Editing History of Palau (section)

==European contact and discovery in 1696==
[[File:Reception of the Manila Galleon by the Chamorro in the Ladrones Islands, ca. 1590.jpg|thumb|300x300px|[[Manila galleon|Manila Galleon]] in the [[Mariana Islands|Marianas]] and [[Caroline Islands|Carolinas]], {{circa|1590}} [[Boxer Codex]]]]
There still is a debate whether the islands were or were not seen by some of the early European discoverers in the 16th century. Historians take note of the early navigational routes of European explorers in the Pacific. There is disagreement as to whether Spaniard [[Ruy López de Villalobos]], who landed in several [[Caroline Islands]], spotted the Palau archipelago in 1543. No conclusive evidence exists, but some believe he could have seen the tip of a southernmost island in the group.

[[File:View of part of the town of Pelew cph.3b32619.jpg|thumb|260px|View of part of the town of Pelew, and the place of Council, 1788]]
Nevertheless, the true and conscious discovery of Palau came a century later in December 1696, when a group of islanders shipwrecked on the Philippines island of Samar. They were interviewed by the [[Czechs|Czech]] missionary [[Paul Klein (missionary)|Paul Klein]] on 28 December 1696. Klein was not only able to draw the first map of Palau based on a drawing and a set of pebbles on the beach but also to send an important letter in June 1697<ref>{{Cite book |last=Serrano (S.I.) |first=Andres |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q-6StnGKAIQC&dq=pablo+clain+carta&pg=PR132 |title=Los siete principes de los Angeles: validos del Rey del cielo. Misioneros, y protectores de la Tierra, con la practica de su deuocion |date=1707 |publisher=por Francisco Foppens |language=es}}</ref> to Europe. This map and the letter caused a vast interest in the new islands and resulted in the first and failed Jesuit attempts to travel to Palau from the Philippines in 1700, 1708 and 1709.<ref name="Francis X. Hezel, SJ"/>

The islands were first visited by the Jesuit expedition led by Francisco Padilla on 30 November 1710, only to leave two stranded priests Jacques Du Beron and Joseph Cortyl on the coast of Sonsorol, while the mother ship ''Santissima Trinidad'' was being swept away by a storm.<ref name="Francis X. Hezel, SJ"/> Spain later started to dominate the islands.

Palau had also limited relations with the exterior before the 18th century, mainly with [[Yap]] and [[Java (island)|Java]]. Had it not been for shipwrecked islanders who took refuge in the Philippines in 1696, Europeans likely would not have found Palau until much later.

Englishman [[Henry Wilson (sailor)|Henry Wilson]], captain of the [[East India Company]]'s [[packet ship]] [[Antelope (1781 EIC packet ship)|''Antelope'']], was shipwrecked off the island of Ulong in 1783. The [[Abba Thulle|High Chief of (Koror) Palau]] allowed Captain Wilson to take his son, [[Prince Lee Boo]], to England, where he arrived in 1784. However, the prince died soon after of smallpox. The East India Company erected a monument over his grave in [[St. Mary's Church, Rotherhithe|St Mary's Churchyard]], [[Rotherhithe]]. It was Wilson who gave the archipelago the name "Pelew Islands". The wreck of the Antelope began European intervention in Palauan affairs and marked the beginning of nearly two centuries of colonial domination of the islands .