Portal:New Guinea
The New Guinea Portal
Introduction
Native name: Papua, Niugini, Niu Gini | |
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| Geography | |
| Location | Oceania (Melanesia) |
| Archipelago | Melanesia and Malay Archipelago |
| Area | 785,753 km2 (303,381 sq mi) |
| Area rank | 2nd |
New Guinea (Tok Pisin: Niugini; Hiri Motu: Niu Gini; Indonesian: Papua, fossilized Nugini, or historically Irian) is the world's second-largest island, with an area of 785,753 km2 (303,381 sq mi). Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the 150-kilometre (81-nautical-mile; 93-mile) wide Torres Strait, though both landmasses lie on the same continental shelf, and were united during episodes of low sea level in the Pleistocene glaciations as the combined landmass of Sahul. Numerous smaller islands are located to the west and east. The island's name was given by Spanish explorer Yñigo Ortiz de Retez during his maritime expedition of 1545 due to the resemblance of the indigenous peoples of the island to those in the African region of Guinea. (Full article...)
Papua New Guinea is a country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean north of Australia. It has a land border with Indonesia to the west and neighbours Australia to the south and the Solomon Islands to the east. Its capital, on its southern coast, is Port Moresby. The country is the world's third largest island country, with an area of 462,840 km2 (178,700 sq mi). (Full article...)
Western New Guinea, also known as Papua, Indonesian New Guinea, and Indonesian Papua, is the western half of the island of New Guinea, formerly Dutch and granted to Indonesia in 1962. Given the island is alternatively named Papua, the region is also called West Papua (Indonesian: Papua Barat). (Full article...)
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The Sulu Range is a small volcanic mountain range on the Papua New Guinean island of New Britain. It consists of a group of partially overlapping small stratovolcanoes and lava domes, with the highest point being 610 m (2,000 ft) Mount Malopu at the southwestern end of the range. Kaiamu, a maar at the northwestern end of the Sulu Range, forms a peninsula with a small lake extending about 1 km (0.62 mi) into Bangula Bay. Other volcanoes in the range include Mount Ululu, Mount Ruckenberg, Mount Talutu and Mount Ubia.
The Sulu Range consists of volcanic rocks ranging in composition from basaltic-to-rhyolitic. Eruptions are not known to have occurred from the range in recorded history, although some of the cones are relatively undissected, implying that there may have been eruptions throughout the Holocene. Volcanic unrest in 2006 resulted in the creation of a vigorous new fumarolic vent, which was preceded by vegetation die-off, seismicity and dust-producing landslides.
On the coastal plain west of the southwest base of the Sulu Range lies the Walo hydrothermal area, which consists of solfataras and mudpots. The fumaroles in this hydrothermal area have been used by locals for cooking food. (Full article...) -
Trans–New Guinea (TNG) is an extensive family of Papuan languages spoken on the island of New Guinea and neighboring islands, a region corresponding to the country Papua New Guinea as well as parts of Indonesia.
Trans–New Guinea is perhaps the third-largest language family in the world by number of languages. The core of the family is considered to be established, but its boundaries and overall membership are uncertain. The languages are spoken by around 3 million people. There have been several main proposals as to its internal classification. (Full article...) -
The Papuan Peninsula, also known as the Bird's Tail Peninsula, is a large peninsula in Papua New Guinea, southeast of the city of Lae, that makes up the southeastern portion of the island of New Guinea. The peninsula is the easternmost extent of the New Guinea Highlands and consists largely of the Owen Stanley Range, with peaks such as Mount Victoria (4,038 m) and Mount Suckling (3,676 m). On the south coast is Port Moresby, the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea.
