The Facts

I realized that I have provided little background information about Papua New Guinea. So let's go back to the beginning and establish a good starting point:

- When the first Portugese explorers discovered the island, they called it 'Ilhas dos Papuas' which means 'Island of the Fuzzy-hairs'. Later, Dutch explorers called it New Guinea because it reminded them of Guinea in Africa. When you put the two together, you get Papua New Guinea

- The population of PNG is 4.2 million - less than 6% of that total are formally employed- Port Moseby is the capital and political center of PNG. It is also the largest city. The two other cities in PNG are Lae and Hagen.

- Mountains enclose Port Moseby so it is impossible to travel to or from the city by motor vehicle. Plane, boat or by foot.

- Before the continental divide, PNG was connected to Australia so the two countries share many of the same species of plants and animals. The PNG also share some of the ancient blood lines of the Australian aborigine.

- Rabaul was the cultural center of PNG up until 1994 when it was leveled by the volcano Vulcan - the volcano still rumbles and perpetually coughs up ash - PNG is home to 38 species of the 'bird of paradise' which have bizarre displays and mating rituals. The bird appears on the nation's flag, which is red, black and yellow.

- The national sport is undoubtedly Rugby League - the national team isnamed the 'Kulus', which is the pidgin name for 'bird of paradise' - the next two popular sports are cricket and soccer

- PNG became an independent nation in 1975

- The first (and current) Prime Minister is Sir Michael Somare, nicknamed 'the chief' - he appears of the K50 note

- Every Prime Minister has a six-year term. However, no prime minister has EVER completed their entire term. Each PM has received a 'vote of no confidence' (kind of like being impeached) and removed from office (thoughsome have come back to win a later election, like Somare)

- An estimated 800 different languages are spoken in PNG - the specific dialect of each tribe is known as 'tok ples'

Ah bullet points… a gift from god to the lazy writer. Who needs paragraphs, structure and transitional phrases when you can slap an arbitrary dot in front of sentence fragments? Bless you sweet bullets. We will meet again.