History of Papua New Guinea

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Topographic map of New Guinea .
In the right half of the picture today's Papua New Guinea with the Bismarck Archipelago ; not shown (because further east) the island of Bougainville

The history of Papua New Guinea begins in the narrower sense with the independence of the state in 1973. Before that, the eastern part of the island of New Guinea was a colony and protectorate of various great powers during the colonial period and the time of the world wars, with changing territorial divisions and rulers ( German New Guinea , British New Guinea , Territory of New Guinea , Territory of Papua and New Guinea ). The island of New Guinea and thus the national territory of today's Papua New Guinea has been inhabited by people for around 60,000 years. To date there are around 800 languages on the island .

Pre-colonial period

Map with the glacial land masses Sahul and Sunda

The island of New Guinea was settled from Southeast Asia about 60,000 to 50,000 years ago . The highlands and some islands were settled about 30,000 years ago .

Agriculture has been practiced since around 9,000 . Sugar cane and bananas were first grown in the highlands around 7,000 years ago . Large coastal areas were flooded about 6,000 years ago, which severely limits our current knowledge of the early coastal cultures.

A strong diversification developed on the island with countless small tribes isolated from one another, so that today there are around 800 languages in New Guinea .

Various Melanesian peoples settled New Guinea. Around 1000 BC The Austronesian peoples settled New Guinea during the Austronesian migrations. The Lapita culture spread .

Colonial times

Beginnings

Map of New Guinea, around 1600

Spanish and Portuguese sailors were the first Europeans to discover the island of New Guinea at the beginning of the 16th century. The navigator Jorge de Meneses accidentally landed on the island in 1526. He is said to have named the country Papua, after a Malay word for "frizzy" to denote the frizzy hair of the Malay natives. In 1545 the Spanish navigator Íñigo Ortiz de Retes landed and named the island New Guinea because it reminded him of the coast of African Guinea , which he had previously passed.

The Dutch took possession of the western part of the island of New Guinea in 1828, while the eastern part remained untouched by colonial efforts. Around 1860, the company Johan Cesar Godeffroy & Sohn from Hamburg on the north coast of Eastern New Guinea began trading copra and other coconut products in order to meet the enormous European demand for copra. This company founded a trading post in Valparaíso on the neighboring Solomon Islands in 1855 and covered the South Seas with a network of 45 branches and agencies. JC Godeffroy & Sohn founded further branches in the eastern part of New Guinea. German captains and the ornithologist Otto Finsch took possession of areas on the north coast of eastern New Guinea by hoisting flags. British companies also sought possession in Eastern New Guinea.

From 1884: Kaiser-Wilhelms-Land and British New Guinea

Political map of the island from 1884 to 1919: Dutch New Guinea (left) , Kaiser-Wilhelms-Land (top right) and British New Guinea (bottom right)

In 1884 Great Britain, the German Empire and the Netherlands agreed on the division of New Guinea. Western New Guinea became a Dutch colony , the northern part of Eastern New Guinea became a German protected area as Kaiser-Wilhelms-Land and the southern part became British territory. The German Colonial Society New Guinea Company administered the Kaiser-Wilhelms-Land protected area. The natives did not know how to use metal and were inferior to the Europeans. The German New Guinea Company built settlements and German immigrants came to the protected area. On May 17, 1885, the New Guinea Company received a license to acquire land. The missionary work began by the Catholic and Protestant churches. There were plantations established in which natural products were recovered. Phosphate deposits were discovered and mined. The German New Guinea company did bad business and in 1899 the German Empire took over the protected area as a German colony of German New Guinea , which also included the archipelagos of the Marianas , Carolines , Palau , Nauru and Marshall Islands .

The south of Eastern New Guinea was declared a Protectorate of British New Guinea on November 6, 1884 and annexed to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland on September 4, 1888. The Anglican denomination was spread by British colonists . The Anglicans evangelized the aborigines. The religion of the indigenous people was able to hold up to this day. After Australia's independence, the property was transferred to Australia in 1902 and placed under Australian administration in 1906 as the " Territory of Papua ".

