Online Encyclopedia
Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.
NEW GUINEA
Online EncyclopediaEncyclopedia Home :: NAN-NEW
del.icio.us it!
|
NEW See also:GUINEA , the largest See also:island (excluding See also:Greenland) in the See also:world, lying between the See also:equator and 12° S. and 130° 5o' and 1510 30' E., separated from See also:Australia by Torres ' Strait and having the Arafura See also:Sea on the See also:south-See also:west. It is divided politic-ally between See also:Britain (south-See also:east), See also:Germany (See also:north-east) and See also: 4 MacCluer VMIsara. V /poo ots. I /. `P° R°•!ott vpsn„BNt °°e gs N•a'O r„S~nS Pattlk NYO 'Es egYlppr f nvm , gu6oi s Vs!, ..: Mies Sr ry ` 1.Amberr'=s rpun Y E •ira See also:SAka I 0RonlYapPSnoF Gul 4P •:; d I f GeelulnF B°Y K tpr•p. - '' .assn ° eaY' See also:Ems See also:Ham ° Bab See also:Lobo amour Ghadm ds NM go (L'Eehiyuier) Comrnwwon rs St.MattA;as _ ~ilp. Y ts. " See also:Allison Is. • ~•See also:Ana°°retas ra. See also:nob 1. ,LIQod°Ido avt °61s a ,BMd,.euer Q (• r1* ntia,I v pf •' ouroYr l.. See also:Admiralty Islands d °° nn bt' 1. / Q ` ,ss . .MatS(Tl ••)I• xrrimt Manua b 4u R•Yea 30°atrV t' ~P tf• . 5f ~0e•Q•nv ty bi ~•• ae pM'16t B' yl• r (Admvaltr I J=.! pods ~n5 Q~ It ~•~ AdWrrh ., t a.° v°1 stn°° no9U Sr N• N„% f e~r w am rs:' °'"'v •L See also:sus See also:Mar.l. 1 gv nbtbg. °-/MOpf ',••,,.~7• od•°lCg H °po nnsY •See also:sin 4, e gs meL Porthod/s. X21.• See also:a2 n•h. See also:Sable Y... P ve N,dl b lands• 9"° e :.S,a SarWriah/,O • Ef < 1 V nSW t m •~° `.f g p~aap gsG~,10•f~fal:See also:nsi a°no1j~ yaYh ~E/i~ See also:bath I•r New See also:arm.. Wa neromL. 5< ~ Mlt: _ 9t rf ~O R° °° a°°o Arr chipelago „ 9~° r See also:pal n1, tb n B ••: SA/x.~ ~' • ~• s Bi sIna rcii emam/ rmlit '”. ~' D U T C H —'KCSAC ylo°See also:sill„& ernplar>f gg t S46 44•9Mts • wh-I t/tth&iQ M7nr ,ssr;n~°a.,Wgat QN" as ",,,as;; LSirR° t~..•, Ne ~N ,i Crettels .. 2 • r it •5 n 'f I A ~ .t am N .Lett ya9 altosb 1Cgp See also:moat, `.' .. ,s. ytila•St t. , N E W N E Vhto t' M+'•gv<~y}' 1 tQov 5- aR Fr~xh SGaet/IN1~(c Mh•M 2 0. ;a By n }rVa" ti• n... EM.a N.11 r 9 .x~ ft°" g. See also:roe•° 1 rO s:"F /• a i CartaMt Na" ° 1N `at1 1' s"bYOY Mdll Mt.. - aa.~H } • pf Lf01a0s •tiro k.s;,;o° nw k)1 t, "I,- r•es.; BWi• NP M osb•.. t~ y~ot • Jt ,vv $ '~' •r t t nhetrn t p °yEaato•N •See also:rung e andh io C. See also:tatA Ms,°g) g °?4 ~r Pfdo y~ e+J ar C o ve a 3, N•i ls. L° -See also:ass. _!w'bdf Nt See also:oat, m3 • • ~. ° -~ d'o •~ m. Y w Y ids P a w SL•'WOYM IN rt^~eo , to ~+" M,Y Mr a New pots r v g.; Aru S 'Cr-mu•rftf IG R,;,,, t. ei~e See also:Man. lrebrur Sort` r' 8 lJ/anda ~Bsntan Kid lrla a < 'le '~rZ " , KrdfF Mte•'i+ See also:ewe rq 8 Tends r d vongl PL y,1enBRY qo - ~..P` ter, TER R j ldr tvator"t-n P h_-s G e. 6 Bou aindiile llbrkal R.;noeteMa ones 3troih ecegl d'g British)" ` e g RE a o ri of c-, 4,4 o d~ 0 Emr ,9 F redN•ic s s . Ne r{ ) • ~ a °obi ('(uon n(e66 ,6. e' '•.bo~ is0 .15 rederi lapimlu 1,1 b &Guff t . tr. . v\•• f0br IPn dI Is. Y aia, er° R• N•nt l o r .... t1 N yd cJ 11 Fa/se tN See also:Pen n/ at ,..rQUBEN1 N',foOtnv ......... 8 C . .. °9 ` , .{'.'S%r'o ~g`C L a6. 1-ro ns I — 1t, . • •n 1p aor~b ¢•s M•~ T Ro g{`~ o etLY°" oln Ko .is.• ., :• yl.P. noa ly .• 4 GB C 0•C~.b ~saSe1 aN ttt •.See also:pare "4Klw frlY* dB. •: .r~ .M•`t tjan ~•It0• ••dlsrk) t tCl••. A 1 Gulf o,M1f ~sornd CsN•il,"' ~ g000dd Istr°4pirll'd• nt °0 ~', ,nst b• - ~t~A~ PapuR y0 c?.. cb b •ADE°b° .'sso r •Y ~Of~ry ' 6etroe r tm gMMh B•MpO Bjeta sY4. . assist: f '"' 101eaols•°d0 B r~(lrnse , .. •tOtrts' n•nit• ,an tong/.. N See also:pie • rmMbv p a g~.-w 00.' Torrent; StrEit *LAND cares ~0 sass's" aan4 t B' "-wl..~ ,y ••ca (See also:sIS,S d0tsblG ~~no C .,., *S~ f9\ 2 ;-.6o,; <~[bQOMI~(alt. /h+,sd•Y I ~QV !was—, ©~ F'9o'i Ar4 ° yagssntb „i•Yl~
Pr. 01 WaINs o^6gndl
0 NEW 30°
GUINEA
See also:English See also:Miles
,5o You
90 ,m v''
A,33 B [36' C 'w0 D See also:Longitude East 144° or See also:Greenwich E t ls° F 1ss° G
