Biological Exploration of New Guinea

5

EARLY HISTORY OF PAPUA NEW GUINEA.

At no time was PNG completely joined to South East Asia, but it was joined to Australia, probably until about 6000 years ago. As a result, PNG shares many species of plants and animals (including marsupials) with Australia but not Indonesia. The Wallace line marks the deep water between Bali and Lombok and Kalimantan and Sulawesi that formed a natural barrier to animals and plants. To reach PNG, people had to cross open water on canoes or rafts.

Several waves of people have arrived in PNG from Asia, and this may be reflected in the distribution of Austronesian and non-Austronesian languages. The Austronesian languages are scattered along the coast and are spoken throughout Polynesia and Micronesia. The majority of Papua New Guineans speak non-Austronesian languages and, it is believed, arrived before the Austronesian language speakers.

As the world’s climate warmed, the sea level rose, isolating PNG and submerging the original coastal settlements. Parts of the Huon Peninsula have subsequently risen due to volcanic activity. Evidence of early coastal settlements have been exposed – 40,000year-old stone axes have been found.

People reached the Highlands about 30,000 years ago and most of the valleys were settled over the next 20,000 years. Trade between the Highlands and the coast have been going on for at least 10,000 years.

Kuk (or Kup) Swamp in the Wahgi Valley (Western Highlands) has evidence of human habitation going back 20,000 years. Even more significantly there is evidence of gardening beginning 9000 years ago. This makes Papua New Guineans among the first farmers in the world. The main foods farmed at that stage are likely to have been sago, coconuts, breadfruit, local bananas, yams, sugar cane (which originated in PNG), nuts and edible leaves. It is uncertain when the pig and more productive starch crops (yams, taros, bananas) were introduced, but it is known that pigs arrived at least 10,000 years ago.

As previously mentioned, the first European impact on PNG was indirect but far reaching. The sweet potato was taken to South East Asia from South America by the Portuguese and Spanish in the 16th century. It is believed Malay traders then brought it to Irian Jaya from where it was traded to the Highlands. The introduction of the sweet potato must have brought radical change to life in the Highlands, its high yield and tolerance for poor and cold soils allowed the colonisation of higher altitudes, the domestication of many more pigs and a major increase in human population.

The next development preceding the permanent arrival of Europeans was the arrival of steel axes which were traded from the coast to the Highlands. The introduction of these more efficient axes reduced the workload of men, increased bride price payments and maybe because of increased leisure time, encouraged war.

5 Lonely Planets Bushwalking in Papua New Guinea p 12 ISBN 0864420528

6

BIOLOGICAL EXPLORATION OF NEW GUINEA

Frodin and Gressitt in 1982 described early visits by outsiders to PNG, as Malay and Chinese traders from Dobo. However, the earliest recorded explorers were Portuguese. The first was Jorge de Meneses in 1527, followed by Alvaro de Saavedra in 1528 and Ortes de Retes in 1545. In 1567 Alvaro de Mendana discovered the Solomon Islands. In 1595, Pedro Fernandez de Quiros discovered the New Hebrides. The next major exploration was undertaken by Luis Vaiz de Torres in 1606.

The first Dutch voyage to the East Indies was in 1597. Contacts by Dutchmen with New Guinea began in earnest early in the 17th century. Eillem Jantz on the Duyfken in 1606. Willem Schouten and Jacob Le Maire in 1616 viewed New Ireland, Manus and much of the North Coast. In 1623 Jan Carstensz saw the south west coast. In 1642, Abel Tasman touched New Ireland and New Britain.

In 1700, Englishman William Dampier on Roebuck visited North Coast of PNG, New Ireland, and New Britain. His collections were some of the earliest scientific specimens from the region.

Frodin and Gressitt reported that many of the early voyages of exploration up till 1840 touched mainland New Guinea or some offshore island, but only some carried naturalists who took back specimens for study – notably those of Bougainville, Cook, D’Entrecasteaux, Duperry, D’Urville and Belcher.

The first major botanical collection was made in 1872 by Beccari with d’Albertis with the first real ascent into the interior in the Arfak Mountains. Although others then followed, including Forbes (1885-86), Turner (1875), Miklucho – Maclay (1871-72 and 1876-77), and Finsch (1880-82 and 1884).

Sir William MacGregor – Administrator British New Guinea (1888-1898) greatly expanded knowledge of the mountainous interior. By 1900 gold prospectors had also investigated sections of some inland rivers in Papua. Further areas were explored by gold prospectors in the 1920s.

In German New Guinea (1884-1914) the first expeditions were sponsored by scientific institutions and private companies. In 1887, an astronomer, C. Schrader, accompanied by a botanist and geologist, travelled up the Sepik River. In 1888, a journalist, H. Zoller, explored inland from Astrolabe Bay to the Finisterre Ranges. In 1885, Otto von Ehlers died attempting to walk from (the present) Salamaua to the south coast. From 1907 to 1913 German scientific bodies mounted major expeditions which investigated the upper Ramu River, the lower Bismarck ranges, Aitape, Huon Gulf and Markham River. These parties, which were well equipped and included leading naturalists and anthropologists, often spent long periods in the area in which they were working. The last German scientific expedition was in the Sepik River region in 1912-13. Classic German collectors included Frans Carl Hellwig, Carl Lauterbach, Schlechter and Carl Ludwig Ledermann (1919).

6 Frodin D G and Gressitt J L Biological Exploration of New Guinea pp 87-130 Biogeography and Ecology of New Guinea 1982