Papua New Guinea

Categories: Oceanic countries | Monarchies | Papua New Guinea

The Independent State of Papua New Guinea (informally, Papua New Guinea or PNG) is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands. (The Indonesian provinces of Papua (Indonesian province) and West Irian Jaya (Irian Jaya Barat) occupy the western half of the island of New Guinea.) It is located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, in a region defined since the early 19th century as Melanesia. Its capital and one of its few major cities is Port Moresby. It is one of the most diverse countries on Earth. There are over 700 indigenous languages and at least as many indigenous societies, out of a population of just over 5 million. It is also one of the most rural, with only 18% living in urban centers.¹

The majority of the population live in indigenous societies and practice subsistence-based agriculture. These societies and clans have some degree of distinct acknowledgement within the nation's constitutional framework. The PNG Constitution (Preamble 5(4)) expresses the wish for traditional villages and communities to remain as viable units of Papua New Guinean society², and for active steps to be taken in their preservation. The PNG legislature has enacted various laws in which a type of tenure called "customary land title" is recognised, meaning that the traditional lands of the indigenous peoples have some legal basis to inalienable tenure. This customary land notionally covers most of the usable land in the country (some 97% of total land area)³; the remainder is either in private freehold or the property of the PNG Government.

Its geography is similarly diverse, and in places extremely rugged. A spine of mountains runs the length of the island of New Guinea, forming a populous highlands region. Dense rainforests can be found in the lowland and coastal areas. This terrain has made it difficult for the country to develop transportation infrastructure. In some areas, planes are the only mode of transport. After being colonized by three external powers since 1888, Papua New Guinea gained its independence in 1975.

History

Main article: History of Papua New Guinea

Human remains have been found on New Guinea which have been dated to ca. 60,000 years ago. These ancient inhabitants probably had their origins in Southeast Asia and established an agriculture-based civilization. Little was known in the West about the island until the 19th Century, although European explorers had discovered the island in the 16th century. The country was named in the 19th century; the word "Papua" is derived from a Malay word describing the frizzy Melanesian hair, and "New Guinea" was the name coined by a Spanish explorer because of the population's resemblance to that of Guinea in Africa.

The northern half of the country came into German hands in the late 19th Century as German New Guinea. During World War I, it was occupied by Australia, which also administered the southern part as Papua (formerly British New Guinea). The two territories were combined into the Territory of Papua and New Guinea, and later simply referred to as "Papua New Guinea".

Independence from Australia occurred in September of 1975. A secessionist revolt which claimed 20,000 lives raged on the island of Bougainville from 1988 until it was resolved in 1997. Autonomous Bougainville recently elected Joseph Kabui as president.

Politics

Main article: Politics of Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations and Queen Elizabeth II is the head of state. She is represented in Papua New Guinea by the Governor General who is currently Sir Paulias Matane.

Actual executive power lies with the Prime Minister, who heads the cabinet. The unicameral parliament has 109 seats, of which 20 are occupied by the governors of the 20 provinces. The members of parliament are elected every five years.

Elections in PNG attract large numbers of candidates. In the past, many members of parliament were elected with less than 10% of the total vote. Electoral reforms have now restored the use of the alternative vote, known locally as Limited Preferential Voting, to ensure that each member of parliament represents a majority of the voters in his or her district.

Provinces

Main article: Provinces of Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea is divided into nineteen provinces and the National Capital District:

Geography

Main article: Geography of Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea is mostly mountainous (highest peak: Mount Wilhelm at 4,509 m) and covered with rain forest; there are small plains along the coast. Situated along a fault line, earthquakes and the resultant tsunamis are relatively common in Papua New Guinea.

Papua New Guinea is one of the regions closest to the equator that experience snowfall, which occurs in the elevated regions.

The largest area of the country is on New Guinea where the largest cities are also located, including the capital Port Moresby, Lae and Mount Hagen; major islands belonging to Papua New Guinea include New Ireland, New Britain and Bougainville.

