Papua New Guinea (PNG; Tok Pisin: Papua Niugini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea,

is a country in Oceania that occupies the eastern half of the island of New Guinea (the western portion of the island is a part of the Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua) and numerous offshore islands. It is located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, in a region described since the early 19th century as Melanesia. The capital is Port Moresby. Papua New Guinea is one of the most culturally diverse countries in the world. According to recent data, 841 different languages are listed for the country, although 11 of these have no known living speakers.[6] There may be at least as many traditional societies, out of a population of about 6.2 million. It is also one of the most rural, as only 18 percent of its people live in urban centres.[7] The country is one of the world's least explored, culturally and geographically, and many undiscovered species of plants and animals are thought to exist in the interior of Papua New Guinea.[8] Strong growth in Papua New Guinea's mining and resource sector has led to PNG becoming the sixth fastest-growing economy in the world as of 2011.[9] Despite this, many people live in extreme poverty, with about one third of the population living on less than US$1.25 per day.[10] The majority of the population still live in traditional societies and practice subsistence-based agriculture. These societies and clans have some explicit acknowledgement within the nation's constitutional framework. The PNG Constitution expresses the wish for "traditional villages and communities to remain as viable units of Papua New Guinean society",[11] and for active steps to be taken in their preservation. After being ruled by three external powers since 1884, Papua New Guinea gained its independence from Australia in 1975. It became a separate Commonwealth realm with Her Majesty Elizabeth II as Queen of Papua New Guinea. Human remains have been found which have been dated to about 50,000 BC although this is an estimate. These ancient inhabitants probably migrated from Southeast Asia, from people whose ancestors had originated in Africa 50,000 to 70,000 years ago. New Guinea was first populated by modern humans at approximately the same time as Australia.

Kerepunu villagers, British New Guinea, 1885 Agriculture was independently developed in the New Guinea highlands around 7000 BC, making it one of the few areas in the world where people independently domesticated plants. A major migration of Austronesian speaking peoples came to coastal regions roughly 500 BC. This has been correlated with the introduction of pottery, pigs, and certain fishing techniques. More recently, in the 18th century, the sweet potato was taken to New Guinea, having been introduced to the Moluccas by Portuguese traders.[12] The far higher crop yields from sweet potato gardens radically transformed traditional agriculture; sweet potato largely supplanted the previous staple, taro, and gave rise to a significant increase in population in the highlands. Although headhunting and cannibalism have been practically eradicated, in the past they occurred in many parts of the country as part of ritual practices.[13][14] For example, in 1901, on Goaribari Island in the Gulf of Papua, a missionary, Harry Dauncey, found 10,000 skulls in the islands Long Houses.[15] According to the writer Marianna Torgovnick, "The most fully documented instances

of cannibalism as a social institution come from New Guinea, where head-hunting and ritual cannibalism survived, in certain isolated areas, into the fifties, sixties, and seventies, and still leave traces within certain social groups."[16] Little was known in Europe about the island until the 19th century, although Portuguese and Spanish explorers, such as Dom Jorge de Meneses and Yigo Ortiz de Retez, respectively, had encountered it as early as the 16th century. Traders from Southeast Asia had visited New Guinea beginning 5,000 years ago to collect bird of paradise plumes.[17] The country's dual name results from its complex administrative history before independence. The word papua is derived from an old local term of uncertain origin,[18] and "New Guinea" (Nueva Guinea) was the name coined by the Spanish explorer Yigo Ortiz de Retez. In 1545, he noted the resemblance of the people to those he had earlier seen along the Guinea coast of Africa. The northern half of the country was ruled as a colony for some decades by Germany, beginning in 1884, as German New Guinea. The southern half was colonised in the same year by the United Kingdom as British New Guinea, but in 1904 with the passage of the Papua Act, 1905 was transferred to the newly formed Commonwealth of Australia who took on its administration. Additionally from 1905, British New Guinea was renamed the Territory of Papua.

