Portal:New Guinea
The New Guinea Portal
Introduction
Native name: Papua, Niugini, Niu Gini | |
|---|---|
 | |
| 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, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and its offshore islands in Melanesia (a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean north of Australia). It shares its only land border with Indonesia to the west and its other close neighbours are Australia to the south and the Solomon Islands to the east. Its capital, located 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...)
Selected article -
-
Raja Ampat, or the Four Kings, is an archipelago located off of the northwest tip of Bird's Head Peninsula (on the island of New Guinea), Southwest Papua province, Indonesia. It comprises over 1,500 small islands, cays, and shoals around the four main islands of Misool, Salawati, Batanta, and Waigeo, and the smaller island of Kofiau.
The Raja Ampat archipelago straddles the equator and forms part of the Coral Triangle, an area of Southeast Asian seas containing the richest marine biodiversity on earth. The Coral Triangle itself is an approximate area west-southwest of the Philippines, east-northeast and southeast of the island of Borneo, and north, east and west of the island of New Guinea, including the seas in between. Thousands of species of marine organisms, from the tiniest cleaner shrimp and camouflaged pygmy seahorses to the majestic cetaceans and whale sharks, thrive in these waters.
Administratively, the archipelago is part of the province of Southwest Papua. Most of the islands constitute the Raja Ampat Regency, which was separated from Sorong Regency in 2004. The regency encompasses around 70,000 square kilometres (27,000 sq mi) of land and sea, of which 8,034.44 km2 constitutes the land area and has a population of 64,141 at the 2020 Census; the official estimate as at mid 2022 was 66,839. This excludes the southern half of Salawati Island, which is not part of this regency but instead constitutes the Salawati Selatan and Salawati Tengah Districts of Sorong Regency. (Full article...) -
New Guinea Force was a military command unit for Australian, United States and native troops from the Territories of Papua and New Guinea serving in the New Guinea campaign during World War II. Formed in April 1942, when the Australian First Army was formed from the Australian I Corps after it returned from the Middle East, it was responsible for planning and directing all operations within the territory up until October 1944. General Headquarters Southwest Pacific Area Operational Instruction No.7 of 25 May 1942, issued by Commander-Allied-Forces, General Douglas MacArthur, placed all Australian and US Army, Air Force and Navy Forces in the Port Moresby Area under the control of New Guinea Force. Over the course of its existence, New Guinea Force was commanded by some of the Australian Army's most notable commanders, including Sydney Rowell, Sir Edmund Herring and Sir Leslie Morshead.
General Sir Thomas Blamey also commanded the force in 1942 while based in Port Moresby. (Full article...) -
Samuel Tei Abal (born 26 June 1958) is a Papua New Guinean politician. Abal, who previously served as Foreign Minister from August 2007 to December 2010, became the Deputy Prime Minister of the country in a cabinet reshuffle by Michael Somare on 7 December 2010. He further became acting Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea on 13 December 2010, when Prime Minister Somare stepped down from office to face a tribunal regarding allegations of financial mismanagement. His tenure as acting Prime Minister ended on 2 August 2011, when Peter O'Neill won a parliamentary vote to be appointed as Prime Minister. Since October 2021, he is the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Papua New Guinea to Japan. (Full article...) -
The Great Papuan Plateau is a karst plateau in the Southern Highlands, Hela and Western Provinces of Papua New Guinea. It is bordered the upper stretches of the Kikori River and the Strickland River on the east and west, respectively, and the Karius Range, the southern edge of the highlands, including Mount Sisa (2,650 m), to the north, and Mount Bosavi (2,507 m) to the south.
The eastern part of the plateau, east of the Sioa River, covers about 525 square miles (1,360 km2) and had a sparse population of 2,100 people (1966 government census), speaking at least five different languages. The dominant ethnic groups of this region are the Bosavi, Hawalisi, and Onabasulu. Further to the west are the Etoro, Bedamuni, and Sonia. In general, these groups practice swidden agriculture with exploitation of taro.