Ecology

PNG is part of the Australasia ecozone, which also includes Australia, New Zealand, eastern Indonesia, and several Pacific island groups, including the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.

Geologically, the island of New Guinea is a northern extension of the Indo-Australian tectonic plate, forming part of a single landmass Australia-New Guinea (also called Sahul or Meganesia). It is connected to the Australian segment by a shallow continental shelf across the Torres Strait, which in former ages had lain exposed as a land bridge - particularly during ice ages when sea levels were lower than at present.

Consequently, many species of birds and mammals found on New Guinea have close genetic links with corresponding species found in Australia. One notable feature in common for the two landmasses is the existence of several species of Marsupial mammals, including some kangaroos and possums, which are not found elsewhere.

Many of the other islands within PNG territory, including New Britain, New Ireland, Bougainville, the Admiralty Islands, the Trobriand Islands, and the Louisiade Archipelago, were never linked to New Guinea by land bridges, and they lack many of the land mammals and flightless birds that are common to New Guinea and Australia.

Australia and New Guinea are portions of the ancient supercontinent of Gondwana, which started to break into smaller continents in the Cretaceous era, 130-65 million years ago. Australia finally broke free from Antarctica about 45 million years ago. All the Australasian lands are home to the Antarctic flora, descended from the flora of southern Gondwana, including the coniferous podocarps and Araucaria pines, and the broadleafed southern beech (Nothofagus). These plant families are still present in Papua New Guinea.

As the Indo-Australian Plate (includes landmasses of India, Australia, and the Indian Ocean floor in-between) drifts north, it collides with the Eurasian Plate, and the collision of the two plates pushed up the Himalayas, the Indonesian islands, and New Guinea's Central Range. The Central Range is much younger and higher than the mountains of Australia; so high that it is home to rare equatorial glaciers. New Guinea is part of the humid tropics, and many Indomalayan rainforest plants spread across the narrow straits from Asia, mixing together with the old Australian and Antarctic floras.

PNG includes a number of terrestrial ecoregions:

• Admiralty Islands lowland rain forests
• Central Range montane rain forests
• Huon Peninsula montane rain forests
• Louisiade Archipelago rain forests
• New Britain-New Ireland lowland rain forests
• New Britain-New Ireland montane rain forests
• Northern New Guinea lowland rain and freshwater swamp forests
• Northern New Guinea montane rain forests
• Solomon Islands rain forests (includes Bougainville and Buka)
• Southeastern Papuan rain forests
• Southern New Guinea freshwater swamp forests
• Southern New Guinea lowland rain forests
• Trobriand Islands rain forests
• Trans Fly savanna and grasslands
• Central Range sub-alpine grasslands

Economy

Main article: Economy of Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea is richly endowed with natural resources, but exploitation has been hampered by rugged terrain and the high cost of developing infrastructure. Agriculture provides a subsistence livelihood for 85% of the population. Mineral deposits, including oil, copper, and gold, account for 72% of export earnings. Former Prime Minister Sir Mekere Morauta had tried to restore integrity to state institutions, stabilize the kina, restore stability to the national budget, privatize public enterprises where appropriate, and ensure ongoing peace on Bougainville. The Morauta government had considerable success in attracting international support, specifically gaining the backing of the IMF and the World Bank in securing development assistance loans. Significant challenges face the current Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare, including gaining further investor confidence, continuing efforts to privatize government assets, and maintaining the support of members of Parliament. The third quarter (September, 2004) Reserve Bank Report by the Governor of Bank of PNG showed positive economic stance by the Government, with inflation at zero.

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of Papua New Guinea

All three major ethnic groups in the Pacific Ocean, Melanesians, Micronesians and Polynesians are represented in Papua New Guinea. Chinese, Europeans and Australians also reside in the country.

