Passports
Passport valid for at least six months after entry required by all.

Visas
Required by all.

Types of visa and cost
Tourist: £7. Business (multiple-entry): £175. Costs vary for special categories of visitors (including consultants, yachtsmen and those engaged in medical, research or expedition activities). There will also be charges for extensions and costs incurred in processing documents.

Validity
Up to 60 days for tourists; up to 12 months for business trips with 60 days maximum per stay. Details of renewals or extensions are available from the Embassy or High Commission.

Application to
Consulate (or Consular section at Embassy or High Commission); see General Info section. In emergency cases, Tourist visas can be obtained at Jackson International Airport in Port Moresby or at Mount Hagen on arrival, but only for a maximum period of 60 days in any 12-month period, which cannot be extended. However, visitors are strongly advised to obtain visas in advance (which is also the cheaper option).

Application requirements
Tourist: (a) Completed application form (one per passport submitted). (b) Two passport-size photos. (c) Passport with minimum one year remaining validity from date of entry. (d) Return ticket. (e) Postal applications should be accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped, registered envelope. (f) Fee, payable by postal order or bank drafts if applying by post or in cash if applying in person. Business: (a)-(f) and, (g) Confirmed itinerary from travel agent. (h) Detailed letter in support of application covering curriculum vitae and confirmation of ongoing project in Papua New Guinea. (i) For visas issued at the airport, a letter of guarantee from sponsor must have been sent in advance to the Director of Immigration at the airport. Contact the nearest Papua New Guinea representative office for further information.

The indigenous population of Papua New Guinea is one of the most heterogeneous in the world. Papua New Guinea has several thousand separate communities, most with only a few hundred people. Divided by language, customs, and tradition, some of these communities have engaged in tribal warfare with their neighbors for centuries.

The isolation created by the mountainous terrain is so great that some groups, until recently, were unaware of the existence of neighboring groups only a few kilometers away. The diversity, reflected in a folk saying, “For each village, a different culture,” is perhaps best shown in the local languages. Spoken mainly on the island of New Guinea–composed of Papua New Guinea and the Indonesian province of West Papua–about 650 of these languages have been identified; of these, only 350-450 are related. The remainder seem to be totally unrelated either to each other or to the other major groupings. Native languages are spoken by a few hundred to a few thousand, although Enga, used in Enga Province, is spoken by some 130,000 people. Most native languages are extremely complex grammatically.

Melanesian Pidgin serves as the lingua franca. English is spoken by educated people and in Milne Bay Province.

The overall population density is low, although pockets of overpopulation exist. Papua New Guinea’s Western Province averages one person per square kilometer (3 per sq. mi.). The Chimbu Province in the New Guinea highlands averages 20 persons per square kilometer (60 per sq. mi.) and has areas containing up to 200 people farming a square kilometer of land. The highlands have 40% of the population.

In a country of four million people with 800 different languages, Papua New Guinea cannot be compared with any other country for its rich cultural diversity. There is no such thing as a typical Papua New Guinean. More than 200 cultures, each with different traditions, have been identified.

The impact of modernisation brings daily change to Papua New Guinea, but the majority of people, whether they be from the Highlands to the Coastal regions, remain dependent on subsistence farming and live in small villages. Much of the inherited social structure, from matters affecting gardening to marriage and death, remains unchanged. The responsibility for the day to day work of gardening and caring for children and animals still lies with the women. Social units are based on family, clan and tribe. Ownership of material wealth is vested in the household and controlled by a male elder. Wealth was not traditionally accumulated for its own sake, but so it could be given away, with elaborate ceremony, creating prestige for the giver and placing obligations on the receiver. Fundamental to the society were notions of reciprocity and family obligations. This still holds true in today’s society.

Ancient rituals are still performed for important social events. These elaborate ceremonies are normally presided over by the elders of the clan, with warriors painted and decorated in bright colours, feathers and shells. Today each of the twenty provinces has its own cultural festivals and regional shows where groups are invited to perform and visitors have the opportunity to glimpse the many visual and performing arts of Papua New Guinea. The most popular shows include the Hiri Moale, held in Port Moresby every September, the Mount Hagen show, held annually in August and the Goroka Show, every September, which attracts tourist from all over the world.

Independence from Australia occurred in September of 1975. A secessionist revolt which claimed 20,000 lives raged on the island of Bougainville from 1988 until it was resolved in 1997. Autonomous Bougainville recently elected Joseph Kabui as president.

First Arrivals

Archeological evidence indicates that humans arrived on New Guinea at least 60,000 years ago, probably by sea from Southeast Asia during an ice age period when the sea was lower and distances between islands shorter. For an overview of the geological history of the continent of which New Guinea is a part, see Australia-New Guinea.

Although the first arrivals were hunters and gatherers, early evidence shows that people managed the forest environment to provide food.

The gardens of the New Guinea highlands are ancient, intensive permacultures, adapted to high population densities, very high rainfalls (as high as 10,000mm/yr (400in/yr)), earthquakes, hilly land, and occasional frost. There are indications that gardening was being practiced at the same time that agriculture was developing in Mesopotamia and Egypt.

Complex mulches, crop rotations and tillages are used in rotation on terraces with complex irrigation systems. Western agronomists still do not understand all practices, and native gardeners are notably more successful than most scientific farmers. Some authorities believe that New Guinea gardeners invented crop rotation well before western europeans.

Early garden crops–many of which are indigenous–included sugarcane, Pacific bananas, yams, and taro, while sago and pandanus were two commonly exploited native forest crops. Today’s staples–sweet potatoes and pigs–are later arrivals, but shellfish and fish have long been mainstays of coastal dwellers’ diets.

A unique feature of New Guinea permaculture is the silviculture of Casuarina oligodon, a tall, sturdy native ironwood tree, suited to use for timber and fuel, with root nodules that fix nitrogen. Pollen studies show that it was adopted during an ancient period of extreme deforestation.

Papua New Guinea’s foreign policy reflects close ties with Australia and other traditional allies and cooperative relations with neighboring countries. Its views on international political and economic issues are generally moderate. Papua New Guinea has diplomatic relations with 56 countries.

Papua New Guinea belongs to a variety of regional organizations, including the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum; the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) (Papua New Guinea is an observer member of the ASEAN); the South Pacific Commission; and the South Pacific Regional Environmental Program (SPREP).

The U.S. and Papua New Guinea are signatories to the U.S.-Pacific Islands Multilateral Tuna Fisheries Treaty, under which the U.S. grants USD 18 million per year to Pacific Island parties and the latter provide access for U.S. fishing vessels. The U.S. also supports Papua New Guinea’s efforts to protect biodiversity; the International Coral Reef Initiative is aimed at protecting reefs in tropical nations such as Papua New Guinea.

As of November 2005, relations with Pacific neighbour Fiji have been strained by revelations that a number of Fijian mercenaries have been operating illegally on the island of Bougainville, arming and training a rebel militia.