Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea, officially called the Independent State of Papua New Guinea (in English, Independent State of Papua New Guinea; in tok pisin, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; in hiri motu, Papua Niu Gini), is a country sovereign of Oceania that occupies the eastern half of the island of New Guinea (the other half belongs to Indonesia, and is divided into three provinces: West Papua, Central Papua and East Papua) and a large number of islands located around it. It is north of Australia, west of the Solomon Islands and southwest of the Pacific Ocean, in a region defined since the early 19th century like Melanesia. It is the only country in Oceania that has a land border (Indonesia).

Nationally, after being ruled by three foreign powers since 1884, Papua New Guinea established sovereignty in 1975. This followed nearly sixty years of Australian rule, beginning during World War I. It became a monarchy in the Commonwealth of Nations in 1975 under the reign of Elizabeth II. It also became a member of the Commonwealth of Nations in its own right. Its system of government is the parliamentary monarchy, the territory is organized into twenty-two provinces and its capital and most populous city is Port Moresby.

Papua New Guinea is one of the most culturally diverse countries in the world. Up to 848 different languages have been registered, of which 836 are still spoken, although only three are recognized as official languages. Many ethnic groups follow traditional customs and it is a sparsely populated country with a population of 7 million. The population is predominantly rural, with only 13.25% concentrated in urban centers. It is one of the least explored countries, geographically and culturally^{[by whom?]}, and many species of plants and animals are still undiscovered within the country. Papua New Guinea is on the list of megadiverse countries.

Following mining development, Papua New Guinea was a country of rapid economic growth during the 2010s, yet almost a third of the population lives in extreme poverty, earning less than $1.25 a day The majority of the population lives in traditional groups based on agriculture. Their social life combines traditional religion with modern practices, including primary education. These societies and clans are explicitly recognized by the Constitution, which expresses the desire that "traditional villages and communities remain viable units of Papua New Guinean society" and protects their continuing importance to local and national community life. The nation has been an observer state in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) since 1976 and has applied for full membership. It is a member of the Pacific Community, the Pacific Islands Forum and the Commonwealth of Nations.

Etymology

The country's double name is the result of its complex administrative history prior to its independence. The exact origin of the word "Papua" is not known, but it is possible that it derives from the Malay papuah, meaning "curly", referring to the hair of the native Melanesians. On the other hand, " New Guinea" was the name it received from the Spanish explorer Yñigo Ortiz de Retez in 1545, due to the resemblance he noticed between the inhabitants of the region and the natives of the Guinea coast in Africa.

In 1905, that territory, then known as British New Guinea, became the Territory of Papua to differentiate it from German New Guinea. After World War I, the two names were merged as the Territory of Papua and New Guinea, which was later simplified to Papua New Guinea.

History

Pre-Colonial History

Papua New Guinea has a rich precolonial history that is reflected in its art

Archaeological evidence indicates that humans first arrived in Papua New Guinea between 42,000 and 45,000 years ago. They were descendants of emigrants from Africa, in one of the first waves of human migration. A 2016 study from the University of Cambridge by Christopher Klein et al. suggests that it was about 50,000 years ago that these peoples arrived on Sahul (the supercontinent formed by present-day Australia and New Guinea). Sea level rose and isolated New Guinea around 10,000 years ago, but Aboriginal Australians and Papuans diverged genetically from each other earlier, around 37,000 years BC. Evolutionary geneticist Svante Pääbo discovered that New Guineans share between the 4% and 7% of their genome with Denisovans, indicating that the ancestors of the Papuans interbred in Asia with these archaic hominids.

Agriculture developed independently in the highlands of New Guinea around 7,000 BCE. C., which makes it one of the few areas in the world where plants were domesticated independently. Around 500 BC. C. there was a significant migration of Austronesian-speaking peoples to the coastal regions of New Guinea. This has been linked to the introduction of pottery, pigs, and certain fishing techniques.

In the 18th century, traders brought the sweet potato to New Guinea, where it was adopted and became a food essential. Portuguese traders had obtained it from South America and introduced it to the Moluccas. The much higher yield of sweet potato crops radically transformed traditional agriculture and societies. The sweet potato largely replaced taro, the previous staple food, and caused a significant increase in the population in the highlands.

Although by the end of the 20th century headhunting and cannibalism were virtually eradicated, in the past they were practiced in many parts of the country as part of rituals related to warfare and the taking of enemy spirits or powers. In 1901, on the island of Goaribari in the Gulf of Papua, missionary Harry Dauncey found 10,000 skulls in the longhouses of the island, a sample of the practices of the past. According to Marianna Torgovnick, who wrote in 1991: "The most documented cases of cannibalism as a social institution come from New Guinea, where headhunting and ritual cannibalism survived, in certain isolated areas, until the fifties, sixties and seventies, and still leave traces within certain social groups".

Exploration of Portugal and Spain

Portuguese Jorge de Meneses, who explored the north coast and offshore islands in 1526/27, is considered the island's European discoverer.

In 1545, the Spaniard Íñigo Ortiz de Retez landed and named the island "Nueva Guinea" for the coast reminded him of that of Guinea in Africa, along which he had previously sailed.

In 1623, the Dutchman Jan Carstenszoon mapped large areas of the coast for the Dutch East India Company. From then on, the Dutch East India Company maintained trade and power-political contacts with the region and the Sultanate of Tidore.

Colonization of Germany and the United Kingdom

Gold coin of 20 frames issued by the German Company of New Guinea in 1895

The Dutch took possession of the western part of the island of New Guinea in 1828, while the eastern part remained untouched by colonial efforts. Around 1860, the company Johan Cesar Godeffroy & Sohn, from Hamburg, began trading copra and other coconut products on the north coast of eastern New Guinea to meet the huge European demand for copra. This company established in 1855 a factory in Valparaíso, in the neighboring Solomon Islands, and covered the South Seas with a network of 45 branches and agencies. In eastern New Guinea, J.C. Godeffroy & More branches are established. German captains and ornithologist Otto Finsch took possession of areas of the north coast of East New Guinea by raising flags. British companies also tried to take possession of East New Guinea.

The country's double name is due to its complex administrative history prior to independence. In the 19th century, Germany ruled the northern half of the country for a few decades, beginning in 1884, as a colony called New German Guinea. In 1914, following the outbreak of World War I, Australian forces captured German New Guinea and held it for the duration of the war. After the war, in which Germany and the Central Powers were defeated, the League of Nations authorized Australia to administer this area as a mandated territory of the League of Nations, which became the Territory of New Guinea.

