Rob Small's Masters Thesis: Uptake and the success of insect ...

Chapter 1
Post Independent Papua New Guinea
Colonial History
The island of New Guinea is believed to have been populated for the past 50000 years with
the islands first settlers coming from South East Asia. The first Europeans to discover this
vast island were the Portuguese. In 1526 it was named Ilhas dos Papuas (Island of the
Fuzzy Haired People) by Jorge de Meneses. Subsequently another Portuguese named the
island New Guinea in 1545 as he thought that the coastline was reminiscent of Equatorial
Guinea in West Africa. These dates mark the first official recognition of the island by the
West but products originating from New Guinea had been items of trade for several
hundred years before the Portuguese discovery. The main items of trade were plumes from
the island’s remarkable Birds of Paradise. Plumes have been found as far as Persia dating
back to the 16 th century. The trade in plumes occurred alongside an increasing demand for
spices (mace, cinnamon and nutmeg) that originated from the Moluccan Islands to the west
of mainland New Guinea. The European market for these spices led to the establishment of
a Dutch colony on the Moluccan Islands. Initial trips to mainland New Guinea from this
colony revealed no evidence of spices to be found and the interest of the colonial powers
extending their influence onto the mainland subsided. However, although the Dutch had no
economic interest in mainland New Guinea at that time they did annex the island up to the
140 parallel. This territory was administrated by the Sultans from the Moluccan Islands.
During the 18 th century several expeditions were made by the French and British to chart
the coast of New Guinea and to extend colonial influence over this region. Yet it wasn’t
until the late 19 th century that the Eastern half of the island was annexed by colonial
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