New Guinea

New Guinea is the world's second-largest island, covering an area of 785,753 km² (303,381 sq mi). It is found in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean and is separated from Australia by the Torres Strait. During times when sea levels were lower in the past, New Guinea and Australia were connected as one landmass called Sahul.

The island has the third-largest remaining rainforest in the world and the highest plant biodiversity of any island. This makes it a very important place for nature and wildlife. Many unique plants and animals live there, some found nowhere else on Earth.

The eastern half of New Guinea is the main landmass of the country Papua New Guinea. The western half, known as Western New Guinea, is part of Indonesia and includes several provinces. The two largest cities on the island are Port Moresby and Jayapura. The island's name was given by a Spanish explorer in 1545 because the people there reminded him of those in the African region of Guinea.

Names

The island of New Guinea has been called many different names throughout history.

Early names included Papua, which may have come from a local language meaning “not united” or perhaps described the curly hair of the people there. When European explorers arrived, they named it New Guinea because the people reminded them of Africans from a region called Guinea.

Later, Dutch colonists called it Nieuw Guinea. In more recent history, the name Irian was used, coming from local myths and meaning “hot land” or “rising spirit”. Today, the island is often called both Papua and New Guinea.

Main article: Papua

Geography

New Guinea is an island located north of the Australian mainland and south of the equator. It is surrounded by the Arafura Sea to the west, and the Torres Strait and Coral Sea to the east. The island is shaped like a bird-of-paradise, with the Bird's Head Peninsula in the northwest and the Bird's Tail Peninsula in the southeast.

The island features a long chain of mountains called the New Guinea Highlands, which stretch across the entire length of New Guinea. These mountains include some of the highest peaks in Oceania, with Puncak Jaya being the tallest at 4,884 meters. The island also has vast lowland areas, including rainforests, wetlands, and grasslands. Many important rivers flow through New Guinea, draining into the Pacific Ocean, the Arafura Sea, and the Gulf of Papua.

Relation to surroundings

The island of New Guinea lies to the east of the Malay Archipelago and is sometimes included as part of a larger group called the Indo-Australian Archipelago. It shares the same tectonic plate as Australia. During times when sea levels were lower, New Guinea and Australia were connected by land and together formed a region called Sahul, also known as Greater Australia. They separated when the area now known as the Torres Strait filled with water after the end of the last glacial period.

Anthropologists consider New Guinea to be part of Melanesia. Unlike Australia, New Guinea has much more rain and active volcanoes, but both places share similar animals such as marsupials, including wallabies and possums, as well as the egg-laying monotreme, the echidna. Before humans arrived, there were no animals called placental mammals except for bats and a few kinds of rats. Humans later brought pigs, more rats, and the ancestor of the New Guinea singing dog.

Political divisions

The island of New Guinea is split into two main parts. The western side is now part of Indonesia and includes six areas, each with its own capital city. The eastern side is the country of Papua New Guinea, which became independent in 1975. This part of the island includes three regions with many different provinces.

Demographics

The island of New Guinea is home to around fifteen million people. It is one of the most diverse places on Earth, with nearly a thousand different tribal groups and just as many languages. This makes it the area with the most languages in the world.

People have lived on New Guinea for a very long time—perhaps as long as 50,000 years ago. Many different groups arrived over time, including groups from Southeast Asia. Today, many people live by farming, and some also hunt and gather food from the wild. Some areas of New Guinea are still not well-known to scientists and researchers.

Biodiversity and ecology

Main article: Fauna of New Guinea

New Guinea is a place of amazing variety of plants and animals. Even though it covers less than one-half of one percent of Earth's land, it holds between 5 and 10 percent of all the world's species. Many of these species are found only here and many more are still waiting to be discovered by scientists.

Researchers have found many new species in New Guinea over the years. From 1998 to 2008, they identified 1,060 new species, including plants, reptiles, mammals, insects, amphibians, birds, and fish. Between 2011 and 2017, they described 465 new plant species. New Guinea has more kinds of flowering plants than any other island in the world.

New Guinea is home to many different kinds of animals. It has 284 types of mammals, including unique egg-laying mammals, marsupials, rodents, and bats. About 195 of these mammals live only here. The island has 578 kinds of birds that breed there, with 324 found nowhere else. There are also many frogs, fish, and coral species, making New Guinea a rich and important place for nature lovers.

Main article: Ecoregions of New Guinea

History

See also: History of Papua New Guinea and History of Western New Guinea

Early history

Humans may have arrived on New Guinea around 60,000 years ago, likely traveling by sea from Southeast Asia during a time when sea levels were lower.

The first people to live there developed farming, creating one of the world's earliest agricultural societies. They built irrigation systems and grew crops like sugarcane as far back as 6000 BCE. The highland areas became centers of farming, with advanced techniques that modern scientists still study.

Precolonial history

The western part of New Guinea had contact with kingdoms in what is now Indonesia. Local leaders paid tribute to faraway rulers. Traders came to the island for valuable items like bird feathers and spices. Some local leaders, like Sultan Nuku, led rebellions against outside control.

European contact

Europeans first reached New Guinea in the 1500s. Portuguese and Spanish sailors explored the island and gave it its name. Later, the Dutch claimed the western part, while Germany and Britain took control of other sections.

World War II

During World War II, Japan invaded parts of New Guinea. Battles took place across the island, especially in the highlands and along the coast. Local people helped Allied forces by carrying supplies and supporting troops.

Since World War II

After the war, the Australian-controlled part became Papua New Guinea and gained independence in 1975. The western half was administered by the Netherlands and later by Indonesia. There have been ongoing efforts to address the wishes of local people and manage the region's future.