Line #11 UsefulNotes/PapuaNewGuinea


1	[[quoteright:326:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/papua_new_guinea_map.png]]
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3	The '''Independent State of Papua New Guinea''' ('''Tok Pisin:''' ''Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini'', '''Hiri Motu:''' ''Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini'', ''PNG'') is the [[SmallReferencePools third most known country]] in UsefulNotes/{{Oceania}}, after UsefulNotes/{{Australia}} and UsefulNotes/{{New Zealand}}. Both PNG and New Zealand are nicknamed as the ''Island of the Birds'' due to the sheer diversity of avian wildlife. PNG also shares the unique position alongside the UsefulNotes/{{Philippines}} and UsefulNotes/SouthAmerica where a bird is the uncontested apex predator. Speaking of birds, it is best known for its ''beautiful'' Birds-of-Paradise, but it is also known as ''[[Main/FeatheredFiend Cassowary Land]]'' due to the fact that it houses not only the largest population of Cassowaries, but all three subspecies of the bird. It is also the second biggest country of the region by population, with about 7 million people. The country itself is the eastern part of the island of New Guinea, the western part being a part of UsefulNotes/{{Indonesia}}.
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5	The New Guinea island has been settled since about 42,000 years ago. The people here, popularly called the Melanesians, are closely related to the UsefulNotes/TorresStraitIslanders, who live in the titular Torrest Strait Islands separating New Guinea from Australia. Despite their "African-like" looks, the Melanesians are actually ''less'' related to Africans than the Europeans, Asians, and indigenous Americans. The Melanesians were some of the earliest humans to expand outside of Africa, and since they first settled New Guinea, they have not significantly interbred with humans who migrated from Africa later. In this respect, they are second only to the UsefulNotes/AboriginalAustralians (who have been genetically isolated since they settled Australia 70,000 years ago) in having the oldest claim to the land they live in. Melanesians were also the first people to settle the Malay archipelago (e.g. Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines), UsefulNotes/SolomonIslands, and UsefulNotes/{{Vanuatu}}, and they left some genetic imprint on the now-Austronesian-speaking population (their legacy is particularly strong in the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, where the population are for the most part genetically Melanesian but linguistically Austronesian).
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7	Before TheFifties, the zone was known for [[OffWithHisHead headhunting]] and [[ImAHumanitarian cannibalism]]. Needless to say, you don’t get to see much of it today. The common stereotype now is that the entire country is infested with anthropologists doing ethnographic studies.
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9	During UsefulNotes/WorldWarI it was taken by Australia (from UsefulNotes/{{Germany}}). In [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII the sequel]] it was a major battleground between Australian, American and Japanese troops, particularly the gruelling Battle of the Kokoda Track. At the end of the war, north and south were united in a single country (until then, they were administered separately) administrated by Australia. They declared independence in 1975, though they, like Australia and New Zealand, are still part of the Commonwealth Realm (that means still recognizing the British monarch, currently UsefulNotes/CharlesIII, as the head of state).
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11	The country is mostly rural and much unexplored, geographically and culturally, at the point that a lot of people think the country can be a surprise box of wildlife. Its largest river by discharge, the Fly River,[[note]]20th in the world among primary rivers—those that don't flow into another river. Putting it in a global perspective, it's virtually the same size as the Columbia, about 15% larger than the Danube, and more than twice as large as either the Rhine or the Nile.[[/note]] is most notable as the largest river in the world with no dam whatsoever in its watershed.[[note]]While several rivers that are larger and/or longer are undammed, at least one river in those watersheds has been dammed. Yes, even the Amazon, which itself has no dam, has dams in its watershed.[[/note]]
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13	Despite the fact the country is so close to the equator, it actually snows in there. This snow, however, is limited to the peaks of the mountain ranges, and, due to the recent GlobalWarming, may disappear in the coming decades.
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15	The official as well as unifying languages of the country are English, Tok Pisin, Hiri Motu, and Papua New Guinean Sign Language. Though most of the population more or less understand the first three (Tok Pisin especially), that doesn't hide the fact that the country is incredibly diverse linguistically as well as culturally. There are 850 spoken languages in a country the size of UsefulNotes/{{California}} and the population of UsefulNotes/{{Michigan}} (disregarding actual language spread, that means that you can find one distinct language for every 8,000 people). Most of them are isolates, too; the term Papuan is really just a placeholder to designate the languages of the entire New Guinea and its surrounding islands.
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17	The population nowadays is almost entirely Christian, but there are also animistic religions. Formerly used seashells as currency, something that can be quite weird to the rest of the world (you can still bribe someone with seashells, though).
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19	[[AC:The Papua New Guinean flag]]
20	https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/papua_new_guinea_flag_6294.png
21	->Red and black are auspicious colors for the tribes of the island. At the red stripe is a golden silhouette of the Raggiana Bird-of-paradise, the national bird. At the black stripe is Crux Australis rendered in white, which not only alludes to its location on the southern hemisphere, but also to Australia, its last occupying power.
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23	[[AC:The Papua New Guinean national anthem]]
24
25	->O arise all you sons of this land,
26	->Let us sing of our joy to be free,
27	->Praising God and rejoicing to be
28	->Papua New Guinea.
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30	->Shout our name from the mountains to the seas
31	->Papua New Guinea;
32	->Let us raise our voices and proclaim
33	->Papua New Guinea.
34
35	->Now give thanks to the good Lord above
36	->For His kindness, His wisdom and love
37	->For this land of our fathers so free,
38	->Papua New Guinea.
39
40	->Shout again for the whole world to hear
41	->Papua New Guinea;
42	->We are independent and we're free
43	->Papua New Guinea.
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45	[[AC:Government]]
46	* Unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy
47	** Monarch: Charles III
48	** Governor-General: Bob Dadae
49	** Prime Minister: James Marape
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51	[[AC:Miscellaneous]]
52	* '''Capital and largest city:''' Port Moresby
53	* '''Population:''' 8,935,000
54	* '''Area:''' 462,840 km
55	(178,700 sq mi) (54th)
56	* '''Currency''': Papua New Guinean kina (K) (PGK)
57	* '''ISO-3166-1 Code:''' PG
58	* '''Country calling code:''' 675
59	* '''Highest point:''' Mount Wilhelm (4509 m/14,793 ft) (32nd)

Context UsefulNotes / PapuaNewGuinea