First World War and League of Nations mandate of Australia

After the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, Australian units occupied the Kaiser-Wilhelms-Land and the Bismarck Archipelago . They quickly took most of it. After the destruction of the telephone systems in Simsonhafen and Herbertshöhe on August 12, 1914 by Australian advance commands , the Australian armed forces reached Kaiser-Wilhelms-Land and the offshore islands in early September 1914. After a brief skirmish, the Australians took the Bita Paka radio station near Herbertshöhe. The German associations withdrew into the interior of the island of Neupommern and on September 17, 1914, Lieutenant Governor Eduard Haber decided to surrender, on September 21, 1914, the surrender of the German protecting power in northeastern New Guinea was signed. On January 11, 1915, the last German government station in the protected area surrendered in Morobe . The terms of surrender were mild. The German colonialists were released from captivity and were able to return to the German Reich. In the province of Morobe , the German captain Hermann Detzner hid in the bush with a few men and only surrendered on November 11, 1918 at the end of the war. In the Versailles Peace Treaty of June 28, 1919, the German Empire renounced the German New Guinea colony. In 1920 Australia received the former Kaiser-Wilhelms-Land in northern Eastern New Guinea as a League of Nations mandate .

In 1920, the League of Nations gave Australia the two areas, the former German protected area of German New Guinea (excluding Micronesia ) and the territory of Papua, which has been administered by Australia since 1906, in trust administration. Initially, Australia administered both areas separately.

Second World War

US General Douglas MacArthur

During the Second World War , after entering the war, Japan occupied the northern part of eastern New Guinea in December 1941 as part of the Pacific War . The civil administration was suspended. On January 23, 1942, the Japanese units overpowered the Australian garrison of Rabaul and took the port. US associations landed in Papua in support of Australia in 1942. On May 7th in the Battle of the Coral Sea , Allied forces prevented the Japanese from conquering Port Moresby . At times Port Moresby was the headquarters of US General Douglas MacArthur . Northern Eastern New Guinea was the scene of fierce fighting between Allied forces and Japanese forces. The Japanese attacked Port Moresby several times. On July 20, Japanese airborne troops attempted to build a beachhead at Buna. Allied air strikes hampered the transport of Japanese troops. The Japanese could not take Port Moresby. On 12./13. On August 1st, the Japanese units landed at Buna and tried to cross the Owen Stanley Mountains on the Kokoda Track . The Japanese bombed Milne Bay to cover . After being bombarded by the fleet, the Japanese captured Nauru on August 23 and Ocean Island on August 26. In the Battle of Milne Bay August 24th - 31st, US and Australian forces pushed back a 1,800-strong Japanese landing force. On September 17, two Australian brigades stopped the Japanese advance into New Guinea. In mid-December 1942, the Australians and Japanese reinforced their units in New Guinea. The Japanese could not completely conquer New Guinea.

In 1943 , the US Air Force bombed Bougainville in the Solomon Islands , part of the Australian Trust Territory of New Guinea. On November 1, 1943, US landing forces landed on Bougainville. The Japanese landed on November 7th with reinforcements on Bougainville. U.S. landing forces landed on Bougainville in a second and third wave on November 9th and 11th. The Japanese Air Force launched attacks on US units on Bougainville. US carrier aircraft intercepted Japanese bombers without the Japanese being able to achieve success. The Japanese then strengthened their garrison on Buka. It came to the sea ​​battle at Cape St. George . From December 1943, the US Air Force began bombing the Japanese units in Rabaul. By early April 1944, the US ground forces took the island of Bougainville. Previously there were protracted jungle fights.

The battle for New Guinea lasted until 1945. On May 11, 1945, Australian troops landed on Wewak in New Guinea and on May 14, another Australian division landed to take the airport. The Australians took the peninsula by May 23. The Allied troops took the entire eastern part of the island of New Guinea on September 13, 1945 after the Japanese surrender.

In 2011, the remains of USAAF pilot Martin Murray, who had previously been officially missing, were identified. Official identification took 8 years after an island resident discovered the crash site in 2003.