The Great Papuan Plateau has petroleum resources, and a pipeline from the plateau to Daru is under construction. (Full article...) -
Bougainville (/ˈboʊɡənvɪl/ BOH-gən-vil; Tok Pisin: Bogenvil), officially the Autonomous Region of Bougainville (Tok Pisin: Otonomos Region bilong Bogenvil), is an autonomous region in Papua New Guinea. The largest island is Bougainville Island, while the region also includes Buka Island and a number of outlying islands and atolls. The current capital is Buka, situated on Buka Island.
In 2011, the region had an estimated population of 250,000. The lingua franca of Bougainville is Tok Pisin, while a variety of Austronesian and non-Austronesian languages are also spoken. The region includes several Polynesian outliers where Polynesian languages are spoken. Geographically the islands of Bougainville and Buka form part of the Solomon Islands archipelago, but are politically separate from the independent country of Solomon Islands. Historically, Bougainville and Buka, together with the islands of Choiseul, Santa Isabel, the Shortlands and Ontong Java, which are all now part of the country of Solomon Islands, formed the German Solomon Islands Protectorate, the geographical area later being referred to as the North Solomon Islands.
Bougainville has been inhabited by humans for at least 29,000 years. During the colonial period the region was occupied and administered by the Germans, Australians, Japanese, and Americans for various periods. The name of the region originates from French admiral Louis Antoine de Bougainville, who reached it in 1768. (Full article...) -
The Porgera Gold Mine is a large gold and silver mining operation near Porgera, Enga province, Papua New Guinea (PNG). Located at the head of the Porgera Valley, The mine is situated in the rain forest covered highlands at an altitude of 2,200 to 2,700 m, in a region of high rainfall, landslides, and frequent earthquakes.
The Porgera Gold Mine closed in April 2020, following the end of its special mining lease. Extensive negotiations for a new special mining lease were concluded in 2023 and the reopening of the mine was announced in December 2023, with first production expected in the first quarter of 2024.
The new special mining lease was finally issued to New Porgera Limited, an entity 51% owned by PNG stakeholders (including state-owned Kumul Minerals Holdings Limited, local landowners and the Enga provincial government), and 49% by Barrick Niugini Limited (BNL), itself a joint venture between Barrick Gold and Zijin Mining of China. (Full article...) -
Regional map with West New Guinea highlighted. To the west, the Moluccas in Indonesia; to the east, the Australian Territory of Papua and New Guinea (now Papua New Guinea); to the south, mainland Australia.
The New York Agreement is an agreement signed by the Kingdom of the Netherlands and Indonesia regarding the administration of the territory of Western New Guinea. The first part of the agreement proposes that the United Nations assume administration of the territory, and a second part proposes a set of social conditions that will be provided if the United Nations exercises a discretion proposed in article 12 of the agreement to allow Indonesian occupation and administration of the territory. Negotiated during meetings hosted by the United States, the agreement was signed on 15 August 1962 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City, United States.
The agreement was added to the agenda of the 1962 United Nations General Assembly and precipitated General Assembly Resolution 1752 (XVII) granting the United Nations authority to occupy and administer West New Guinea. Although agreements are not able to negate obligations defined in the Charter of the United Nations, and the agreement asserted that it was for the benefit of the people of the territory, some people believed that the agreement was sacrificing the people of the territory for the benefit of the foreign powers.
A United States Department of State summary from 1962 asserts the "agreement was almost a total victory for Indonesia and a defeat for the Netherlands", that the United States "Bureau of European Affairs was sympathetic to the Dutch view that annexation by Indonesia would simply trade white for brown colonialism", and that "The underlying reason that the Kennedy administration pressed the Netherlands to accept this agreement was that it believed that Cold War considerations of preventing Indonesia from going Communist overrode the Dutch case." (Full article...) -
The Admiralty Islands campaign (Operation Brewer) was a series of battles in the New Guinea campaign of World War II in which the United States Army's 1st Cavalry Division took the Japanese-held Admiralty Islands.
