User:Daeron/Scratch
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The country is the western half of New Guinea, the world's largest tropical island and archipelago; sharing its eastern border with Papua New Guinea. The islands are mountainous, with some active volcanoes; the climate is tropical except at higher altitudes; and vegetation is luxuriant with a predominance of rain forests.
Papuans are Melanesian, a Pacific ethnic people with dark complexion including those of the Solomons, Vanuatu, New Caledonia and Fiji. Like the mountains of Greece, Papua has developed a diversity of separate cultures and languages; it has 312 known cultures / languages and over two hundred additional dialects.
West Papua has been an Indonesia territory since being annexed in 1969; the region has had several names West New Guinea, West Papua (1961), Irian Barat, Irian Jaya (1973), and is currently known as Propinsi Papua, Indonesia (2002). Note that the name Papua is the original name of New Guinea, and is still used worldwide including Indonesia.