Page "Papua New Guinea" Paragraph 8

Little was known in the West about the island until the 19th century, although Portuguese and Spanish explorers, such as Dom Jorge de Meneses and Yñigo Ortiz de Retez, respectively, had encountered it as early as the 16th century.

Traders from Southeast Asia had visited New Guinea as long as 5, 000 years ago collecting bird of paradise plumes.

The country's dual name results from its complex administrative history before independence.

The word papua is derived from pepuah, a Malay word describing the curly, coiled, Melanesian hair, and " New Guinea " ( Nueva Guinea ) was the name coined by the Spanish explorer Yñigo Ortiz de Retez.

In 1545, he noted the resemblance of the people to those he had earlier seen along the Guinea coast of Africa.

The northern half of the country was ruled as a colony for some decades by Germany, beginning in 1884, as German New Guinea.

The southern half was colonised in the same year by the United Kingdom as British New Guinea, but in 1904 with the passage of the Papua Act, 1905 was transferred to the newly formed Commonwealth of Australia who took on its administration.

Additionally from 1905, British New Guinea was renamed the Territory of Papua.

Australian forces attack Japanese positions during the Battle of Buna – Gona.

January 7, 1943.