UN mandate areas from 1946

Flag of the Australian Trust "Territory of Papua and New Guinea" 1965–1970

After the end of the Second World War, the two trust areas administered by Australia were transferred to the UN trust administration in 1946. In 1949 the two trust areas were merged in the “Papua and New Guinea Act” and administered jointly as the territory of Papua and New Guinea .

The Australian trustee administration had been negotiating with the Netherlands since 1957 about the unification of the trustee area with the Dutch colony of Western New Guinea upon independence. In April 1961, a legislative council for Eastern New Guinea was constituted with 37 members, 11 of whom were indigenous.

After the outbreak of the conflict over Western New Guinea with Indonesia in 1961, the Dutch colonial administration placed Western New Guinea under a UN administration on August 15, 1962. The UN handed the area over to Indonesia in 1963. The negotiations on unification and joint release into independence were broken off because Indonesia rejected the independence of a united New Guinea.

Active women's suffrage was introduced on February 15, 1964, and passive women's suffrage on February 27, 1963 . These rights were confirmed upon independence in 1975.

Independence 1975

In 1964 a parliament was elected for the first time in East New Guinea. Limited internal self-government was granted. In 1971 the area was renamed Papua New Guinea . Together with Australia, New Zealand , Fiji , Western Samoa , Tonga and Nauru , Papua New Guinea became a founding member of the Pacific Islands Forum in 1971 on closer economic and political cooperation. In 1972 elections were held in Papua New Guinea and the majority voted for independence. On December 1, 1973, Papua New Guinea was granted autonomy .

The first Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, Michael Somare

On August 15, 1975, Parliament passed a constitution for Papua New Guinea and on September 16, 1975 Papua New Guinea gained independence as a parliamentary monarchy within the Commonwealth under the British Crown. Queen Elizabeth II remained head of state as Queen of Papua New Guinea and has since been represented by a governor-general . Michael Somare became the first prime minister .

The state is rich in resources. Most of the workers worked in agriculture. Plantation cultivation of coffee (approx. 20% of exports), cocoa (approx. 16% of exports), copra and rubber were widespread. The raw materials were mined and mostly processed abroad. The governments changed frequently.

War for Bougainville

A bloody civil war broke out on the island of Bougainville in 1989 under the government of Prime Minister Julius Chan . The underground organization Revolutionary Army Bougainville (BRA) had brought all of Bougainville under their control and stopped the mining of copper . It declared the resource-rich island unilaterally independent. The Papua New Guinea government used government forces against the BRA. Bloody fighting broke out. Due to the closure of the copper mines, Papua New Guinea's foreign debt rose sharply. A ceasefire agreement was signed between the government and the BRA in 1994, and an interim government was set up in Bougainville in 1995. After the armistice on Bougainville, fighting continued. By 1998, an estimated 20,000 people were killed in fighting between government forces and BRA rebels. In 1998 a peace agreement was signed between the government of Papua New Guinea and the BRA.

1990s

In 1995 Australia, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund decided on an aid program to stabilize the economy. The effects of the “ El Niño ” climate phenomenon resulted in a severe drought on the island of New Guinea in 1997, which led to a drastic deterioration in living conditions. Numerous forest fires resulted in high levels of air pollution. In 1998 there was a tidal wave and earthquake.

In July 1999 Mekere Morauta replaced the previous Prime Minister Bill Skate . The new Prime Minister declared the reduction of foreign debt and corruption in the state apparatus to be his goals. In March 2000, the government and the BRA signed a contract. This provided for the gradual granting of self-government for the island of Bougainville. In June 2001 the leadership of the BRA agreed to the disarmament of their organization, in return the government troops were withdrawn from the island.

