Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and its offshore islands in Melanesia. Its capital, located along its southeastern coast, is Port Moresby. The country is the world's third largest island country, with an area of 462,840 km2 (178,700 sq mi).
The geography of Papua New Guinea describes the eastern half of the island of New Guinea, the islands of New Ireland, New Britain and Bougainville, and smaller nearby islands. Together these make up the nation of Papua New Guinea in tropical Oceania, located in the western edge of the Pacific Ocean.
The economy of Papua New Guinea (PNG) is largely underdeveloped with the vast majority of the population living below the poverty line. However, according to the Asian Development Bank its GDP is expected to grow 3.4% in 2022 and 4.6% in 2023. It is dominated by the agricultural, forestry, and fishing sector and the minerals and energy extraction sector. The agricultural, forestry, and fishing sector accounts for most of the labour force of PNG while the minerals and energy extraction sector, including gold, copper, oil and natural gas is responsible for most of the export earnings.
The Sko or Skou languages are a small language family spoken by about 7000 people, mainly along the Vanimo coast of Sandaun Province in Papua New Guinea, with a few being inland from this area and at least one just across the border in the Indonesian province of Papua.
Papua New Guinea competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, from 13 to 29 August 2004.
Western New Guinea, also known as Papua, Indonesian New Guinea, Indonesian Papua, is the western, Indonesian half of the island of New Guinea. Since the island is alternatively named as Papua, the region is also called West Papua.
The Fly River is the third longest river in the island of New Guinea, after the Sepik River and Mamberamo River, with a total length of 1,060 km (660 mi). It is the largest by volume of discharge in Oceania, the largest in the world without a single dam in its catchment, and overall the 20th-largest primary river in the world by discharge volume. It is located in the southwest of Papua New Guinea and in the South Papua province of Indonesia. It rises in the Victor Emanuel Range arm of the Star Mountains, and crosses the south-western lowlands before flowing into the Gulf of Papua in a large delta. The Fly-Strickland River system has a total length of 1,220 km (760 mi), making it the longest river system of an island in the world. The 824 km (512 mi) Strickland River is the longest and largest tributary of Fly River, making it the farthest distance source of the Fly River.
The Ok Tedi is a river in New Guinea. The Ok Tedi Mine is located near the headwaters of the river, which is sourced in the Star Mountains. It is the second largest tributary of the Fly River. Nearly the entirety of the river runs through the North Fly District of the Western Province of Papua New Guinea, but the river crosses the international boundary with Indonesia for less than one kilometre. The largest settlement of the Western Province, Tabubil is located near its banks.
The Purari is a river that originates in the south central highlands especially in Kandep District of Enga Province of Papua New Guinea, flowing 630 kilometres (391 mi) though Gulf Province to the Gulf of Papua. The Purari has a 33,670 km2 (13,000 sq mi) drainage basin and is the third largest river in Papua New Guinea. The discharge varies through the year, averaging around 3,000 m3/s (110,000 cu ft/s)–4,000 m3/s (140,000 cu ft/s) at the delta.
The Teberan languages are a well established family of Papuan languages that Stephen Wurm (1975) grouped with the Pawaia language as a branch of the Trans–New Guinea phylum.
New Guinea is the world's second-largest island, with an area of 785,753 km2 (303,381 sq mi). Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the 150-kilometre wide Torres Strait, though both landmasses lie on the same continental shelf. Numerous smaller islands are located to the west and east.
The Baliem River is a river in the Highland Papua and South Papua provinces of Western New Guinea, Indonesia. It is the largest tributary of the Pulau River, formerly called the Eilanden River. With a total length of 414.2 km (257.4 mi).
The Sepik is the longest river on the island of New Guinea, and the second largest in Oceania by discharge volume after the Fly River. The majority of the river flows through the Papua New Guinea (PNG) provinces of Sandaun and East Sepik, with a small section flowing through the Indonesian province of Papua.
Pawaia, also known as Sira, Tudahwe, Yasa, is a Papuan language that forms a tentative independent branch of the Trans–New Guinea family in the classification of Malcolm Ross (2005).
Papua New Guinea competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, from 27 July to 12 August 2012. This was the nation's ninth appearance at the Olympics. Papua New Guinea has appeared at every Summer Olympics since 1976, except the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow because of its partial support for the United States boycott.
Papua New Guinea participated in the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, United Kingdom, from August 29 to September 9, 2012.
The Papuan Gulf languages are a proposed language family of Papuan languages spoken inland from the large gulf that defines the shape of southern Papua New Guinea.
South Papua, officially the South Papua Province, is an Indonesian province located in the southern portion of Papua, following the borders of Papuan customary region of Anim Ha. Formally established on 11 November 2022 and including the four most southern regencies that were previously part of the province of Papua and before 11 December 2002 were all part of a larger Merauke Regency, it covers an area of 117,849.16 km2. It had a population of 522,215 according to the official estimates for mid 2022, making it the least populous province in Indonesia.
The 2022 Papua New Guinea Tri-Nation Series was the 11th round of the 2019–2023 ICC Cricket World Cup League 2 cricket tournament, which was played in the United Arab Emirates in April 2022. Originally scheduled to take place in Papua New Guinea, it was moved to the UAE due to travel restrictions. It was a tri-nation series between Oman, Papua New Guinea and the Scotland cricket teams, with the matches played as One Day International (ODI) fixtures. The ICC Cricket World Cup League 2 formed part of the qualification pathway to the 2023 Cricket World Cup.
The 1993 Finisterre Range earthquakes began on October 13 with a Mw 6.9 mainshock, followed by Mw 6.5 and 6.7 earthquakes. These earthquakes struck beneath the Finisterre Range, north of Markham Valley in Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea. The complex earthquake sequence seriously damaged many villages in the rural Eastern Papua New Guinea region, generating landslides and killing at least 60 people.
Papua New Guinea