Papua New Guinea
Updated: Sep 19, 2022
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Country Name
Papua New Guinea, or officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea.
Location
Papua New Guinea is located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean and to the north of Australia.
The neighboring countries of Papua New Guinea are Australia,
Federated States of Micronesia, Solomon Islands, and New Caledonia.
Capital
Port Moresby.
Reason For Naming
"New Guinea" (Nueva Guinea) was the name invented by the Spanish explorer Yñigo Ortiz de Retez.
In 1545, he noted the resemblance of the people to those he had earlier seen along the Guinea coast of Africa. Guinea, in its turn, is etymologically derived from the Portuguese word Guiné.
The name is one of several toponyms sharing similar etymologies, ultimately meaning "land of the blacks" or similar meanings, in reference to the dark skin of the inhabitants
Flag
The flag of Papua New Guinea was adopted on 1 July 1971.
The flag is a bicolor divided diagonally into two triangular sections Black
triangle (the bottom) and the Red triangle (The top).
There are 5 stars on the black bottom part which represents the Southern
Cross constellations following flags of Australia and New Zealand are placed.
The upper red part of the flag is dominated by a golden silhouette of a bird,
which represents the national symbol of the country.
The used colors in the flag are Red, yellow, white, and black has been used by the indigenous population for decorating objects of folk art for a long time.
Language
English is the main language of government and commerce. The most widely spoken language is Tok Pisin a creole combining grammatical elements of indigenous languages, some German, and, English.
Religion
The country’s constitution protects religious freedom.
The predominant religion is Christianity.
98 % of citizens identified themselves as Christian ( Roman Catholic, Evangelical Lutheran, United Church, Seventh-day Adventist, Pentecostal, Evangelical Alliance, Anglican, Baptist. Other Christian groups include The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), Jehovah’s Witnesses, and the Salvation Army.
There are also small numbers of Bahāʾīs, Muslims, and some indigenous beliefs.
Currency
Papua New Guinean kina.
Time Zone
+10:00 GMT.
+11:00 GMT.
Government Regime
Unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy.
Climate
The climate in Papua New Guinea is hot and humid throughout the year along the coasts and in the plains, while it is progressively cooler, and then colder, as we go up in altitude. In much of the country, covered with dense rainforests, there is no dry season, so we can speak of an equatorial climate, while in some inland valleys and along the south coast, there is a relatively dry season from July to September, and therefore the climate is tropical. The climate is influenced by the monsoon circulation: the northwest monsoon prevails from December to April and the southeast monsoon from May to October.