About Papua New Guinea

Explore this Papua New Guinea map to learn everything you want to know about this country. Learn about Papua New Guinea location on the world map, official symbol, flag, geography, climate, postal/area/zip codes, time zones, etc. Check out Papua New Guinea history, significant states, provinces/districts, & cities, most popular travel destinations and attractions, the capital city’s location, facts and trivia, and many more.

Journey through the alpine country of Papua New Guinea and find its elevated areas roofed with frost of ice and snow.

From volcanic islands to huge glacier heights, from the savannah grasslands to the Australasian Eucalypts, spare your time for a wonderful trekking vacation that reassures you of a breathtaking escapade.

Location Of Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea is situated within the Oceania, thereby covering the half of the eastern portion of the New Guinea Island along with other offshore islands. The Indonesian territory of Papua and West Irian Jaya inhabit the western portion of the island. The province is close to the southwestern Pacific Ocean, along the region of Melanesia lying northwards to Australia, and westward to the Solomon Islands.

Physical Map Of Papua New Guinea

The province of Papua New Guinea is divided into four distinct sections namely:

• Highlands Region
• Islands Region
• Momase Region
• Papua Region

Papua New Guinea covers a total land space of about 178,691 sq.mi and stands in the fifty-fourth position of being one of the largest countries just after Cameroon. It relates well with Sweden as far as the size is concerned and is larger in size as compared to the US state of California.

Papua New Guinea is mountainous in nature and is engulfed with long stretches of wooded rain forest. The Mount Wilhelm stands as a highest peak with a height of about 14,793 ft. The area even includes large marshlands adjacent the Sepik River and Fly River.

The country is placed along the Pacific Ring of Fire, in collision with numerous tectonic plates. The place is prone to lively volcanoes with a recurrence in upsurge. Earthquakes frequently affect the area accompanied with tsunamis.

Papua New Guinea witnesses severe snowfall in the elevated areas due to its vicinity to the equator.

Climate Of Papua New Guinea

The best time to jaunt to Papua New Guinea is during the month of April or November, when it is hardly affected with down pouring and when the soothing trade winds gust by. The months of December to March is probably the time one should avoid visiting this place, which is called as the northwest monsoon season. The southeast monsoon affects the area during the months of May to October. Papua New Guinea is placed along the southern region of the equator that witnesses an opposite weather condition in respect to the Northern Hemisphere. The region experiences a warm and a humid climatic condition with slight amount of showers affecting the region. The elevated regions are cooler in nature while being cooler during the nighttime.

Flora And Fauna Of Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea is a home of about 700 different species of birds namely the parrots, pigeons, hornbills (kokomos), cassowaries, cockatoos and kingfishers.

The native animals of the area are bats and marsupials like the tree kangaroos, forest wallabies, bandicoots, dolphins, whale, dugongs (sea cows) and echidnas (spiny anteaters).

Orchids are commonly found in this area with about 3000 species surviving within the region. The National Botanic Garden at Port Moresby is recognized for its collection of orchids prevalent within the Southern Hemisphere.

People Of Papua New Guinea

Several ethnic groups thrive within the region of Papua New Guinea, with majority of the residents comprised of Papuans, who settled here about thousands of years ago and Austronesians, who resided here about four thousand years ago.

Other inhabitant prominent within the region is Chinese, Europeans, Australians, Filipinos, Sri Lankans and Indians. Apart from the presence of 850 indigenous Papuan and Austronesian dialects, English is the official vernacular spoken within the region. The northern regions of this province mainly resort to the Tok Pisin, a Creole language. While in the southern region, people use the Hiri Motu vernacular.

Arts, Culture And Music Of Papua New Guinea

Art: The local natives resort to crafting of handicrafts like Gogodala basket, fighting shield washkuk, female and male ancestral formations, fine carved crocodile figure, Mindja board belonging to the Kwoma natives, Sepik cult hook and old historical masks.

Culture: With the emergence of several group within the region of Papua New Guinea where art, dance, weaponry, costumes, singing, music and architecture play an important role in defining their culture. The natives are known for their farming, hunting, and fishing skills. The natives residing along the Sepik River are known for wood carving while others indulge in making the native skull portrait. The local people paint their body; adorn themselves with feathers, pearls and animal skins, which become a key factor during the day of celebration and festivity. The local natives wear traditional attire, which is commonly called as koteka.

Music: The natives celebrate all kind of festival by singing, dancing, feasting and gift giving. This is popularly known as singsing in their native language. During this period native adorn oneself with colorful attires and sing along in a group to celebrate the festival in union. Later on Christian hymns along with Gregorian chanting was introduced within the area. Soon rhythm based on native and Western culture that was popularly known as rock and jazz originated from the region. It was during the initial stage of 20 th century when the Christian hymns, work songs and gold rush songs was widely accepted in the area either in their native language or in English and German. String bands and the bamboo bands, a musical rhythm from the Solomon Islands was soon recognized in the region.

Flag of Papua New Guinea

The flag of Papua New Guinea was officially accepted in the month of June 24, 1971. The flag is separated into two diagonal halves from the top end of the hoist side to the bottom end of the fly side. The topmost divide is colored in red with a yellow colored Kumul bird placed within the flag that is known as the Bird of Paradise. The other half is colored with a black background comprised of five stars, which denotes the Southern Cross, which signifies country’s historical tie-ups with the South Pacific nations. These colors of black, yellow and red are the local native colors that are close to the heart of the people.