Irian Jaya / Papua Island
Irian
Jaya (Papua), the western half of the islands is Indonesia’s biggest province,
about 410.000 square kilometers large. It’s the biggest province and occupy
almost 21 percent of the country’s total land area.It was the Spaniard Ynigo
Ortiz de Retes who in 1545, gave the name Nueva Guinea to a strip of land on
the north coast of the world’s second largest island after Greenland, which is
now half Indonesian, and half Papua New Guinea territory.Irian Jaya is
Indonesia’s most spectacular region for Tour Adventure. More than 75 percent of the land is covered by dense
tropical forest and dense jungle. With only about 2,000,000 million peoples.
Jayapura the near provincial capital on a hillside overlooking the sea, is
3,250 kilometers away from Jakarta. Irian Jaya is a land of exceptional natural
grandeur. It’s jungles are among the wildest, most impenetrable in the world.
Eternal, snow fields, cap mountain ridges more than 5.00 meters high, with
walls that plunge hundreds of meters down into floors filled with small glacier
lakes. It has scenic beaches in abundance as well as immense stretches of
impenetrable marshlands, cool grassy meadows lie at the foot of the towering
mountains. Rivers cut through dark forests until their slunggish, crocodile
infested mouth disgorge the water into the sea.
The highest peak in
the central mountain range is Puncak (Top) Jayawijaya 5,500 meters. Second and
third are Mount Trikora 5,160 meters, and Mount Yamin 5,100 meters,
respectively. The biggest lake is Lake Paniai district, floowed in order of
declining size by the lakes Ronbenbai and Sentani. Both in the vincinity of
Jayapura, and Anggigita near Manokwari.On the basis of physical features and
differences in language, customs, artistic expression and other aspects of
culture, the indigenous people of Irian Jaya are distinguished into about 250
sub-groups. They all belong to the Melanesian race, and are related to the
peoples inhabiting the islands along the southern rim of the Pacific.
The Negritos are
believed to have settled the island first probably some 30.000 years ago
followedby the Melanesians. The peoples of the central highlands still maintain
their ancestral, customs and traditions. And are as good as untouched by alien
influences. Most of the changes have so far taken place among the coastal
peoples, who are being subjected to an ever increasing contact with the world
outside.And Irian Jaya known to collectors for it’s fine primitive art, is a
land of contrast, modern towns and cities along the coast coexist with the
isolated settlement of simple shacks in the forest covered hinterland. Also
Irian Jaya is famed for it’s Bird of Paradise (Cendrawasih), the province’s
fauna is not particularly rich. Almost all the animals here are of the
Australian fauna type. Copper, oil, timber and sea products like fish and
shrimps are among the province’s main products.
Visitors, to visit
the hinterland, a police permit is
required from the Indonesia State Police. Visit Jiwika and walk up the hill to
see the traditional salt mine, the 250 years old mummy at Sopaima, Suroba
village. Loka Budaya Museum at Abepura. We could visit Syuru village and the
Asmat museum. To Arafura sea passing Bow River and to Owus village, a traditional
welcome ceremony will be performed by the villagers.The mountains, valleys full
of mystery. That was the hymn footage of Papua. This song echoed by the choir
from Jayapura Whaku Bim in the studio of Radio Netherlands some time ago. Voice
of people of Papua and Papua's natural beauty is an important tourism asset in
the eastern Indonesian region's. So asserted Aris Sudibyo, choir leader who won
a gold medal in the Olympic Alloys International in Australia Suaran summer
2008. What are the tourist attraction there.
Papua is one of Indonesia
province comprising a majority part of the western half of New Guinea Island
and nearby. The province originally covered the entire western half of New
Guinea, but in 2003, the western portion of the province, on the Bird's Head
Peninsula, was declared in Jakarta as separate province named West Irian Jaya.
The legality of this separation has been disputed, as it appears to conflict
with the conditions of the Special Autonomy status awarded to Papua in the year
2000. The status of West Irian Jaya province is not yet resolved as of early
2006.
Papua is the official
Indonesian and internationally recognized name for the province. During the
colonial era the region was known as Dutch New Guinea. The province was known
as West Irian or Irian Barat from 1969 to 1973, and then renamed Irian Jaya
("Victorious Irian") by Soeharto. This was the official name until
Papua was adopted in 2002. Today, natives of this province prefer to call
themselves Papuans rather than Irianese. This may be due to etymology
(variously identified as a real etymology or a folk etymology) the name of
Irian, which stems from the acronym Ikut Republik Indonesia, Anti Nederland
(join/follow with the Republic of Indonesia, rejecting The Netherlands). The name
West Papua is used among Papuan separatists and usually refers to the whole of
the Indonesian portion of New Guinea.
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