Australian military flying the British flag in Kieta after the taking of the New Guinea German station in 1914

Also in 1884, the southern part of the country became a British protectorate. In 1888 it was annexed, along with some adjacent islands, by Great Britain as British New Guinea. In 1902, Papua came under the new British rule of Australia. With the passage of the Papua Act of 1905, the area was officially renamed the Territory of Papua, and Australian administration was formalized in 1906. Unlike the establishment of an Australian mandate in the former German New Guinea, the League of Nations determined that Papua was a foreign territory of the Australian Commonwealth; as a matter of law, it remained a British possession. The difference in legal status meant that, until 1949, Papua and New Guinea had entirely separate administrations, both controlled by Australia. These conditions contributed to the complexity of the organization of the country's legal system after independence.

World War II

During World War II, the New Guinea campaign (1942-1945) was one of the major military campaigns and conflicts between Japan and the Allies. Approximately 216,000 Japanese, Australian and American servicemen were killed. Following World War II and the victory of the Allies, the two territories were united into the Territory of Papua New Guinea. It was later named "Papua New Guinea".

Native Papuans appealed to the United Nations for supervision and independence. The nation gained independence from Australia on September 16, 1975, becoming a Commonwealth realm, which continues to share the British monarch as head of state. It maintains close ties with Australia, which remains its largest aid donor. Papua New Guinea was admitted as a member of the United Nations on October 10, 1975.

Bougainvillea

A 1975-76 secessionist revolt on the island of Bougainville led to a last-minute amendment to Papua New Guinea's draft constitution to allow Bougainville and the other eighteen districts to have quasi-federal status as provinces. A new uprising occurred in Bougainville in 1988, claiming 20,000 lives until it was resolved in 1997. Bougainville had been the country's main mining region, generating 40% of the national budget. Indigenous peoples felt that they were bearing the adverse environmental effects of mining, which polluted the land, water and air, without obtaining a fair share of the benefits.

The government and the rebels negotiated a peace agreement that established the District and the Autonomous Province of Bougainville. Autonomous Bougainville elected Joseph Kabui president in 2005, who served until his death in 2008. He was succeeded by his deputy John Tabinaman as acting president while elections were held to fill the remaining term. James Tanis won those elections in December 2008 and served until the inauguration of John Momis, winner of the 2010 elections. As part of the current peace agreement, a non-binding referendum on independence was held between 23 November and December 7, 2019. The referendum question was to choose between greater autonomy within Papua New Guinea and full independence from Bougainville, with voters overwhelmingly (98.31%) voting in favor of independence. Negotiations between the Bougainville government and national Papua New Guinea on the path to Bougainville's independence began after the referendum, and are still ongoing.

Papua New Guinea Parliament

Politics

Papua New Guinea is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary democracy. As a kingdom within the Commonwealth of Nations, the monarch of the United Kingdom is recognized as head of state, represented by a Governor General. This Governor is elected by Parliament, appointed by the King, and participates mainly in official ceremonies.

The prime minister heads the cabinet, which is made up of thirty-one members of Parliament from the ruling coalition. The current Prime Minister is James Marape. The unicameral National Parliament has 111 seats, of which twenty-two are held by the governors of the twenty-two provinces and the National Capital District. Candidates for Members of Parliament are voted on when the Prime Minister asks the Governor-General to call a national election, a maximum of five years after the previous national election.

In the first years of independence, the instability of the party system led to frequent motions of no confidence in parliament, with the consequent changes of government, but with referral to the electorate, through national elections held every five years. In recent years, successive governments have passed laws preventing such voting before eighteen months after a national election and within twelve months after the next election. In 2012, the first two (of three) readings were approved to avoid motions of no confidence during the first thirty months. This restriction on votes of no confidence has arguably resulted in greater stability, albeit at the cost of reducing the responsibility of the executive branch of government.

Elections in Papua New Guinea attract many candidates. After independence in 1975, members were elected by a single-member majority vote, with winners often garnering less than 15% of the vote. Electoral reforms of 2001 introduced the Limited Preferential Vote (LPV) system, a version of instant runoff voting. The 2007 general elections were the first to be held using this system.

Supreme Court of Papua New Guinea

Under a 2002 amendment, the Governor-General invites the leader of the party that wins the most seats in the elections to form the government, if he can muster the necessary majority in parliament. The process of forming such a coalition in Papua New Guinea, where parties do not usually have many ideological positions, involves a complex system of vote exchange. Peter O'Neill emerged as Papua New Guinea's prime minister after the July 2012 election and formed a government with Leo Dion, former Governor of East New Britain Province, as deputy prime minister.

In 2011 there was a constitutional crisis between the parliament-elected Prime Minister, Peter O'Neill (voted in by a large majority of MPs) and Michael Somare, who was deemed by the Supreme Court to be retaining office. Standoff between parliament and the supreme court continued until the July 2012 national elections, when legislation was passed that removed the chief justice and subjected supreme court members to greater control by the legislature, as well as as a series of laws passed, for example limiting the age for a prime minister. The standoff peaked with the deputy prime minister entering the high court during a hearing, escorted by police, ostensibly to arrest the chief justice. There was strong pressure among some MPs to postpone the national elections for six months to a year, although their powers to do so were questionable. The elected prime minister of the parliament and other more moderate parliamentarians carried the votes to issue the writings for the new election, in order to end the constitutional crisis.

In May 2019, O'Neill resigned as Prime Minister and was replaced by a vote of Parliament by James Marape. Marape was a senior minister in the O'Neill government and his defection from the government to the countryside of the opposition eventually led to O'Neill's resignation. Davis Steven was appointed Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Justice and Attorney General.

Embassy of Papua New Guinea in Australia

Laws

The unicameral Parliament enacts legislation in the same way as other Commonwealth realms that use the Westminster system of government. The cabinet collectively agrees on government policy, and then the relevant minister submits bills to Parliament, reporting to the government department responsible for implementing a particular law. Members of the caucus of Parliament can also introduce bills. Bills are debated by Parliament and (Article 110.1 of the Constitution) become enacted laws when the President certifies that Parliament has approved them. There is no actual assent.

