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Papua New Guinea is a country of Oceania. Located in the
southwestern Pacific Ocean, it is part of Melanesia and
consists of the eastern half of the island of New Guinea
(the western half is Irian Jaya, belonging to Indonesia)
and a set of small islands that include the Bismark
archipelago and part of the archipelago of the Solomon
Islands. It is bathed by the Pacific Ocean and, to the
south, the Torres Strait separates it from Australia. It
has an area of 462 840 km2. The main
cities in the country are Port Moresby, the capital,
with 337 900 inhabitants (2004), Lae (109 800 inhab.),
Madang (36 000 inhab.), Wewak (28 600 inhab.) And Goroka
(17 900 inhab ). An irregular mountain range runs
through the central part of the island, it is a volcanic
and seismic zone. Mount Wilhelm, at an altitude of 4509
meters, is the highest peak.
Climate
The climate is humid tropical in most of the
territory. In the Northwest, the effect is felt between
December and March and, in the Southwest, from May to
October.
Economy
The main agricultural and forestry products for export
are coffee, cocoa, coconut, banana, rubber and
wood. There is some gold and silver exploration, but
copper is the main source of mineral wealth in the large
mines in Bougainville. Papua New Guinea's main trading
partners are Australia, Japan, the United States of
America and the United Kingdom.
Environmental indicator: the value of carbon dioxide
emissions, per capita (metric tons, 1999), is
0.5.
Population
Papua New Guinea had, in 2006, 5 670 544 inhabitants,
estimated to reach 8 million people in 2025. The birth
and death rates are, respectively, 29.36% and
7.25%. Average life expectancy is 65.28 years. The value
of the Human Development Index (HDI) is 0.548 and the
value of the Gender-adjusted Development Index (IDG) is
0.544 (2001). The official language is English, and
Pidgin and Motu are also spoken, natural languages of
the Papua. Ethnically, it is composed of two large
groups: the Papua (84%) and the Melanesians
(15%). Protestantism is followed by 58% of the
population and Catholicism represents 33%. The official
language is English, and Pidgin and Motu are also
spoken, languages of the Papua.
History
The first European settler to live in the territory that
today calls Papua New Guinea was a British naval
officer, John Hayes, in 1793. Later, in 1828, he joined
the German East India Company. After successively
belonging to Germans and Englishmen, in 1906 a part of
the territory passed into the hands of Australians. With
the First World War, the Australian army occupied the
Germanic territory of New Guinea and in 1942 the
Japanese invaded the country. In 1945 it was recovered
by Australia. The German part of New Guinea was annexed
by Indonesia in 1969 as the province of Irian Jaya. In
December 1973, it became autonomous and achieved
complete independence from England in 1975, when it
became a member of the Commonwealth. Maintains observer
status at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. In
1989, Bougainville rebels closed the copper mine, the
country's largest source of wealth.
The country is a constitutional monarchy with a
legislative assembly. The Queen of England, Isabel II,
is the head of state, being represented by a
governor-general.
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