It was the Spaniard Ynigo Ortiz de Retes who, in 1545, gave the
name Nueva Guinea to a strip of land on the north coast of the world's
second largest island (after Greenland), which is now half Indonesian,
half Papua New Guinean territory.
Irian Jaya, the western half of the island, is Indonesia's biggest
province of about 410,000 square kilometers, representing almost
21 percent of the country's total land area. More than 75 percent
of the land is covered by dense tropical forest, with only about
1.5 million people, with an average population density of 2.8 persons
per square kilometer, the lowest in Indonesia. Jayapura, the neat
provincial capital on a hillside overlooking the bay, is 3,520 kilometers
away from Jakarta.
Irian Jaya is a land of exceptional natural grandeur. Its jungles
are among the wildest, most impenetrable in the world. Eternal snow
caps mountain ridges more than 5,000 meters high, with walls that
plunge hundreds of meters down onto floors filled with small glacier
lakes. It has scenic beaches in aboundance as well as immense stretches
of marshlands. Cool grassy meadows lie at the foot of the fowering
mountains. Rivers cut through dark forest until their sluggish,
crocodile infested mounths disgorge the water into the sea.
The highest peak of the central mountain range is Puncak Jayawijaya
(5,500 meters). Second and third are Gunung Triloka (5,160 meters)
and Gunung Yamin (5,100 meters), respectively. The biggest lake
is Paniai, followed in order of declining size by the lakes Ronbenbai
and Sentani, both in the vicinity of Jayapura, and Anggigita near
Manokwari. On the basis of physically features and differences in
language, customs, artistic expression and other aspects of culture,
the indigenous people of Irian Jaya are distinguished into about
250 sub-groups, although they all belong to the Melanesian race,
and are related to the people inhabiting the islands along the southern
rim of the Pacific. The Negritos are believed to have settled on
the island first, probably some 30,000 years ago, followed by the
Melanesians. The people of the central highlands still maintain
their ancestral customs and traditions, and are virtually untouched
by alien influences. Most of the changes have so far taken place
among the coastal people, who are being subjected to ever increasing
contacts with the world outside. This process of change is being
accelerated by the work of missionaries, who have been working for
many decades among the local populations. The people of the north
and west are mostly Protestants, while those of the south and of
the hinterland around Enarotali are Roman Catholics. Those around
Fakfak and the Raja Ampat Islands are mostly Moslem. Animism is
still practiced by isolated tribes in various parts of the province.
Although Irian Jaya is famed for its Bird of Paradise, the province's
fauna is not particularly rich. Almost all the animals here are
of the Australian fauna type. Copper, oil, timber, and sea products
like fish and shrimps are among the province's main products.
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