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Geography
6.5.2 General information on Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea lies completely within the southern tropics and the north of Australia. It is
the second largest island in the world (only Greenland is larger) and is about five times as big
as France, but has only about four million inhabitants (Damen, 1997b).
History
Portuguese navigators in the 16th century recorded the earliest references to New Guinea. The
Dutch, French and English made visits from this time up to the 19th century. However,
European colonisation did not begin in earnest until 1884 when the two rival powers Germany
and Britain formally raised their flags on the north and the south coasts, respectively. A
formal division was made between German New Guinea and British New Guinea (later
renamed Papua) in 1886. Later on, during World War I, Australia gained control.
In 1949, the Territory of Papua New Guinea came into being under one administration, and
Australia announced its intention to bring it forward to self-government and independence.
The handover of most Australian-held powers took place at the start of the self-government
on 1 December 1973. On 16 September 1975 Papua New Guinea became an independent
state (UBD, 1997).
Population
The population of nearly four million has an average growth rate of 2.3% *(TCSP, 1996).
Port Moresby, the national capital, is the major city (200.000 inhabitants) and the centre of
government and commerce. The second city, Lea, is the main industrial centre (85.000
inhabitants). Over 85% of Papua New Guineas live in rural areas in clan or village
communities. Population densities vary considerably, from 0.6 people per km 2 (1,5 people per
square mile) in Western District to more than 37 per km 2 (92 per square mile) in the highlands
of the Gazelle Peninsula on the Island of New Britain. The highlands on the mainland are the
most populous area, containing approximately 40% of the population. However, in recent
years there has been a marked population drift to the urban areas (UBD, 1997).
Political system
With independence, Papua New Guinea adopted a constitution that established a
parliamentary democracy based on the West-minster model, but excluding an upper chamber.
The National Parliament comprises of 109 members. The other two tiers of government are
local government councils and provincial governments.
Local government councils have varying degrees of responsibility in the provision of certain
welfare sources and recreation facilities. Revenue sources available to council are limited and
consist mainly of head taxes, land tax, court fines, license fees, and government grants.
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