Editing History of Palau (section)

==German era==
[[File:Palau-Inseln.jpg|thumb|260px|Palau during German colonization: painting by [[Rudolf Hellgrewe]], from ''Das Buch von unseren Kolonien'' by Ottomar Beta (Leipzig, 1908)]]
[[File:Koror chiefs in 1915.jpg|thumb|Koror chiefs in 1915]]
In 1898 Spain sold its rights in Palau to Germany. Palau was administered from [[German New Guinea]], and a period of economic development began. German engineers began exploiting the islands' deposits of [[bauxite]] and [[phosphate]], and a rich harvest in [[copra]] was made.

The German Administration established and operated several mining companies and several copra plantations. Also, perhaps as important as the economic development, the German Administration began pushing for social reforms which included the relocation of people into larger villages and a large number of public works projects such as the construction of piers and navigation beacons. Young men were forced to work in the phosphate mines on [[Angaur]] and [[Peleliu|Beliliou]] Islands, on the copra plantations, and on a never completed ditch across the most narrow part of [[Babeldaob]] Island in what is today the state of [[Ngaraard]].<ref name=":0" />