Culture and history info
New Guinea is the second largest island in the world after Greenland and is split, politically, into two halves. The western half of the island comprises two Indonesian provinces; Papua and West Papua. The eastern half forms the mainland of the country of Papua New Guinea. Geographically, New Guinea lies in the southwest Pacific Ocean, to the east of the Malay Archipelago and north of Australia, New Guinea is part of the same tectonic plate as Australia and is part of Melanesia, a subregion of Oceania.
New Guinea is the world’s tallest island, containing the highest point between the Himalayas and the Andes and is the largest tropical island on Earth; the size, geography and vast altitudinal range give rise to some of the world’s most extensive ecosystems and biodiversity. New Guinea occupies an area of 0.5% of the Earth’s surface but contains 5-10% of the total species on the planet, roughly equivalent to that found in the United States.
Stretching for hundreds of miles from the underwater world of the coral reefs to the equatorial glaciers on the peaks the endlessly varied landscape contains some of the world’s most extensive and diverse mangroves, lake and river ecosystems, wetlands and savannah grasslands, lowland and montane rainforests and alpine tundra.
Through the centre of the province of Papua extending into Papua New Guinea, the New Guinea highlands stretch for over 1,000 miles. Papua boasts the highest mountains in Oceania; Puncak Jaya or the Carstensz Pyramid at 4,884m (16,024ft), Puncak Mandala at 4,760m (15,617ft) and Puncak Trikora at 4,750m (15,584ft). South of this mountain chain is the Lorentz National Park, a UNESCO world heritage site. This is the largest protected area in South-East Asia and is the only protected area in the world to incorporate a continuous, intact transect from snow-cap to tropical marine environment, including extensive lowland wetlands running between.
Lorentz is one of the most ecologically diverse national parks in the world and shelters a host of rare and endemic species. Weaving through the northern lowlands is the “Amazon of Papua”, the Mamberamo river, whose huge valley forms the “lakes plains region” and is home to some of the world’s last remaining uncontacted peoples and vast and fascinating biodiversity. Papua and West Papua has been the home of the indigenous peoples for tens of thousands of years and has evolved some of the most distinctive and long isolated cultures in the world.
Papua is governed by a directly elected governor and regional legislature. The MRP, Majelis Rakyat Papua (Papuan People's Council), was formed by the Indonesian Government in 2005 as a coalition of Papuan tribal chiefs, whose job is negotiation and speaking on behalf of Papuan tribal customs.
The central government of Indonesia, based in Jakarta, has a strong influence in Papua. During the colonial era Papua was known as “Netherlands New Guinea”, after which it was known as “Irian Barat” (West Irian), then “Irian Jaya” (which roughly translates as “Glorious Irian”) which was the official name until the name “Papua” was introduced in 2002. West Papua was created from Papua in 2003, initially called “Irian Jaya Barat”, but renamed to “Papua Barat” (West Papua) in 2007.