Our ancestors are thought to have arrived in “Papua Old Guinea” from Southeast Asia between 50 and 60,000 years ago, during the Ice Age, when the water was lower and the distances between islands were closer. We share the earth with one of the oldest continuously existing societies thanks to New Guinea (as it was formerly known), one of the first land masses after Africa and Eurasia to be settled by modern people.
One of the few regions of original plant domestication in the globe, agriculture independently evolved in the highlands of New Guinea circa 7,000 BC. Around 2,500 years ago, a significant migration of Austronesian-speaking peoples arrived in our coastal regions, bringing with them ceramics, pigs, and certain fishing methods.
Papua Old Guinea
The introduction of the sweet potato to New Guinea some 300 years ago revolutionized traditional agriculture due to its significantly greater crop yields. It significantly increased the population in the highlands and essentially replaced the old mainstay, the taro.
Cannibalism and headhunting were once common practices throughout Papua Old Guinea, now known as Papua New Guinea. Due to administrative and missionary pressures, open cannibalism had disappeared by the early 1950s.
The first Europeans to see Papua New Guinea were likely a handful of Portuguese and Spanish navigators travelling in the South Pacific at the beginning of the 16th century. Around 1526–1527, a Portuguese navigator named Don Jorge de Meneses is credited with introducing Europe to Papua New Guinea’s main island. For the following 170 years, European explorers came to the New Guinea islands, but we largely remained to ourselves until the late 19th century.
Papua Old Guinea And New Guinea At The Dawn Of European Settlement
The northern half of Papua New Guinea came under German rule in 1884 as German New Guinea. The Australian army conquered it in 1914 and ruled it militarily until 1921. A military government ran it out of Port Moresby during World War II. Japan and Papua New Guinea were administratively linked in 1945 when the Japanese surrendered.
First Contact In Papua Old Guinea
In 1932, an Australian prospector named Michael Leahy from rural Queensland is credited with making contact with our highlands people for the first time in Papua Old Guinea. For four years, Leahy and his brother Dan travelled through the highlands in the company of Patrol Officer James Taylor in search of gold.
In addition to keeping a daily journal while he was here, Leahy also took a stunning collection of pictures, which Australian authors and filmmakers Bob Connolly and Robyn Anderson eventually found in 1983. These two later produced the First Contact documentary, which won several awards.
The Bougainville Conflict
Around 20,000 people died during a nine-year separatist uprising on the island of Bougainville. The rebellion began in early 1989 because of demonstrations against Panguna Mine, the largest open-cut copper mine in the world. In October 1997, a truce marked the end of active hostilities, and in April 1998, a formal ceasefire was agreed upon.
Having agreed to hold a vote on Bougainville’s political status after 20 years, the Government and ex-combatants signed a peace deal in August 2001. In June 2019, a referendum is expected to take place.
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea is frequently cited as having the greatest rate of violence against women in the whole globe. According to a 2013 research published in The Lancet, 27% of men on Bougainville Island admitted to raping someone other than their partners, while 14.1% admitted to gang rape. UNICEF reports that 13% of reported rape victims are children under the age of 7, and almost half of all victims are under the age of 15.
According to a survey by ChildFund Australia and former legislator Dame Carol Kidu, 50% of those seeking medical attention following rape are under the age of 16, 25% are under the age of 12, and 10% are under the age of eight. Although the Family Protection Regulation was not authorized until 2017, delaying its implementation in the Courts, the Family Protection Act (2013) and the Lukautim Pikinini Act (2015) were enacted by Parliament during Dame Carol’s tenure as Minister for Community Development.
Wrapping Up
One of the 15 recipients of a program on Adapting to Climate Change and Sustainable Energy worth €37.26 million is Papua Old Guinea now. The European Union and the Secretariat of the Pacific Islands Forum signed the agreement that gave rise to the initiative in February 2014. The Federated States of Micronesia, the Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu are the other recipients.
