West Papua
The population of approximately 3 million comprises ethnic Papuans, Melanesians, and Austronesians. The region is predominantly dense forest where numerous traditional tribes live such as the Dani of the Baliem Valley, although the majority of the population live in or near coastal areas. The largest city in the region is Jayapura. The official and most commonly spoken language is Indonesian. Estimates of the number of tribal languages in the region range from 200 to over 700, with the most widely spoken including Dani, Yali, Ekari and Biak. The predominant religion is Christianity followed by Islam. The main industries include agriculture, fishing, oil production, and mining.
Human habitation is estimated to have begun between 42,000 and 48,000 years ago. The Netherlands claimed the region and commenced missionary work in nineteenth century. The region was forcibly annexed by Indonesia in the 1960s, and has faced a violent separatist movement since then. Following the 1998 commencement of reforms across Indonesia, Papua and other Indonesian provinces received greater regional autonomy. In 2001, "Special Autonomy" status was granted to Papua province, although to date, implementation has been partial. The region was administered as a single province until 2003, when it was split into the provinces of Papua and West Papua.
Speakers align themselves with a political orientation when choosing a name for the western half of the island of New Guinea. "West Papua", which isn't the official name for the western half of the island, is preferred by ethnic Papuans. The region has had the official names of Netherlands New Guinea, West New Guinea (1962â€"63), West Irian (1963â€"73), Irian Jaya (1973â€"2001), and Papua (2002â€"2003). When the region was administratively one in Indonesia, Indonesian officials criticised activists' use of the term "West Papua", because they thought that the term implied that the province wasn't a part of Indonesia. Indonesian president Abdurrahman Wahid considered his short-lived use of the name "Papua" in 2002 as a concession to the West Papuans. Since 2003, western New Guinea has had two provinces: the province of West Papua on the west, and the province of Papua on the east. Officials and administrators refer to the province when they tell "West Papua"; independence activists mean the whole of western New Guinea.
The dry season across the region is generally between May and October; although drier in these months, rain persists throughout the year. Strong winds and rain are experienced along the north coast in November through to March. However, the south coast experiences an increase in wind and rain between April and October, which is the dry season in the Merauke area, the only part of West Papua to experience distinct seasons. Coastal areas are generally hot and humid, whereas the highland areas tend to be cooler.
Lying in the Asia-Australian transition zone near Wallacea, the region's flora and fauna include Asiatic, Australian, and endemic species. The region is 75% forest and it has a high degree of biodiversity. The island has an estimated 16,000 species of plant, 124 genera of which are endemic. The mountainous areas and the north are covered with dense rainforest. Highland vegetation also includes alpine grasslands, heath, pine forests, bush and scrub. The vegetation of the south coast includes mangroves and sago palms, and in the drier southeastern section, eucalypts, paperbarks, and acacias.
Marsupial species dominate the region; there are an estimated 70 marsupial species, and 180 other mammal species (including the endangered long-beaked echidna). The region is the only part of Indonesia to have kangaroos, marsupial mice, bandicoots, and ring-tailed possums. The approximately 700 bird species include cassowaries (along the southern coastal areas), bowerbirds, kingfishers, crowned pigeons, parrots, and cockatoos). Approximately 450 of these spieces are endemic. Birds of paradise can be found in Kepala Burung and Yapen. The region is also home to around 800 species of spiders, 200 frogs, 30,000 beetles, 70 bat species, the world's longest lizards (Papua monitor) and some of the world's largest butterflies. The waterways and wetlands of Papua are habitat for salt and freshwater crocodiles, tree monitors, flying foxes, ospreys, and other animals; while the equatorial glacier fields remain largely unexplored.
In February 2005, a team of scientists exploring the Foja Mountains discovered numerous new species of birds, butterflies, amphibians, and plants, including a species of rhododendron which may have the largest bloom of the genus.
