Today
Peleiu is an island ringed with mangrove swamps inside a coral reef and dominated by long steep jungle covered ridges. Today, Taiwanese real estate and tourism interests are moving into Palau in force, from Taiwanese developers.

History
A German colony prior to WWI, Koror became the capital island and with its fine harbors enclosed in a magnificent barrier reef, it was an idyllic location from which to administer the Caroline and Marshall Islands. After WWI, the islands were mandated to Japan by the League of Nations. Palau had been the headquarters of the Japanese South Seas Colonial Administration since March 1922 when a civilian administration took over administration from the Navy. Selected for occupation by USMC, to secure the flank of MacArthur's drive to liberate the Philippines, contrary to what planners believed, Peleliu and Angaur were heavily fortified and made the Americans pay a heavy price for their capture.