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New Guinea, located just north of Australia, is the world's second largest island with some 786,000 kmē of tropical land and an immense
ecological value from 11,000 plant species: nearly 600 unique bird species, including the birds of paradise; over 400 amphibians; 455 butterfly species; and a hundred known mammal species. Most of
these species are shared, at least in their origin, with the continent of Australia, which was until fairly recent geological
times, part of the same landmass. See Australia-New Guinea
for an overview.
The western half of New Guinea is called Papua (formerly
Irian Jaya) and belongs to Indonesia; the eastern half, Papua New Guinea, has
been an independent country since 1975.
Populated by nearly a thousand different Papua Melanesian tribal groups since 45,000 BC, it is the home of the world's oldest
independent societies and a staggering number of separate languages.
The first formal colonisation occurred after 1828, when the Netherlands claimed the western half of the island, as part of the Dutch East Indies. In 1883, following a short-lived French
annexation of New Ireland, the self-governing colony of Queensland annexed
south-eastern New Guinea, although its superiors in the United Kingdom
government disallowed this and assumed direct responsibility in 1884, whenGermany
claimed north-eastern New Guinea as a protectorate.
In 1906 the British government transferred total responsibility for south-east New
Guinea to Australia. During World War One, Australian forces seized
German New Guinea, which in 1920 became a League of Nations mandated territory of Australia.
The Dutch East Indies and the Australian territories in New Guinea were invaded in 1942
by the Japanese Empire. The highlands, northern and eastern New
Guinea became key battlefields in the South West Pacific Theatre of World War Two. Papuans often gave vital assistance to the Allies, fighting alongside Australian and US troops, and carrying equipment
and injured men across New Guinea.
Unlike the rest of the Dutch East Indies, which became independent as Indonesia in 1949, western New Guinea remained a colony of the Netherlands until 1963, when Indonesia gained control. In 1975, Australia granted full
independence to Papua New Guinea. The PNG flag has a yellow bird of
paradise on a red diagonal field above the southern cross stars on a black field next to the flag pole.
External link
- The Intoxicating Birds of New Guinea by John
Tidwell
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