The Independent State of Papua New Guinea (Tok Pisin: Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini, Hiri Motu: Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini, PNG) is the third most known country in Oceania, after Australia and New Zealand. Both PNG and New Zealand are nicknamed as the Island of the Birds due to the sheer diversity of avian wildlife. PNG also shares the unique position alongside the Philippines and South America where a bird is the uncontested apex predator. Speaking of birds, it is best known for its beautiful Birds-of-Paradise, but it is also known as Cassowary Land due to the fact that it houses not only the largest population of Cassowaries, but all three subspecies of the bird. It is also the second biggest country of the region by population, with about 7 million people. The country itself is the eastern part of the island of New Guinea, the western part being a part of Indonesia.
The New Guinea island has been settled since about 42,000 years ago. The people here, popularly called the Melanesians, are closely related to the Torres Strait Islanders, who live in the titular Torrest Strait Islands separating New Guinea from Australia. Despite their "African-like" looks, the Melanesians are actually less related to Africans than the Europeans, Asians, and indigenous Americans. The Melanesians were some of the earliest humans to expand outside of Africa, and since they first settled New Guinea, they have not significantly interbred with humans who migrated from Africa later. In this respect, they are second only to the Aboriginal Australians (who have been genetically isolated since they settled Australia 70,000 years ago) in having the oldest claim to the land they live in. Melanesians were also the first people to settle the Malay archipelago (e.g. Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines), Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu, and they left some genetic imprint on the now-Austronesian-speaking population (their legacy is particularly strong in the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, where the population are for the most part genetically Melanesian but linguistically Austronesian).
Before The '50s, the zone was known for headhunting and cannibalism. Needless to say, you don’t get to see much of it today. The common stereotype now is that the entire country is infested with anthropologists doing ethnographic studies.
During World War I it was taken by Australia (from Germany). In the sequel it was a major battleground between Australian, American and Japanese troops, particularly the gruelling Battle of the Kokoda Track. At the end of the war, north and south were united in a single country (until then, they were administered separately) administrated by Australia. They declared independence in 1975, though they, like Australia and New Zealand, are still part of the Commonwealth Realm (that means still recognizing the British monarch, currently Charles III, as the head of state).
The country is mostly rural and much unexplored, geographically and culturally, at the point that a lot of people think the country can be a surprise box of wildlife. Its largest river by discharge, the Fly River,note is most notable as the largest river in the world with no dam whatsoever in its watershed.note
Despite the fact the country is so close to the equator, it actually snows in there. This snow, however, is limited to the peaks of the mountain ranges, and, due to the recent Global Warming, may disappear in the coming decades.
The official as well as unifying languages of the country are English, Tok Pisin, Hiri Motu, and Papua New Guinean Sign Language. Though most of the population more or less understand the first three (Tok Pisin especially), that doesn't hide the fact that the country is incredibly diverse linguistically as well as culturally. There are 850 spoken languages in a country the size of California and the population of Michigan (disregarding actual language spread, that means that you can find one distinct language for every 8,000 people). Most of them are isolates, too; the term Papuan is really just a placeholder to designate the languages of the entire New Guinea and its surrounding islands.
The population nowadays is almost entirely Christian, but there are also animistic religions. Formerly used seashells as currency, something that can be quite weird to the rest of the world (you can still bribe someone with seashells, though).
The Papua New Guinean flag
The Papua New Guinean national anthem
Government
- Unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy
- Monarch: Charles III
- Governor-General: Bob Dadae
- Prime Minister: James Marape
Miscellaneous
- Capital and largest city: Port Moresby
- Population: 8,935,000
- Area: 462,840 km² (178,700 sq mi) (54th)
- Currency: Papua New Guinean kina (K) (PGK)
- ISO-3166-1 Code: PG
- Country calling code: 675
- Highest point: Mount Wilhelm (4509 m/14,793 ft) (32nd)
- Lowest point: Pacific Ocean (10,911 m/35,797 ft) (-)