All ordinary laws enacted by Parliament must be compatible with the Constitution. The courts are competent to rule on the constitutionality of laws, both in disputes brought before them and in cases where there is no dispute, but only an abstract legal question. Unusually among developing countries, Papua New Guinea's judiciary has maintained remarkable independence, and successive executive governments have continued to respect its authority.

The "underlying right" (the common law of Papua New Guinea) consists of the principles and rules of common law and equity in English, as they were in force on September 16, 1975 (the date of independence), and subsequently the decisions of Papua New Guinea's own courts. The Constitution and, later, the Fundamental Law, oblige the courts to take note of the "customs" of traditional communities. They must determine which customs are common to the whole country and can also be declared part of the underlying law. In practice, this has proven difficult and has been largely neglected. The laws are largely adapted from foreign jurisdictions, mainly Australia and England. Advocacy in court follows the adversarial model of other common law countries. This national court system, used in the cities, is supported by a system of village courts in the most remote areas. The law on which village courts are based is 'common law'.

2018 APEC Summit held in Papua New Guinea

Foreign Relations

Papua New Guinea is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, the Pacific Community, the Pacific Islands Forum and the Melanesian Group of Countries (MSG). It obtained observer status in ASEAN in 1976, and later special observer status in 1981. It is also a member of APEC and an ACP country, associated with the European Union.

Papua New Guinea supported Indonesian control over West New Guinea, the focus of the Papua conflict, where numerous human rights violations have reportedly been committed by Indonesian security forces. In September 2017, Papua New Guinea rejected West Papua's request for independence at the UN General Assembly.

Human Rights

In terms of human rights, regarding membership of the seven bodies of the International Bill of Human Rights, which include the Human Rights Committee (HRC), Papua New Guinea has signed or ratified:

Status of major international human rights instruments

Papua New Guinea	International treaties
	CESCR		CCPR			CERD	CED	CEDAW		CAT		CRC			MWC	CRPD
	CESCR	CESCR-OP	CCPR	CCPR-OP1	CCPR-OP2-DP			CEDAW	CEDAW-OP	CAT	CAT-OP	CRC	CRC-OP-AC	CRC-OP-SC		CRPD	CRPD-OP
Pertenence
Signed and ratified, signed, but not ratified, neither signed nor ratified, without information, it has agreed to sign and ratify the body concerned, but also recognizes the competence to receive and process individual communications from the competent bodies.

Effects of the Papua New Guinea Defence Force

Defense

The Papua New Guinea Defense Force (Papua New Guinea Defense Force) is the military organization responsible for the defense of Papua New Guinea. It consists of three wings. The Land Element, a ground force consisting of the Royal Pacific Islands Regiment, a small special forces unit, an engineer battalion and three other small units primarily dedicated to signals and medical, as well as a military academy, is deals with the defense of the nation on land. The Air Element is a small squadron of aircraft; its purpose is transportation for the other military wings.

The Sea Element is a small armada consisting of four Pacific-class patrol craft, three ex-Australian Balikpapan-class landing craft, and one Guardian-class patrol craft. One of the landing craft is used as a training ship. Three more Guardian-class patrol vessels are under construction in Australia to replace the aging Pacific-class vessels. The main tasks of the maritime element are the patrolling of coastal waters and the transport of the land element. Papua New Guinea has such a large exclusive economic zone that patrols by small Pacific-class patrol boats, often unusable for lack of funds, are ineffective, so the Maritime Element relies heavily on satellite imagery to surveillance of its waters. This problem will be partially corrected when all the larger Guardian-class patrol vessels enter service.

Political-administrative organization

The four regions of the country, with provincial divisions: Highlands (Highlands) Islands (Islands) Momase (Momase) Papua or South (Papua or Southern)

Regions

The 22 provinces are grouped into four regions. Although they constitute the largest geographic divisions of the country, they have no administrative or political functions. The four regions of Papua New Guinea and their respective provinces are:

• Highlands Region: Hela, Jiwaka, Simbu, Eastern Highlands, Enga, Southern Highlands, and Western Highlands.
• Region of the Islands: New East Brittany, Manus, New Ireland, Bougainville, and New West Brittany.
• Momase Region: Sepik of the East, Madang, Morobe, and Sandaun or Sepik of the West.
• Papua Region: Central, Gulf, Milne Bay, Gold, West and National Capital District.

Provinces

Provinces of Papua New Guinea

Southern Highlands

Papua New Guinea is divided into twenty provinces, an autonomous region (Bougainville) and the National Capital District of Papua New Guinea.

Geography

This section is an extract from Geography of Papua New Guinea.[chuckles]edit]

Papua New Guinea is the largest island nations in the Pacific Ocean. It consists of the eastern half of the island of New Guinea, the westernmost islands of the Solomon Islands archipelago, which include the island of Bougainville, and the Bismarck Archipelago, which includes New Ireland, New Britain, New Holland and some 600 small islands scattered in the seas of Bismarck and Solomon. This set is located between Southeast Asia and the West of Oceania, on the western border of the Pacific Ocean, between the Sea of Coral and the Pacific Ocean, east of Indonesia.

The total surface area of Papua New Guinea is 462 840 km2of which, 452 860 km2 are of land and 9980 km2 They're water. Your coastline has 5152 km length. It has a land boundary, 820 km which separates it from the western half of New Guinea, the province of Papua, which belongs to Indonesia. It also has maritime boundaries with Australia south and Solomon Islands southeast.

Cordillera Central de Nueva Guinea

Biodiversity

Many species of birds and mammals in New Guinea have close genetic ties to corresponding species in Australia. A notable trait in common for the two landmasses is the existence of several species of marsupial mammals, including some kangaroos and opossums, that are not found elsewhere. Papua New Guinea is a megadiverse country.

Many of the other islands in the territory of Papua New Guinea, such as New Britain, New Ireland, Bougainville, the Admiralty Islands, the Trobriand Islands, and the Louisiade Archipelago, were never linked to New Guinea by land bridges. As a consequence, they have their own flora and fauna; in particular, they lack many of the terrestrial mammals and flightless birds that are common to New Guinea and Australia.

