Merir or Melieli is a small outlying
island
An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...
of the
Palau
Palau,, officially the Republic of Palau and historically ''Belau'', ''Palaos'' or ''Pelew'', is an island country and microstate in the western Pacific. The nation has approximately 340 islands and connects the western chain of the ...
group, in the western Pacific Ocean. The island measures 0.90 km
2 and is uninhabited. There is an abandoned village in the north-west of the island which previously hosted a radio station. It is very long and narrow, stretching approximately 2.4 kilometers from north to south, but only approximately 667 meters at its widest.
The island itself is covered with trees but it is surrounded by a beach around which is a lagoon. Outside this, the whole is surrounded by a coral reef and the open ocean.
Together with the islands of
Sonsorol
Sonsorol is one of the sixteen states of Palau. The inhabitants speak Sonsorolese, a local Chuukic language, and Palauan.
The islands of the state of Sonsorol, together with the islands of Hatohobei, form the Southwest Islands of Palau.
Hi ...
and Fanna, which are 110 km to the north-west, and the island of Pulo Anna 50 km away, Merir forms the state of Sonsorol in the republic of Palau.
The first recorded sighting of Merir by the Europeans was by the Spanish missionary expedition commanded by
Sargento Mayor Francisco Padilla on board of the
patache
A patache (occasionally "patax" or "''pataje''") is a type of sailing vessel with two masts, very light and shallow, a sort of cross between a brig and a schooner, which originally was a warship, being intended for surveillance and inspection ...
''SantÃsima Trinidad'' in November 1710.
[Rienzi, M.L. ''Historia de la OceanÃa, o quinta parte del mundo'', Barcelona, 1845-1846, vol.2, p.78]
Gallery
File:Merir.png, Satellite view of the Island of Merir
File:Merir AKK West Coast Beach.jpg, Luxuriant vegetation and beach scene in western Merir
File:Txu-pclmaps-oclc-22834566 l-13a.jpg, Map including Merir ( DMA, 1991)
References
External links
Islands of Palau
Sonsorol
{{Palau-geo-stub