The island of New Guinea is often visualized as being in the shape of a bird, with the Bird's Head Peninsula being at the northwest end of the island, and the Bird's Tail Peninsula at the southeast end. For example, American soldiers in WWII visualized it specifically as a turkey, and referenced the anatomy of the bird as a shorthand for explaining where various actions and deployments occurred on the island. (Full article...) -
The Fly River is the third longest river on the island of New Guinea, after the Sepik and Mamberamo, with a total length of 1,060 km (660 mi). It is the largest by volume of discharge in Oceania, the largest in the world without a single dam in its catchment, and overall the 20th-largest primary river in the world by discharge volume. It is located in the southwest of Papua New Guinea and in the South Papua province of Indonesia. It rises in the Victor Emanuel Range arm of the Star Mountains, and crosses the south-western lowlands before flowing into the Gulf of Papua in a large delta. The Fly–Strickland River system has a total length of 1,220 km (760 mi), making it the longest river system of an island in the world. The 824 km (512 mi) Strickland is the longest and largest tributary of Fly River, making it the farthest distance source of the Fly River. (Full article...) -
Papua New Guinea is home to several protected areas, which receive protection because of their environmental, cultural or similar value.
The total area of Papua New Guinea protected territories is 14,330 km2 (5,530 sq mi), which amounts to approximately 3.07% of the country's territory. The total number of protected areas as 2018 is 71.
The effort by the PNG government to protect biodiversity has resulted in 44 existing terrestrial protected areas using the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) categories. These protected areas account for 1.6% of the total land area. A study of biodiversity identified a further 398 areas as candidates for conservation. This would increase the total protected areas to 16.8% of the total country area. (Full article...) -
Highlands Highway in Eastern Highlands Province
The Highlands Highway, sometimes known as the Okuk Highway, is the main land highway in Papua New Guinea. It connects several major cities and is vital for the movement of people and goods between the populous Highlands region and the coast.
For most of its length the Highlands Highway is no more than a single carriageway two-lane road that is often hindered by potholes and land slips. It is also notorious, particularly in the Highlands region, for being the place of numerous armed hold-ups and robberies committed by local bandits called raskols. (Full article...) -
Teluk Cenderawasih National Park is the largest marine national park of Indonesia, located in Cenderawasih Bay, south-east of Bird's Head Peninsula. It includes the islands of Mioswaar, Nusrowi Island, Roon, Rumberpon, Anggrameos and Yoop. The park protects a rich marine ecosystem, with over 150 recorded coral species, for which it is considered a potential World Heritage Site. (Full article...) -
Sir Julius Chan GCL GCMG KBE PC (born 29 August 1939) is a Papua New Guinean politician who served as Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea from 1980 to 1982 and from 1994 to 1997. He is Member of Parliament for New Ireland Province, having won the seat in the 2007 national election. He is also the current Governor of New Ireland Province, since 2007. On 26 May 2019, Prime Minister Peter O'Neill announced he would soon resign and that he wished for Sir Julius to succeed him. An outgoing Prime Minister does not, however, have the power to appoint his successor, and the following day O'Neill delayed his own formal resignation. He was also a leading figure in his country during the years-long Bougainville conflict. (Full article...) -
The Territory of Papua and New Guinea, officially the Administrative Union of the Territory of Papua and the Territory of New Guinea, was established by an administrative union between the Australian-administered territories of Papua and New Guinea (the latter being a United Nations trust territory administered by Australia) in 1949. In December 1971, the name of the Territory changed to "Papua New Guinea" and in 1975 it became the Independent State of Papua New Guinea. (Full article...) -
The Malay Archipelago is a book by the English naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace which chronicles his scientific exploration, during the eight-year period 1854 to 1862, of the southern portion of the Malay Archipelago including Malaysia, Singapore, the islands of Indonesia, then known as the Dutch East Indies, and the island of New Guinea. It was published in two volumes in 1869, delayed by Wallace's ill health and the work needed to describe the many specimens he brought home. The book went through ten editions in the nineteenth century; it has been reprinted many times since, and has been translated into at least twelve languages.
The book describes each island that he visited in turn, giving a detailed account of its physical and human geography, its volcanoes, and the variety of animals and plants that he found and collected. At the same time, he describes his experiences, the difficulties of travel, and the help he received from the different peoples that he met. The preface notes that he travelled over 14,000 miles and collected 125,660 natural history specimens, mostly of insects though also thousands of molluscs, birds, mammals and reptiles.