Environmental issues include deforestation, the spread of the introduced Crab-eating Macaque which now threatens the existence of native species, and discarded copper and gold tailings from the Grasberg mine.
Road construction, illegal logging, commercial agricultural expansion and ranching potentially threaten the integrity of the ecoregion. The south-eastern coast of the Bird's Head Peninsula forms part of the Teluk Cenderawasih National Park.
The population of the region was estimated to be 3,593,803 in 2010. The interior is predominantly populated by ethnic Papuans and coastal towns are inhabited by descendants of intermarriages between Papuans, Melanesians and Austronesians, including the Indonesian ethnic groups. Migrants from the rest of Indonesia also tend to inhabit the coastal regions. The two largest cities in the territory are Sorong in the northwest of the Bird's Head Peninsula and Jayapura in the northeast. Both cities have a population of approximately 200,000.
The region is home to around 312 different tribes, including some uncontacted peoples. The Dani, from the Baliem Valley, are one of the most populous tribes of the region. The Manikom and Hatam inhabit the Anggi Lakes area, and the Kanum and Marind are from near Merauke. The semi-nomadic Asmat inhabit the mangrove and tidal river areas near Agats and are renowned for their woodcarving. Other tribes include the Amungme, Bauzi, Biak, Korowai, Lani, Mee, Mek, Sawi, and Yali. Estimates of the number of distinct languages spoken in the region range from 200 to 700. A number of these languages are permanently disappearing.
As in Papua New Guinea and some surrounding east Indonesian provinces, a large majority of the population is Christian. In the 2000 census 54% identified themselves as Protestant, 24% as Catholic, 21% as Muslim, and less than 1% as either Hindu or Buddhist. There is also substantial practice of animism among the major religions, but this isn't recorded by the census.
There are 6 main Y-chromosome haplogroups in West Papua; Y-chromosome haplogroup M is the most common, with Y-chromosome haplogroup O2a as a small minority in 2nd place and Y-chromosome haplogroup S back in 3rd position across the mountain highlands; while D, C2 and C4 are of negligible numbers.
In 2012, the Tampoto tribe in Skow Mabo village, Jayapura, was on the brink of extinction, with only a single person still living; the Dasem tribe in Waena area, Jayapura, also is near extinction, with only one family consisting of several people still alive. A decade ago, the Sebo tribe in the Kayu Pulau region, Jayapura Bay, died out. Hundreds of Papuan tribes have their own individual languages; they are unable to compete in the acculturation process with other groups, and some tribes have resisted acculturation. By contrast, the Dayak tribes in Kalimantan are able to interact with people from outside and adapt without losing their separate cultural identities.
West Papuans have significant cultural affinities with the inhabitants of Papua New Guinea. As in Papua New Guinea the peoples of the highlands have distinct traditions and languages from peoples of the coast, though Papuan scholars and activists have recently detailed cultural links between coast and highlands as evidenced by close similarity of family names. In some parts of the highlands, the koteka is worn by males in ceremonies. The use of the koteka as everyday dress by Dani males in Western New Guinea is still common.
In 1526â€"27, the Portuguese explorer Jorge de Menezes accidentally came upon the principal island and is credited with naming it Papua, from a Malay word pepuah, for the frizzled quality of Melanesian hair. He landed also on Waigeo Island and named the region Ilhas dos Papuas.
In 1545 the Spaniard Yxigo Ortiz de Retez sailed along the north coast as far as the Mamberamo River near which he landed, naming the island Nueva Guinea. In 1606 Spanish navigator Luxs Vaz de Torres sailed along the southwestern part of the island in present-day Papua, and also claimed the territory for the King of Spain.
Near the end of the sixteenth century, Sultanate of Ternate under Sultan Baabullah, had influence over parts of Papua.
