The world's smallest capital — Babeldaob's jungle clearing and the Rock Islands offshore
Ngerulmud is the world's smallest capital city by population — a government complex of about 270 people in a jungle clearing on Babeldaob island, surrounded by an intact rainforest where fruit bats roost in the canopy and saltwater crocodiles inhabit the mangrove estuaries. Built in 2006 to replace the former capital Koror, Ngerulmud has a grand capitol building incongruously large for its surroundings, facing a forest of palm trees rather than a city. The reason to come to Palau is the Rock Islands Southern Lagoon — 445 uninhabited limestone mushroom islands rising from turquoise water, a UN…
Palau was administered by Spain until 1899, then Germany until World War I, then Japan as a League of Nations mandate until the United States took it after World War II as part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. It achieved independence in 1994 in Compact of Free Association with the US. The Rock Islands were the scene of one of the Pacific War's bloodiest battles — the Battle of Peleliu (1944), where US Marines fought Japanese defenders for 73 days across jungle and coral ridges. The Old Capitol of Koror served as the de facto government seat for 30 years after independence; Nger…