- Characteristics of Papua New Guinea
As a country bordering with Indonesia to the east, Papua New Guinea has the capital city of Port Moresby. Port Moresby is also the largest city in Papua New Guinea. Not only Indonesia, Papua New Guinea is a country that has hundreds of native local languages. Noted there are about more than 850 local languages that are still used to communicate and there are also small groups or communities which are quite numerous in number, so that they can be combined to form approximately 6 million people.
Most of the people of Papua New Guinea still occupy rural areas. No wonder the rural areas are wider than the areas in big cities. Only 18% of the population lives and lives in urban areas.
The area of the country of Papua New Guinea is around 462,840 square km and includes the 54th largest country in the world. Like Indonesia, Papua New Guinea is in the Pacific Ring of Fire and also serves as a meeting point for several tectonic plates. So do not be surprised if there are active volcanoes. Papua New Guinea also has main islands besides the island of Papua, among others, New Britain, Manus, New Ireland and Bougainville. That’s the the explanation of characteristics and natural appearance of Papua New Guinea.
- The Boundaries of Papua New Guinea
When viewed from the border region, Papua New Guinea has land borders directly with Indonesia in the west. In the south, Papua New Guinea is bordered by the Australian Continent. As for the south, east to north, Papua New Guinea has territorial boundaries with the Oceania countries. It is known that the border between Indonesia and Papua New Guinea was confirmed in an agreement with Australia before independence in 1974. Whereas the maritime border or sea area with Australia was confirmed in the 1978 agreement.
- Papua New Guinea Government System
The State of Papua New Guinea is a member of the Commonwealth of the United Kingdom. So the head of state for Papua New Guinea is Queen Elizabeth II. The Queen has been represented by a Governor-General of Papua New Guinea which is currently held by Michael Ogio. For the common countries like Papua New Guinea, the Governor-General was elected by a legislative body, as was the case in a parliamentary democracy.
For executive power is held by a Prime Minister who also leads the cabinet. At present the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea is Peter O’Neill. For a single National Parliament, 109 seats and 20 seats are held by regional governors from 19 provinces and the National Capital district in the State of Papua New Guinea.
Papua New Guinea has 22 territorial divisions which can be said to be the same as provinces like in Indonesia. The 22 regions consist of 18 provinces, the National Capital District and the Bougainville Autonomous Region. For each province divided into one or more districts and later divided into one or more local governments.
- Residents of Papua New Guinea
It has been explained above that Papua New Guinea is the most diverse country in the world. There are more than hundreds of ethnic or ethnic groups occupying Papua New Guinea and most of them are known as Papuans. While the ancestors of the Papuans themselves have existed on the island of Papua since tens of thousands of years ago. Most of these Papuan tribes live in the interior of the forest so they are very rarely related to the outside world.
Some of these tribes are included in the Austronesian nation. While Austronesian ancestors themselves have existed since less than four thousand years ago. Over time, Papua New Guinea was visited by other nations such as Europe, the Philippines, Australia, Micronesia and Polynesia. Until the independence of Papua in 1975, there were around 40,000 expatriates from China and Australia in Papua New Guinea.
So it is not surprising that Papua New Guinea has diversity in languages. However, there are three official languages spoken in Papua New Guinea, including English (the language of government and education, but rarely used), Tok Pisin Language (colloquially, not spoken in the southern Papua Region), and Hiri Motu Language. This included in the explanation of characteristics and natural appearance of Papua New Guinea.
- Nature of Papua New Guinea
In terms of geography, Papua New Guinea is a diverse country with some regions still classified as rough or difficult to access. There is a mountain range that extends on the island of Papua. The mountain range forms a plateau but is densely populated. In addition, there are also lowlands and also coastal or coastal areas which are mostly part of tropical rain forests.
The form of natural appearance of Papua New Guinea which is quite different from one place to another is a challenge for the government in building infrastructure such as transportation. So to visit an area only requires one mode of transportation, which is an airplane. However it takes a lot of time to get to the destination.
In addition, most of the natural appearance of Papua New Guinea is a mountainous region with the highest peak, which is located on Mount Wilhelm which has a height of about 4,509 meters and this mountain is almost mostly covered by tropical forests. Not only that, there are the longest rivers in Papua New Guinea, including the Sepik River, the Fly River, and the Mamberamo River. In its sea area, there are also rows of coral reefs that surround the Papua New Guinea region. There is one advantage possessed by the State of Papua New Guinea which is to be one of the countries that are on the equator that experiences snowfall and this occurs in areas that are in the highlands.
When viewed from the geological point of view, the island of Papua is an expansion region from the north of the Indo – Australia Plate, until finally forming a single mass mass of Australia – Papua (Meganesia or Sahul). In addition, the island of Papua is bordered by the Australian section which is bounded by the Torres Strait where during the Ice Age was a land known as a land bridge. Not surprisingly, many species of birds and some mammals in Papua have similarities to those in Australia.
That is the explanation of characteristics and natural appearance of Papua New Guinea. Hopefully the above explanation can be useful.