HISTORY OF COLONIZATION

The prehistory of Papua New Guinea can be traced back

to about 60,000 years ago when people first migrated
towards the Australian continent. The written history
began when European navigators first sighted New
Guinea in the early part of the 16th century.

Archaeology
Archaeological evidence indicates that humans
arrived on New Guinea perhaps 60,000 years ago,
although this is under debate. They came probably by
sea from Southeast Asia during an Ice Age period when
the sea was lower and distances between islands shorter.
Although the first arrivals were hunters and gatherers,
early evidence shows that people managed the forest
environment to provide food. Today's staples sweet
potatoes and pigs were later arrivals.

European Contact
When Europeans first arrived, inhabitants of New Guinea and nearby
islands, who still relied on bone, wood, and stone tools, had a productive
agricultural system. They traded along the coast and in the interior.
The first known Europeans to sight New Guinea were probably the
Portuguese and Spanish navigators sailing in the South Pacific in the early
part of the 16th century. In 15261527 the Portuguese explorer Jorge de
Menezes accidentally came upon the principal island and is credited with
naming it "Papua", after a Malay word for the frizzled quality of Melanesian
people's hair. The Spaniard Yigo Ortiz de Retez applied the term "New
Guinea" to the island in 1545 because of a perceived resemblance between
the islands' inhabitants and those found on the African Guinea coast.

Territory of Papua
In 1883, the Colony of Queensland tried to annex the southern half of eastern
New Guinea, but the British government did not approve. However, when Germany
began settlements in the north a British protectorate was proclaimed in 1884 over the
southern coast of New Guinea and its adjacent islands. The protectorate, called British
New Guinea, was annexed outright on 4 September 1888. The possession was placed
under the authority of the Commonwealth of Australia in 1902. Following the passage
of the Papua Act in 1905, British New Guinea became the Territory of Papua, and formal
Australian administration began in 1906, although Papua remained under their control
a British possession until the independence of Papua New Guinea in 1975.
Australia administered it separately under the Papua Act until it was invaded by
the Empire of Japan in 1941, and civil administration suspended. During the Pacific
War, Papua was governed by an Australian military administration from Port Moresby,
where General Douglas MacArthur occasionally made his headquarters.

German New Guinea

In the charter granted to this company by the German Imperial Government in
May 1885, it was given the power to exercise sovereign rights over the territory and
other "unoccupied" lands in the name of the government, and the ability to
"negotiate" directly with the native inhabitants. Relationships with foreign powers
were retained as the preserve of the German government. The Neu Guinea Kompanie
paid for the local governmental institutions directly, in return for the concessions
which had been awarded to it. In 1899, the German imperial government assumed
direct control of the territory, thereafter known as German New Guinea.
In 1899, the German government took control of the colony from the New
Guinea company of Berlin. Education was in the hands of missionaries. In 1914 when
the First World War broke out Australia seized the German colony. The plantations
were given to Australian war veterans and in 1921 the League of Nations gave
Australia a trusteeship over New Guinea. The plantations and gold mining generated
a degree of prosperity.

Territory of New Guinea

The Commonwealth of Australia assumed a
mandate from the League of Nations for governing the
former German territory of New Guinea in 1920. It was
administered under this mandate until the Japanese
invasion in December 1941 brought about the suspension
of Australian civil administration. Much of the Territory of
New Guinea, including the islands of Bougainville and
New Britain, was occupied by Japanese forces before
being recaptured by Australian and American forces
during the final months of the war.

World War II
Shortly after the start of the Pacific War, the island of
New Guinea was invaded by the Japanese. Most of West
Papua, at that time known as Dutch New Guinea, was
occupied, as were large parts of the Territory of New
Guinea (the former German New Guinea, which was also
under Australian rule after World War I), but Papua was
protected to a large extent by its southern location and
the near-impassable Owen Stanley Ranges to the north.

