Papua New Guinea is a country in the southwestern Pacific, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea, the world's second largest island, together with hundreds of smaller islands. One of the most culturally and linguistically diverse places on the planet, it is home to many hundreds of distinct languages and peoples, some of whom had almost no contact with the outside world until the twentieth century. A rugged land of jungle-clad mountains and remote highland valleys, it is rich in natural resources but remains largely rural and traditional.
People have lived in New Guinea for tens of thousands of years, and its highland valleys saw some of the earliest agriculture in the world. The rugged terrain split the population into a vast mosaic of small societies. European contact came late and unevenly, and in the nineteenth century the eastern half of the island was divided between Germany in the north and Britain in the south, the latter passing to Australia, which governed the whole territory after the First World War until independence was achieved peacefully in 1975.
Papua New Guinea is dominated by a spine of high, rugged mountains running the length of the island, cloaked in dense tropical rainforest and cut by deep valleys and powerful rivers. Beyond the main island lie volcanic islands and coral atolls, some highly active, for the country sits on the seismically violent Pacific Ring of Fire. The terrain is so difficult that many communities remain isolated, reachable only on foot or by air. This wild landscape holds extraordinary biodiversity, including birds of paradise found nowhere else.
The flag of Papua New Guinea is divided diagonally, with a red upper section bearing a golden bird of paradise and a black lower section bearing the five white stars of the Southern Cross. The bird of paradise, famous for its dazzling plumage, is a national symbol and reflects the country's unique wildlife, while the Southern Cross marks its place in the southern Pacific, shared with neighbours such as Australia. The red, black, and gold are traditional colours of the region.
Papua New Guinea is overwhelmingly Christian, the result of missionary work over the past century or more, with the population divided among Roman Catholic, Lutheran, and many other Protestant and evangelical churches. Yet Christianity here very often coexists with the rich traditional beliefs of the country's many peoples, including ancestor veneration, spirits of the land and forest, and elaborate ritual. This blending of the new faith with deep-rooted custom is a defining feature of religious life across the islands and highlands.
The cuisine of Papua New Guinea is based on the root crops and produce that its peoples have grown for millennia. Staples include sweet potato, taro, yam, sago, and banana, often cooked in an earth oven called a mumu, in which food is baked with hot stones, a centrepiece of feasts and celebrations. Pork is the prized meat for special occasions, and fish and seafood are important on the coast. Coconut, greens, and tropical fruit round out a diet that varies greatly from the highlands to the islands.
Agriculture is the livelihood of the great majority of Papua New Guineans, most of whom are subsistence farmers growing food for their own families on small garden plots. The country also produces cash crops for export, including coffee grown in the highlands, cocoa, palm oil, and copra. Beyond farming, the nation is rich in natural resources, with significant mining of gold and copper and reserves of oil and gas, which provide much of its export income but have at times brought social and environmental conflict.
The country's later history was shaped by foreign rule and by the Second World War, when New Guinea became a fierce battleground between Japanese and Allied forces, including the gruelling campaign along the Kokoda Track. Independence came peacefully in 1975 under the founding leader Michael Somare. A long and bitter conflict later erupted on the island of Bougainville over a giant copper mine, which led, after years of fighting, to autonomy and a vote in favour of eventual independence for that region.
Papua New Guinea has a population of around 10 million people, and it is one of the most diverse nations on Earth, with more than 800 distinct languages spoken, far more than any other country. The population is overwhelmingly rural, living in scattered communities across the highlands, lowlands, and islands, with only a small share in towns such as the capital, Port Moresby. Tok Pisin, an English-based creole, serves as a common tongue alongside English, helping to bridge this remarkable patchwork of peoples and cultures.
