Geography Now! PAPUA NEW GUINEA

do you believe dinosaurs exist well if you want to try and find one Papua New Guinea's probably your best bet everyone I'm your host Barb's welcome to the land of secrets and mysteries much of Papua New Guinea still remains undiscovered and shrouded in colorful enigma everything from the people to the reported sightings of strange unknown creatures resembling dinosaurs this place gets very fascinating very quick and we will jump into it very quick like right now to the globe Papua New Guinea is like the bridge between Asia and the Pacific everything that moved East at some point usually passed through here first of all the country is located in Oceania just about 100 miles or 160 kilometers above Australia's Cape York Peninsula however keep in mind these small islands just off the coast of Papua New Guinea actually belonged to Australia as part of the Torres Strait island chain meaning that at its narrowest Papua New Guinea is only about four kilometers away from Australia it is part of the largest nation in the oceanic sub region known as Melanesia the island is on a larger island called New Guinea shared by the Papua and West Papua regions of Indonesia which make up the second largest island in the world after Greenland the border is actually not a straight line though if you look closely there is a slight indentation to the west at the fly River this was actually created in 1893 to allow better policing of the area by the British back when it was a colony the country has somewhere over 600 islands the largest one being called New Britain which curves into New Ireland in the Bismarck Archipelago the country is divided into 22 provinces the autonomous region of Bougainville and the Capital District for the capital Port Moresby located in the South Port Moresby of course holds the largest international airport Jackson's international and they also have the largest shipping port as well otherwise the second-largest city lie of course holds the second busiest airport lies Nizam Airport getting around in the country is a little difficult and most people actually prefer to fly regionally rather than taking a road the reason being because many roads just don't exist in the south you have the hit attano highway in the center you have the highlands and Ramu highways and in the North you have the northern corridor roads also exist on the largest islands however much of the country especially on the interior is inaccessible and isolated from land transport so to get to most of them people fly to the many many small airports and air strips about 80 of them altogether interesting fact the Roble Airport was actually destroyed by a volcanic eruption I mean it was actually built at the foot of an active volcano so I don't quite see how they could have missed it but okay in any case you were paying attention we said that Papua New Guinea actually has an autonomous province Bougainville this place is interesting because it kind of wants to break away for one geographically it's classified as the northernmost part of the Solomon Islands a Neve n' though it's not part of the Solomon Islands as a country second well the real controversy started in the 70s it was like alright you two after decades of being trust territories I'm giving you independence finally I can't wait to start my own thing no like you two are the same thing wait what I now know I'm not gonna do this I'm gonna make my own country I'm gonna call it the republic of the north Solomon's nobody's gonna recognize you guys and then it was like whoa you have like a lot of gold and copper yes I do hey I want that golden copper and since you're in my country I guess I can do that but it's going to ruin my environment and you aren't going to share the wealth eventually the war ended after ten years which led to a peace agreement facilitated by New Zealand which led to autonomy and the promise of a referendum for independence in October of 2019 so shortly after this video was uploaded it could be outdated do you think like Bougainville of for independence not my business to say but recently a new caledonia voted to stick with France so who knows the Pacific island region is shrouded with mystery like the notable sites to see if you decide to visit such as the National Museum and Art Gallery drop all the volcano capital of the country with the destroyed ruins the lie or cemetery Parliament House the JK McCarthy museum the Kokoda Track you can check out all of these festivals in various locations now those are all cool spots to check out but the thing about Papua New Guinea is that the best thing to see is the unknown the vast undiscovered interior that many people have not encroached upon and it gets pretty intense like what on earth is this or this or this find out in the next segment the those are all birds the black bird of paradise the Western partyi and the black sickle bill yeah they have crazy birds here we'll explain in a bit but first the land Papua New Guinea sits right below the equator which means on average they have a warm tropical climate situated between three seas the Bismarck the Solomon sea and the Coral Sea these seas are