Western New Guinea

This article is about the Indonesian western half of the island of New Guinea. For the Indonesian province, see West Papua (province).

Western New Guinea (Papua)
Irian Barat Irian Jaya
Region
Country	Indonesia
Autonomous Region	Papua,West Papua
Cities	Jayapura,Manokwari,Sorong,Wamena,Timika, Merauke
Highest point	Puncak Jaya
- location	Sudirman Range
- elevation	4,884 m (16,024 ft)
- coordinates	4°5′S 137°11′E
Area	420,540 km2(162,371 sq mi)
Population	4,363,869 (2014)
Density	10/km2(26/sq mi)
Timezone	Indonesia Eastern Time (UTC+9)
ISO 3166-2	ID-IJ
License plate	DS PB

Western New Guinea, also known as Papua (formerly Irian Jaya), is the Indonesian part of the island of New Guinea (also known as Papua), lying to the west of the nation of Papua New Guinea. The territory is considered to include smaller nearby islands including Biak. The region is predominantly dense forest where numerous traditional tribes live such as the Dani of the Baliem Valley, although the majority of the population live in or near coastal areas. The largest city in the region is Jayapura. The official and most commonly spoken language is Indonesian. Estimates of the number of tribal languages in the region range from 200 to over 700, with the most widely spoken including Dani, Yali, Ekari and Biak. The predominant religion is Christianity (often combined with traditional beliefs) followed by Islam. The main industries include agriculture, fishing, oil production, and mining.

The territory has been part of Indonesia since May 1963.^[1] The indigenous Melanesian population at the end of 1961 estimated at 718,055^[2] has been estimated to have grown by year 2005 to 1,559,000^[3] representing a 1.6% growth rate while the Indo population at the end of 1961 estimated at 16,581^[2] has been estimated to have grown by year 2005 to 1,088,000^[3] representing a 10% growth rate.

Human habitation is estimated to have begun between 42,000 and 48,000 years ago.^[4] The Netherlands claimed the region and commenced missionary work in the nineteenth century. The region was annexed by Indonesia in the 1960s. Following the 1998 commencement of reforms across Indonesia, Papua and other Indonesian provinces received greater regional autonomy. In 2001, "Special Autonomy" status was granted to Papua province, although to date, implementation has been partial and often criticised.^[5] The region was administered as a single province until 2003, when it was split into the provinces of Papua and West Papua.