From 2002

In 2002 Sir Michael Somare was again Prime Minister. The new government took measures to reduce the budget deficit and ran budget surpluses in 2004 and 2005. The National Alliance Party (NAP) of Somare grew significantly in the parliamentary elections in July 2007 and Somare was elected in August 2007 again as prime minister. Because of Somares' illness, the official business has been carried out by a deputy since April 2011. Peter O'Neill has been Prime Minister since August 2011 . On January 26, 2012, with the mutiny of the armed forces of Papua New Guinea, an attempt by former Prime Minister Michael Somare to regain power with a coup failed .

See also

literature

  • Roland Seib: Papua New Guinea between isolated tribal society and global economic integration. In: Communications from the Institute for Asian Studies. No. 227, Hamburg 1994, ISBN 3-88910-127-5 .
  • John Dademo Waiko: A Short History of Papua New Guinea . Oxford University Press, Melbourne 1993, ISBN 0-19-553164-7 .
  • Sean Dorney: Papua New Guinea. People, Politics and History since 1975 . ABC Books, Sydney 2000, ISBN 0-09-169461-2 .
  • Der Große Ploetz, Verlag Herder GmbH & Co. KG Licensed edition for Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co. KG, Göttingen, 35th edition 2008, ISBN 978-3525-32008-2

Web links

Commons : History of Papua New Guinea  - Pictures, Videos and Audio Files Collection

Remarks

  1. ^ Volks Ploetz, Oceania and New Zealand, p. 311
  2. ↑ The great Ploetz, Oceania with New Zealand, p. 1231ff
  3. ↑ On the history of Papua New Guinea as a German colony see founder, Horst: History of the German Colonies. Paderborn; Munich; Vienna; Zurich: Schöningh, 1985, pp. 169–188 (UTB 1332)
  4. ↑ Der Volks-Ploetz, Second Consequences of World War I, The Peace Treaties, p. 470
  5. ↑ Der Volks-Ploetz K. Australia, New Zealand and Oceania a) Australia, p. 813
  6. ↑ On the course of the war and the consequences of the war, see Hiery, Hermann Josef: Das Deutsch Reich in der Südsee (1900–1921). An approach to the experiences of different cultures. Göttingen; Zurich: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1995, pp. 303–324 (publications by the German Historical Institute London; vol. 37)
  7. ↑ The great Ploetz, Oceania from the time of European discoveries to 1945, pp. 1244f
  8. ^ The great Ploetz, The East Asian-Pacific War (Dec. 1941 - Dec. 1942), pp. 821f
  9. ↑ The great Ploetz, The East Asian-Pacific War (Jan. 1943 - July 1944), pp. 830f
  10. ↑ Der Volks-Ploetz, 3. The War in East Asia and the Pacific (1939-1945) b) The time of Japanese successes, pp. 544, 545
  11. ↑ The great Ploetz, The East Asian-Pacific War (July 1944 - September 1945) pp. 841f
  12. ↑ 68 Years Later, WWII Airman Martin Murray's Body Found on South Pacific Island
  13. ↑ Der Volks-Ploetz, K. Australia, New Zealand and Oceania, a) Australia, p. 813
  14. ^ Mart Martin: The Almanac of Women and Minorities in World Politics. Westview Press Boulder, Colorado, 2000, p. 300.
  15. ↑ - New Parline: the IPU's Open Data Platform (beta). In: data.ipu.org. February 15, 1964, accessed October 5, 2018 .
  16. ↑ On the situation of Papua New Guinea shortly before independence, compare Fochler-Hauke, Gustav (ed.): Papua Niugini. In: Der Fischer Weltalmanach 1975 . Frankfurt am Main: Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, pp. 395f
  17. ↑ Der Volks-Ploetz, c) Ozeanien, p. 816
  18. ↑ On the economic, demographic and political situation of Papua New Guinea shortly before independence, compare Fochler-Hauke, Gustav (ed.): Papua Niugini. In: Der Fischer Weltalmanach 1975 . Frankfurt am Main: Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, pp. 140f; There you will also find more information on the population, languages, religions and the leading parties.
  19. ↑ Papua New Guinea History. In: Country Lexicon. iportale GmbH, accessed on September 26, 2016 .
  20. ↑ The great Ploetz, Papua New Guinea (and Bougainville), pp. 1784f