There are three official languages of Papua New Guinea, although over 700 indigenous Papuan languages are spoken in the country (an incredible 25% of the world's languages). English is one of them, although few people speak it. Most people speak the creole language Tok Pisin as a lingua franca. In the southern region of Papua, people may use the third official language, Hiri Motu rather than Tok Pisin for this purpose. See the SIL Ethnologue for more information on the diverse range of languages.

About one third of the population adheres to indigenous beliefs, while the rest are Christians. Of these, about one third are Roman Catholic and the remainder are divided among several Protestant denominations.

Culture

Main article: Culture of Papua New Guinea

The culture of Papua New Guinea is many-sided and complex. It is estimated that more than 1000 different cultural groups exist in PNG. Because of this diversity, many different styles of cultural expression have emerged; each group has created its own expressive forms in art, dance, weaponry, costumes, singing, music, architecture and much more.

Most of these different cultural groups have their own language. People typically live in villages which rely on subsistence farming. To balance their diets, they go hunting and collect wild plants (such as yams roots) for food. Those who become skilled at hunting, farming and fishing earn a great deal of respect in Papua New Guinea.

On the Sepik River, a group of indigenous people is known for their wood carvings. They create forms of plants or animals, because they believe these are their ancestors.

Even though sea shells are no longer the currency of Papua New Guinea - sea shells were abolished as currency in 1933 - this heritage is still present in local customs; to get a bride, a groom must bring a certain amount of golden-edged clam shells. [1]

People of the highlands engage in colorful local rituals that are called "sing sings". They paint themselves and dress up with feathers, pearls and animal skins to represent birds, trees or mountain spirits. Sometimes an important event, such as a legendary battle, would be enacted at such a musical festival. (See also Music of Papua New Guinea)

Sport is an important part of PNG culture. At national and international levels, PNG has particularly strong teams in Australian rules football (including the second most players of any country in the world) and Rugby league.

Religion

Main article: Religion in Papua New Guinea

The courts and government practice uphold the constitutional right to freedom of speech, thought, and belief, and no legislation to curb those rights has been adopted.

The 2000 census showed 96 percent of citizens were members of a Christian church, and many citizens combine their Christian faith with some pre-Christian traditional indigenous practices. The churches with the largest number of members are the Roman Catholic Church (with 30% of the population), the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Papua New Guinea, the United Church of Papua New Guinea, and the Seventh-day Adventists. The Pentecostal churches and charismatic movement are also present.

Minority religions include the Bahá'í Faith (15,000 Bahá'ís) and Islam (1,000 to 2,000 Muslims). Non-traditional Christian churches and non-Christian religious groups are active throughout the country. The Papua New Guinea Council of Churches has stated that both Muslim and Confucian missionaries are active, and foreign missionary activity in general is high.

Traditional religions were animist and also tended to have elements of ancestor worship. For more information, see the article on the Korowa of Papua.

Miscellaneous topics

• Airlines of Papua New Guinea
• Category:Education in Papua New Guinea
• Communications in Papua New Guinea
• Foreign relations of Papua New Guinea
• List of cities in Papua New Guinea
• List of Papua New Guineans
• Military of Papua New Guinea
• Tourism of Papua New Guinea
• Transportation in Papua New Guinea
• University of Papua New Guinea

References

• Note 1: "World Bank (2003)". World Bank data on urbanisation. URL accessed on July 15, 2005.
• Note 2: "Constitution of Independent State of Papua New Guinea (consol. to amendment #22)". Pacific Islands Legal Information Institute. URL accessed on July 16, 2005.
• Note 3: "Customary Land Tenure in Papua New Guinea: Status and Prospects". Lynne Armitage paper, Queensland University of Technology. URL accessed on July 15, 2005.

External links

• A newsletter dealing with news and gossip about PNG
• Jane's Papua New Guinea Home Page
• Interactive maps of Papua New Guinea
• Papua New Guinea Government Online
• Port Moresby Anglican Diocese Web Site
• Trevor's Papua New Guinea Information Pages

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