Acting on reports from airmen that there were no signs of enemy activity and the islands might have been evacuated, General Douglas MacArthur accelerated his timetable for capturing the Admiralties and ordered an immediate reconnaissance in force. The campaign began on 29 February 1944 when a force landed on Los Negros, the third-largest island in the group. By using a small, isolated beach where the Japanese had not anticipated an assault, the force achieved tactical surprise, but the islands proved to be far from unoccupied. A furious battle over the islands ensued.
In the end, air superiority and command of the sea allowed the Allies to heavily reinforce their position on Los Negros. The 1st Cavalry Division could then overrun the islands. The campaign officially ended on 18 May 1944. The Allied victory completed the isolation of the major Japanese base at Rabaul that was the ultimate objective of the Allied campaigns of 1942 and 1943. A major air and naval base was developed in the Admiralty Islands that became an important launching point for the campaigns of 1944 in the Pacific. This campaign marked the end of MacArthur's Operation Cartwheel, which was a multi-theater operation conducted to turn the powerful Japanese base of Rabaul into a de facto prisoner-of-war camp. (Full article...) -
The great flying fox (Pteropus neohibernicus), also known as the greater flying fox or Bismarck flying fox, is a species of megabat in the genus Pteropus, found throughout lowland areas of New Guinea and in the Bismarck Archipelago. Conflicting evidence suggests that its closest relative is either the spectacled flying fox or, jointly, the Pelew and insular flying foxes. Two subspecies are recognized. At up to 1.6 kg (3.5 lb) in weight, it is among the heaviest bats in the world and the largest bat in Melanesia. It is a gregarious animal which roosts with hundreds or thousands of individuals. In part due to its wide variation in color, it has many taxonomic synonyms, including Pteropus degener, Pteropus papuanus, and Pteropus sepikensis. It may forage during the day or night in search of fruit, including figs or fruits from the family Sapotaceae. It is considered a least-concern species by the IUCN, though its numbers have been negatively impacted by what appeared to be a disease, as well as by hunting for bushmeat that occurs across its range. (Full article...) -
The Papua New Guinea national soccer team is the men's national soccer team of Papua New Guinea and is controlled by the Papua New Guinea Football Association. Its nickname is the Kapuls, which is Tok Pisin for Cuscus.
Papua New Guinea's highest ever FIFA ranking was 153, in June 2017. As of April 2024, the country was ranked 166 out of 211 countries. This was a drop of 1 place from February 2024. Papua New Guinea had previously left the FIFA rankings, having not competed in a match between July 2007 and August 2011. Their matches at the 2015 Pacific Games saw them return to the rankings, and they competed in the 2016 OFC Nations Cup in June 2016; they reached the final, but lost to New Zealand 4–2 on penalties after the score was tied at 0–0 after extra time. (Full article...) -
The monarchy of Papua New Guinea is a system of government in which a hereditary monarch is the sovereign and head of state of Papua New Guinea. The current Papua New Guinean monarch and head of state, since 8 September 2022, is King Charles III. As sovereign, he is the personal embodiment of the Papua New Guinean Crown. Although the person of the sovereign is equally shared with 14 other independent countries within the Commonwealth of Nations, each country's monarchy is separate and legally distinct. As a result, the current monarch is officially titled King of Papua New Guinea and, in this capacity, he and other members of the royal family undertake public and private functions domestically and abroad as representatives of Papua New Guinea. However, the King is the only member of the royal family with any constitutional role.
All executive authority is vested in the monarch, and royal approval is required for letters patent and Orders in Council to have legal effect. But the authority for these acts stems from the country's populace, in which sovereignty is vested, and the monarch's direct participation in any of these areas of governance is limited. Most of the powers are exercised by the elected members of parliament, the ministers of the Crown generally drawn from amongst them, and the judges and justices of the peace. Other powers vested in the Crown, such as dismissal of a prime minister, are significant but are treated only as reserve powers and as an important security part of the role of the monarchy.
