ShiroKobbure said:
get me some info and who you think should be the civ leader. are they polynesian or more austrial black?
They are Melonesians (black). As they are made of numerous distinct tribes, I was thinking of using their first modern Prime Minister for a leader - (Michael Somare). He led the nation to independence in the 1970's, initiated as a tribal chief (pic 1) in 1975 before becoming Prime Minister (pic 2).
Check out the get'n pacific thread for great leaders and city list.
Brief History summarised from (
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/destinations/australasia/papua_new_guinea/history.htm)
It is believed that Papua New Guinea was originally inhabited by Asian settlers over 50,000 years ago. The first European contact in 1526-27 was by the Portuguese explorer Jorge de Meneses, who named the island Ilhas dos Papuas (Island of the Fuzzy Hairs). The Spaniard Inigo Ortiz de Retes later called it New Guinea because he thought the people similar to those of Guinea in Africa. Further exploration followed, including landings by Bougainville, Cook, Stanley and John Moresby.
A large, rather daunting place, New Guinea was left alone for several centuries, with only the Dutch making any effort to assert European authority over the island. But in 1824, the Dutch (seeking to shore up their profitable Dutch East Indies empire) formalised their claims to sovereignty over the western portion of the island. Germany followed, taking possession of the northern part of the territory in 1884. A colonial troika was completed three days later when Britain declared a protectorate over the southern region; outright annexation occurred four years later.
In 1906, British New Guinea became Papua, and administration of the region was taken over by newly independent Australia. PNG was granted self-government in 1973, and full independence was achieved in 1975 (unde (Michael Somare).
Papua New Guinea's most immediate concern after independence was its relations with powerful neighbour Indonesia. After Indonesia's takeover of Irian Jaya, many West Papuans organised a guerrilla resistance movement - Organisasi Papua Merdeka (OPM) - which fought Indonesian forces with limited success. Tensions decreased markedly after 1985, as the flow of refugees (estimated at over 10,000) between Irian Jaya and PNG slowed. There are still 7500 Irian Jayan refugees living in camps in Western Province - the largest expatriate group in the country.
After much bloodshed - including the notorious St Valentine's Day Massacre of 1990 when gunships, supplied by Australia, were deployed in an offensive role by the PNG security forces - peace talks were tentatively staged. But in 1992, then Prime Minister Wingti launched another major offensive against the rebels, further exacerbating the situation. The conflict claimed the scalp of the next prime minister, Sir Julius Chan, in early 1997 when PNG military leaders refused to co-operate with a US$35 million covert operation that involved South African mercenaries re-taking the island by force. The mercenaries were sent home and Sir Julius resigned. Elections in mid-1997 saw Bill Skate take up the office.
In November 2000, the government announced plans to relocate 1000 inhabitants of Duke of York atoll, which is slowly sinking due to shifting tectonic plates accompanied by volcanic activity. Meanwhile the country continued to teeter on the brink of lawlessness, to the point that, in his third term as prime minister, Sir Michael Somare invited the former colonial masters to intervene in July 2004. Australia agreed to send 300 police and bureaucrats to help fight crime and corruption.
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Keep up the good work, Shirou!