beautiful but hidden underneath is a complete tectonic mess Papua New Guinea is part of the larger Ring of Fire and smash right at the convergence of the Pacific and Australasian plates this creates an underlying network of fissures trenches and fault lines that make the country incredibly susceptible to earthquakes and volcanic activity the country has hundreds of volcanoes 67 of which are listed as active today New Britain alone hosting the most out of any other area of the country at 21 the most recent major eruption however occurred in 2018 on the island of Kedah var the Raoul Markham fault line cuts right through the north part of the country and this in return is part of what makes the Bismark mountain chain the largest and longest in the country here you can find the tallest peak Mount Willem which depending on which continent you place the country is the tallest peak of Oceania and is one of the few places where you can find snow on a peak close to the equator from these mountains flow the two longest rivers the set peak in the north and the fly River which makes that weird border thing next to the fly River is the largest lake Lake Murray which is basically an engorged tree shaped estuary that locals have claimed has some kind of dinosaur looking creature living by it which is undocumented or proven the country is about 70% forested and most of it is heavily concentrated in the west near the border in addition to the forests of the Indonesian side this makes the New Guinea rainforest the third largest in the world after the Amazon and the Congo generally the country is divided into four geographic regions the highlands the islands the moma SE and the southern region basically the highlands are the mountains they have a cooler climate with higher elevations the moma say have lush fertile valleys where much of the agriculture is done the southern areas are flat humid and marshy and the islands are tropical and Island II yeah quite an interesting setup right bob saget yes it is not only is Papua heavily forested but they have some of the most unique animal species known to man you said they have dinosaurs right okay okay it's kind of like I hope to maintain audience retention I'm not the only youtuber that does it yeah see you're lying for views I'm not lying I'm just saying people have reported something that could or could not be true and needs more evidence isn't it your job to report facts it's a fact that people have made reports and it's your job to finish your last line in the dialogue that I wrote in this script you did a good job good job Ryan Thanks any who like Australia Papua New Guinea is riddled with marsupials and monotremes like the tree kangaroo the echidna crash bandicoot's and the bronze qual the Papua New Guinea was highlighted by an animal type though it would have to be Birds and specifically the birds of paradise and what are birds of paradise well this is usually the part where I take my triple shot espresso break and then Noah comes in but Noah's not here he's visiting his family in Iowa for vacation so instead I got the next best thing the guy who introduced me to Noah at his wedding Caleb I quit my job so I could film the geography in Hargeisa yes you did I kind of ruined your life a little bit if anyone needs an amazing cinematographer hire Caleb until then this can be your sidekick by the way we shot this out of sequence so your shirt is about to change in three two over 40 species of the lavish extremely colorful bird of paradise species are known to exist and all have been documented here known for their aesthetic dimorphism in which male's display extreme plumage tails Tufts and waddles usually used in an array of fascinating and alien like mating rituals the nation is rich in minerals and mineral extraction as well as a small petroleum industry makes up about a quarter of their GDP resource-wise about eighty-five percent of the population lives off some kind of semi subsistence farming and forestry which makes up about another quarter of their GDP common staples include crops like taro sweet potatoes yams and national favorite sago which is the spongy center of various palm stems scraped out and made in various forms like pastes pancakes and rolled starch balls which brings us to food as mentioned most dishes will probably contain a staple root starch and meat usually pork or fish the two most common proteins some dishes that you guys the Papua New Guinean geography suggested we mentioned include things like naan goop chicken pot sock sock dumplings kava and the national dish muumuu all right it was fun being Noah for a day but now I have to go back to being the camera guy what do I do now just say something about demographics just stand there for like two seconds don't move why we forgot to do a cheesy special effect Thank You Caleb now back into the box now one thing you have to understand is that only about 20% of the nation is urban many have never even contacted outsiders or seen a non pop one person breaking up the people groups of Papua New Guinea is incredibly difficult because most sources don't give specific percentages I literally had to go to a website called