The New Guinea campaign opened with the battles for New
Britain and New Ireland in the Territory of New Guinea in 1942.
Rabaul, the capital of the Territory was overwhelmed on 2223
January and was established as a major Japanese base from whence
they landed on mainland New Guinea and advanced towards Port
Moresby and Australia.
Having had their initial effort to capture Port Moresby by a
seaborne invasion disrupted by the U.S. Navy in the Battle of the
Coral Sea, the Japanese attempted a landward invasion from the
north via the Kokoda Trail. From July 1942, a few Australian reserve
battalions, many of them very young and untrained, fought a
stubborn rearguard action against a Japanese advance along the
Kokoda Track, towards Port Moresby, over the rugged Owen Stanley
Ranges.
The Japanese were driven back. The bitter Battle of Buna-Gona

The Territory of Papua and New

Guinea
Following the surrender of the Japanese in 1945, civil administration
of Papua as well as New Guinea was restored, and under the Papua New
Guinea Provisional Administration Act, (194546), Papua and New Guinea
were combined in an administrative union.
The Papua and New Guinea Act 1949 formally approved the placing
of New Guinea under the international trusteeship system and confirmed the
administrative union under the title of The Territory of Papua and New
Guinea. The Act provided for a Legislative Council (established in 1951), a
judicial organization, a public service, and a system of local government, with
Sir Donald Cleland as administrator. Cleland remained in the position till his
retirement in 1967, then remaining in Port Moresby until his death in 1975

A House of Assembly replaced the Legislative

Council in 1963, and the first House of Assembly opened
on 8 June 1964. In 1972, the name of the territory was
changed to Papua New Guinea. Australia's change of
policy towards Papua New Guinea largely commenced
with the invitation from the Australian Government to the
World Bank to send a mission to the Territory to advise on
measures to be taken towards its economic development
and political preparation. The mission's report, The
Economic Development of the Territory of Papua New
Guinea, published in 1964, set out the framework upon
which much of later economic policy, up to and beyond
independence, proceeded.

Independence
Elections in 1972 resulted in the formation of a
ministry headed by Chief Minister Michael Somare, who
pledged to lead the country to self-government and then
to independence. Papua New Guinea became selfgoverning on 1 December 1973 and achieved
independence on 16 September 1975. The country joined
the United Nations (UN) on 10 October 1975 by way of
Security Council Resolution 375 and General Assembly
resolution 3368. The 1977 national elections confirmed
Michael Somare as Prime Minister at the head of a
coalition led by the Pangu Party. However, his

PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY

Geography of Papua New

Guinea
The geography of Papua New Guinea describes the eastern half of the
island of New Guinea, the islands of New Ireland, New Britain and Bougainville,
and smaller nearby islands. Together these make up the nation of Papua New
Guinea in tropical Oceania, located in the western edge of the Pacific Ocean.
Papua New Guinea is largely mountainous, and much of it is covered
with tropical rainforest. The New Guinea Highlands runs the length of New
Guinea, and the highest areas receive snowfall - a rarity in the tropics. Within
Papua New Guinea Mount Wilhelm is the highest peak, at 4,509 m (14,793 ft).
There are several major rivers, notably the Sepik River, which is 1,126 km
(699 mi) long, which winds through lowland swamp plains to the north coast,
and the Fly River at 1,050 km (652 mi) in length, which flows through one of
the largest swamplands in the world to the south coast.

Papua New Guinea has one land border - that

which divides the island of New Guinea. Across the 820
km (509 mi) border, the western half of New Guinea is
officially known as Papua province, governed by
Indonesia. Papua New Guinea's border with Indonesia is
not straight; the border loops slightly to the west in the
south-central part of New Guinea. Papua New Guinea's
Western Province contains that loop. There are maritime
borders with Australia to the south and Solomon Islands
to the southeast.

Physical Geography
Papua New Guinea has a total area of 462 840 km, of which 452 860 km is
land and 9 980 km is water. Its coastline is 5 152 km long.
The northernmost point is Mussau Island (123' S), southernmost point is
Hemenahei Island (1129' S), easternmost point is Olava, Bougainville (15557' E)
and the westernmost point is either Bovakaka along the Fly River border with
Indonesia or Mabudawan (14054' E).
Papua New Guinea has several volcanoes, as it is situated along the Pacific Ring
of Fire. Volcanic eruptions are not rare, and the area is prone to earthquakes and
tsunamis because of this. The volcanic disturbance can often cause severe
earthquakes, which in turn can also cause tsunamis. Papua New Guinea is also prone
to landslides, often caused by deforestation in major forests. The mountainous
regions of Papua New Guinea are the areas most susceptible to landslides causing
damage.

Climate
Tropical; northwest monsoon (December to
March), southeast monsoon (May to October); slight
seasonal temperature variation. In lower altitudes, the
temperature is around 80 F (27 C) year round. But the
higher altitudes are a constant 70 F (21 C).