New Guinea Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
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 around 5000 B.C.. The name Papua also refers to the island in whole or in part; please refer to Papua (disambiguation) for clarification.The island is divided politically along east-west lines, roughly into equal halves. The portions of the island of New Guinea (Irian in Bahasa Indonesia) located west of 141°E longitude are incorporated into Indonesia as the province of Papua (formerly known as West Irian and Irian Jaya). A longstanding active separatist movement has sought independence for the area. 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 Papuan languages.
Ecology
With some 786,000 km² of tropical land, New Guinea has an immense ecological value: 11,000 plant species; nearly 600 unique bird species, including the birds of paradise; over 400 amphibians; 455 butterfly species; marsupials including bondegezou, Goodfellow's Tree-kangaroo, Huon Tree-kangaroo, long-beaked echidna, tenkile, Alpine Wallaby, cuscus, and possums; and various other 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.
History
The first European claim occurred after 1828 when the Netherlands claimed the western half of the island, their first trading posts were constructed in 1895 and in 1910 they begun work upon a Capital township called Hollandia. 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, when Germany 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 Netherlands New Guinea 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.
Western New Guinea held elections during 1959 and an elected Papuan Council took office on 5/April/1961 to prepare for full indpendence; the Council decided upon new national symbols, a national name of West Papua, a national flag called the Morning Star, and a national antheme; these were adopted and the flag was first raised next to the Dutch flag on 1/December/1961; Indonesia invaded on 18/December/1961. In 1975, Australia granted full independence to Papua New Guinea.