West Papua: An Introduction
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The Indonesian Province of Papua --
Papua,
Eastern Indonesia, was formerly Dutch New Guinea. It is the western
portion of the island of New Guinea and is not to be confused with
Papua New Guinea (PNG), the eastern portion of the island. When
Indonesia assumed control of Dutch New Guinea they changed the name to
Irian Jaya. On 25 December 2000, President Wahid officially endorsed
the name change from Irian Jaya to Papua. The province of West Papua
(also known as Papua Barat, Irian Jaya Barat, or West Irian Jaya) is a
recent Indonesian government creation comprising the westernmost
portion of Papua. MAP
