New Guinea, located just north of Australia, is the
world's second largest island, having become separated from the Australian mainland when the area now known as the
Torres Strait flooded after the
last glacial period. The name
Papua has long been associated with the island
(see History below).
The western half of the island contains the
Indonesian provinces of
Papua and
West Papua, while the eastern half forms the mainland of the independent country of
Papua New Guinea.
The island of New Guinea is divided politically into roughly equal halves across a north-south line
Each province has an administration headed by a governor who is also a member of the national parliament.
The current population of the island of New Guinea is about 7.1 million people. Many believe human habitation on the island has been dated to as early as approximately 40,000 B.C.[1], and first settlement possibly dated back to 60,000 years ago has been proposed. The island is presently populated by very nearly a thousand different tribal groups and a near-equivalent number of separate languages, which makes New Guinea the most linguistically diverse area in the world. Ethnologue 14th edition lists 826 languages of Papua New Guinea and 257 languages of Irian Jaya, total 1073 languages, with 12 languages overlapping. They fall into one of two groups, the Papuan languages and the Austronesian languages. The separation was not merely linguistic; warfare among societies was a factor in the evolution of the men's house separate housing of groups of adult men, from the single-family houses of the women and children, for mutual protection against the other groups. Pig-based trade between the groups and pig-based feasts are a common theme with the other peoples of southeast Asia and Oceania. Most societies practise agriculture, supplemented by hunting and gathering.
