Morobe Province

Morobe ( German outdated: Adolf port) is one of the 19 provinces of Papua New Guinea. It is approximately 34,500 km ² and has around 540,000 inhabitants. Capital city is Lae, with nearly 80,000 residents in 2000, the second largest city in the country.

Geography

Morobe is located in the northeast part of New Guinea. On the north coast of the province, there are lowlands, the East Coast to the Huon Gulf and inland consist of some high mountains. Morobe to include several islands, including Umboi 777 km ² and the Tami Islands. Largest electricity of the province is the Markham River.

Economy

Morobe is the most industrialized and populous province of Papua New Guinea. In addition to metal processing factories here is the biggest plywood factory in the world. In the field of animal husbandry of cattle and chickens Morobe is a leader. Furthermore, tourism plays a role.

The road situation is better than in most provinces. In the capital, the famous Highlands Highway, which leads into the highlands provinces begins, and the coastal roads are generally passable.

Neighboring provinces in the north of Madang, Eastern Highlands in the west, in the southern Gulf, Central and Oro.

History and gold rush

→ Main article: History of Morobe Province

Morobe was part of the German colony of German New Guinea. Finschhafen was founded by the German administration and was briefly the capital of the colony. In the 1920s, gold was discovered in Morobe and there was an economic boom. Morobe and the Guinea Airways at that time held the world record for air freight, as there were no roads and the transport over mountain paths was very difficult for prospectors. The last gold mine closed in 1965.

Districts and LLGs

The Morobe Province is divided into nine districts. Each district consists of one or more distinguish " areas at the local administrative level ," Local Level Government ( LLG ) areas which in Rural (rural ) or urban ( urban) LLGs.

Languages

In Morobe Province 41 Austronesian languages ​​and non- Austronesian 57 " mainland languages ​​" (Papua languages) are spoken. Tok Pisin is the main language of communication. 1995 were able to write at least one language 52.2 percent of the population. Most was one of the local languages ​​( 46.1 %), Tok Pisin ( 42.9 %), English ( 27.2 %) or Hiri Motu ( 2.2%). About their own spokespersons, the Lutheran Church languages ​​Kate and Yabem have meaning. However, these goes back in favor of the lingua franca Tok Pisin.

See also: Languages ​​of Papua New Guinea

Religion

1995 were 77.6 percent of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Papua New Guinea (see also the Lutheran Church ) to 5.8 per cent of the Catholic Church. 34 percent of enrolled students attended parochial schools.