Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea (PNG) is NOT part of Indonesia, nor is its coffee similar in almost any regard. The country is half of the larger island of Papua, whose other half does belong to Indonesia, but which produces scant amounts of coffee of any kind. PNG’s modern colonial history begins with both Germany and the United Kingdom arriving simultaneously in 1884, and dividing the region into northern and southern occupied territories. The British-occupied half, in the south, was held for 20 years and then granted to the newly formed Commonwealth of Australia in 1905. The separate colonies would remain side by side until World War I, when the southern Australian forces overtook the northern German territory and occupied it until Germany’s defeat in Europe, after which the League of Nations authorized Australia to administer both territories. The northern “New Guinea” and southern “Territory of Papua” remained separate administrations until World War II, after which the regions were combined as “The Territory of Papua and New Guinea”, and finally, “Papua New Guinea”.