Territory of New Guinea

The Territory of New Guinea was the Australia-controlled, League of Nations-mandated territory in the north eastern part of the island of New Guinea, and surrounding islands, between 1920 and 1949. The south-eastern part of the island of New Guinea was a separate Australian colony, the Territory of Papua, until 1949. The Australian mandate was based on the previous German New Guinea, which was captured and occupied by Australian forces in 1914, during World War I. Much of the Territory of New Guinea was occupied by Japanese forces during World War II; Rabaul, on the island of New Britain was... a major Japanese base . Under the Papua New Guinea Provisional Administration Act, , the territories of Papua and New Guinea were combined in an administrative union. Archeological evidence suggests that humans arrived on New Guinea at least 60,000 years ago. These Melanesian people developed stone tools and agriculture. Portuguese and Spanish navigators sailing in the South Pacific entered New Guinea waters in the early part of the 16th century and in 1526-27, Don Jorge de Meneses came upon the principal island "Papua".
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