Australia and New Guinea are parts of the ancient supercontinent of Gondwana, which began to break up into smaller continents in the Cretaceous period, between 65 and 130 million years ago. Australia finally broke away from Antarctica about 45 million years ago. All of the Australasian lands support Antarctic flora, descended from the flora of southern Gondwana, including the coniferous podocarp and monkey-puzzle pine, and the southern broadleaf beech (Nothofagus). These plant families are still present in Papua New Guinea. New Guinea is part of the humid tropics, and many Indomalayan rainforest plants spread across the strait from Asia, mixing with the ancient Australian and Antarctic floras. Nueva Guinea has been identified as the island with the greatest floristic diversity in the world, with 13,634 known species of vascular plants.

Map of Papua New Guinea.

Papua New Guinea includes several terrestrial ecoregions:

• Wet forests of lowlands of the Admiralty Islands: forested islands north of the continent, which host a different flora.
• Wet mountain forests of the central mountain range
• Rainforests of the Huon Peninsula
• Rainforests of the archipelago of Louisiade
• Rainforests of the Lower Lands of New Britain-New Ireland
• Mountain rainforests of New Britain-New Ireland
• Mangroves of New Guinea
• Rainforests of lowlands and freshwater marshes of northern New Guinea
• Mountain rainforests in northern New Guinea
• Wet forests of Solomon Islands (including Bougainville and Buka Island)
• Wet forests of southern Papua
• Freshwater swamp forests in southern New Guinea
• Flood forests of the lowlands of southern New Guinea
• Wet forests of the Trobriand Islands
• Transfluvial savors and meadows
• Subbalpine slopes of the central mountain range

In the early 2010s, an Australian-led expedition discovered three new species of mammals in the forests of Papua New Guinea. A small wallaby, a large-eared mouse, and a shrew-like marsupial were discovered. The expedition also managed to capture photographs and videos of other rare animals, such as the Tenkile tree-kangaroo and the Weimang tree-kangaroo. Nearly a quarter of Papua New Guinea's rainforests were damaged or destroyed between 1972 and 2002. Papua New Guinea had an average Forest Landscape Integrity Index score of 8.84/10, ranking it 17th out of 172 countries. Mangroves stretch along the coast, and inland is inhabited by the nipa palm (Nypa fruticans), and further inland the sago palm inhabits areas of the larger river valleys. Trees such as oaks, red cedars, pines, and beech trees become predominantly present in the highlands above 3,300 feet. Papua New Guinea is rich in several species of reptiles, native freshwater fish and birds, but is virtually devoid of large mammals

Mount Wilhelm is the highest point in the country with 4509m. n. m.

Geology

The entire island is crossed by a mountain range about 200 kilometers wide, characterized by steep valleys and inaccessible plains. The nature of this country favored the isolated tribal formation that took place in New Guinea. The highest mountain in Papua New Guinea is Mount Wilhelm at 4,509 meters, just below the year-round snow line.

The landscapes are extremely diverse and varied. In the mountains, which are characterized by large differences in altitude, there are pointed mountain peaks, wide valleys, glaciers, tropical forests, volcanoes, green areas, high mountain forests and alpine plains. Between the mountains and the coast there are mangroves, savannahs and fertile alluvial areas of rivers and tropical forests. The longest river in Papua New Guinea is the 1,126 kilometer Sepik. Extensive coral reefs lie off the north coast.

After Greenland, New Guinea is the second largest island in the world and is extensively surrounded by numerous archipelagoes, which can be divided geographically into four main groups.

Climate

The island's climate is essentially tropical, but it varies by region. The average maximum temperature in the lowlands is 30-32 °C and the minimum is 23-24 °C. In the highlands above 2,100 metres, cooler conditions prevail and night frosts are common there, while daytime temperatures exceed 22 °C regardless of the season.

Economy

Goroka's main market.

Papua New Guinea is endowed with abundant natural resources, including mineral and renewable resources such as forests, marine (including a large part of the world's major tuna stocks), and, in some parts, agriculture. The rugged terrain, including high ridges and valleys, swamps and islands, and high construction costs, combined with other factors (such as customary title systems) make infrastructure work difficult. Local developers are hampered by deficient investments in areas such as education, health and access to the financial system. Agriculture, for cash and subsistence crops, provides a livelihood for 85% of the population and continues to provide around 30% of GDP. Mineral deposits, including gold, oil, and copper, account for 72% of export earnings.

In recent years, the timber industry has boomed. Palm oil production has grown steadily (largely by farms and subcontracting), becoming the main agricultural export. Coffee remains the main export crop (produced mainly in the Highland provinces); followed by cocoa and coconut/copra oil from coastal areas, each produced primarily by small farmers; tea, produced on farms; and rubber. The Iagifu/Hedinia field was discovered in 1986 in the Papuan fold and thrust belt. Fishing, exploited industrially in concessions to other countries, is also an important source of income, but has been affected by climatic changes in the Pacific ocean currents.

A resort in the Bismarck Archipelago

Development aid comes mostly from Australia, although those granted by Japan and the European Union (EU) are also noteworthy. Despite the high potential of the country, in 1995 the intervention of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank was necessary to adjust a development program, which had to be redone in 1997 after the effects of the drought that seriously reduced the production of coffee, cocoa, tea, sugar and coconut. Today the situation has stabilized, with growth in agricultural production averaging 3.9% per year since 1999.

In 2019, Papua New Guinea's real GDP growth rate was 3.8%, with an inflation rate of 4.3%. This economic growth has been attributed to high commodity prices, in particular minerals, but also agriculture, with high demand for mineral products supported by Asian markets, a booming mining sector and an optimistic outlook and the construction phase for the exploration, production and export of natural gas in liquefied form by methane tankers, which have required multimillion-dollar investments in exploration, production wells, pipelines, storage, liquefaction plants, port terminals, and ships.

Land Ownership

The legislature of Papua New Guinea has enacted laws recognizing a type of tenure called "customary land title", which means that the traditional lands of indigenous peoples have some legal basis for a inalienable tenure. In theory, these customary lands comprise most of the country's usable land (around 97% of the total land area); alienated lands are private land leased by the state or state land. Only citizens of Papua New Guinea can own land titles.

A tractor in a farm in Papua New Guinea

Only 3% of the land in Papua New Guinea is in private hands; these are private lands leased by the state for 99 years or state lands. There are practically no property titles; the few existing title deeds automatically become state leases when they are transferred between the seller and the buyer. Unalienated lands are customary property of traditional landowners. The exact nature of lordship varies from culture to culture. Many authors describe land as the communal property of traditional clans; however, more detailed studies often show that the smaller portions of land whose ownership cannot be further divided are held by individual heads of extended families and their descendants, or by their descendants alone if recently deceased.

