巴布亚纽几内亚(Papua New Guinea)
正式名称巴布亚纽几内亚独立国（Independent State of Papua New Guinea）
南太平洋岛国。面积462,840平方公里。人口约5,287,000（2001）。首都︰摩尔斯贝港。大部分人口为巴布亚人（占4/5）及美拉尼西亚人，少数民族是玻里尼西亚人、华人和欧洲人。语言︰英语（官方语）、托克必兴语（Tok Pisin）、莫图语和原住民语言。宗教︰圣公会和其他新教支派，以及天主教。货币︰基那（K）。新几内亚岛占全国总面积的85%左右；该国还包括布干维尔岛和俾斯麦群岛。新几内亚岛的地形是南部多沼泽的低地平原，往北是高耸的中央山脉，高地贯穿西北到东南。多数土地为热带雨林所覆盖。外围的岛屿多是火山岛。该国属开发中混合型经济，以矿产品和农产品为出口大宗。政府形式为君主立宪政体，一院制。国家元首是总督（代表英国君主），政府首脑为总理。
此区在史前时代已有人定居，最早的居民以打猎为生。1512年葡萄牙人看见这里的海岸，1545年西班牙宣称拥有此岛。1793年英国人建立了第一个殖民地，1828年荷兰人宣称该岛的西半部为荷属东印度群岛的一部分。1884年英国并吞了东南部，而德国占领了东北部，1906年英国的部分成为巴布亚领地，并交给澳大利亚管理，第一次世界大战後，也接管了德国那一部分。第二次世界大战後，澳大利亚合并这两部分为巴布亚纽几内亚领地。荷属新几内亚在1969年并入印尼，成为伊里安查亚省。1975年巴布亚纽几内亚取得独立，并加入大英国协。1997年开始进行解决与布干维尔岛独立分子的战争。
English version：
Papua New Guinea
Island nation, South Pacific Ocean. Area: 178,704 sq mi (462,840 sq km). Population (1997 est.): 4,496,000. Capital: Port Moresby. Most of the people are Papuan (four-fifths) and Melanesian; minorities are Polynesian, Chinese, and European. Languages: English (official), Tok Pisin, Motu, indigenous languages. Religions: Anglicanism and other Protestant sects, Roman Catholicism. Currency: kina. About 85% of the total land area is on the island of New Guinea; the nation also includes Bougainville island and the Bismarck Archipelago. The New Guinea terrain ranges from swampy lowland plains in the south and north to high central mountains, the Highlands, in the northwest and southeast. Much of the land is covered with tropical rain forest. Some of the outlying islands are volcanic. It has a developing mixed economy based largely on the export of mineral and agricultural products. It is a constitutional monarchy with one legislative house; its chief of state is the British monarch represented by the governor-general, and the head of government is the prime minister. The area has been inhabited since prehistoric times, with hunters as the earliest settlers. The Portuguese sighted the coast in 1512, and in 1545 the Spanish claimed the island. The first colony was founded in 1793 by the British. In 1828 the Dutch claimed the western half as part of the Dutch East Indies. In 1884 Britain annexed the southeastern part and Germany took over the northeastern sector. The British part became the Territory of Papua in 1906 and passed to Australia, which also governed the German sector after World War I. After World War II, Australia governed both sectors as the Territory of Papua and New Guinea. Dutch New Guinea was annexed to Indonesia in 1969 as the province of Irian Jaya. Papua New Guinea achieved independence in 1975 and joined the British Commonwealth. It moved to resolve its war with Bougainville independence fighters in 1997.
