Young Papua New Guinea boy in a ceremonial dance © Tony Redhead
“How can a country of 800 plus languages and 700 plus ethnic groups unite to form a country, impossible but possible for PNG”
Papaua New Guinea
Anglican Church, Samarai
New Guinea is the world's second-largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago. Politically, the western half of the island comprises two provinces of Indonesia: and West Papua. The eastern half forms the mainland of the country of Papua New Guinea. The island has a population of about 7.5 million, with a very low population density of only 8 inh/km2.