Papua New Guinea

**Papua New Guinea** is an island country located on the Pacific Ocean. It is the east half of New Guinea island, plus some nearby islands. The capital city of Papua New Guinea is Port Moresby. The population of Papua New Guinea are mostly the Indigenous peoples of the island.

The island is in both Australasia and Oceania, which are two different terms for the continent of islands in the Pacific area. It borders Indonesia to the west and near Australia to the south.

Papua New Guinea has more languages than any other country.

## History

Long ago, around 42,000 to 45,000 years ago, people came to Papua New Guinea. They were related to people who left Africa a long time ago and moved to other parts of the world. A study in 2016 found that it was about 50,000 years ago that these people came to a big land called Sahul, which is Australia and New Guinea combined. About 10,000 years ago, the sea level rose and New Guinea became an island. But even before that, the people in Australia and Papua New Guinea became different from each other about 37,000 years ago. Scientists found out that the ancestors of Papuans mixed with another group of people called Denisovans when they were in Asia a long time ago. They share 4% to 7% of their genes with these ancient people.

Around 9,000 years ago, people in New Guinea started growing their own plants and farming. This was one of the few places in the world where people did this without learning it from others. Later, around 2,500 years ago, some people who spoke Austronesian languages moved to the coasts of New Guinea. They brought new things like pottery, pigs, and fishing methods with them.

In the 18th century, traders brought a new kind of food called sweet potato to New Guinea. It was from South America and introduced by Portuguese traders to the Moluccas. People in New Guinea liked it and it became a popular food. Sweet potato gardens produced more crops than the traditional taro, and this helped societies grow and become more prosperous.

### Administrative divisions

Papua New Guinea is divided into four regions.  These regions are important for government, commercial, sporting and other activities.

The nation has 20 province-level divisions: eighteen, the Autonomous Region of Bougainville and the National Capital District. Each province is divided into one or more districts.  The districts are divided into one or more Local Level Government areas.

The province-level divisions are as follows:

Parliament has approved two additional provinces by 2012: Hela Province, which will be part of the current Southern Highlands Province, and Jiwaka Province, which will be formed by dividing Western Highlands Province.

In Morobe (#11 on the map) there is a goldfield.

## Other websites

- Government of Papua New Guinea
- Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea
- Papua New Guinea focused wiki

## Infobox (country)

- **common name**: Papua New Guinea
- **image flag**: Flag of Papua New Guinea.svg
- **image coat**: National Emblem of Papua New Guinea.svg
- **symbol type**: Emblem
- **national motto**: "Unity in diversity"
- **national anthem**: _O Arise, All You Sons_ 
- **image map**: Papua New Guinea (orthographic projection).svg
- **languages type**: Official languages
- **demonym**: Papua New Guinean
- **capital**: Port Moresby
- **largest city**: Port Moresby
- **government type**: Unitary state, Unitary parliamentary democracy, parliamentary constitutional monarchy under a Totalitarianism, totalitarian dictatorship
- **leader title1**: Monarchy, Monarch
- **leader name1**: Charles III
- **leader title2**: Governor-General of Papua New Guinea, Governor General
- **leader name2**: Bob Dadae
- **leader title3**: Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, Prime Minister
- **leader name3**: James Marape
- **legislature**: National Parliament of Papua New Guinea, National Parliament
- **area rank**: 56th
- **area km2**: 462,840
- **area sq mi**: 178,703
- **percent water**: 2
- **population estimate**: 7,059,653
- **population estimate year**: 2011 Census preliminary results
- **population estimate rank**: 102nd
- **population census**: 5,190,783
- **population census year**: 2000
- **population density km2**: 15
- **population density sq mi**: 34.62
- **population density rank**: 201st
- **sovereignty type**: Independence
- **established event1**: from Australia
- **established date1**: 16 September 1975
- **gdp ppp year**: 2011
- **gdp ppp**: $16.863 billion
- **gdp ppp per capita**: $2,532
- **gdp nominal**: $12.655 billion
- **gdp nominal year**: 2011
- **gdp nominal per capita**: $1,900
- **gini year**: 1996
- **gini**: 50.9
- **hdi year**: 2011
- **hdi change**: increase
- **hdi**: 0.466
- **hdi rank**: 153rd
- **currency**: Papua New Guinean kina
- **currency code**: PGK
- **time zone**: Australian Eastern Standard Time, AEST
- **utc offset**: +10
- **time zone dst**: not observed
- **utc offset dst**: +10
- **dst note**: (as of 2005)
- **drives on**: left
- **cctld**: .pg
- **calling code**: +675