Province of Papua New Guinea
Province in Papua New Guinea
New Ireland Province
, formerly
New Mecklenburg
(
German
:
Neu-Mecklenburg
), and
Nova Hibernia
, is the northeasternmost
province
of
Papua New Guinea
.
Physical geography
[
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]
The largest island of the province is
New Ireland
.
Also part of the province are numerous smaller islands, including
Saint Matthias Group
(
Mussau
,
Emirau
),
New Hanover
,
Djaul
,
Tabar Group
(
Tabar
,
Tatau
,
Simberi
),
Lihir
,
Tanga Group
(Malendok, Boang) and
Feni Islands
(
Ambitle
,
Babase
) commonly called Anir Islands.
The land area of the province is around 9 560 km². The sea area within the
Exclusive Economic Zone
(EEZ) of New Ireland Province is around 230,000 km².
Ecology
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In the early days of the
French Revolution
while searching for a lost scientific expedition the vessel La Recherche passed by New Ireland. On board was the prominent botanist
Jacques-Julien Houtou de Labillardiere
who noted in his journal fine stands of
teak
(
Tectona grandis
) trees growing at the southern end of the island. This marks the easternmost occurrence of teak, an important timber tree that extends naturally from
India
to
Thailand
on the Asian mainland and also is present on
Java
in the Indonesian archipelago.
History
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]
There have been at least three waves of
migration
into New Ireland over the last 40,000 years. The famous
Lapita
pottery culture was present around 3,300 years ago.
Chinese and South-East Asian contact appears to have been longstanding, though the evidence is thin.
Dutch
explorers made the first European contact in 1616. It was initially believed by Europeans to be part of
New Britain
, but the British explorer
Philip Carteret
established in 1767 that the island was physically separate, and gave it the name
Nova Hibernia
, Latin for 'New Ireland'.
In the 1870s and 1880s,
Marquis de Rays
, a French nobleman, attempted to establish a French colony on the island called
La Nouvelle France
. He sent four ill-fated expeditions to the island, the most notable of which was the third attempt, now known simply as the
De Rays Expedition
, which caused the death of 123 of the 350 or so settlers.
[3]
Missionary
activity did not begin until 1877, and New Ireland was colonised by
Germany
in 1886 under the name
Neu-Mecklenburg
, as part of the German partition comprising the northern half of present-day Papua New Guinea.
Blackbirding
, the removal, often by force, of local young men to work on plantations in northern Australia and other Pacific islands, was widespread in New Ireland in the late 19th century, especially from
Lihir Island
and
Tanga Islands
.
Australia took control in 1914, in the early stages of
World War I
, and renamed the island
New Ireland
after the island of
Ireland
. It became part of the Mandated Territory of New Guinea declared in 1921 by the League of Nations and administered by Australia.
During
World War II
, New Ireland was occupied by Japanese forces from January 1942 to September 1945.
Australian colonial administration continued until Papua New Guinea became independent in September 1975.
The core of New Ireland's economy is agriculture, livestock, and forestry and marine products.
[4]
Additionally, there is significant gold mining activity, particularly in Lihir and Simberi.
[4]
Human geography
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The population during the year 2000 census was 118,350 people, the vast majority of whom (about 90%) live in small rural villages. The population is very young, with a median age of 18.7 years. Over 40% of the population is under the age of 15 years, whereas only 3% is above 65 years old.
[5]
The provincial capital is
Kavieng
, located on the main island's northern tip.
Namatanai
is another small town two-thirds of the way along the island. The
Boluminski Highway
runs down the east coast, linking the two towns.
Around twenty
languages
are spoken in New Ireland, and the number of
dialects
and subdialects totals perhaps 45. All are in the
New Ireland languages
group within the
Austronesian
language family, except for one
language isolate
,
Kuot
.
Culture
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New Ireland, like much of
Papua New Guinea
, has a mixture of the old and the new: traditional cultural practices ("custom") are widespread and almost universally respected, yet society is changing as a result of
church
activity,
urbanisation
, and various aspects of global contemporary culture making their mark.
Probably the most famous cultural system of New Ireland is "
Malagan
", a
Nalik
word for an ancient and revered set of practices and ceremonies practised throughout much of the main island. Malagan is also an art where the dead are remembered through the various depictions that are carved on Malagan masks. The Malagan masks have a symbolic meaning as the dead must be remembered through the masks and ceremonies. They are the practical means of capturing the spirits of recent dead relatives or clan members. During the colonial era, significant quantities of Malagan masks were collected by European administrators and can be seen in museums all over Europe.
Districts and LLGs
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Each province in Papua New Guinea has one or more districts, and each district has one or more Local Level Government (LLG) areas. For
census
purposes, the LLG areas are subdivided into wards and those into census units.
[6]
Provincial leaders
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The province was governed by a decentralised provincial administration, headed by a Premier, from 1977 to 1995. Following reforms taking effect that year, the national government reassumed some powers, and the role of Premier was replaced by the position of Governor, to be held by the winner of the province-wide seat in the
National Parliament of Papua New Guinea
.
[7]
[8]
Premiers (1977?1995)
[
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]
Governors (1995?present)
[
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]
Members of the National Parliament
[
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]
The province and each district are represented by a Member of the
National Parliament
. There is one provincial
electorate
, and each district is an open electorate.
See also
[
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]
References
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National
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