PAPUA

PACIFIC OCEAN
Madang and the surrounding islands
Madang is a province on the country’s north coast, with a length that reaches
approximately 300 kilometres and a width of 160 kilometres, one side facing onto
the Bismarck Sea, whilst in the hinterland are some of the island’s tallest peaks,
with tropical forests and verdant valleys. Many of the Bismarck Archipelago’s
smaller islands belong to this province, some of which are volcanic. The last
volcanic eruption was only in 2010.
Over its great territory the province is home to a significant number of Papua
tribes and for this reason a large linguistic diversity can also be found – over
200 languages are spoken here. The province’s capital is also called Madang, and
it is built around a picturesque port surrounded by imposing and inaccessible
mountains – “the most beautiful town of the Pacific Ocean,” according to many of
its visitors. Madang’s coastline, its tropical vegetation and its many parks certainly
distinguish it from the country’s other towns.
obliging the inhabitants even today to adorn their formal traditional costumes
with parrot plumes.
The first contact that the people of Madang had with the Western world came
in 1871. Certain areas, however, remained isolated and relatively untouched by
European influence. It is precisely for this reason, the distinctive terrain, that
there are great cultural differences between the various tribes. Even so, great
similarities can be seen with a tribe in another of the country’s provinces, namely
the riverside culture of the Ramu, which has developed along the river of the same
name, and the culture of the Sepik, as they have very similar art techniques and
relief sculpture styles.
For 6,000 years now sailors, primarily from the Taiwan region, have crossed the
Bismarck Sea and come ashore on the coasts of Madang, leaving their traces on the
Austronesian languages that are encountered in some of the coastal villages, dotted
in amongst the villages that speak the dialects of Papua New Guinea. This contact
with other people helped the coastal tribes of this region at least to develop trade
from ancient times: the goods they exchanged were pots, salt, stone axe blades,
shells, plumes from birds of paradise and carved wooden vessels. The plumes in
particular were thought to be of great value as they are quite rare in Madang, thus
Cocoa pod
Madang port Cassowary bird Small Pacific island Playing in the ocean
Coast in the Pacific
Tropical forest Madang village Port Moresby museum Islands in the Pacific