The Crown today primarily functions as a guarantor of continuous and stable governance and a nonpartisan safeguard against the abuse of power. While some powers are exercisable only by the sovereign, most of the monarch's operational and ceremonial duties are exercised by his representative, the governor-general of Papua New Guinea. (Full article...) -
Bougainville Island (Tok Pisin: Bogenvil) is the main island of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, which is part of Papua New Guinea. Its land area is 9,300 km2 (3,600 sq mi). The population of the whole province, including nearby islets such as the Carterets, is approximately 300,000 (2019 census). The highest point is Mount Balbi, on the main island, at 2,715 m (8,907 ft).
The much smaller Buka Island, c. 500 km2 (190 sq mi), lies to the north, across the 400–500 m (1,300–1,600 ft) wide Buka Strait. Even though the strait is narrow, there is no bridge across it, but there is a regular ferry service between the key settlements on either side. The main airstrip in the north is in the town of Buka. Buka has an outcropping that is 175 km (109 mi) from New Ireland. Among the large islands of Papua New Guinea, New Ireland is the closest to Buka.
Bougainville is the largest island in the Solomon Islands archipelago. It was previously the main landmass in the German Empire—associated with the North Solomons. Most of the islands in this archipelago (which are primarily concentrated in the southern and eastern portions of it) are part of the politically independent Solomon Islands. Two of these islands—the closely connected Shortland Islands—are less than 9 km (5.6 mi) south or southeast of Bougainville, and about 30 km (19 mi) west of Choiseul, one of the settlements of which, Poroporo, faces Bougainville. (Full article...) -
The eastern brown snake (Pseudonaja textilis), often referred to as the common brown snake, is a species of extremely venomous snake in the family Elapidae. The species is native to eastern and central Australia and southern New Guinea. It was first described by André Marie Constant Duméril, Gabriel Bibron, and Auguste Duméril in 1854. The adult eastern brown snake has a slender build and can grow to 2 m (7 ft) in length. The colour of its surface ranges from pale brown to black, while its underside is pale cream-yellow, often with orange or grey splotches. The eastern brown snake is found in most habitats except dense forests, often in farmland and on the outskirts of urban areas, as such places are populated by its main prey, the house mouse. The species is oviparous. The International Union for Conservation of Nature classifies the snake as a least-concern species, though its status in New Guinea is unclear.
It is considered the world's second-most venomous land snake after the inland taipan (Oxyuranus microlepidotus), based on its LD50 value (subcutaneous) in mice. The main effects of its venom are on the circulatory system—coagulopathy, haemorrhage (bleeding), cardiovascular collapse, and cardiac arrest. One of the main components of the venom is the prothrombinase complex pseutarin-C, which breaks down prothrombin. (Full article...) -
Matschie's tree-kangaroo, an endangered endemic species found in Huon Peninsula
Papua New Guinea together with the West Papua region of Indonesia (New Guinea) make up a major tropical wilderness area that still contains 5% of the original and untouched tropical high-biodiversity terrestrial ecosystems. PNG in itself contains over 5% of the world's biodiversity in less than 1% of the world's total land area. The flora of New Guinea is unique because it has two sources of origin; the Gondwana flora from the south and flora with Asian origin from the west. As a result, New Guinea shares major family and genera with Australia and the East Asia, but is rich in local endemic species. The endemicity is a result of mountainous isolation, topographic and soil habitat heterogeneity, high forest disturbance rates and abundant aseasonal rainfall year round. PNG boasts some 15–21,000 higher plants, 3,000 species of orchids, 800 species of coral, 600 species of fish, 250 species of mammals and 760 species of birds and 8 species of tree-kangaroos out of which 84 genera of animals are endemic. Ecosystems range from lowland forests to montane forests, alpine flora down to coastal areas which contains some of the most extensive pristine mangrove areas in the world. Much of this biodiversity has remained intact for thousands of years because the ruggedness of the terrain made the interior lands inaccessible; furthermore low population density and restrictions on the effectiveness of traditional tools, ensured that these biodiversity was never overexploited. (Full article...) -
The Bird's Head Peninsula (Indonesian: Kepala Burung, Dutch: Vogelkop, meaning Bird's Head in Indonesian and Dutch) or Doberai Peninsula (Semenanjung Doberai) is a large peninsula that makes up the northwest portion of the island of New Guinea, comprising the Indonesian provinces of Southwest Papua and West Papua. It is often referred to as The Vogelkop, and is so named because its shape looks like a bird's head on the island of New Guinea. The peninsula at the opposite end of the island (in Papua New Guinea) is called the Bird's Tail Peninsula. The peninsula just to the south is called the Bomberai Peninsula. (Full article...)
