The Hewa are an indigenous people that live in the Koroba Lake Kopiago Electorate of Hela Province of Papua New Guinea near the junction of the Strickland River. They were one of the last peoples in Papua New Guinea to come into contact with the outside world. They number about 2,000 persons, and their rugged rainforest terrain comprises about 1,000 square miles (2,590 km2), [2] some of which was unexplored until 2008. [3] Their language belongs to the Sepik Hills family.
They hunt birds, reptiles and mammals for food, adornment and trade with neighboring tribes. [4] Having learned that fruit- and nectar-eating birds, such as fruit-doves and lorikeets, are vital to forest regeneration, the Hewa slash small gardens out of the dense jungle and allow about 20–25 years for the tilled once-used land to be reforested naturally. [4] Their language is not related to any neighboring culture [5] as their culture is a Sepik Basin one, unlike that of the other Hela Province (formerly Southern Highlands) tribes. [6] They have some limited trade with those neighboring tribes, exchanging the Hewa's animal skins, spears and tree bark fiber for shells and boar tusks. [7] They make paintings on flat sheets of bark but these paintings, done for magical purposes, are never traded or exhibited. [8]
They are one of the few tribes in the fringe highland area never to have practised cannibalism, [9] perhaps because their belief associates cannibalism with dangerous sorcerers. [10] It is not uncommon for women accused of witchcraft to be killed. [11] The Hewa have been extensively studied by anthropologists Lyle Steadman [12] and William H. Thomas. [13] The Hewa were also featured on the final episode of the Discovery Channel program Survivorman and in a later program called Beyond Survival .
The Hewa were one of the last peoples in Papua New Guinea to come into contact with the outside world. Many Hewa people north of the Lagaip River were uncontacted until 1975, when the Officer in Charge at Lake Kopiago braved arrow attacks and led what probably was Papua New Guinea's last "first contact patrol", bringing steel axeheads to an area where stone axeheads were the norm. [14] [15] Even south of the Lagaip, many Hewa families were first contacted by Steadman in the late 1960s. [16] He found that the typical family (which averaged seven people) lived in relative isolation from other families, with their nearest neighbors living from five minutes' walk up to half a mile away through dense jungle. [16] After darkness envelops their isolated realm, the families often stay awake for hours, the men telling myths and stories around a fire, and the women, gathered around a separate fire in their section of the house, often interrupting with well-timed quips and jests [17] as they create grass skirts or weave stringbags. Sometimes, historical tales are sung or chanted. [18]
In recent decades, change has come to the region. Many Hewa wear Western clothes instead of the traditional grass skirts; though the majority still live in scattered households, [19] some now live in villages and travel agencies fly tourists to newly constructed airstrips to visit them. [20]
The Papuan languages are the non-Austronesian languages spoken on the western Pacific island of New Guinea, as well as neighbouring islands in Indonesia, Solomon Islands, and East Timor by around 4 million people. It is a strictly geographical grouping, and does not imply a genetic relationship.
The Korowai, also called the Kolufo, are the people who live in southeastern Papua in the Indonesian provinces of South Papua and Highland Papua. Specifically their tribal area is split by the borders of Boven Digoel Regency, Mappi Regency, Asmat Regency, and Yahukimo Regency. They number about 3,000 people.
For administrative purposes, Papua New Guinea is divided into administrative divisions called provinces. There are 22 provincial-level divisions, which include 20 provinces, the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, and the National Capital District of Port Moresby.
Tayap is an endangered Papuan language spoken by fewer than 50 people in Gapun village of Marienberg Rural LLG in East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea. It is being replaced by the national language and lingua franca Tok Pisin.
Southern Highlands is a province in Papua New Guinea. Its provincial capital is the town of Mendi. According to Papua New Guinea's national 2011 census, the total population of Southern Highlands is 515,511 spread across 15,089 square kilometers (5,826 sq mi).
The Border or Upper Tami languages are an independent family of Papuan languages in Malcolm Ross's version of the Trans–New Guinea proposal.
The Ramu–Lower Sepika.k.a.Lower Sepik–Ramu languages are a proposed family of about 35 Papuan languages spoken in the Ramu and Sepik river basins of northern Papua New Guinea. These languages tend to have simple phonologies, with few consonants or vowels and usually no tones.
The Sepik or Sepik River languages are a family of some 50 Papuan languages spoken in the Sepik river basin of northern Papua New Guinea, proposed by Donald Laycock in 1965 in a somewhat more limited form than presented here. They tend to have simple phonologies, with few consonants or vowels and usually no tones.
Papua New Guinea is divided into four regions, which are its broadest administrative divisions of Papua New Guinea. While the 22 provincial-level divisions are the primary administrative divisions of PNG, the regions are quite significant in daily life, as they are often the basis for organisation of government services, corporate operations, sporting competitions, and even the machinations of politics.
The Papuans are one of four major cultural groups of Papua New Guinea. The majority of the population lives in rural areas. In isolated areas there remains a handful of the giant communal structures that previously housed the whole male population, with a circling cluster of huts for the women. The Papuan people are Melanesian people composed of at least 240 different peoples, each with its own language and culture. Sago is the staple food of the Papuan supplemented with hunting, fishing and small gardens.
For administrative purposes, Papua New Guinea (PNG) is divided into administrative divisions called regions and provinces. Papua New Guinea is divided into four regions and 22 province-level divisions: 20 provinces plus the autonomous region (Bougainville) and the National Capital District.
In 1994, Jim Mason, a graduate student in the Department of Anthropology at Stanford University, arranged for two groups of men from the Sepik River region of Papua New Guinea to carve the New Guinea Sculpture Garden at Stanford University. The men were from several communities or villages of the Iatmul people and the Kwoma people.
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 name "New Guinea" was given by Spanish explorer Yñigo Ortiz de Retez during his maritime expedition of 1545 due to the resemblance of the indigenous peoples of the island to those in the African region of Guinea.
The Sepik Hill languages form the largest and most ramified branch of the Sepik languages of northern Papua New Guinea. They are spoken along the southern margin of the Sepik floodplain in the foothills of Central Range of south-central East Sepik Province.
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.
Hewa, also known as Sisimin and Lagaip, is spoken by the Hewa people. It is a Sepik language of northern Papua New Guinea. It is spoken in Lagaip Rural LLG of Enga Province, and also in Hela Province and Telefomin Rural LLG of Sandaun Province.
Kwoma is a Sepik language of Papua New Guinea also known as Washkuk. The word 'Kwoma' means "hill people". Washkuk is a government name for the people of Kwoma. Linguists have the given the name 'Kwoma' as the primary name of the language, but 'Nukuma' is the specific name for the Northern dialect. Nukuma means people who live along the upper reaches of the Sanchi River. The speakers of Kwoma are located in the Ambunti district of the Sepik River region. There are two dialects known as Kwoma (Washkuk) and Nukuma. The Kwoma dialect or "hill people" is located in the Washkuk Hills which is a range of mountains on the north side of the Sepik. The Nukuma dialect or "headwater people" live to the north and west of the Washkuk range along the Sepik River. Kwoma is considered an endangered language with an estimated 2,925 native speakers worldwide.
Pilikambi Rural LLG is one of the four Local-Level Government Areas (LLGs) of Lagaip Porgera Electorate in Enga Province, Papua New Guinea. The other three LLGs in the district are Maip-Mulitaka Rural, Paiela-Hewa Rural and Porgera.
The Duna are an indigenous people of Papua New Guinea who live in the north-western area of the Southern Highlands Province. They number approximately 11,000 (1991) or 25,000 (2002)
Events in the year 2018 in Papua New Guinea.
Papua New Guinea