Page "History of Palau" Paragraph 10

Under the Spanish administration, Palau underwent its first forms of extreme foreign influence.

Catholicism is the most highlighted amongst all these forms, having been introduced to the native population and accepted rather easily, despite the fact that Palauans were ardent followers of their traditional faith.

Elements from the Spanish language were also integrated into the Palauan lexicon ; the Palauan word for hammer, " martiliong ", is derived from the Spanish " martillo ".

Even with these forms of influence, Palau has predominantly very little influence from the Spanish occupation compared to other islands within the region, such as Guam.

This is partly due to the reason that, aside from Spanish Jesuit missionaries, Spain had very little economic and colonization activity on the islands.