This is a vitally important issue because a problem of economic development is identifying members of customary landlord groups and landlords. Disputes between mining and forestry companies and land-owning groups often revolve around the question of whether the companies entered into contractual relationships for the use of the land with the true owners. Customary property - usually land - cannot be bequeathed by will. The Land Law was amended in 2010 together with the Land Groups Constitution Law, in order to improve state land management, land dispute resolution mechanisms and allow customary owners better access to land. financing and possible associations on parts of their land, if they intend to develop it for urban or rural economic activities.

The Land Grouping Act requires more specific identification of customary owners than hitherto and their more specific authorization before any land agreements are determined; (in recent years there has been significant land grabbing, using, or rather misusing, the lease and leaseback provision of the Land Law, in particular using the "special agricultural and commercial leases& #34; (SABL) to acquire large tracts of customary land, supposedly for agricultural projects, However, in almost all cases it is a covert mechanism to obtain tropical forest resources for logging, circumventing the stricter requirements of the Forest Law for obtaining logging permits (which must meet sustainability requirements and be obtained competitively and with the approval of customary owners.) Following a national protest, these SABLs have been the subject of a Commission of Inquiry, created mid-2011, the report of which is still awaiting its initial submission to the Prime Minister and Parliament either.

A beach in Papua New Guinea with a volcanic eruption at the bottom

Tourism

Tourism in Papua New Guinea is a fledgling industry, but there are attractions for the potential visitor including culture, markets, festivals, diving, surfing, hiking, fishing, and unique flora and fauna. Papua New Guinea receives an increasing number of visitors each year, with approximately 184,000 international arrivals in 2015.

In April 1883, James Burns and Robert Philp entered into a business partnership, originally named "Burns Philp & Company Limited". They were the first company to offer tourism to New Guinea, in 1884, advertising the "Excursion Voyage to New Guinea". It consisted of a five-week voyage from Thursday Island and it has been described as the "official start of cruising tours in the South Pacific". The company later published a book titled Picturesque Travel.

In 1914 the Burns Philp Department of Tourism was established, advertising trips to Lord Howe and Norfolk Island. That same year the Hotel Port Moresby was acquired and, a few years later, the Hotel Papua. Burns Philp "maintained a near monopoly of passenger services to Melanesia until the outbreak of the war in the Pacific". During the war, the British government took over part of Burns Philp's fleet and the ship Macdui was sunk off Port Moresby in 1942, on her maiden voyage as a troop transport.

Transportation

Transportation in Papua New Guinea is limited by the country's mountainous terrain. As a result, air transport is the most important form of transport for the movement of people. The planes made the opening of the country possible during its colonial period. Even today the two largest cities, Port Moresby and Lae, are only directly connected by planes. Port Moresby is not connected by road to any of the other major cities, and many remote villages can only be reached by plane or on foot.

Puerto Moresby

Jacksons International Airport is the main international airport of Papua New Guinea, located five miles from Port Moresby. In addition to two international airfields, Papua New Guinea has 578 airstrips, most of which are unpaved.

The plane is a very important means of transport in Papua New Guinea, both for the transport of people and high-density and valuable goods. The airplanes allowed to open the country during the first colonial period. Even today the two largest cities, Port Moresby and Lae, are only directly connected by plane.

In 1999, Papua New Guinea had a total of 19,600 km of all-weather roads, of which only 686 km are paved. In places where there are roads, there are many private public motor vehicles (PMVs), mostly minivans, which function as non-scheduled buses.

The longest road in the country is the Highlands Highway, which links Lae and Madang to the Highlands region. The Boluminski Highway links Kavieng and Namatanai, in the province of New Ireland. A highway linking Wewak in East Sepik province and Vanimo in West Sepik province was completed in September 2007. The Kiunga-Tabubil highway is a privately maintained highway linking highland communities in the western province.

Papua New Guinea lacks major railways, but some mines have disused tracks. During the period of German colonial control, in the early XX century, numerous plantation railways were built in New Guinea. narrow 600 mm (1 ft 11+5⁄8 in) near the settlements of Madang and Rabaul. After the fall of New Guinea to the Australians in World War I, the railways fell into disrepair.

In September 2007, a mining company proposed building a new railway to link the coast to a copper and molybdenum mine at Yandera, in Madang province.

The country has 10,940km of waterways and commercial port facilities at Port Moresby, Alotau, Oro Bay, Lae, Kimbe, Kieta Madang, Buka, Rabaul/Kokopo, Kiunga, Wewak and Vanimo.

The main exports are mining and raw materials, with some containerized trade via Port Moresby and Lae. Import volumes exceed export volumes, resulting in increased transportation costs as the inbound leg offsets the empty capacity of the outbound leg. The main trade routes head south to Australian ports and north to Singapore.

Demographics

Population growth from 1961 to 2003 (in thousands of inhabitants)

Huli man from the highlands of southern New Guinea.

Papua New Guinea is made up of hundreds of ethnic groups, most of whom are Papuans or speakers of Papuan languages, who have inhabited the country for tens of thousands of years and live mainly in the mountainous area. The second group is made up of the speakers of oceanic Austronesian languages, which have their origins in ancient Malay migrations and live mainly on the coasts. Both groups are quite mixed and form the base of the Melanesian population. Other ethnic groups present in Papua New Guinea are Polynesians, Micronesians, Chinese, Filipinos, Europeans, and Australians.

There are three official languages in Papua New Guinea, English is one of them, although it is rarely spoken, and its use is only daily in the cities. Most people in the north speak the Creole language Tok Pisin, which is a pidgin of English used as a lingua franca. In the southern region of Papua, people may use the third official language, Hiri Motu, rather than Tok Pisin for this purpose. Understanding agreements have been signed with Germany for the study of German. A German-Creole called unserdeutsch is also spoken.

The biggest demographic problem at present is the increase in people living with HIV/AIDS, being the country with the highest incidence in the Pacific and the fourth country in the area that meets the criteria of a generalized epidemic for this virus The main problem is the absence of preventive measures for the transmission of HIV, mainly in rural regions.