The work was illustrated with engravings, based on Wallace's observations and collection, by the leading illustrators Thomas Baines, Walter Hood Fitch, John Gerrard Keulemans, E. W. Robinson, Joseph Wolf and T. W. Wood. (Full article...) -
Sir William Jack Skate KCMG (26 September 1953 – 3 January 2006) was a prominent Papua New Guinea politician. He was the son of an Australian father and a Papua New Guinean mother. Though his career was turbulent and often marked by setbacks, he served in the highest posts in his country: prime minister of Papua New Guinea, speaker of the National Parliament, and as acting governor-general of Papua New Guinea. (Full article...)
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James Marape (born 24 April 1971) is a Papua New Guinean politician who has served as the prime minister of Papua New Guinea since May 2019. He has been a member of the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea since July 2007, representing the electorate of Tari-Pori Open in Hela Province in the New Guinea Highlands. He has held Cabinet Posts as Minister of Education (2008–2011), Minister of Finance (2012–2019), and Minister of Foreign Affairs (2023–2024). Marape entered the 2022 elections under the banner of the Pangu Party and won the most seats, while still being far from a majority. He was therefore able to form government, which was elected unopposed by the new parliament. (Full article...) -
The Battle of Finschhafen was part of the Huon Peninsula campaign in New Guinea during World War II and was fought between Australian and Japanese forces. The fighting took place between 22 September and 24 October 1943 following the landing at Scarlet Beach, which was followed by a two-pronged advance on Finschhafen as the Australian 20th Infantry Brigade advanced on the town from the north, while the 22nd Infantry Battalion drove from the south, having advanced from the landing beaches east of Lae. After the capture of Finschhafen, the Japanese forces in the area withdrew towards Sattelberg where they sought to hold the Australians before launching a counteroffensive, which subsequently threatened the landing beach. This attack was repelled by Australian and American forces, with heavy casualties being inflicted on the Japanese. In the aftermath, the Australians went on the offensive, capturing Sattelberg, and then advancing towards the Wareo plateau. (Full article...) -
St Andrews Lutheran Church in Malahang, Morobe Province. Christianity is the main religion in Papua New Guinea
Religion in Papua New Guinea is dominated by various branches of Christianity, with traditional animism and ancestor worship often occurring less openly as another layer underneath or more openly side by side with Christianity. The Catholic Church has a plurality of the population. The courts, government, and general society uphold a constitutional right to freedom of speech, thought, and beliefs. A secular state, there is no state religion in the country, although the government openly partners with several Christian groups to provide services, and churches participate in local government bodies.
A large majority of Papua New Guineans identify themselves as members of a Christian church (96% in the decennial 2000 census); however, many combine their Christian faith with traditional indigenous practices, known as religious syncretism.
Other religions represented in the country include the Baháʼí Faith, Hinduism and Islam. (Full article...) -
East New Britain is a province of Papua New Guinea, consisting of the north-eastern part of the island of New Britain and the Duke of York Islands. The capital of the province is Kokopo, not far from the old capital of Rabaul, which was largely destroyed in a volcanic eruption in 1994. East New Britain covers a total land area of 15,816 square kilometres (6,107 sq mi), and the province's population was reported as 220,133 in the 2000 census, rising to 328,369 in the 2011 count. Provincial coastal waters extend over an area of 104,000 square metres (26 acres). The province's only land border is with West New Britain Province to the west, and it also shares a maritime border with New Ireland Province to the east.
East New Britain has a dual economy: a cash economy operates side by side with the subsistence-farming sector. The main crops produced for export are cocoa and copra. Tourism continues to be an increasingly important sector of the provincial economy. (Full article...)
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Did you know (auto-generated)
- ... that artifacts of Papua New Guinean art were called "living spirits with fixed abodes"?
- ... that the clinical trials of British scientist Peter Pharoah helped eradicate congenital iodine deficiency syndrome (cretinism) in Papua New Guinea?
- ... that Dorkas Tokoro-Hanasbey, the only female member of the New Guinea Council, arrived thirty minutes late to her inauguration ceremony?
