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Capital | Port Moresby | ||||
Largest city | Port Moresby | ||||
Language official |
Tok Pisin | ||||
others | over 850 indigenous languages | ||||
Area | 786,000 km² (303,500 mi sq) km² | ||||
Population | 7.5 million (as of 2005) | ||||
Independence | 1975 | ||||
Currency | Papua New Guinean kina |
Papua New Guinea (Tok Pisin: Papua Niugini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands. It is located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, in a region defined since the early 19th century as Melanesia. Its capital, and one of its few major cities, is Port Moresby. It is one of the most diverse countries on Earth, with over 850 indigenous languages and at least as many traditional societies, out of a population of just under 8 million. The country is also one of the world's least explored, culturally and geographically, and many undiscovered species of plants and animals are thought to exist in the interior of Papua New Guinea.
The country became independent from Australia 1975. However only the eastern half of the island was part of this country. Durring the Indonesian Civil War West Papua became a independent nation from Indonesia. It agreed to be absourbed into Papua New Guinea on April 4th 2003.