Papua New Guinea
A land of a thousand languages
Papua New Guinea occupies the eastern half of New Guinea, the world's second-largest island, along with a scatter of surrounding islands, and ranks among the most culturally and biologically diverse places on Earth. More than eight hundred languages are spoken here, the most of any country, by peoples long separated by rugged mountains, dense jungle, and deep valleys. From the highland plateaus where agriculture began thousands of years ago to coastal villages and remote tribal communities, much of the country remains profoundly traditional and difficult to reach.
A spine of high mountains, the central highlands, runs the length of the country and rises at Mount Wilhelm to 4,509 meters, the highest point. The terrain is among the most forbidding anywhere: steep ranges, fast rivers like the Sepik and Fly, vast tracts of tropical rainforest, swamps, and active volcanoes. The climate is hot and humid lowland tropics tempered by altitude in the highlands. This isolation has preserved extraordinary biodiversity, including birds of paradise and tree kangaroos, and the deep cultural fragmentation that defines the nation.
Humans reached New Guinea tens of thousands of years ago, and its highlands were one of the few places on Earth where agriculture arose independently. Colonized in parts by Germany, Britain, and Australia, the territory was unified under Australian administration before gaining independence in 1975. Modern Papua New Guinea is rich in minerals, oil, and natural gas, yet much of its population lives by subsistence farming. It faces challenges of governance, infrastructure, and law and order across a country whose rugged geography keeps communities apart.