the Joshua project that listed the individual ethnic groups with estimated population numbers and I have to do the math myself on this one so if my calculations are correct a country has a little under 9 million people and is the most linguistically diverse nation with over 850 languages and ethnic groups the vast majority of the country at somewhere around 97% are classified under the broader papua new an Asian Islander ethnic group and within this 97% the largest groups are de tribe alized peoples mostly urban dwellers that have either distanced themselves from traditional tribal labels or have mixed tribal heritage at around 12.2% otherwise the anga and de Cali are the largest group at about 3.4 percent and Melba at about 2.5 the various chimp uu peoples together make up about 2.3 and the Huli make up about 2.1 percent the remainder of the Papua Nealon evens are a myriad of nearly 850 ethno-linguistic people groups and clans ranging from less than a hundred members to over a hundred thousand each after that non Melanesian Islanders like Micronesians and Polynesians make up about another two percent whereas others like whites and Asians finish it off at about one percent they use the kina as their currency which was actually named after the kina shell which they literally used as a national currency in the 1930s they used the type I plug outlet and they drive on the left side of the road now as mentioned the majority of people in Papua New Guinea although culturally diverse fall under the broader general Melanesian classification in terms of ethnicity Melanesians are vibrant islander people group known for their distinct customs and even physical features many of them for example some of the people in the tolai tribe actually carry the Tyr p1 gene that gives them natural blonde hair this makes Melanesians the only people group outside of european heritage that grow natural blonde hair essentially these Melanesian people played an important role as like the originators of everything Islander in the Pacific most Micronesians Polynesians and general austronesians all have some kind of connection to the island of New Guinea whether it's through ancestry or passing it was the launch pad that kind of kicked everything off in any case Papua New Guinea in itself has so many people groups that don't even speak the same language great question Keith the country has three official languages English top piscine and hemo to the one that most people use is top piecing derived from the words talk and pidgin as it is an english creole language it's really interesting because if you're an English speaker just reading or hearing it you might kind of pick it up actually you know what here are some of you guys the pop one geography was explaining pipe my name is Kitty talk person is an english-based Creole if I would say hey but that you were away so you can hear the some of the English words in for example I said beta which is a shot from breath a meeting brother or dude and you say mister you in English go and wear wet one phrase that I know is Meno Sava meaning I don't know one in name below new meaning what's your name sounds similar to English but it's not really English at all thank you now for culture keeping it old school is definitely an understatement for Papua New Guinea you might even see people wearing like traditional grass skirts and stuff at the airport because there are over 800 ethno-linguistic people groups in Papua New Guinea it would take way too long to talk about all of them but some generally well-known tribes and traditions can be highlighted which will be explained by random Hannah without a doubt Papua New Guinea can be considered one of the most colorfully traditional nations on earth and since there are so many tribes I think that I need some help let's bring in in the Huli tribe of the highlands is probably the most well-known tourist interacting tribe they are used to foreigners visiting them as they put on their colourful body paint and headdresses the Asaro tribe in the Eastern Highlands is also very interactive with tourists known for having the mudmen war dance that uses ashen body paint and sculpted monster masks traditionally used to scare off enemies the coral-y and Kampai tribes are known for living in tree houses sometimes as high as a hundred and forty feet or 43 meters the binding people are famous for their fire dance jumping over flames and walking on coals while wearing huge bird imitating masks and flammable grass skirts to the beat of Kundu from the Beale meal people are known for making very elaborate red clay pots and the women of the Oro tribe are known to have maze-like face tattoos the Avila tribe have wide circular shaped masks resembling owls and yams many tribes like the angga practice a form of mummification on their dead done through a smoke curing process and then the bodies are left outside on display for the village remember the taraj of people from the indonesia episode yeah it's like that even though they're like 1500 miles away the people of the Trobriand islands have created their own version of cricket that fuses a performance known as the octopus dance the men people