.
The Republic of Palau is an island nation associated with the
United States in the Philippine Sea of the Pacific Ocean, located
800 km east of the Philippines and north of Indonesia.
Consists of 328 islands with a total area of 458 km², refers to
Micronesia.
According to the 2005 census, the country's
population was about 19,990 people (in 2008 - 20.9 thousand, the
estimate for July 2014 is 21,186, 2015 - 21,271).
The main
religion is Christianity (Catholics and Protestants). About 8.7% of
the population profess local beliefs, a syncretic cult of modeling.
The capital of the country is Ngerulmud (state of Melekeok).
There is an international airport.
The country consists of 16
states.
The head of the executive branch is the president,
the legislature is the bicameral national legislative assembly
(Senate and House of Delegates).
The average temperature on
the islands is + 24 ... 28 ° C.
Etymology
The name of the
islands in the Palauian language probably comes from the word beluu
("village"), or from aibebelau ("indirect answers"), referring to
the creation myth. In English, the name "Palau" came from Spanish
Spanish. Los Palaos through German German. Palau. The archaic name
for the islands in English was “Pelju Islands”. “Palau” should not
be confused with “Pulau” - a word from the Malay language meaning
“island”, found in several geographical names in the region.
Palau is an archipelago consisting of many (over 250) islands.
The climate is tropical, the rainy season is from May to November.
In coastal waters, 1,500 species of tropical fish live, many
rare mammals. Also, according to environmentalists, offshore Palau
live 130 species of sharks from among those that are facing
extinction. In 1995, the International Committee of Marine
Biologists and Conservationists declared Palau an underwater wonder
of the world. In the tropical gardens and forests of Palau, orchids
and many exotic flowers grow, as well as about 50 species of birds.
On the island there is Jellyfish Lake, in which millions of
jellyfish live, who do not know how to sting.