See also:amen, See also: The most important and best-known See also:rivers are the Amberno, in the north, discharging by a wide See also:delta at Point d'Urville; the Kaiserin See also:Augusta, which, rising in the See also: In the See also:district around See also:Port See also:Glasgow, on the south coast of the eastern See also:peninsula, are the Boioro limestones, also of unknown age; they are See also:lead-coloured, brecciated limestones with interbedded dolerites. Some Cretaceous or Upper See also:Jurassic rocks occur in the See also:basin of the Fly river. The Port Moresby beds are See also:Cainozoic. They are highly inclined, and occupy a large range of country along the south coast, and include the See also:Macgillivray Range, to the north-east of Beagle Bay. They are marine and probably Miocene; and range up to the height of 800 ft. above the sea, approximately the same limit as in See also:Victoria. The Kevori grits, and the raised coral reefs are upper Cainozoic, and perhaps See also:Pleistocene; but the reefs occur inland up to a height of 2000 ft. and their range back in See also:time has not been fixed. The volcanic See also:series include the See also:rhyolite of Nell Island, some See also:obsidian, and the sheets of basalts which form the Cloudy Mountains, Mount Dayman and Mount See also:Trafalgar (an active See also:volcano), and also See also:cover wide areas to the south and west of the Owen Stanley Range. Most of western British New Guinea consists of See also:recent superficial deposits, in the basin of the Fly river. The Louisiade and the d'Entrecasteaux Islands consist of the same slates and schists as form the See also:main axis of the eastern peninsula, and they are auriferous. The geology of the See also:rest of New Guinea is imperfectly known. It appears to consist in the main of a continuation of an axis of old schists and slates, with See also:granite intrusions, and flanked by coastal plains with Cretaceous or Jurassic, and Miocene beds, with Pleistocene sands and reefs and volcanic rocks. In the north-west See also:coal deposits occur. See also:Fergusson Island clearly shows remains of See also:extinct craters, and possesses numerous hot springs, saline lakes and solfataras depositing See also:sulphur and See also:alum. In lblurua (Woodlark I.) are quarries of the banded See also:quartzite from which the best See also: The temperature has an extreme range of-from 72° to 95° F., with a mean of about 8o°. At an See also:elevation of 3000 ft. the climate is pleasantly cool; at 13,000 ft. See also:ice forms in the night, but disappears with the See also:heat of the See also:sun. No snow is known certainly to fall, though it is alleged to have been seen from the sea lying on the summits of the Charles Louis range. See also:Fever is very prevalent on the coasts, and even in the interior at 2000 ft. above the sea. Though generally of a mild See also:character, it is persistently recurrent, and slowly saps and wears out the constitution; too often it is virulent and rapidly fatal. See also:Fauna.—New Guinea shares in the poverty in mammals of the Australian sub-region. Monotremes (2 See also:species) and marsupials (4 families and 44 species) predominate, but are not abundant. Among the latter two genera, Distaechurus and Dorcopsis, are See also:peculiar. A See also:pig (Sus papuensis), a See also:dingo, several species of mice (of which Chiruromys is a peculiar genus), a few squirrels, and a considerable number of See also:Chiroptera (bats) inhabit the country. The island is specially remarkable for the number and beauty of its birds. The most recent lists See also:record over Soo species as found in the Papuan area, and of these between 50 and 6o genera are peculiar to it. The birds of See also:paradise, which are confined to the sub-region, give See also:special celebrity to its fauna. Between 70 and 8o species have already been described, many of them the most gorgeously adorned, and others, such as the Pteridophora albertisi, the most wonderful of feathered creatures. They are absent from the Louisiades, but species occur in the d'Entrecasteaux Islands which have not been seen on the mainland opposite. The See also:zoology of the Bismarck Archipelago is little known. The species of birds so far described from it number 178 (referable to 38 families), of which 74 are peculiar to it, though closely allied to Papuan forms. It contains, however, no Paradiseidae. The See also:Amphibia, to which the sea is a barrier, are almost exclusively of Australian See also:affinities. Turtles and tortoises are plentiful on the coast. Ceratochelys insculpla of the Fly river, a chelonian peculiar to New Guinea, is remarkable in having its nearest affinities (as have the Papuan tortoises) with South See also:American species. Of the lizards, 3 of the 6 species of Varanidae, 16 of the 30 Scincidae, 8 Geckonidae, and 8 out of the it Agamidae are peculiar. Salamanders, toads and frogs are numerous, and crocodiles abound. Only 4 genera and 5 species of See also:snakes are peculiar to New Guinea, many of them poisonous. Butterflies, moths and bees are very abundant, the former being remarkable for their See also:size and splendid coloration; but these See also:groups have not been investigated exhaustively enough to afford a correct See also:idea of their number or their true affinities. Although the See also:list of See also:Coleoptera already known is long, it represents only a fraction of the species remaining to be discovered. The land molluscs show relationship with the See also:Indian and the Malayan sub-regions; but many forms have here their centre, and have spread hence into Australia and the Pacific islands.