groups have a very interesting cast system based on beliefs that have parallels to the Vedic system in ancient Hinduism some Bougainville Islanders use bamboo pan flutes and we're huge bulbous headdresses as depicted on their flag and you are no longer needed thank you so much for your help get back in your box whoa and after all that that's not even scratching the surface for what it's worth though it is said that three things mainly unite the Papua New Guineans God rugby and Tok be seen I'm gonna put yin down now the dominant religion most claim to adhere to in Papua New Guinea at somewhere around 95% is Christianity traditionally many of the people groups came from a background of amnesty and poopoo and Ritualist belief that range from tribe to tribe otherwise almost all the poo and or guineans can agree they love rugby their national team the cool moles is cheered on by everyone in every province from every tribe they sing they chant and scream speaking of which that bring us to Keith's stupid music segment for the longest time Papua New Guinea's traditional music genres were wildly unheard of only recently in the early 1990s - this dude that guy record and release an album highlighting tribal chants one instrument that is quite Universal and intertribal throughout much of the country is the kun Doon drum it is used at a variety of performances celebrations and rituals over time much outside influence made its way into Papua New Guinea eventually soldiers in world war ii introduced the ukulele and the guitar in the 1960s rock came in in the 70s like get some reggae and that's pretty much all I got that's right Thank You Keith finally Papua New Guinea was kind of tossed around a lot throughout its history it was kind of like mine northern part mines southern pot mine mine yours to manage but ultimately still mine all of mine Australia's northern part mine Oh Lord no everybody just shut up I'm free can I leave you no you're mine and that's basically the history of the nation I mean if you don't include the first wave of migrants from the Cinda and Sahul areas from 50,000 years ago in the second wave 2,500 years ago I guess that means all we have to do now is mention the famous people some notable people from Papua New Guinea or born in Papua New Guinea or of Papua New Guinean descent that you guys the Papua New Guinean geography was suggested we mentioned include people like Michael Samar a these rugby players Amy and George Shepherd circa cugino D katoa Toyo we seal George taluk William takaku Sir McHenry more Alta and Archie Thompson so yeah Papua New Guinea has a lot of backstory a lot of lush flora and fauna a lot of different ethnic mystic people groups and as we will find out a lot of diplomatic interaction moving on as mentioned Papua New Guinea is kind of like the hub and link between Asia and Oceania and things get interesting when you connect the dots for one as a Commonwealth country they have always had ties to other former British colonial states in the area for example New Zealand help facilitate the drama in the past and many Papua New Guinean locals move and work in New Zealand Japan actually did quite a bit of development in World War two especially in the Sepik area and today they help fund schools and infrastructure many tourists come in and see the sights of their fallen ancestors the first Prime Minister actually spoke Japanese as well China has a love-hate relationship Chinese merchants have been working on the island since before European colonialism although a sizable portion of modern business is done with the Chinese locals have expressed concern over the escalating power struggle and have even rioted against Chinese owned businesses nonetheless China is still a key player in their diplomacy in terms of their bestfriends however most Papua New Guineans would probably say culturally all the other Melanesian nations most especially the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu though they speak similar pidgin languages many people travel and marry people from these countries they are also cofounders of the Melanesian spearhead group and together these three nations get each other the most Australia on the other hand is the closest in terms of pretty much everything else as a former dependent territory they've kept close even after independence they are the biggest trading partner investor aid provider the English they are taught even follows the Australian accent a native Aborigine population are technically cousins of pop wins and even though there was a brief halt with tension over the 2006 Julian mochi affair they've moved on and enjoy a pint nonetheless over a rugby match in conclusion Papua New Guinea is a place of color or contrast origins yet mystery when you come here you have the clues but never enough go ahead find that dinosaur stay tuned Paraguay is coming up next [Music]

Channel: Geography Now

Views: 1,303,642

Keywords: Geography, facts, info, cool, education, learning, countries, history, class, lesson, funny, Papua New Guinea, Island, Blonde, travel

Id: bushHvw__Mo

Length: 18min 12sec (1092 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 28 2019