In 1660, the Dutch recognised the Sultan of Tidore's sovereignty over New Guinea. New Guinea thus became notionally Dutch as the Dutch held power over Tidore. In 1793, Britain established a settlement near Manokwari, however, it failed. By 1824 Britain and the Netherlands agreed that the western half of the island would become part of the Dutch East Indies. In 1828 the Dutch established a settlement in Lobo which also failed. Great Britain and Germany had recognised the Dutch claims on western New Guinea in treaties of 1885 and 1895. Dutch activity in the region remained minimal in the 1st half of the twentieth century. Dutch, US, and Japanese mining companies explored the area's rich oil reserves in the 1930s. In 1942, the northern coast of West New Guinea and the nearby islands were occupied by Japan. In 1944, Allied forces gained control of the region through four-phase campaign from neighbouring Papua New Guinea. The United States constructed a headquarters for MacArthur at Hollandia (Jayapura) intended as a staging point for operations taking of the Philippines. Papuan men and resources were used to support the Allied war effort in the Pacific. After the war's end the Dutch regained possession of the region.
Since the early twentieth century, Indonesian nationalists had sought an independent Indonesia based on all Dutch colonial possessions in the Indies, including western New Guinea. In December 1949, the Netherlands recognised Indonesian sovereignty over the Dutch East Indies with the exception of Dutch New Guinea, the issue of which was to be discussed within a year. In attempt to prevent Indonesia taking control of the region and to prepare the region for self-rule, the Dutch significantly raised development spending off its low base, began investing in Papuan education, and encouraged Papuan nationalism. A small western elite developed with a growing political awareness attuned to the idea of independence, with close links to neighbouring eastern New Guinea which was administered by Australia. A national parliament was elected in 1961, however, support for the nascent nationalist movement across the region was weak and fragmented.
Sukarno made the take over of western New Guinea a focus of his continuing struggle against Dutch imperialism and part of a broader Third World conflict with the West. Indonesia launched seaborne and paratroop incursions into the territory but with little success. The Dutch knew that a military campaign to retain the region would require protracted jungle warfare, and were unwilling to see a repeat of their futile efforts in the armed struggle for Indonesian independence in the 1940s, and they agreed to American mediation. The negotiations resulted in the UN-ratified New York Agreement of September 1962, that required authority to be transferred to a United Nations Temporary Executive Authority and then to Indonesia from 1 May 1963, until such time as Indonesia allowed the Papuans to determine whether they wanted independence or be part of Indonesia. Accordingly in 1969, the United Nations supervised the "Act of Free Choice" in which the Indonesian government used the procedure of musyawarah, a consensus of 'elders'. Deeming Papuans to be too "primitive" to cope with democracy, the 1,054 elders (officials appointed by the Indonesian government) represented were forced at gunpoint to be a part of Indonesia. Soon after, the region became the 26th province of Indonesia with full United Nations and international recognition.
The separatist Free Papua Movement has engaged in a small-scale conflict with the Indonesian military since the 1960s. Rebellions occurred in remote mountainous areas in 1969, 1977, and the mid-1980s, occasionally spilling over into Papua New Guinea. In 1996, 5,000 Papuans rioted and burned the Abepura market in Jayapura resulting in several deaths. That year, Free Papua Movement separatists kidnapped European and Indonesian researchers in a remote part of the Baliem Valley. The Europeans were released four months later, however, two Indonesian hostages were killed. A two-year study by a team of Australian and local researchers concluded in 2005 that Indonesia’s security forces had been the main source of instability in the territory and estimated that more than 100,000 Papuans had died through Indonesian military campaigns since incorporation into Indonesia In the Post-Suharto era since 1998, the national government began a process of decentralisation to the provinces, including, in December 2001, "Special Autonomy" status for Papua province and a reinvestment into the region of 80% of the taxation receipts generated from the region. In 2003, the province of "West Papua" was created in the Bird's Head Peninsula and surrounding islands to its west.
Related Sites for West Papua
- West Papua read West Papua
- West Papua read West Papua
- West Papua, a hidden trust territory read West Papua
- West Papua is Indonesia’s Palestine | Fair Observer° read West Papua