Demographic evolution:

• 1890: 500 grand.
• 1900: $600.
• 1914: 779 000 hab.
• 1919: 862 000 hectares.
• 1930: 1 077 000 hab.
• 1942: 1 372 000 hab.
• 1945: 1 458 000.
• 1960: 1 920 000 hab.
• 1986: 3 400 000 hectares.
• 1995: 4 302 000 hectares.
• 2000: 5 190 800 hectares.
• 2011: 6 187 591 hab. (CIA World Factbook 2011)
• 2020 grid 8 935 000 hab.

Urbanization

According to the CIA World Factbook (2018), Papua New Guinea has the second lowest percentage of urban population in the world, at 13.25%, behind only Burundi. Papua New Guinea's geography and economy are the main factors that explain the low percentage. Papua New Guinea has an urbanization rate of 2.51%, measured as the projected change in the urban population from 2015 to 2020.

A Poster in Papua New Guinea written in English and in Tok Pisin a Creole language derived from English and is one of the official languages of the country

Languages

Papua New Guinea has more languages than any other country, with more than 820 native languages, accounting for 12% of the world total, though most have fewer than 1,000 speakers. With an average of only 7,000 speakers per language, Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea has a higher language density than any other nation in the world except Vanuatu. The most widely spoken indigenous language is Enga, with about 200,000 speakers, followed by Melpa and Huli. Indigenous languages are classified into two large groups, Austronesian languages and non-Austronesian or Papuan languages. There are four languages in Papua New Guinea with some legal recognition: English, Tok Pisin, Hiri Motu, and, as of 2015, Sign Language (effectively meaning Papua New Guinea Sign Language).

English is the language of the government and the education system, but it is not widely spoken. The country's main lingua franca is Tok Pisin (commonly known in English as New Guinea pidgin or Melanesian pidgin), with which much of the debates in Parliament are conducted, information campaigns and advertisements are presented, and a national weekly, Wantok, is published. The only area where Tok Pisin is not prevalent is the southern region of Papua, where people often use the third official language, Hiri Motu. Although located in the Papua region, Port Moresby has a highly diverse population who speak mainly Tok Pisin and to a lesser extent English, with Motu being spoken as an indigenous language in outlying villages.

Health

Life expectancy at birth in Papua New Guinea was 64 years for men in 2016 and 68 for women. Government spending on health in 2014 represented 9.5% of total government spending, and total health spending was equal to 4.3% of GDP. There were five doctors per 100,000 people in the early 2000s. The maternal mortality ratio per 100,000 births in 2010 for Papua New Guinea was 250. This figure compares with 311.9 in 2008 and 476.3 in 1990. The under-5 mortality rate per 1,000 births is 69 and neonatal mortality as a percentage of under-5 mortality is out of 37. In Papua New Guinea, the number of midwives per 1,000 live births is 1 and the lifetime risk of death for pregnant women is 1 in 94.

Religion

Catholic Cathedral of Santa Maria in the Diocese of Lae

Population in Papua New Guinea by religion, as of the 2011 census

• Catholic Christians (26%)
• Lutheran Evangelical Church of Papua New Guinea (18.4%)
• Seventh-day Adventist (12.9%)
• Pentecostal (10.4%)
• United Church of Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands (10.3 per cent)
• Evangelical Alliance of Papua New Guinea (5.9%)
• Anglican Church of Papua New Guinea (3.2%)
• Baptists (2.8%)
• Salvation Army (0.4%)
• Kwato Church (0.2%)
• Other Christians (5.1%)
• Non-Christian (1.4%)
• Undeclared (3.1 per cent)

The government and judiciary uphold the constitutional right to freedom of expression, thought and belief, and no legislation has been adopted to curb those rights. According to the 2011 census, 95.6% of citizens identified themselves as Christian, 1.4% did not declare themselves Christian, and 3.1% did not answer. Virtually no respondents identified as non-religious. Religious syncretism is high, with many citizens combining their Christian faith with some traditional indigenous religious practices. The majority of Papua New Guinea's Christians are from various Protestant groups, constituting approximately 70% of the total population. They are mainly represented by the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Papua New Guinea, the Seventh-day Adventist Church, various Pentecostal denominations, the United Church of Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, the Evangelical Alliance of Papua New Guinea, and the Anglican Church of Papua New Guinea. Guinea. In addition to Protestants, there is a notable group of Catholics, which represents approximately 26% of the population, and is also the most followed individual denomination in the country.

The Lutheran Evangelical Church of Saint Andrew

There are approximately 2,000 Muslims in the country. The majority belong to the Sunni group, while a small number are Ahmadi. Throughout the country there are non-traditional Christian churches and non-Christian religious groups. The Papua New Guinea Council of Churches has stated that both Muslim and Confucian missionaries are very active. Traditional religions are often animistic. Some also tend to have elements of veneration for the dead, although the generalization is suspect given the extreme heterogeneity of Melanesian societies. Among the traditional tribes, belief in the masalai, or evil spirits, is prevalent and is blamed for 'poisoning' the tribes. to people, causing calamities and deaths, and the practice of puripuri (witchcraft).

The first Bahá'í from Papua New Guinea was Violete Hoenke, who arrived on Admiralty Island from Australia in 1954. The Bahá'í community in Papua New Guinea grew so rapidly that in 1969 a National Spiritual Assembly (administrative council) was elected. As of 2020 there were over 30,000 members of the Baha'i faith in Papua New Guinea. In 2012 it was decided to erect the first Baha'i house of worship in Papua New Guinea. Its design is that of a woven basket, a feature common to all groups and cultures in Papua New Guinea. Therefore, it is expected to be a symbol for the whole country. Its nine entrances are inspired by the design of the Haus Tambaran (House of the Spirits). Construction began in Port Moresby in 2018.

Repentance Day, August 26, is a public holiday in Papua New Guinea. It is celebrated with "prayer ceremonies" throughout the country[1].

It was established on August 15, 2011 by Prime Minister Peter O'Neill, who had come to power less than two weeks earlier. The announcement came just eleven days before the first Repentance Day was to be celebrated. It became a holiday at the request of 'a group of churches', who had initially applied to O'Neill's predecessor, Sam Abal, before he was ousted in a vote of no confidence.

