Papua New Guinea

Location:

Oceania, group of islands including the eastern half of the island of New Guinea between the Coral Sea and the South Pacific Ocean, east of Indonesia

Border Countries:

Indonesia 820 km

Terrain:

mostly mountains with coastal lowlands and rolling foothills

Geography:

shares island of New Guinea with Indonesia; one of world's largest swamps along southwest coast

Capital:

Port Moresby

About Papua New Guinea

The eastern half of the island of New Guinea - second largest in the world - was divided between Germany (north) and the UK (south) in 1885. The latter area was transferred to Australia in 1902, which occupied the northern portion during World War I and continued to administer the combined areas until independence in 1975. A nine-year secessionist revolt on the island of Bougainville ended in 1997 after claiming some 20,000 lives.

Population:

5,931,769 (July 2008 est.)

Language:

Melanesian Pidgin serves as the lingua franca, English spoken by 1%-2%, Motu spoken in Papua region

Religion:

Roman Catholic 27%, Evangelical Lutheran 19.5%, United Church 11.5%, Seventh-Day Adventist 10%, Pentecostal 8.6%, Evangelical Alliance 5.2%, Anglican 3.2%, Baptist 2.5%, other Protestant 8.9%, Bahai 0.3%, indigenous beliefs and other 3.3% (2000 census)

Phone Service:

services are minimal; facilities provide radiotelephone and telegraph, coastal radio, aeronautical radio, and international radio communication services

Currency:

kina (PGK)

Climate:

tropical; northwest monsoon (December to March), southeast monsoon (May to October); slight seasonal temperature variation

Natural Hazards:

active volcanism; situated along the Pacific Ring of Fire; the country is subject to frequent and sometimes severe earthquakes; mud slides; tsunamis