Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (PNG; , ; ; ), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an Oceanian country that occupies the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and its offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean north of Australia. Its capital, located along its southeastern coast, is Port Moresby. The western half of New Guinea forms the Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua. At the national level, after being ruled by three external powers since 1884, Papua New Guinea established its sovereignty in 1975. This followed nearly 60
Administrative divisions of Papua New Guinea Administrative divisions of Papua New Guinea For administrative purposes, Papua New Guinea (PNG) is divided into administrative divisions called regions and provinces. Papua New Guinea is divided into four regions and 22 province-level divisions: 20 provinces plus the autonomous region (Bougainville) and the National Capital District. Each province is divided into one or more districts, which in turn are divided into one or more local level government areas (LLGs). PNG is divided into four regions. While not official administrative divisions for most purposes, regions are quite significant in daily life. People generally identify strongly with their region, and inter-region rivalries