{"population":21729,"blurb":{"text":"Palau, officially the Republic of Palau, is an island country located 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, while the eastern and central parts make up the Federated States of Micronesia.","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palau"},"vexillology":{"text":"The Flag of Palau was adopted on 1 January 1981, when the island group separated from the United Nations Trust Territory. As with the flags of several other Pacific island groups, light blue is the color used to represent the ocean and the nation's place within it. While this puts Palau in common with the Federated States of Micronesia and other neighboring island groups, the disc on the flag is similar to that on the flag of Japan but is off-centre like that of the flag of Bangladesh. In the case of Palau, the disk represents the moon instead of the sun. The current flag was introduced in 1981 when Palau became a republic.","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Palau"},"flagDesign":null,"photos":["https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/8f/Capitol%2C_Melekeok%2C_Palau.jpg/500px-Capitol%2C_Melekeok%2C_Palau.jpg","https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/60/A_traditional_Palauan_hut%2C_2012.jpg/500px-A_traditional_Palauan_hut%2C_2012.jpg","https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c5/Airai_Village_Stone_Pathways_Intersection.jpg/500px-Airai_Village_Stone_Pathways_Intersection.jpg","https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/99/German-Channel-2016-aerial-view-Luka-Peternel.jpg/500px-German-Channel-2016-aerial-view-Luka-Peternel.jpg"],"absent":["flagDesign"]}