.jpg?lang=en)
Did you know (auto-generated)
- ... that the clinical trials of British scientist Peter Pharoah helped eradicate congenital iodine deficiency syndrome (cretinism) in Papua New Guinea?
- ... that Australian official Jack Emanuel was awarded the George Cross in 1971 after being stabbed to death whilst trying to resolve a land dispute with the Tolai people of New Guinea?
- ... 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 artifacts of Papua New Guinean art were called "living spirits with fixed abodes"?
- ... that Dorkas Tokoro-Hanasbey, the only female member of the New Guinea Council, arrived thirty minutes late to her inauguration ceremony?
General images -
The following are images from various New Guinea-related articles on Wikipedia.
-
British flag raised in Queensland 1883 (from History of Papua New Guinea) -
Flag under German control of New Guinea. (from History of Papua New Guinea) -
-
Korowai tribesman (from New Guinea) -
Papua New Guinea map of Köppen climate classification (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) -
The continent of Sahul before the rising ocean sundered Australia and New Guinea after the last ice age (from New Guinea) -
Highlands of Papua New Guinea (from 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) -
New Guinea Volunteer Rifles with captured Japanese flag, 1942 (from History of Papua New Guinea) -
Jayapura, the most populus and largest cities on the island of New Guinea (Papua) (from New Guinea) -
New Guinea located in relation to Melanesia (from New Guinea) -
The floristic region of Malesia (from New Guinea) -
The raggiana bird-of-paradise is native to New Guinea. (from New Guinea) -
A 1644 map of New Guinea and the surrounding area (from New Guinea) -
A Japanese military map of New Guinea from 1943 (from New Guinea) -
Topographical map of New Guinea (from New Guinea) -
-
Dutch expeditions in Netherlands New Guinea 1907–1915. (from History of Western 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) -
Yali Mabel, Kurulu Village War Chief at Baliem Valley (from New Guinea) -
New Guinea crocodile (from New Guinea) -
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) -
Coral reefs in Papua New Guinea (from New Guinea) -
Map showing the combined landmass of Sahul formed during Pleistocene glacations (from New Guinea)
-
Australian soldiers resting in the Finisterre Ranges of New Guinea while en route to the front line (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)
-
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) -
Regions of Oceania: Australasia, Polynesia, Micronesia, and Melanesia. Physiographically, Australasia includes the Australian landmass (including Tasmania), New Zealand, and New Guinea (from New Guinea)
-
Koiari village near Bootless Inlet, British New Guinea (from History of Papua New Guinea) -
Hoisting the German flag at Mioko in 1884 (from History of Papua New Guinea) -
Political divisions of New Guinea (2006) (from New Guinea) -
Western New Guinea was formally annexed by Indonesia in 1969. (from New Guinea) -
Papuans on the Lorentz River, photographed during the third South New Guinea expedition in 1912–13 (from New Guinea) -
Mount Bosavi (from New Guinea)
.jpg?lang=en)
.jpg?lang=en)
.svg?lang=en)
.png?lang=en)
Related portals
In the news
- 14 October 2024 –
- The Papua New Guinea Defence Force shoot six people, killing one, during an operation against illegal mining near Porgera Gold Mine in Enga Province, Papua New Guinea. (BenarNews)
WikiProjects
General topics
Categories
Select [►] to view subcategories
Associated Wikimedia
The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:
-
Commons
Free media repository -
Wikibooks
Free textbooks and manuals -
Wikidata
Free knowledge base -
Wikinews
Free-content news -
Wikiquote
Collection of quotations -
Wikisource
Free-content library -
Wikiversity
Free learning tools -
Wiktionary
Dictionary and thesaurus
External media