The government gave virtually no explanation as to the purpose of the journey, which reportedly created some confusion among Papuans upon arrival on 26 August. Pastor Jack Edward of Shema Evangelism Ministries was appointed coordinator of the Day of Repentance, stating that the purpose was for people to "come together, pray and ask the Lord for forgiveness for the evils that are occurring in our nation." #3. 4;. It was a day of Christian prayer, in a predominantly Christian nation. Imam Mikail Abdul Aziz, described by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation as the "spiritual leader" of the "4,000 practicing Muslims" from Papua New Guinea, said he was not opposed to the idea, but that he might send the "wrong message" as repentance should come every time a mistake is made, rather than a Once a year. Because this day was not widely publicized, many companies were unsure if it was a holiday, forcing them to give their employees the day off or pay them double. The Port Moresby Chamber of Commerce obtained a copy of the Official Gazette to convince its members that it was indeed a public holiday-

Hohola Youth Development Centre

Education

A large part of the population is illiterate, with a high incidence of this problem among women. Much of the education in Papua New Guinea is provided by ecclesiastical institutions, including 500 Evangelical Church schools Papua New Guinea Lutheran Church and various branches of the Catholic Church. Papua New Guinea has six universities, as well as other major tertiary institutions. The two pioneering universities are the University of Papua New Guinea, based in the National Capital District, and the Technological University of Papua New Guinea, based on the outskirts of Lae in Morobe Province.

The other four universities, which were once colleges, were recently created after gaining government recognition. These are Goroka University in the Eastern Highlands province, Divine Word University (run by the Divine Word Missionaries of the Catholic Church) in Madang province, Vudal University in New Eastern Britain and Pacific Adventist University (run by the Seventh-day Adventist Church) in the National Capital District.

Students of the UPNG School of Medicine and Health Sciences with test tubes and a microscope in Port Moresby

Science and technology

In 2009, Papua New Guinea adopted the "National Vision 2050", which has led to the establishment of the Research, Science and Technology Council. At its November 2014 meeting, the Council stressed the need to focus on sustainable development through science and technology. According to the Thomson Reuters Web of Science, Papua New Guinea had the most publications among the Pacific island states in 2014.

Renewable energy sources account for two-thirds of total electricity supply. In 2015, the Pacific Community Secretariat noted that "while Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Samoa are leading the way with large-scale hydroelectric projects, scale, there is enormous potential to expand the deployment of other renewable energy options such as solar, wind, geothermal and ocean energy sources". The European Union funded the "Development of Renewable Energy Skills and Capacity in Island Countries" programme. Pacific” from 2013 to 2017. The program developed an MSc in Renewable Energy Management, accredited in 2016, at the University of Papua New Guinea and helped establish a Renewable Energy Center at the same university.

The medium-term priorities of Vision 2050 are:

• emerging industrial technology for transformation
• infrastructure technology for economic corridors
• knowledge-based technology
• teaching science and engineering; and
• achieve the goal of investing 5 per cent of GDP in research and development by 2050. (Papua New Guinea invested 0.03% of GDP in research and development in 2016.

Culture

Tolai Sculpture of Papua New Guinea

The culture of Papua New Guinea is very complex: it is estimated that there are more than a thousand cultural groups. Because of this diversity, a great variety of cultural expressions can be found; each group has created its own form of art, dances, customs, music, etc.

Most of these groups have their own language, and there are many cases where each village has a unique language. Papua New Guinea has one of the highest levels of language diversity in proportion to its demographics. This has to do with the local geography, which has allowed various communities to exist historically apart from each other, developing their own language. People used to live in villages that subsist on agriculture. Hunting is a common activity in addition to collecting some wild plants. People respect people who become a good hunter, fisherman, and farmer.

On the banks of the Sepik River, a group of indigenous people are known for their wood carvings. They create forms of plants or animals, according to their belief since they believe that they are their ancestors.

Seashells are no longer the currency in Papua New Guinea. These were abolished as common currency in 1933, but this heritage is still present in local customs; for example, to get a bride, the groom must get a certain number of gold-rimmed clam shells.

Dancers of the fire of the village Baining on the peninsula of Gazelle in Papua New Guinea.

Traditions

On the Sepik River there is a world-renowned tradition of wood carving. These carvers create shapes of plants or animals, because they believe that they are their ancestral beings and because they seem beautiful to them. They also create traditional skull portraits. Also well represented in museum collections around the world is the malangan artistic tradition of New Ireland.

Although seashells are no longer the currency of Papua New Guinea - seashells were abolished as currency in 1933 - this heritage lives on in local customs. In some parts of the country, the groom is required to bring the bride price to the ceremony. In other areas, a dowry is paid in lieu of bride price. These payments can take the form of shell money, food, pigs, cash, or other goods. In some parts of the New Guinea highlands, people participate in colorful local rituals called "sing-sings". They are painted and dressed in feathers, pearls, and animal skins to represent birds, trees, or mountain spirits. Sometimes at these music festivals an important event is enacted, such as a legendary battle.

National Museum of Papua New Guinea

Music

The music of Papua New Guinea has a long history.

After independence, the outside world hardly knew the traditional musical genres of the various peoples. The first commercial release to reach an international audience did not come until 1991, when percussionist Mickey Hart's Voices of the Rainforest was released.

After 1872, foreigners introduced Christian hymns, including Gregorian chant. The peroveta anedia, the ute, and the taibubu, all forms of Polynesian music, were also introduced in this period. The gold rush brought with it an influx of Australian miners who brought the harmonica with them.

Traditional celebrations, including songs, dances, banquets, and gifts, are called sing-sing. Vibrant and colorful costumes adorn the dancers, while a leader and choir sing the same song in steps, producing a fugue-like effect. In 1993 television spread across the country, and American popular music continued to affect Papuan music given the spread of radio since World War II. Since 1953, singing has taken on a competitive nature, with contests in Port Moresby, Mt. Hagen and Goroka. In 1949, the first Papuan to achieve international fame, Blasius To Una, began his career.

Raun Raun Theatre in Papua New Guinea

At the end of the 1970s, a local recording industry emerged and artists such as Sanguma and later George Telek began to mix indigenous and western styles such as rock and jazz.

In the early 20th century, Christian hymns, work songs, and fever songs were popular. gold, some in native languages and others in English or German. By the 1920s, recorded music had become popular, and Western popular music broadcasting appeared in the late 1930s. A few years later, Allied soldiers and sailors of World War II popularized the guitar and ukulele during his stay in the Philippines and Hawaii. String bands became very popular in the early 1950s and soon dominated the pop scene. By the late 1960s, rock bands like the Kopikats had appeared in the cities, while string bands like the Paramana Strangers had become well known internationally. This was followed by the importation of bamboo bands, a music style from the Solomon Islands that uses bamboo tubes played by striking them with sandals. It first arrived in the Madang area in the mid-1970s, and soon became popular. spread throughout the country.

