Forgotten World (235): West Papua
The western half of the island of New Guinea, north of Australia, has been called Netherlands New Guinea (1895–1962), West New Guinea (1962–63), West Irian (1963–73), Irian Jaya (1973–2001), and Papua (2002–2003), but West Papua is the name preferred by the 3 million indigenous Papuans.
The region was incorporated into the Indonesian republic in the 1960s, which remains controversial with much of the territory’s indigenous population, West Papuan nationalist organisations, and some international NGOs and advocates of West Papua self-determination.