See also:Flora.—Most of the foreshores of New Guinea are See also:eucalyptus-dotted grass lands; in the interior dense forests prevail to a height of many thousand feet. Vast tracts of the country have been, how-ever, deforested by See also:fire, and these are covered by the tall ineradicable grass, Imperata arundinacea. So far the highest altitudes yet botanically investigated are those of the Owen Stanley range and the mountains in Kaiser Wilhelms Land, but of the flora of the highest range of all—the Charles Louis mountains—nothing is known. The vascular See also:plants already described number about 1500 species. In the See also:low and sub-mountainous lands the flora is a mixture of Malayan, Australian and Polynesian forms. There are, according to See also: At Dorey a See also:cotton plant (G. vitifolium) grows See also:wild, and is also cultivated. Natives.—So large an area of New Guinea remains unexplored that it is impossible, except approximately, to See also:state the number of its inhabitants, but probably 600,000 is under rather than over the See also:mark. The See also:people are broken up into numerous isolated tribes differing greatly in feature, See also:colour and See also:language. Ethnically they belong as a whole to the Melanesian See also:division of the Indo-Pacific races. The predominant tribe are the See also:Papuans (q.v.), who are found here in their greatest racial purity and occupy practically the whole island except its eastern extremity. The New Guinea native is usually of a See also:negroid type with See also:fine physique, but in the Arfak mountains in the north-west, and at points on the west and north coasts and adjacent islands, the very degraded and stunted Karons are found, with hardly the elements of social organization (possibly the aboriginal See also:race unmixed with See also:foreign elements), and resembling the Aetas or See also:Negritos of the Philippines, and other kindred tribes in the See also:Malay Archipelago. On the See also:banks of the Fly river d'Albertis observed at least two widely differing types, those on its upper course bearing some resemblance to the tribes-of theeastern coast. Here, wedged in among the ruder Papuans, who reappear at the extremity of the peninsula, a very different-looking people are found, whom competent observers, arguing from See also:appearance, language and customs, assert to be a See also:branch of the See also:fair Polynesian race. But they are obviously of mixed See also:blood. On the west coasts there is a semi-See also:civilization, due to intercourse with See also:Malays and See also:Bugis, who have settled at various points, and carry on the, See also:trade with the neighbouring islands, in some of which, while the coast See also:population is Malay or mixed, that of the interior is identical with the people of the mainland of New Guinea. On the west coasts, See also:Mahommedan teaching has also some civilizing effect. Many of, the tribes at the west end of New Guinea are, at all events in See also:war time, See also:head-hunters, and in the mountains cannibals. See also:Cannibalism, in fact, is practised here and there throughout New Guinea. The. frequent hostility and mistrust of strangers are partly due to slave-, See also:hunting raids and See also:ill-treatment by traders, but the different tribes vary much in character. Thus in the mountains of the north-west the Karons live by See also:plunder, or by disposal of slaves or See also:bird skins: while their neighbours the Kebars are a peaceful agricultural people.; The See also:mountain tribes are usually despised by their coast neighbours, but in the south of west New Guinea the coast people live in per-' petual terror of their inland neighbours. At See also:Humboldt Bay the people are ready to trade, as are the tribes. at See also:Astrolabe Bay; here the See also:Russian Miklucho Maclay lived for some time, and was favourably impressed by the natives. Still farther east, the plateaus of the Finisterre