Papua New Guinea – from ancient farmers to an independent Pacific nation
People reached New Guinea tens of thousands of years ago, and in the highlands, at sites such as Kuk, some of the world's earliest agriculture developed independently. Over millennia hundreds of communities formed their own languages and customs, making the country one of the most linguistically diverse places on earth. Later, Austronesian-speaking seafarers settled along the coasts and on the islands.
Europeans sighted New Guinea in the 16th century, but lasting contact came only in the 19th century. In 1884 the northeast became German New Guinea, while Britain declared a protectorate over the southeast, which later passed to Australia as the Territory of Papua. In the First World War Australian forces took over the German territory and then governed it under a League of Nations mandate. Many highland valleys were first reached by outsiders only in the 1930s.
During the Second World War New Guinea saw heavy fighting between Japan and the Allies, including along the Kokoda Track. After the war Australia administered both territories together. Papua New Guinea became self-governing in 1973 and independent on 16 September 1975, with Michael Somare as its first prime minister. The conflict on Bougainville, which began in the late 1980s, ended with a peace agreement in 2001, and a referendum on the island's future was held in 2019.
Today Papua New Guinea is shaped by its extraordinary cultural diversity, strong clan and village ties and rich natural resources.
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