Australian forces attack Japanese positions during the Battle of BunaGona. January 7, 1943. During World War I, German New Guinea was occupied by Australia and after the war was given a League of Nations Mandate to administer it. Papua, by contrast, was deemed to be an External Territory of the Australian Commonwealth, though as a matter of law it remained a British possession. This was significant for the country's post-independence legal system. The difference in legal status meant that up until 1949, Papua and New Guinea had entirely separate administrations, both controlled by Australia. The New Guinea campaign (19421945) was one of the major military campaigns of World War II. Approximately 216,000 Japanese, Australian and U.S. soldiers, sailors and airmen died during the New Guinea Campaign.[19] The two territories were combined into the Territory of Papua and New Guinea after World War II, which later was simply referred to as "Papua New Guinea". However, certain statutes[20] continued to have application only in one of the two territories. This territorial difference of law was complicated further by the adjustment of the former boundary among contiguous provinces with respect to road access and language groups. Some of such statutes apply on one side only of a boundary which no longer exists.[citation needed] The administration of Papua became open to United Nations oversight; a peaceful independence from Australia occurred on September 16, 1975, and close ties remain (Australia continues as the largest bilateral aid donor to Papua New Guinea). Papua New Guinea was admitted to membership in the United Nations on 10 October 1975.[21] A secessionist revolt in 197576 on Bougainville Island resulted in an eleventh-hour modification of the draft Constitution of Papua New Guinea to allow for Bougainville and the other eighteen districts to have quasi-federal status as provinces. A renewed uprising started in 1988 and claimed 20,000 lives until it was resolved in 1997. Following the revolt, the autonomous Bougainville

elected Joseph Kabui as president. He was succeeded by his deputy John Tabinaman, who continued to be re-elected as leader until the election of December 2008, which James Tanis won. Anti-Chinese rioting, involving tens of thousands of people, broke out in May 2009. The initial spark was a fight between Chinese and Papua New Guinean workers at a nickel factory under construction by a Chinese company. Native resentment against the numerous small businesses being run by Chinese led to the rioting.[22][23]

Politics
Main article: Politics of Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea is a Commonwealth realm, with Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II reigning as its Sovereign and Head of State. It was expected by the constitutional convention, which prepared the draft constitution, and by Australia, the outgoing metropolitan power, that Papua New Guinea would choose not to retain its link with the Commonwealth monarchy. The founders, however, considered that imperial honours had a cachet that the newly independent state would not be able to confer with a purely indigenous honours system, so the monarchy was retained.[24] The Queen is represented by the Governor-General of Papua New Guinea, currently Michael Ogio. Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands are unusual among Commonwealth realms in that GovernorsGeneral are selected by the legislature rather than by the executive branch. Actual executive power lies with the Prime Minister, who heads the cabinet of 31 MPs from the ruling Coalition, which make up the government. The current Prime Minister is Peter O'Neil. The unicameral National Parliament has 111 seats, of which 22 are occupied by the governors of the 21 provinces (2 new ones were approved by Parliament in 2012) and the National Capital District (NCD). Candidates for members of parliament are voted upon 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 early years of independence, the instability of the party system led to frequent votes of no confidence in Parliament with resulting changes of the government of the day, but with referral to the electorate, through national elections only occurring every five years. In recent years, successive governments have passed legislation preventing such votes sooner than 18 months after a national election and within 12 month of the next election, and in December 2012 the first 2 (of 3) readings were passed to prevent votes of no confidence occurring within the first 30 months. (This restriction on votes of no confidence has arguably resulted in greater stability, although perhaps at a cost of reducing the accountability of the executive branch of government. Elections in PNG attract large numbers of candidates. After independence in 1975, members were elected by the first past the post system, with winners frequently gaining less than 15% of the vote. Electoral reforms in 2001 introduced the Limited Preferential Vote system (LPV), a version of the Alternative Vote. The 2007 general election was the first to be conducted using LPV. In foreign policy, Papua New Guinea is a member of the Pacific Islands Forum and the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) of countries and was accorded Observer status within ASEAN in 1976, followed later by Special Observer status in 1981. It is also a member of APEC and an ACP country, associated with the European Union