|
|
|
|
||
Papua : the other New GuineaA longitudinal line at 141° east has divvied up the subcontinental island of New Guinea ever since 1848, when the Dutch formally secured the entire area to the west as part of their East-Indies colonial crown jewel eventually to become the Republic of Indonesia. This arbitrarily drawn line remains the present-day border between the Papua Special Autonomous Region (formerly Irian Jaya) under Indonesian administration to the west, and the sovereign state of Papua New Guinea (commonly abbreviated to PNG) to the east. For our purposes, and on general biogeographic considerations, Indonesian New Guinea further encompasses the following groups of satellite islands: (1) the Raja Ampat archipelago (until recently generally referred to as the West Papuan Islands), including the main islands of Waigeo, Batanta, Salawati, Misool, Kofiau and Gebe; (2) the Geelvink Islands (also known as the Schouten Islands), including the main islands of Biak-Supiori, Numfor and Yapen; and (3) the Aru Islands. Thus the entire area of interest here lies within the Republic of Indonesia, and with the exception of Gebe and Aru, which geopolitically are part of the Moluccas, conforms to the Papua Special Autonomous Region.
Map of New Guinea showing the nearly perpendicular border at 141° east, deviating only at the 'Fly River Bulge', with Indonesian Papua to the west, and Papua New Guinea to the east. At 421,981 sq km, Papua or Indonesian New Guinea is about three times larger than England and roughly half the size of Texas. Its main administrative centers are the provincial capitals of Jayapura and Manokwari, and the regency towns of Sorong, Kota Biak, Nabire, Merauke, Timika and Fak-fak. Whereas PNG has a comparatively long-standing involvement with tourism, the vast natural and cultural wonders of Papua have only recently begun to open up for the outside world, but the territory is rapidly gearing up for tourism. |
|
|
Copyright © 2005-2008 Papua Expeditions/cv.Ekonexion • Best browsed with IE 7.0 |
