Papua is a province of Indonesia, comprising the northern coast of Western New Guinea together with island groups in Cenderawasih Bay to the west. It roughly follows the borders of Papuan customary region of Tabi Saireri. It is bordered by the sovereign state of Papua New Guinea to the east, the Pacific Ocean to the north, Cenderawasih Bay to the west, and the provinces of Central Papua and Highland Papua to the south. The province also shares maritime boundaries with Palau in the Pacific. Following the splitting off of twenty regencies to create the three new provinces of Central Papua, Highland Papua, and South Papua on 30 June 2022, the residual province is divided into eight regencies and one city (kota), the latter being the provincial capital of Jayapura. The province has a large potential in natural resources, such as gold, nickel, petroleum, etc. Papua, along with five other Papuan provinces, has a higher degree of autonomy level compared to other Indonesian provinces.
West Papua, formerly Irian Jaya Barat, is an Indonesian province located in the land of Papua. It covers most of the two western peninsulas of the island of New Guinea, the eastern half of the Bird's Head Peninsula and the whole of the Bomberai Peninsula, along with nearby smaller islands. The province is bordered to the north by the Pacific Ocean, to the west by Southwest Papua Province, the Halmahera Sea and the Ceram Sea, to the south by the Banda Sea, and to the east by the province of Central Papua and the Cenderawasih Bay. Manokwari is the province's capital and largest city. With an estimated population of 561,403 in mid-2022, West Papua is the least populous province in Indonesia after Southwest Papua, which was a part of West Papua until separated off in 2022.
Western New Guinea, also known as Papua, Indonesian New Guinea, and Indonesian Papua, is the western, Indonesian half of the island of New Guinea. Given the island is alternatively named Papua, the region is also called West Papua.
Western Province is a coastal province in southwestern Papua New Guinea, bordering the Indonesian provinces of Highland Papua and South Papua. The provincial capital is Daru. The largest town in the province is Tabubil. Other major settlements are Kiunga, Ningerum, Olsobip and Balimo.
The South Halmahera–West New Guinea (SHWNG) languages are a branch of the Malayo-Polynesian languages, found in the islands and along the shores of the Halmahera Sea in the Indonesian province of North Maluku and of Cenderawasih Bay in the provinces of Papua and West Papua. There are 38 languages.
The Bird's Head Peninsula or Doberai Peninsula, is a large peninsula that makes up the northwest portion of the island of New Guinea, comprising the Indonesian provinces of Southwest Papua and West Papua. It is often referred to as The Vogelkop, and is so named because its shape looks like a bird's head on the island of New Guinea. The peninsula at the opposite end of the island is called the Bird's Tail Peninsula. The peninsula just to the south is called the Bomberai Peninsula.
Konda–Yahadian is a pair of South Bird's Head languages spoken in Western New Guinea:
The South Bird's Head or South Doberai languages are three families of Papuan languages. They form part of the Trans–New Guinea languages in the classifications of Malcolm Ross (2005) and Timothy Usher (2020), though Pawley and Hammarström (2018) do not consider them to be part of Trans–New Guinea. However, according to Dryer (2022), based on a preliminary quantitative analysis of data from the ASJP database, South Bird's Head languages are likely to be a subgroup of Trans–New Guinea.
The Wasur National Park forms part of the largest wetland in Merauke Regency, South Papua, Indonesia and has been one of the least disturbed by human activity. The high value of its biodiversity has led to the park being dubbed the "Serengeti of Papua". The vast open wetland, in particular Rawa Biru Lake, attracts a very rich fauna.
South Sorong Regency is a regency of Southwest Papua province of Indonesia. It has an area of 6,594.31 km2, and had a population of 37,900 at the 2010 Census and 52,469 at the 2020 Census; the official estimate as at mid 2022 was 53,884. The administrative centre is the town of Teminabuan.
The North Halmahera (NH) languages are a family of languages spoken in the northern and eastern parts of the island of Halmahera and some neighboring islands in Indonesia. The southwestern part of the island is occupied by the unrelated South Halmahera languages, which are a subgroup of Austronesian. They may be most closely related to the languages of the Bird's Head region of West Papua, but this is not well-established.
Meyah (Meyakh) is a West Papuan language spoken in Miyah District, Tambrauw Regency of Southwest Papua, Indonesia. The Meyah language is agglutinative and head-marking and has no grammatical cases. It has subject-verb-object word order, which comes from nearby Austronesian languages.
Kokoda is a Papuan language of the Bird's Head Peninsula spoken by the Eme Yode people of Kokoda District, South Sorong Regency, Southwest Papua. The three dialects—Kokoda proper, Kasuweri, and Tarof—are divergent enough to sometimes be considered separate languages.
The Suabo or Inanwatan is a Papuan language of Southwest Papua. It is often classified in the South Bird's Head language family, but may alternatively form an independent language family together with Duriankere.
Puragi, or Iwaro, is a Papuan language of the Bird's Head Peninsula spoken in Puragi village, Matemani District, South Sorong Regency, Southwest Papua.
Yahadian is a Papuan language of the Bird's Head Peninsula of Southwest Papua. It is spoken in Yahadian village, Kais District, South Sorong Regency.
Duriankari, or Duriankere, is a possibly extinct Papuan language of Indonesian Papua. It is associated with the village of Duriankari at the southern tip of the island of Salawati, which is part of the Raja Ampat Archipelago and is adjacent to the Bird's Head Peninsula of the West Papuan mainland.
South Papua, officially the South Papua Province, is an Indonesian province located in the southern portion of Papua, following the borders of the 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 had comprised a larger Merauke Regency, it covers a land area of 117,849.16 km2, about the same area as Pennsylvania. This area had a population of 513,617 at the 2020 Census, while the official estimate as at mid 2023 was 534,416, making it the least populous province in Indonesia.
Inanwatan–Duriankere or Inanwatan is a pair of South Bird's Head languages spoken in New Guinea:
The Nuclear South Bird's Head, Core South Bird's Head or East South Bird's Head languages form a small language family of western New Guinea. They either form part of a wider South Bird's Head language family, or may be an independent language family if not related to the Inanwatan and Konda–Yahadian languages.