O-Shen was one of the first to mix hip hop with reggae. The culture soon spread and many local underground talents emerged, such as Naka Blood, with their first hit "Pom Pom City", followed by "Time is Now". Later, another group called 3KiiNgZ emerged, which took Papua New Guinea by storm with the hits "High Groove Theory", "Kanaka Walk" and "One Sound" (with Sprigga Mek, from the hip hop collective Naka Blood). Naka Blood's Sprigga Mek went solo and released "Sweet Mekeo", rapping in his local mekeo dialect, and later released "Pasin Kanak", which is now known as the unofficial national anthem of the Kanakas of Papua New Guinea. Papua Gong Native, with his knack for Kanaka rhyming, is one of the best-known local rappers who rap in the Motu dialect.

Theater

The National Theater Company was, as its name suggests, a state-funded theater company in Papua New Guinea. It was headed by William Takaku and administered by the government's National Commission for Culture. Its ambitious goal, described by UNESCO, was to "create a Papua New Guinean cultural identity, primarily through dance and drama& #34;.

Ceremony Touch of Papua New Guinea dating from the centuryXIX - principles of XX.

The Company toured the country, performing plays in remote rural areas. While stopping in a village for an outdoor performance, he also organized theater workshops, to help local theater groups, and learned dances and legends from the village elders. Several of the performances were "based on local folklore, music and dance".

His works, set in both rural and urban areas, explored environmental issues and issues related to city life. The performances were "steeped in music, dance and comedy," but dealt with serious topics. The plays were produced in English and in Tok Pisin, a local language.

According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the company "went under for lack of funds".

Art

The art of Papua New Guinea has a long and rich tradition. In particular, it is world famous for its carved wood sculpture: masks, canoes and story boards. Papua New Guinea also has a wide variety of art in clay, stone, bone, animals, and natural dies. Many of the best collections are kept in foreign museums.

Some of the artists considered to be the first wave of contemporary art in Papua New Guinea include: Mathias Kauage OBE (b. 1944), Timothy Akis, Jakupa Ako and Joe Nalo, all from the tough urban area of Port Moresby. Kauage won Australia's Blake Prize for Religious Art, four of his works are in the Glasgow Gallery of Modern Art, Scotland, UK, and he had a 2005 solo show at the Horniman Museum, 'Kauage';s Visions: Art of Papua New Guinea". Other prominent plastic artists from Papua New Guinea include Larry Santana, Martin Morububuna, and Heso Kiwi.

Gastronomy

Papua New Guinea cuisine is the varied traditional foods found in the eastern part of the New Guinean island. Approximately 80% of the population depends on subsistence agriculture, so a large percentage of the energy and protein in the food consumed in Papua New Guinea is produced locally, while the rest is imported. Root vegetables, plantains, and sago are prominent among Papua New Guinean staples. The Papua New Guinean diet is largely vegetarian, especially in the Gulf and Highland regions.

Momu is a traditional method of cooking large amounts of food in Papua New Guinea, as well as other Pacific islands. It consists of an earth oven that is filled with coal or hot stones, which can be placed in different orientations, and then fired for a long period of time. Despite the presence of adventitious ovens in Papua New Guinea, mumu is still common in homes.

Nagu is a typical dish of the Sepik village of Papua New Guinea. It is made with Sugar palm and coconut milk with vegetables.

The European invasion of Papua New Guinea, beginning in the 16th century, was the first foreign introduction into cooking local. In the 19th century, European settlers (mainly from the German Empire and the British Empire) imported livestock and crops into the region, which had significant commercial value. The cuisine and traditions of Papua New Guinea have been assimilated into those of Indonesian New Guinea and other Pacific nations. The kokoda dish - consisting of fish cooked in a coconut-lime sauce - is also present in Fijian cuisine.

Drinks

As on other islands in the western Pacific, kava is often made into a drink by mixing the root of the culture with water. It is a popular and non-alcoholic drink. Coffee is Papua New Guinea's second largest agricultural export product, after oil palm, and is grown mainly in the Highlands region. Hence, coffee is a widely consumed drink in the country. Aside from non-alcoholic drinks, beer is a preferred alcoholic beverage for many locals.

Basic foods

Sago is a common and essential ingredient in Papua New Guinea cuisine, as it is included in various traditional dishes, such as pancakes and pudding. Sago comes in the form of flour that is usually extracted from the palm tree. Karuka, sweet potato (kaukau), cassava, breadfruit (ulu) and coconut are staples of the Papuan-New-Guinean diet. Coconut cream is a delicacy often found in many local dishes in Papua New Guinea. Coastal regions traditionally use coconut milk and cream as a cooking medium, while Highland regions use coconut cream as a cooking medium. Coconut oil is used on special occasions in coastal regions.

Meat proteins are occasionally eaten in Papua New Guinea. However, for the inhabitants of the coastal areas, shellfish constitutes a substantial part of their diet. Pork is considered a celebratory meat in Papua New Guinea, and is prepared on special occasions, including Christmas banquets.

Sports

Rugby League match between Papua New Guinea and Australia in Port Moresby

Sports are an important part of Papua New Guinean culture and rugby is by far the most popular sport. In a nation where communities are widely separated and many people live on a bare subsistence level, Rugby union has been described as a replacement for tribal warfare as a way of explaining local enthusiasm for the game. Many Papua New Guineans have become celebrities by representing their country or by playing in a professional league abroad. Even Australian rugby league players who have played in the annual State of Origin series, held each year in PNG, are among the most well-known people across the country. State of Origin is the highlight of the year for most Papua New Guineans, though the support is so passionate that people have even died over the years in violent clashes in support of their team. The team of the Papua New Guinea national rugby league usually play the Australian Prime Minister's XIII (a selection of NRL players) every year, usually in Port Moresby.

Although not as popular, Australian Rules Rules Rules football is significant as the national team is second only to Australia. Other major sports that are part of the Papua New Guinea sporting scene include football, rugby union, basketball and, in eastern Papua, cricket.

In 2016, it hosted the VIII FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup. The capital, Port Moresby, hosted the 1969 South Pacific Games, the 1991 South Pacific Games, and the 2015 Pacific Games.