The West Papua map has not undergone significant changes from year to year to century to century. Changes only occur at the mention of it. This is of course because the rulers of this region are changing. Well, regarding this, this article will discuss a number of facts about this history.
Geography
On the West Papua map, there is information that the area of this area is 420,540 km, with rainfall of 1,800–3,000 mm, an average air temperature of 19–28 C, and humidity of around 80%.
This province’s territory covers the bird’s head section of Papua Island as well as the adjacent islands. The Pacific Ocean borders this province towards the north; North Maluku and Maluku towards the west; Cenderawasih Bay towards the east; the Seram Sea towards the south; and Papua province towards the southeast.
West Papua’s limits are nearly identical to those of Afdeling (“sector”) West Nieuw-Guinea (“West New Guinea”) throughout the Dutch East Indies era. There really are various districts as well as cities within this province.
1st Fact–The Name in the Precolonial Era
A voyager called Chau Yu Kua described Tung-ki, a Chinese word for Janggi, throughout the 1300s, which might perhaps relate to New Guinea, sections of the Moluccas, or perhaps even Africa.
The Nagarakretagama manuscript, authored by Mpu Prapanca during the Majapahit Kingdom (1293–1520), discusses the West New Guinea area near the Onin Peninsula as well as the adjacent islands.
Muslim traders across Southeast Asia have been trading in Papua since about the 1500s. Until the 1600s, Muslim traders from several Sultanates throughout the Maluku area had exclusive trading contacts with the people of West Papua.
2nd Fact–The Name in the Colonial Era
On June 13th, 1545, a Spanish traveler named Ortiz de Retez set sail from Tidore for the north shore of New Guinea Island, following the lower sections of the Mamberamo River.
He proclaimed the land to become the King of Spain’s. He named the territory Nueva Guinea or New Guinea due to the obvious region’s residents’ likeness to the population of Guinea’s beach in West Africa.
3rd Fact–The Name in Modern Era
For this third fact, you should know that the West Papua Map still remains the same, but its name has changed through the holders.
1. After Proclamation
Following its declaration of independence from the Netherlands in 1945, the Republic of Indonesia acquired various Dutch territories. It had formerly been included in the Dutch East Indies, such as the area of New Guinea.
Papua is an Indonesian province on the West New Guinea island of Papua. Papua is sometimes popular as West Papua since Papua also belongs to the entire continent of New Guinea. It is like the eastern hemisphere of a neighboring nation, eastern New Guinea, as well as Papua New Guinea.
2. Era Separatisme
Nationalists who desire to secede from Indonesia to create their own nation prefer to use the term West Papua. From 1969 until 1973, this province was known as West Irian.
Suharto changed its name to Irian Jaya once he launched the Freeport gold and copper mine. The name stayed in use until 2002. In compliance with Law No. 21/2001 about Papua’s Special Autonomy, the province was renamed to Papua. This region was known as Dutch New Guinea during the Dutch colonial era.
The name Irian comes from the Indonesian phrase “Ikut Republik Indonesia Anti Netherland”. Papua is derived from the Malay language and means “curly hair,” a reference to the appearance of indigenous people.
4th Fact–The Fixed Name and West Papua Map
In 2004, accompanied by various protests, Papua was divided into two provinces by the Indonesian government. The eastern part retained the name Papua. While the western part became West Irian Jaya, which is now the Province of West Papua.
West Papua Province was formed through the division process from Papua Province in February 2003. Its initial name is Irian Jaya Barat. This expansion is in line with the trend of regional divisions that occurred throughout Indonesia in the post-Suharto era. On April 18, 2007, the ratification of PP No. 24 of 2007 officially changed the name of West Irian Jaya to West Papua.
So, according to the explanation above, we can say that the West Papua map, especially the continent, actually does not acquire changes through years and centuries. It is only its name that gets changed according to the rulers.
