PAPUA NEW GUINEA
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Papua New Guinea
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History and People
The first inhabitants of Papua New Guinea, probably migrants
from the Indonesian archipelago, arrived about 50,000 years ago.
These migrants arrived in several waves, and the land that they encountered
had a remarkable effect on cultural development. Because New Guinea's
terrain is marked by imposing mountains and extremely rugged territory,
different population groups developed in virtual isolation. Each
group developed its own language and its own tribal culture, a development
that gives Papua New Guinea one of the world's most diverse and fascinating
cultural landscapes.
The first contact with the island by Europeans
occurred in the early 16th century, when the Portuguese explorer Jorge
de Meneses sighted the country and named it Ilhas dos Papuas (Land
of the Fuzzy-Haired People). However, it wasn't until the mid-1800's
that European missionaries and traders began to settle on the island,
and even those few settlers limited their presence mostly to the accessible
coastal areas. Over the next several decades Papua New Guinea was claimed
by the Germans, the British, and the Dutch, but it came under the control
of Australia after World War One. The inland Highland region, thought
to be too inhospitable for habitation, wasn't even explored until the
1930s. Astoundingly, European explorers in search of gold instead discovered
over one million people, living in fertile mountain valleys and in
cultures that hadn't changed since the Stone Age. By the 1960s there
had emerged a significant independence movement in the country, and
in 1975, after a brief period of internal autonomy, Papua New Guinea
declared its full independence.
The people can be divided into four ethnic
groups: New Guineans (from the north of the main island), Papuans (from
the south), Highlanders, and Islanders. There is, however, considerable
cultural variation within each of these groups. The peoples of the
south coast were notorious for headhunting and cannibalism before the
arrival of the Europeans. Many people still live in small villages
and follow traditional tribal customs. Although English is the official
language in schools and government, almost 800 distinct languages are
spoken in the islands.
Photos copyright © Papua New Guinea Tourism Promotion Authority (TPA)
Papua New Guinea
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