 1947 to 1994. The Imperial Japanese South Seas Mandate had been seized by the US during the Pacific War, as Japan had administered the territory since the League of Nations gave Japan a mandate over the area from Imperial Germany after World War I. However, in the 1930s, Japan left the League of Nations and invaded additional lands. During World War II, military control of the islands was disputed, but by the war's end, the islands had come under the Allies' control. The Trust Territory of the Pacific was created to administer the islands as part of the United States while still under the auspices of the United Nations. Most of the island groups in the territory became independent states, with some degree of ties kept with the United States: the Federated States of Micronesia, Marshall Islands and Palau are today independent states in a Compact of Free Association with the US, while the Northern Mariana Islands remain under US jurisdiction, as an unincorporated territory and commonwealth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flag of Palau</span> National flag of Palau

The Flag of Palau was adopted on 1 January 1981, when the island group separated from the United Nations Trust Territory. As with the flags of several other Pacific island groups, light blue is the color used to represent the ocean and the nation's place within it. While this puts Palau in common with the Federated States of Micronesia and other neighboring island groups, the disc on the flag is off-centre like that of the flag of Bangladesh, but in this case the disc represents the moon instead of the sun. The current flag was introduced in 1981 when Palau became a republic.

Palauan is a Malayo-Polynesian language native to the Republic of Palau, where it is one of the two official languages, alongside English. It is widely used in day-to-day life in the country. Palauan is not closely related to other Malayo-Polynesian languages and its exact classification within the branch is unclear.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Angaur</span> State in Palau

Angaur, or Ngeaur in Palauan, is an island and state in the island nation of Palau.

The music of Palau finds its heritage in Micronesia, but it has been supplemented with influences from the United States and Western Europe, as well as Japan.

The Micronesians or Micronesian peoples are various closely related ethnic groups native to Micronesia, a region of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean. They are a part of the Austronesian ethnolinguistic group, which has an Urheimat in Taiwan.

Modekngei, or Ngara Modekngei, is a monotheistic religious movement founded around 1915 by Tamadad, a native of the island of Babeldaob, that spread throughout Palau. It rose to political significance between the First and Second World Wars and is currently professed by 5.7% of Palau's population. Modekngei is a hybrid of ancient Palauan customs and Christianity. Followers of the religion believe in the Christian God, recognize Jesus Christ as the Messiah, and simultaneously make appeasements to the traditional Palauan deities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pacific Islander Americans</span> People of Pacific Islander descent in the United States

Pacific Islander Americans are Americans who are of Pacific Islander ancestry. For its purposes, the United States census also counts Aboriginal Australians as part of this group.

Koreans in Micronesia used to form a significant population before World War II, when most of the region was ruled as the South Seas Mandate of the Empire of Japan; for example, they formed 7.3% of the population of Palau in 1943. However, after the area came under the control of the United States as the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, most Koreans returned to their homeland. As of 2013, about seven thousand South Korean expatriates & immigrants and Korean Americans reside in the Marianas, which have remained under U.S. control, while only around two hundred South Korean expatriates reside in the independent countries of Micronesia.

Micronesian Americans are Americans who are descended from people of the Federated States of Micronesia, although the term may also include people descended from the US unincorporated territory of the Northern Mariana Islands. According to the 2020 US Census, a total of 21,596 residents self-identified as having origins in the country, which consists of four states. More than half of these residents identified their origin as Chuuk State (12,464) with the rest as follows: 4,918 people from Pohnpei, 2,066 from Yap, and 2,148 people from Kosrae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Belau National Museum</span> National museum in Koror, Palau

The Belau National Museum (BNM), previously Palau Museum, is a museum in Koror, Palau. It is the oldest continuously run museum in Micronesia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ngerulmud</span> Capital city of Palau

Ngerulmud is the seat of government of the Republic of Palau, an island nation in the Pacific Ocean. It replaced Koror City as a capital in 2006. The settlement is located in the state of Melekeok on Babeldaob, the country's largest island, located 20 kilometers northeast of Koror City and 2 km northwest of Melekeok City. It is the least-populous capital city of a sovereign nation in the world.

There is a small Japanese community in the Pacific Island country of Palau, which mainly consists of Japanese expatriates residing in Palau over a long-term basis. A few Japanese expatriates started to reside in Palau after it gained independence in 1994, and established long-term businesses in the country. Japanese settlement in Palau dates back to the early 19th century, although large scale Japanese migration to Palau did not occur until the 1920s, when Palau came under Japanese rule and administered as part of the South Seas Mandate. Japanese settlers took on leading administrative roles in the Japanese colonial government, and developed Palau's economy. After the Japanese surrender in 1945, virtually all of the Japanese population was repatriated back to Japan, although people of mixed Japanese-Palauan descent were allowed to remain behind. People of Japanese-Palauan descent constitute a large minority of Palau's population as a result of substantial intermarriage between the Japanese settlers and Palauans. They generally identify with, conforming to cultural norms and daily lives with the Palauans.

Palauan English is an emergent dialect of English spoken by the Palauan people. The dialect arose after the arrival of American and Filipino migrants to Palau in 1962. It bears many similarities with Philippine English in phonology, morphology and syntax and has many Palauan, Japanese and Tagalog borrowings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palau–Spain relations</span> Bilateral relations

Palau–Spain relations are the bilateral and diplomatic relations between these two countries. Palau currently has no diplomatic or consular representation in Spain. However, Spain has a consulate in Koror, while the embassy representing Spain for Palau is in Manila, Philippines.

Palauan nationality law is regulated by the 1980 Constitution of Palau, as amended; the 1994 Palau Citizenship Act, and its revisions; and international agreements entered into by the Palauan government. These laws determine who is, or is eligible to be, a national of Palau. The legal means to acquire nationality, formal legal membership in a nation, differ from the domestic relationship of rights and obligations between a national and the nation, known as citizenship. Palauan nationality is typically obtained either on the principle of jus soli, i.e. by birth in Palau or under the rules of jus sanguinis, i.e. by birth abroad to parents with Palauan nationality. It can be granted to persons with an affiliation to the country through naturalization.

References

  1. "Detailed Look at Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander Groups, Census 2020".
  2. Micronesians Abroad. Posted by Francis X. Hezel, SJ and Eugenia Samuel. 2006. Retrieved 24 June 2013