<text><span class="style42"></span><span class="style12">PALAU</span><span class="style14"></span><span class="style42">Official name: </span><span class="style13">The Republic of Palau</span><span class="style42">Member of:</span><span class="style13"> Palau has not yet joined any major international organizations</span><span class="style42">Area: </span><span class="style13">508 km2 (196 sq mi)</span><span class="style42">Population: </span><span class="style13">15500 (1991 est)</span><span class="style42">Capital: </span><span class="style13">Koror 9500 (1990 census)</span><span class="style42">Languages: </span><span class="style13">Palauan (official; majority), Sonsorolese, English</span><span class="style42">Religions: </span><span class="style13">Roman Catholic (majority); various Evangelical and Pentecostal Churches</span><span class="style42">GOVERNMENT</span><span class="style13">A President and Congress are elected by universal adult suffrage for four years. The Congress comprises a 14-member Senate and a 16-member House of Delegates.</span><span class="style42">GEOGRAPHY</span><span class="style13">Palau comprises the volcanic, hilly, tropical island of Babelthuap, about 20 other small hilly islands and nearly 330 small atolls. </span><span class="style42">Climate: </span><span class="style13">Palau has a tropical maritime climate with heavy rainfall and little seasonal variation.</span><span class="style42">ECONOMY</span><span class="style13">Most Palauans are involved in subsistence farming and fishing. Tourism and the sale of fishing rights to foreign fleets are the main sources of foreign currency. </span><span class="style42">Currency: </span><span class="style13">Palau uses US currency.</span><span class="style42">HISTORY</span><span class="style13">Spain ΓÇô which had claimed the area since 1543 ΓÇô sold the islands to Germany in 1899. Occupied by Japanese forces in 1914, Palau remained under Japanese rule until taken by the USA in 1944. In 1947 Palau became part of the UN Pacific Islands Trust Territory under US administration. Palau became an autonomous republic in 1981 but, between 1983 and 1994 Palauans repeatedly rejected a Compact of Free Association with the USA, because the Compact would have entitled the USA to base nuclear weapons in the islands or its territorial waters. Palau eventually assumed complete independence in October 1994.</span></text>