Adorable incoming
postcard from Papua
New Guinea!
officially the Independent State
of Papua New Guinea, is an Oceanian country that occupies the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and its offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean
north of Australia. Its capital, located along its
southeastern coast, is Port Moresby. The western half of New Guinea forms the Indonesian provinces of Papua
and West Papua.
At 462,840 km2
Papua New Guinea is the world's fifty-fourth largest country. Including all its
islands, it lies between latitudes 0° and 12°S,
and longitudes 140°
and 160°E. Papua New Guinea is surrounded by coral reefs which are under close watch, in the interests of preservation.
The country is situated on the Pacific Ring of Fire, at the point of collision of several tectonic plates. There are a
number of active volcanoes, and eruptions are frequent. Earthquakes are relatively common,
sometimes accompanied by tsunamis.
Papua New Guinea is one of the most
heterogeneous nations in the world. There are hundreds of ethnic groups indigenous to
Papua New Guinea, the majority being from the group known as Papuans, whose ancestors arrived in the New Guinea region tens of thousands of
years ago. The other indigenous peoples are Austronesians, their ancestors having arrived in the
region less than four thousand years ago.
There are also numerous people from
other parts of the world now resident, including Chinese, Europeans, Australians, Indonesians, Filipinos, Polynesians, and
Micronesians (the last four belonging to the Austronesian family). Around
40,000 expatriates, mostly from Australia and China, were living in Papua New
Guinea in 1975.
Thank you so much for a help Pieter!