ranges are highly cultivated and artificially irrigated by a comparatively fair people. Many tribes in the south-west seem to be migratory. At Princess Marianne Straits tribes much wilder than those farther west, naked:. and painted, swarm like monkeys in the trees, the stems of which are? submerged at high See also:tide. But the Torres Straits islanders are employed by Europeans in the See also:pearl See also:shell See also:fishery, and are good labourers;' and in some of the Kei and Aru Islands the Papuan inhabitants form orderly See also:Christian communities. The people of the south-east peninsula are generally far from ferocious. Englishmen, wandering_ inland and losing their way, have been found and brought back by them. Their See also:manners are more courteous, their See also:women better treated, than is usual with Papuans, but they show perhaps less ingenuity and See also:artistic See also:taste. Their See also:children, in the See also:mission See also:schools, show much intelligence. Exploration and See also:Annexation.—Though probably sighted by See also:Antonio d'Abreu, 1511, New Guinea was apparently first visited either by the Portuguese See also:Don Jorge de Meneses, driven on his way from See also:Goa to See also:Ternate in 1526 to take shelter at " See also:Isla Versija " (which has been identified with Warsia, a See also:place on the N.W. coast, but may possibly be the island of Waigeu), or by the Spaniard Alvaro de See also:Saavedra two years later. The name of " New Guinea " was probably given by Ortiz de Retez, or Roda, who in 1546 first laid down several points along the north coast. In the same and the two following centuries, though the coasts were visited by many illustrious navigators, as Willem Schouten and See also:Jacob Lemaire, See also:Abel See also:Tasman, See also: Important expeditions were those of P. See also:van der Crab, J. E. T.eysmann, J. G. Coorengel, A. J. Langeveldt van Hemert and P. Swaan, undertaken for the -See also:Netherlands Indian See also:government 1871-1872, 1875-1876 (reports published at The See also:Hague in 1879); and of C. B. H. von Rosenberg in the Geelvink Bay districts in 1869-187o (report published at The Hague in 1875). Subsequently to the visits of J. A. d'Entrecasteaux (1793) and See also:Dumont d'Urville (1827-1840), the eastern coasts were surveyed by Captains F.P. See also:Blackwood (1835),
Owen Stanley (1848), Charles B. See also:Yule (1864), and other British See also:officers, including J. Moresby (1874). Among other explorers in this See also:period the following may be mentioned: See also:Nicholas von Miklucho Maclay in 187o, 1877 and 1879-1881, in the Astrolabe Bay district, &c.; the missionary, Rev. S. Macfarlane (1875, Fly river, &c.); about 1876-188o the north-east coasts and adjacent islands were explored by the Rev. G. See also: The result of this was the assignation to Great Britain of the portion now known as the Territory of Papua (British New Guinea), lying between the extreme limits of 5° and 12° S. and 141° and 1550 E. To Germany were assigned all the territory and islands to the north of the British boundary under the name of Kaiser Wilhelms Land, while all to the west of the 141st meridian remained under its old flag as Dutch New Guinea. Since this period explorers and investigators have been almost constantly at work. There may be mentioned the work of the Rev. J. See also:Chalmers on the coast of the Gulf of Papua (1893), and of officers of the German New Guinea Company in the See also:ship " Ysabel " on the coasts and among the islands of the German territory; the expedition which crossed the south-eastern peninsula from Huon Gulf of which both the leaders, O. Ehlers and M. Piering, lost their lives (1895), the important German expedition under C. Lauterbach (1.896), and the various explorations carried out by or at the instigation of Sir William See also:MacGregor, including a See also:crossing of the island from the mouth of the Mambare river to that of the Vanapa, and a second crossing in the See also:reverse direction (1897). Ethnographical researches have been prosecuted by Messrs C. G. Seligmann and W. Mersh Strong, and others. The reports of travellers and of various missionary See also:societies have thrown a great See also:deal of See also:light on the natural See also:history of the island, on its resources, and the islanders. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML. Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide. |
|
|
[back] NEW GRANADA (Span. Nueva Granada) |
[next] NEW HAMPSHIRE |