New Guinea or Papua Island is located to the north of Australia with coordinates 5°20′S 141°36′E. Papua Island is an area between two countries, Papua New Guinea to the east and Indonesia to the west papua. Papua Island is an island in the easternmost region of Indonesia. It is the second largest island after Greenland Island in Denmark. The area of this island reaches 890,000 km2.

Tectonicism

New Guinea is an island to the north of the Australian mainland, south of the equator. It is isolated by the Arafura Sea to the west, and the Torres Strait and Coral Sea to the east. Sometimes considered to be the easternmost island of the Indonesian archipelago, it lies north of Australia’s Top End, the Gulf of Carpentaria and Cape York Peninsula, and west of the Bismarck Archipelago and the Solomon Islands archipelago.

Politically, the western half of the island consists of six provinces of Indonesia: Papua, Central Papua, Highland Papua, South Papua, West Papua and Southwest Papua. The eastern half forms the mainland of the country of Papua New Guinea.

Topographical Map of New Guinea

The shape of New Guinea is often compared to that of a bird-of-paradise (indigenous to the island), and this results in the usual names for the two extremes of the island: the Bird’s Head Peninsula in the northwest (Vogelkop in Dutch , Bird’s Tail in Indonesian; also known as the Doberai Peninsula), and the Bird’s Tail Peninsula in the southeast (also known as the Papuan Peninsula).

A spine of east–west mountains, the New Guinea Highlands, dominates the geography of New Guinea, stretching over 1,600 km (1,000 mi) across the island, with many mountains over 4,000 m (13,100 ft). The western half of the island contains the highest mountains in Oceania, with its highest point, Puncak Jaya, reaching an elevation of 4,884 m (16,023 ft). The tree line is around 4,000 m (13,100 ft) elevation, and the tallest peaks contain equatorial glaciers—which have been retreating since at least 1936. Various other smaller mountain ranges occur both north and west of the central ranges. Except in high elevations, most areas possess a warm humid climate throughout the year, with some seasonal variations associated with the northeast monsoon season.

Another major habitat feature is the vast southern and northern lowlands. Stretching for hundreds of kilometers, these include lowland rainforests, extensive wetlands, savanna grasslands, and some of the largest expansions of mangrove forests in the world. The southern lowlands are the site of Lorentz National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The northern lowlands are drained principally by the Mamberamo River and its tributaries on the western side, and by the Sepik on the eastern side. The more extensive southern lowlands are drained by a larger number of rivers, principally the Digul in the west and the Fly in the east. The largest offshore island, Dolak, lies near the Digul estuary, separated by a strait so narrow it has been named a “creek”.

New Guinea contains many of the world’s ecosystem types: glacial, alpine tundra, savanna, montane and lowland rainforest, mangroves, wetlands, lake and river ecosystems, seagrasses, and some of the richest coral reefs on the planet.

The entire length of the New Guinea Highlands system passes through New Guinea as a vast watershed. The northern rivers flow into the Pacific Ocean, the southern rivers into the Arafura Sea and the Gulf of Papua. On the north side, the largest rivers are the Mamberamo, Sepik and Ramu.

Mamberamo was born from the confluence of two large inland rivers. Tariku comes from the west to the east and Taritatu from the east. These rivers meander through swamps with huge internal descents and then merge. The Mamberamo thus formed reaches the ocean by breaking through the Coastal Mountains. Mamberamo River is navigable to Marine Falls. The Sepik is a much more important river. Similarly, it collects water from a spacious pool. It is 1,100 kilometers from the Victor Emanuel Range to the estuary, making it the longest river in New Guinea. The winding, muddy, sluggish river can be navigated for 500 km. Ramu is a 650 km long river. Its lower section is navigable, but its upper flow is high-falling, fast-flowing. The energy of the river is used by a power plant near the city of Kainantu.

On the south side, the most significant rivers are Pulau, Digul, Fly, Kikori and Purari. The largest river in the western part of the island is Digul. It originates from the Star Mountains, which rise to an altitude of 4,700 m. The coastal plain is bordered by a swamp world hundreds of kilometers wide. Digul is the main transport route to the fertile hills and mountains within the island. The river fly is born near the eastern branches of the Digul. It is named after one of the ships of the English Royal Fleet, which first sailed into the mouth of the river in 1845. The total length of the river is 1,050 km. Smaller boats can sail 900 km on the river. The estuary section, which decomposes into islands, is 70 km wide. The tide of the sea can have an effect up to 300 kilometers. Strickland, a tribute of the Fly, reaches the Papuan Plain through wild gorges. Fly and Strickland together form the largest river in New Guinea. The many rivers flowing into the Gulf of Papua form a single delta complex. The rivers of the island are extremely rich in water due to the annual rainfall of 2,000–10,000 mm. According to a modest calculation, the New Guinea River carries about 1,500 km3/a (48,000 m3/s) of water into the sea. Fly alone carries more water 238 km3/a (7,500 m3/s) than all the rivers in Australia combined.

A Island with the Many Names

In around 200 AD, the Roman geographer Klaudius Ptolemaeus (Ptolamy) called the island of Papua Labadios. Until now, no one knows why the island of Papua was named Labadios.

Around the end of 500 AD, the Chinese gave it the name Tungki. This was discovered after they found a diary of a Chinese trader, Ghau Yu Kuan, which described that the origin of the spices they obtained came from Tungki, the name used by Chinese traders at that time for Papua.

