 Marshall Islanders were encountered by Álvaro de Saavedra Cerón in 1529.More certain recorded contact with the Yap islands occurred in 1625.In the early 17th century Spain colonized Guam, the Northern Marianas and the Caroline Islands (what would later become the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of Palau), creating the Spanish East Indies, which was governed from the Spanish Philippines.