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.
New Britain is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago, part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from New Guinea by a northwest corner of the Solomon Sea and from New Ireland by St. George's Channel. The main towns of New Britain are Rabaul/Kokopo and Kimbe. The island is roughly the size of Taiwan. While the island was part of German New Guinea, it was named Neupommern . In common with most of the Bismarcks it was largely formed by volcanic processes, and has active volcanoes including Ulawun, Langila, the Garbuna Group, the Sulu Range, and the volcanoes Tavurvur and Vulcan of the Rabaul caldera. A major eruption of Tavurvur in 1994 destroyed the East New Britain provincial capital of Rabaul. Most of the town still lies under metres of ash, and the capital has been moved to nearby Kokopo.
The Admiralty Islands are an archipelago group of 18 islands in the Bismarck Archipelago, to the north of New Guinea in the South Pacific Ocean. These are also sometimes called the Manus Islands, after the largest island.
Bougainville Island is the main island of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, which is part of Papua New Guinea. It was previously the main landmass in the German Empire-associated North Solomons. Its land area is 9,300 km2 (3,600 sq mi). The population of the whole province, including nearby islets such as the Carterets, is approximately 300,000. The highest point is Mount Balbi, on the main island, at 2,715 m (8,907 ft). The much smaller Buka Island, c. 500 km2 (190 sq mi), lies to the north, across the 400–500 m (1,300–1,600 ft) wide Buka Strait. Even though the strait is narrow, there is no bridge across it, but there is a regular ferry service between the key settlements on either side. The main airport in the north is in the town of Buka.
German New Guinea consisted of the northeastern part of the island of New Guinea and several nearby island groups and was the first part of the German colonial empire. The mainland part of the territory, called Kaiser-Wilhelmsland, became a German protectorate in 1884. Other island groups were added subsequently. The Bismarck Archipelago, and the North Solomon Islands were declared a German protectorate in 1885; in the same year the Marshall Islands were bought from Spain for $4.5 million by the Hispano-German Protocol of Rome; Nauru was annexed to the Marshall Islands protectorate in 1888, and finally the Caroline Islands, Palau, and the Mariana Islands were bought from Spain in 1899. German Samoa, though part of the German colonial empire, was not part of German New Guinea.
New Ireland Province, formerly New Mecklenburg, and Nova Hibernia, is the northeasternmost province of Papua New Guinea.
The Solomon Islands rain forests are a terrestrial ecoregion covering most of the Solomon Islands archipelago.
The East Melanesian Islands, also known as the Solomons-Vanuatu-Bismarck moist forests, is a biogeographic region in the Melanesia subregion of Oceania. Biogeographically, the East Melanesian Islands are part of the Australasian realm.
Nissan Island is the largest of the Green Islands of Papua New Guinea. It is located at 4°30′S154°13′E, about 200 km east of Rabaul on New Britain and about 200 km north-west of Bougainville. The island is administered under Nissan Rural LLG in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville. Nissan island, along with other nearby islands, has been described as a "stepping stone island" and it is believed that this island plays an important role in helping various plant and animal species spread throughout the region.
The Hans Meyer Range is a mountain range in the southern part of New Ireland, Papua New Guinea. This range was named after German geographer Hans Meyer (1858–1929).
The golden monarch is a species of passerine bird in the family Monarchidae found in New Guinea. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropical moist montane forest. The golden monarch displays marked sexual dimorphism, the male a striking golden colour with black mask, wings and tail, the female a golden or golden-olive colour. Both bear a characteristic 'teardrop' white pattern below the eye.
The Solomon Archipelago is a terrestrial ecoregion and marine ecoregion in the Pacific Ocean. It includes the tropical ocean waters surrounding most of the Solomon Islands archipelago, and includes Bougainville Island and Buka Island of Papua New Guinea and their surrounding waters.
New Guinea is the world's second-largest island, with an area of 785,753 km2 (303,381 sq mi). Located in Oceania 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 Solomon Islands (archipelago) is an island group in the western South Pacific Ocean, north-east of Australia. The archipelago is in the Melanesian subregion and bioregion of Oceania and forms the eastern boundary of the Solomon Sea. The many islands of the archipelago are distributed across Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands (country). The largest island in the archipelago is Bougainville Island, which is a part of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville along with Buka Island, the Nukumanu Islands, and a number of smaller nearby islands. Much of the remainder falls within the territory of Solomon Islands and include the atolls of Ontong Java, Sikaiana, the raised coral atolls of Bellona and Rennell, and the volcanic islands of Choiseul, Guadalcanal, Makira, Malaita, New Georgia, the Nggelas, Santa Isabel, and the Shortlands. The Santa Cruz Islands are not a part of the archipelago.
Kulap figurines of limestone or chalk were made in Melanesia. The small funerary sculptures from New Ireland were associated with death rituals. They are typical in the hilly Punam region of the New Ireland province in Papua New Guinea of the Bismarck Archipelago. They were believed to contain the soul of the deceased person whom they were meant to represent, and would be ritually smashed once their usefulness or the period of mourning was over. In more recent years, some have been sold in their intact forms to Westerners, particularly to German administrators.
New Guinea, lying within the tropics and with extensive mountain areas, comprises a wide range of ecoregions. These include rainforests, grasslands and mangrove.
The Verron Range is a mountain range in the southern part of New Ireland, Papua New Guinea, composed of limestone and volcanic rock. The highest point of the mountains is at 2,150 m. Together with the Hans Meyer Range and the Lelet Plateau, it is one of the main mountainous features of New Ireland.
The New Britain-New Ireland lowland rain forests is a tropical moist forest ecoregion in Papua New Guinea. The ecoregion covers the lowland rain forests of New Britain, New Ireland, and nearby islands in the Bismarck Archipelago.
The New Britain-New Ireland montane rain forests is a tropical moist forest ecoregion in Papua New Guinea. The ecoregion includes the mountain rain forests on the islands of New Britain and New Ireland, which lie northeast of New Guinea.
