When the Portuguese landed on the south coast of the island in 1526, they called it Papua, after a Malay word that described the fuzzy hair of the inhabitants. When the Spanish claimed the north coast 19 years later, they called it New Guinea, because they thought the natives resembled those on the Guinea Coast of Africa. Since the two territories became jointly administered by Australia in 1949, they have gone by the hybrid mouthful of Papua New Guinea. The region is scheduled to become a single, self-governing nation in December, and the search is on for a new...
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