- ... that Australiformis semoni is a parasite that infests marsupials in Australia and New Guinea and whose infestation could cause debilitating ulcerative granulomatous gastritis?
- ... that until Rufina Peter and Kessy Sawang's election in August 2022, Papua New Guinea was one of only three countries without a woman in parliament?
- ... that David Dexter, who wrote the New Guinea volume in the series Australia in the War of 1939–1945, was a commando who served in East Timor and New Guinea?
General images -
The following are images from various New Guinea-related articles on Wikipedia.
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Group of natives at Mairy Pass. Mainland of British New Guinea in 1885. (from New Guinea) -
Since 2002, display of the flag of West Papua is allowed in West Papua only if accompanied by, and not raised higher than, the flag of Indonesia. (from History of Western New Guinea) -
Australian troops at Milne Bay, Papua.The Australian garrison was the first to inflict defeat on the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II at the Battle of Milne Bay of Aug–Sep 1942. (from History of Papua New Guinea) -
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Flag under German control of New Guinea. (from History of Papua New Guinea) -
Koiari village near Bootless Inlet, British New Guinea (from History of Papua New Guinea) -
Coral reefs in Papua New Guinea (from New Guinea) -
A 1644 map of New Guinea and the surrounding area (from New Guinea) -
New Guinea Volunteer Rifles with captured Japanese flag, 1942 (from History of Papua New Guinea) -
Western New Guinea was formally annexed by Indonesia in 1969. (from New Guinea) -
Regions of Oceania: Australasia, Polynesia, Micronesia, and Melanesia. Australasia include the Australian landmass (including Tasmania), New Zealand, and New Guinea. (from History of Papua New Guinea) -
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Regions of Oceania: Australasia, Polynesia, Micronesia, and Melanesia. Physiographically, Australasia includes the Australian landmass (including Tasmania), New Zealand, and New Guinea (from New Guinea)
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Map showing the combined landmass of Sahul formed during Pleistocene glacations (from New Guinea) -
New Guinea crocodile (from New Guinea) -
Papuans on the Lorentz River, photographed during the third South New Guinea expedition in 1912–13 (from New Guinea) -
Hoisting the German flag at Mioko in 1884 (from History of Papua New Guinea) -
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Highlands of Papua New Guinea (from New Guinea) -
A Japanese military map of New Guinea from 1943 (from New Guinea) -
Dutch expeditions in Netherlands New Guinea 1907–1915. (from History of Western New Guinea) -
Mount Bosavi (from New Guinea) -
New Guinea located in relation to Melanesia (from New Guinea) -
Political divisions of New Guinea (2006) (from New Guinea) -
A typical map from the Golden Age of Netherlandish cartography. Australasia during the Golden Age of Dutch exploration and discovery (ca. 1590s–1720s): including Nova Guinea (New Guinea), Nova Hollandia (mainland Australia), Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania), and Nova Zeelandia (New Zealand). (from History of Papua New Guinea)
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Korowai tribesman (from New Guinea) -
Yali Mabel, Kurulu Village War Chief at Baliem Valley (from New Guinea) -
New Guinea from 1884 to 1919. The Netherlands controlled the western half of New Guinea, Germany the north-eastern part, and Britain the south-eastern part. (from New Guinea) -
Jayapura, the most populus and largest cities on the island of New Guinea (Papua) (from New Guinea) -
The continent of Sahul before the rising ocean sundered Australia and New Guinea after the last ice age (from New Guinea)
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British flag raised in Queensland 1883 (from History of Papua New Guinea) -
The raggiana bird-of-paradise is native to New Guinea. (from New Guinea) -
An Australian soldier, Private George "Dick" Whittington, is aided by Papuan orderly Raphael Oimbari, near Buna on 25 December 1942. (from History of Papua New Guinea) -
Map of New Guinea, with place names as used in English in the 1940s (from New Guinea) -
Papua New Guinea map of Köppen climate classification (from New Guinea) -
The floristic region of Malesia (from New Guinea) -
Australian soldiers resting in the Finisterre Ranges of New Guinea while en route to the front line (from New Guinea) -
Topographical map of New Guinea (from New Guinea)
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