Papuan people

The name Papua goes back to the Portuguese navigator Jorge de Meneses, who sailed past in 1526 to New Guinea and the inhabitants named after her curly-haired appearance. He was referring to the Malay word Papu -wah (ie " frizzy hair ").

Diversity

Today, the term for the non- Austronesian inhabitants of the Indonesian occupied West Papua and partly for the inhabitants of Papua New Guinea is used. In Papua New Guinea Papua, the term is used only for the inhabitants of the former British- Australian colony around the capital, Port Moresby around as opposed to the Highlands and residents of other coastal or island provinces.

The population of the island is very heterogeneous. Although it accounts for only 0.1 % of the world population, in this case 15% of the languages ​​of the world are to be found.

West Papua

West Papua is the western half of New Guinea. Here the distinction is made in the lowlands and highlands living groups occasionally. Both groups decompose each in a variety of small and micro ethnicities with once very different languages ​​and cultures. It is believed that there are about 312 different indigenous groups, many of them are yet uncontacted. A common identity of indigenous West Papuan forms only today slowly. In West Papua, the sometimes repressive Indonesian rule and the immigration of Indonesians ( transmigration policy) has helped to consider the Papua as a unit as opposed to other residents of Indonesia.

Papua New Guinea

The primeval forests of Papua New Guinea are among the last regions of the world where the indigenous peoples still live largely unaffected by the effects of modern civilization. So still exist peoples of Papua, which have preserved their traditional way of life until the twenty-first century.

Notable examples of traditional ways of life are the documented cases of cannibalism, which were still practiced by the Papuans in the second half of the twentieth century. This was for example the ethnic groups of the Korowai, Marind - anim and Sawi.