Papua Island

Irian Jaya / Papua Island

Irian Jaya (Papua), the western half of the islands is Indonesia’s biggest province, about 410.000 square kilometers large. It’s the biggest province and occupy almost 21 percent of the country’s total land area.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, and half Papua New Guinea territory.Irian Jaya is Indonesia’s most spectacular region for Tour Adventure. More than 75 percent of the land is covered by dense tropical forest and dense jungle. With only about 2,000,000 million peoples. Jayapura the near provincial capital on a hillside overlooking the sea, is 3,250 kilometers away from Jakarta. Irian Jaya is a land of exceptional natural grandeur. It’s jungles are among the wildest, most impenetrable in the world. Eternal, snow fields, cap mountain ridges more than 5.00 meters high, with walls that plunge hundreds of meters down into floors filled with small glacier lakes. It has scenic beaches in abundance as well as immense stretches of impenetrable marshlands, cool grassy meadows lie at the foot of the towering mountains. Rivers cut through dark forests until their slunggish, crocodile infested mouth disgorge the water into the sea.

The capital of Papua province is Jayapura. Most of the population depends on subsistence farming, especially the cultivation of rice and maize. The main industries include copper (with the largest concentration of copper in the world at Tembagapura), palm oil, copra, maize, groundnuts, pepper, tuna, gold, oil, coal, and phosphates. It is mostly a mountainous and forested region, with the Maoke Mountain range rising to 5,029-m/16,499 ft at Jaya Peak. The population comprises Melanesians (original settlers of Western New Guinea), Papuans, Negritos, and Europeans. Indigenous animism prevails. The province declared independence from Indonesia, as West Papua, in June 2000. However, the president of Indonesia stated that the declaration was unrepresentative of true feeling in the province.

The highest peak in the central mountain range is Puncak (Top) Jayawijaya 5,500 meters. Second and third are Mount Trikora 5,160 meters, and Mount Yamin 5,100 meters, respectively. The biggest lake is Lake Paniai district, floowed in order of declining size by the lakes Ronbenbai and Sentani. Both in the vincinity of Jayapura, and Anggigita near Manokwari.On the basis of physical 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. They all belong to the Melanesian race, and are related to the peoples inhabiting the islands along the southern rim of the Pacific.

The Negritos are believed to have settled the island first probably some 30.000 years ago followedby the Melanesians. The peoples of the central highlands still maintain their ancestral, customs and traditions. And are as good as untouched by alien influences. Most of the changes have so far taken place among the coastal peoples, who are being subjected to an ever increasing contact with the world outside.And Irian Jaya known to collectors for it’s fine primitive art, is a land of contrast, modern towns and cities along the coast coexist with the isolated settlement of simple shacks in the forest covered hinterland. Also Irian Jaya is famed for it’s Bird of Paradise (Cendrawasih), 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.

Visitors, to visit the hinterland,  a police permit is required from the Indonesia State Police. Visit Jiwika and walk up the hill to see the traditional salt mine, the 250 years old mummy at Sopaima, Suroba village. Loka Budaya Museum at Abepura. We could visit Syuru village and the Asmat museum. To Arafura sea passing Bow River and to Owus village, a traditional welcome ceremony will be performed by the villagers.The mountains, valleys full of mystery. That was the hymn footage of Papua. This song echoed by the choir from Jayapura Whaku Bim in the studio of Radio Netherlands some time ago. Voice of people of Papua and Papua's natural beauty is an important tourism asset in the eastern Indonesian region's. So asserted Aris Sudibyo, choir leader who won a gold medal in the Olympic Alloys International in Australia Suaran summer 2008. What are the tourist attraction there.

Papua is one of Indonesia province comprising a majority part of the western half of New Guinea Island and nearby. The province originally covered the entire western half of New Guinea, but in 2003, the western portion of the province, on the Bird's Head Peninsula, was declared in Jakarta as separate province named West Irian Jaya. The legality of this separation has been disputed, as it appears to conflict with the conditions of the Special Autonomy status awarded to Papua in the year 2000. The status of West Irian Jaya province is not yet resolved as of early 2006.

Papua is the official Indonesian and internationally recognized name for the province. During the colonial era the region was known as Dutch New Guinea. The province was known as West Irian or Irian Barat from 1969 to 1973, and then renamed Irian Jaya ("Victorious Irian") by Soeharto. This was the official name until Papua was adopted in 2002. Today, natives of this province prefer to call themselves Papuans rather than Irianese. This may be due to etymology (variously identified as a real etymology or a folk etymology) the name of Irian, which stems from the acronym Ikut Republik Indonesia, Anti Nederland (join/follow with the Republic of Indonesia, rejecting The Netherlands). The name West Papua is used among Papuan separatists and usually refers to the whole of the Indonesian portion of New Guinea.