Papua New Guinea (PNG) is in the southwest region of the Pacific Basin and lies immediately to the north of Australia. PNG shares the island of New Guinea with Indonesia, which lies to the west. The interior of New Guinea has one of the most rugged topographies in the world. The total land area of the country is 461,690 square kilometers (178,212 square miles), and its population in July 2004 was estimated at 5,420,280.

Papua New Guinea is diverse with regard to ethnicity, customs, traditions, and geography. Germany and Great Britain were the early colonizers of PNG. Great Britain relinquished control of Papua to Australia in 1906, which subsequently assumed control of New Guinea at the start of World War I (1914–1918). The League of Nations allowed Australia to continue its administration of New Guinea under a mandate in the interwar years. A joint administration of Papua and New Guinea...