Furthermore, at the end of 600 AD, the Srivijaya Kingdom called Papua using the name Janggi. In the book Kertagama 1365 written by Poet Mpu Prapanca, “Tungki” or “Janggi” is actually a misspelling obtained from a third party, namely Chinese trader Chun Tjok Kwan, who on his trading trip had stopped at several places in Tidore and Papua.

In early 700 AD, Persian and Gujarati traders began to arrive in Papua, including traders from India. Their goal was to look for spices in this region after seeing the success of Chinese traders. These traders call the names of Papua Dwi Panta and Samudranta, which means the Edge of the Ocean and the Edge of the Ocean.

At the end of 1300 AD, the Majapahit Kingdom used two names, namely “Wanin” and “Sran”. The name Wanin, of course none other than the Onin peninsula in the Fak-Fak area, is used in several old language songs and poetry in Wersar Village and its surroundings. Meanwhile, “Sran” can refer to Seram Island in Maluku, or refer to the Sran Eman Muun kingdom, a contemporary of the Majapahit kingdom. It is possible that the slaves brought and presented to Majapahit came from Onin and those who brought them there were Seram people from Maluku, so these two names are mentioned.

In the 14th century, the Papuan islands were controlled by the Kingdom of Tidore starting from the expedition of the King of Tidore Ibnu Mansur with Gurabesi, Kapitan from Biak, and only in the 16th century, the Sultanate of Ternate and the Sultanate of Tidore owned the territory of Sulawesi and Papua.

The name Papua itself comes from the word Papo-Ua, which was named by the Tidore Kingdom, where in the Tidore language, it means not joined or not united, which means that on this island there is no king who rules.

Ternate Kingdom, has the western region; East coast of Sulawesi, including Sule and the Banggai Islands, West Seram (Hoamal peninsula) and the Ambon Islands. Meanwhile, the Tidore Kingdom controlled the eastern part, from the Raja Ampat Islands to the border between Papua and Papua New Guinea today.

The role of these two great kingdoms began to decline due to the influx of traders from Europe to the archipelago which was the beginning of colonialism. Tidore organized its territory into, Korano Ngaruha meaning Raja Ampat Islands, Papo Ua Gamsio (Papo Ua nine countries) and Mafor Soa Raha (Mafor Empat Soa).

  The development of the origin of the name of the island of Papua has had a long journey along with the history of interactions between foreign nations and the Papuan people, including local languages in interpreting the name Papua. The origin of the name Papua comes from Papo Ua, which in Tidore means “not joining”, “not united”, or “not holding hands”.

This means that the Papua region is far away so it is not included in the main area of the Tidore Sultanate. However, these areas remained subject and under the Tidore trade alliance called Uli Siwa. In the division of territory by the Kingdoms of Tidore and Ternate, Papua was divided into Korano Ngaruha or Raja Ampat Islands, Papo-ua Gam Sio (Papua nine countries), and Mafor Soa Raha (Mafor Four Soa).

In 16th century Portuguese and Spanish records, the word Papua refers to the inhabitants of the Raja Ampat Islands and the Bird’s Head coast. Based on this other theory according to F.C. This name Kamma could have come from the Biak language ‘Sup i Babwa’ which is used to refer to the Raja Ampat Islands meaning the land below (sunset), which later became ‘Papwa’ then ‘Papua’.

When Portuguese and Spanish explorers arrived via the Spice Islands, they also used the name Papua. However, Westerners, beginning with Spanish explorer Yñigo Ortiz de Retez in 1545, used the name New Guinea, due to the resemblance between the indigenous peoples of the island and Africans of the Guinea region. The name is one of several toponyms sharing similar etymologies, ultimately meaning “land of the blacks” or similar meanings.

The Dutch, who arrived later under Jacob Le Maire and Willem Schouten, called it Schouten island. They later used this name only to refer to islands off the north coast of Papua proper, the Schouten Islands or Biak Island. When the Dutch colonized the main island as part of the Dutch East Indies, they called it Nieuw Guinea.

The name Irian was used in the Indonesian language to refer to the island and Indonesian province, as West Irian (West Irian) Province and later Irian Jaya Province. The name Irian was suggested during a tribal committee meeting in Tobati, Jayapura, formed by Soegoro Atmoprasodjo under governor JP van Eechoed, to decide on a new name because of the negative association of Papua. Frans Kaisiepo, the committee leader, suggested the name from Mansren Koreri myths, Iri-an from the Biak language of Biak Island, meaning “hot land” (referring to the climate), but also from Iryan which means heated process as a metaphor for a land that is entering a new era.

In Serui Iri-an (lit. “land-nation”) means “pillar of nation”, while in Merauke Iri-an (lit. “placed higher-nation”) means “rising spirit” or “to rise”. The name was promoted in 1945 by Marcus Kaisiepo, brother of Frans Kaisiepo. The name was politicized later by Corinus Krey, Marthen Indey, Silas Papare, and others with the Indonesian backronym Ikut Republik Indonesia Anti Nederland (“Join the Republic of Indonesia Oppose the Netherlands”).

Irian was used sometime in 1972. The name was used until 2001, when Papua was again used for the island and the province. The name Irian, which was originally favored by natives, is now considered to be a name imposed by the authorities of Indonesia.