New Guinea

New Guinea, located just north of Australia, is the world's second largest island having become separated from the Australian mainland when the area now known as the Torres Strait flooded around 5000 BC. The name Papua also refers to the island in whole or in part. (Refer to Papua (disambiguation) for clarification.)

Political divisions

The island is divided politically along east-west lines, roughly into equal halves:

• The portions of the island of New Guinea (Irian in Bahasa Indonesia) located west of 141°E longitude (see map) are incorporated into Indonesia as the provinces:
  • West Irian Jaya (Irian Jaya Barat)
  • Papua (formerly Irian Jaya). A proposal to split this into Papua Tengah (Central Papua) and Papua Timur (East Papua) has not been fully implemented.

Local Papuan terrorist have actively supported an separatist movement against Indonesia since 1965; the Indonesian authorities views this as a separatist and a terrorist movement whose members are guilty of treason.

• The eastern part, Papua New Guinea, has been an independent country since 1975.

The people

Populated by nearly a thousand different Papua Melanesian tribal groups since 45,000 BC, New Guinea is the home of the world's oldest independent societies and a staggering number of separate languages, the Papuan languages. The separation was not merely linguistic; warfare among societies was a factor in the evolution of the men's house: separate housing of groups of adult men, from the single-family houses of the women and children, for mutual protection against the other groups. Pork-based trade between the groups and pork-based feasts are a common theme with the other peoples of Southeast Asia and Oceania. The societies all practice agriculture, supplemented by hunting and gathering.

The surviving indigenous population of the island is black Africanoid and presumed to be the decendants of the San bushmen, who migrated from southeast Africa in prehistoric times to populate southern India and, later, nearby Australia, as well.

Ecology

With some 786,000 km² of tropical land, New Guinea has an immense ecological value: 11,000 plant species; nearly 600 unique bird species, including the birds of paradise; over 400 amphibians; 455 butterfly species; marsupials including bondegezou, Goodfellow's tree kangaroo, Huon tree kangaroo, long-beaked echidna, tenkile, alpine wallaby, cuscus and possums; and various other mammal species. Most of these species are shared, at least in their origin, with the continent of Australia, which was until fairly recent geological times, part of the same landmass. See Australia-New Guinea for an overview.

History

The first European claim occurred in 1828, when the Netherlands formally claimed the western half of the island. In 1883, following a short-lived French annexation of New Ireland, the self-governing colony of Queensland annexed south-eastern New Guinea. However, the Queensland government's superiors in the United Kingdom revoked the claim, and (formally) assumed direct responsibility in 1884, when Germany claimed north-eastern New Guinea as a protectorate. The first Dutch trading posts were constructed in 1895 and in 1910 they began work upon a Capital township called Hollandia.

Both the Dutch and the British suppressed the warfare once common between the villages of the populace.

In 1906 the British government transferred total responsibility for south-east New Guinea to Australia. During World War I, Australian forces seized German New Guinea, which in 1920 became a League of Nations mandated territory of Australia. The Australian territories became collectively known as The Territories of Papua and New Guinea (until February 1942).

Netherlands New Guinea and the Australian territories were invaded in 1942 by the Japanese Empire. The Australian territories were put under military administration and were known simply as New Guinea. The highlands, northern and eastern parts of the island became key battlefields in the South West Pacific Theatre of World War II. Papuans often gave vital assistance to the Allies, fighting alongside Australian and US troops, and carrying equipment and injured men across New Guinea. Following the return to civil administration, the Australian section was known as the Territory of Papua-New Guinea (1945-49) and then as Papua and New Guinea. Although the rest of the Dutch East Indies achieved independence as Indonesia, the Netherlands regained control of western New Guinea.

During the 1950s the Dutch government began to prepare Western New Guinea for full independence and allowed elections in 1959; an elected Papuan Council took office on April 5 1961. The Council decided on the name of West Papua, a national emblem, a flag called the Morning Star, and a national anthem; these were adopted and the flag was first raised — next to the Dutch flag — on December 1 1961. However, Indonesia invaded on December 18 1961 and annexed the fledgling nation. Under Indonesian control it was known initially as West Irian and then as Irian Jaya.

From 1971, the name Papua New Guinea was used for the Australian territory. In 1975, Australia granted full independence to Papua New Guinea.

In 2001, amid increasing discontent and opposition to Indonesian rule, Irian Jaya was formally renamed "The Province of Papua". However, formal independence was not granted.

External link

• The Intoxicating Birds of New Guinea by John Tidwell