Highland Papua New Guinea

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Highland Papua New Guinea
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• - PNG is divided into four regions (Highlands,
  Islands, Momase and Papua Regions) and these into
  a total of 20 Provinces

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• - the Highland Region is composed of five
  provinces
• According to the census in 2000. Note the
  census is said to be unreliable and there is
  considerable variation between different sources

Area in km2 Population
Simbu (2 on map) 6 100 259 703
Eastern Highlands (3) 11 200 432 972
Enga (6) 12 800 295,031
Southern Highlands (15) 23 800 546,265
Western Highlands (17) 8 500 440 025
Total 1 973 996 (out of 5,670,544)
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Basic geographical facts

• - The Highland region is composed of a long
  string of valleys separated by mountains
• - Highest regions receive snowfall, which is
  unsual in the tropics
• - the highest mountain is Mt. Wilhelm (4 509
  metres, located at the intersection of Simbu,
  Western Highland and Madang provinces)
• - Enga is the highest province with altitudes of
  about 2000 metres

Major rivers - Enga valleys form the watershed for two river systems, the Lagaiap and the Lai, which are tributaries of the major rivers Fly and Sepik - Putari river (flows through Mendi (capital of Southern Highlands pr.) ) - Strickland (flows from Wabag (capital of Enga) into the Fly river)
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Basic geographical facts urban centres

• Kundiawa (capital of Simbu) population about
  5000
• Goroka (capital of Eastern Highlands) population
  about 25 000
• home of several national institutes, for example
  The University of Goroka and the PNG Instute of
  Medical Research
• Wabag (capital of Enga) population about 3 300
• Mendi (capital of Southern Highlands) n/a
• Mount Hagen (capital of Western Highlands)
  population about 40 000
• third largest city in PNG

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Demographic facts

• Papua New Guinea is ethnically and linguistically
  a very diverse country
• Over 850 indigenious languages are spoken and
  there are at least as many traditional societies,
  with only about 7000 speakers per language on the
  avarage
• note only Vanuatu has a higher language density
• This applies also for the Highlands region
• Major languages
• Tok pisin creole language and the lingua franca
  of PNG
• Enga both a linguistic and ethnic group
• Enga is a unique case in the PNG, since it is the
  only major group in the province
• other minor ethnic groups in the Enga province
  are the Ipili and Nete speakers
• Other languages and ethnic groups
• Melpa (Western HL), Huli (Southern HL), Wiru
  (Southern HL), Kuman (Simbu), etc.
• Trivia The term "Simbu" comes from the Kuman
  language and mean roughly translated "Thank
  you!"

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History

• oldest human remains found in PNG are ca. 50 000
  years old and the colonisation is assumed to have
  happened some 60 000 years ago
• agriculture invented independently ca. 9 000
  years ago
• traces of drainage ditches found at the sc. Kuk
  site in the interior Highlands
• possibly for cultivating taro (Colocasia
  esculenta)
• skilled techniques of agriculture adapted to
  high population density, hilly terrain, frost,
  heavy rain and earthquakes
• indigenous crops sugarcane, Pacific bananas,
  yams, taro, sago and pandanus
• followed later by the sweet potato (Ipomoea
  batatas) in the 17th century
• tropical horticulture or permaculture
• silviculture
• deliberate planting of a native ironwood tree
  (Casuarina oligodon)
• ironwood
  sweet potato
  taro

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History colonial adventures

• first Europeans to come to PNG were Spanish or
  Portuguese navigators in the 16th century
• formal colonisation by the British in various
  stages from 1883 and placement under the
  Australian Commonwealth in 1902
• Germany colonised the northeast quarter of the
  island in 1884, during WWI Australia occupied it
  and held it until 1921
• under Australian administration until
  independence in 1975, with the exception of WWII
  during which the island was occupied by the
  Japanese (1941-45)
• however the Highlands remained largely
  unexplored up until the 1930's
• 1933 Leahy brothers find the Wahgi valley in
  Western Highlands

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Economy agriculture

• agriculture supports the majority of the
  Highlands population (80-85 of the whole
  population of PNG)
• subsistence farming, i.e. farmers produce enough
  for themselves to subsist, but not products for
  the market
• pig-keeping important, both economically and
  culturally
• exchange of pigs in compensation and bridewealth
  payments and in large festivals, such as the
  Melpa moka or the Enga tee
• today also cash-cropping, the most
• important cash crops being coffee and tea

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Economy mining

• PNG is very rich in natural resources, especially
  minerals
• these, most notably oil, gold and copper account
  for 72 of the export earnings and 26.3 of the
  GDP
• remember first Europeans in the Highlands were
  gold prospectors
• besides of being a major contributor to the GDP,
  mining is also a big source of both environmental
  and social problems
• case Porgera mine in the Enga province
• operated since 1990 by a group of companies
  called Porgera Joint Venture
• release of (treated) waste directly into the
  Lagaip river system (which flows into Strickland
  river)
• the waste has according to environmental
  organisations negative effects on fish stocks,
  water plants and community health on large area
  along the rivers
• deaths in the mine area have lead the local
  landowners to call for the closure of the mine in
  2005 until deaths are properly investigated

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Porgera mine
BW photos (c) Jerry Jacka
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Further reading

• Classics, ceremonial exchange warfare
• Meggit, Mervyn,1969 Pigs, Pearlshells and Women
  Marriage in the New Guinea Highlands. Englewood
  Cliffs (NJ) Prentice Hall
• Meggit, Mervyn, 1977 Blood is Their Argument
  Warfare among the Mae Enga Tribesmen of the New
  Guinea Highlands. Mountain View (CA) Mayfield
• Strathern, Andrew, 1971 The Rope of Moka
  Big-men and Ceremonial Exchange in Mount Hagen,
  New Guinea. Cambridge Cambridge UP
• Strathern, Andrew Strathern, Marilyn, 1971
  Self-Decoration in Mount Hagen. Toronto London
  University of Toronto Press
• Environment and current issues
• Diamond, Jared, 2005 Collapse How Societies
  Choose to Fail or Succeed. New York Viking
• Strathern, A. Stewart, P., 2000 Arrow Talk
  Transaction, Transition and Contradiction in New
  Guinea Highlands Society. Kent (OH) Kent UP
• West, Paige "Environmental Conservation and
  Mining Between Experience and Expectation in the
  Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea", The
  Contemporary Pacific 18.2 (2006) 295-313