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# What is the capital of Palau? Country forums / Pacific Islands & Papua New Guinea / Palau
joeydaninja 12:29 UTC 02 Oct 2012 | Is it Ngemulrud or Melekeok or Koror? |
kenko 20:26 UTC 02 Oct 2012 | The capital is Negerulmud on the island of Babeldaob. (Don't ask me how they're pronounced!) | 1
kenko 20:36 UTC 02 Oct 2012 | And apparently don't ask me to spell it correctly either! (Ngerulmud) Pronounce it correctly the first time and win a free roundtrip flight to Palau! | 2
joeydaninja 12:02 UTC 03 Oct 2012 | Lol, thanks for the help. I'm still so confused, lol. | 3
anillos_de_saturno 16:18 UTC 04 Oct 2012 | The capital is Negerulmud on the island of Babeldaob. (Don't ask me how they're pronounced!) That's what the [Wikipedia page of Ngerulmud|en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ngerulmud] says. However, other sources quoted Melekeok as the Capital. The [UN profile of Palau|data.un.org/CountryProfile.aspx?crName=Palau] quotes Melekeok as the Capital. There was a [talk in Wikipedia|en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk%3AMelekeok] discussing if the new Capital is Ngerulmud or Melekeok. The web of the Embassy of Palau in the USA talks about a shift of the Capital to Melekeok state... It seems clear the Capitol (not the Capital) is in Ngerulmud (what would make it a de facto Capital if the official law doesn't quote Ngerulmud as the Capital) but we would need to read the official law/decree/act/... quoting the new Capital in order to provide an answer for sure. BTW, the change of Capitals was stipulated in Section 11 of the Constitution of Palau. | 4
kenko 16:43 UTC 04 Oct 2012 | That clarifies it all for us. Thank You. | 5
philthebrewer 11:26 UTC 24 Oct 2012 | The national capitol of Palau is Melekeok (mel-ek-ee-awk). | 6
kenko 21:25 UTC 24 Oct 2012 | This should be a question on Double Jeopardy! | 7
5waldos 02:56 UTC 31 Oct 2012 | I believe that Ngerulmud is a village in the state of Melekeok. (And I could pronounce it but couldn't spell the pronounciation.) However everyone refers to the capital as being Melekeok. And there is a big White House there built to resemble the one in Washington, DC. Very odd to see it. Last I was there however nothing much happened up there- the President's office was still on the hill next to the hospital in Koror. | 8
kenko 05:52 UTC 01 Nov 2012 | Interesting... apparently the CAPITOL Building- a knock-off of the US Capitol Building in Washington DC- stands by itself in the state of Melekeok. The closest village to the capitol building is called Ngerulmud, yet it has no population (go figure). The entire state of Melekeok has a mere 400 residents. The island this riddle within a mystery is on is called Babeldaob, and is called Babelthuap by some. Although the Capitol building is on Babeldaob Island, it's possible the actual capital- where the administrative functions of the government are actually performed- is not the same as the Capitol building where the politician's meet. For such a small country, Palau takes the prize for having the world's most confounding capital. | 9
5waldos 11:09 UTC 01 Nov 2012 | The politics there aren't so simple either. | 10