Palau Palau, officially the Republic of Palau, is an island country in the Micronesia subregion of Oceania in the western Pacific Ocean. The Republic of Palau consists of approximately 340 islands and is the western part of the Caroline Islands ...

has several traditional chiefs of its 16 states. A factor that resulted in the decline of chiefly authority in Palau was the introduction of elected governors, called upon in the

Constitution of Palau The Constitution of Palau, Constitution of the Republic of Palau () was adopted by the Palau Constitutional Convention from January 28 to April 2, 1979, ratified at the Third Constitution Referendum on July 9, 1980, and entered into force January ...

which came into effect on 1 January 1981.

List of current chiefs

Ibedul

Ibedul is a title given to the

high chief A tribal chief, chieftain, or headman is a leader of a tribal society or chiefdom. Tribal societies There is no definition for "tribe". The concept of tribe is a broadly applied concept, based on tribal concepts of societies of western Afr ...

Koror Koror is the state comprising the main commercial centre of the Republic of Palau. It consists of several islands, the most prominent being Koror Island (also ''Oreor Island''). It is Palau’s most populous state. History In the oral tradition of ...

, in

, who is also the head of the Idid clan. Koror is the most populated state with approximately 64% of Palauans living there as of 2020 and so historically bearers of the title were sometimes erroneously referred to as "Kings of Pelew" despite them not having authority over all of modern-day Palau.

List of known ibeduls

, Abba Thulle
, , , , , - , Ilengelekei
1871
–
1911
''()'' , Ibedul Ilengelekei

, , , 1911 , - , Louch
1911
–
1917
''()'' , Ibedul Louch

, , , 1917 , - , Tem
1917
–
1943
''()'' , , , , 1943 , - , Mariur
1943
–
1958
''()'' , , , , 1958 , - , Ngoriakl
1958
–
1972
''()'' , , , , 1972 , - ,

Yutaka Gibbons Yutaka Miller Gibbons (17 January 1944 – 4 November 2021) was the ibedul of Koror from 1973 until his death in 2021. He was also an anti–nuclear weapons activist and political candidate. Early and personal life Gibbons was born in Palau in 19 ...

1973
–

() , Ibedul Yutaka Gibbons in 2013

, , ,
Aged 77 , - , Alexander Merep

–
present
''()'' , , , , ''Living''

References

{{Palau topics