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New Guinea (Niugini; Hiri Motu: Niu Gini; Papua, fossilized Nugini, or historically Irian) is the world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torres Strait, though both landmasses lie on the same continental shelf. Numerous smaller islands are located to the west and east. The eastern half of the island is the major land mass of the independent state of Papua New Guinea. The western half, known as Western New Guinea, forms a part of Indonesia and is organized as the provinces of Papua, Central Papua, Highland Papua, South Papua, Southwest Papua, and West Papua. The largest cities on the island are Jayapura (capital of Papua, Indonesia) and Port Moresby (capital of Papua New Guinea). The island has been known by various names: The name Papua was used to refer to parts of the island before contact with the West. Its etymology is unclear; one theory states that it derived from Tidore, the language used by the Sultanate of Tidore. Expedition by Sultan of Tidore, with Sahmardan, Sangaji of Patani and Gurabesi managed to conquer some areas in New Guinea which was then reorganised to Korano Ngaruha ( "Four Kings") or Raja Ampat, Papoua Gam Sio ( "The Papua Nine Negeri"), and Mafor Soa Raha ( The Mafor "Four Soa"). The name comes from the words papo ("to unite") and ua (negation), which means "not united" or, "territory that geographically is far away (and thus not fully integrated to Tidore proper)". Anton Ploeg reports that the word papua is often said to be derived from the Malay word papua or pua-pua, meaning "frizzly-haired", referring to the very curly hair of the inhabitants of these areas. However Sollewijn Gelpke in 1993 considered this is unlikely as it had been used earlier, he suggested it comes from the Biak phrase sup i babwa, which means "the land below [the sunset]", and refers to the Raja Ampat Islands. The name Papua came to be associated with this area, which was known to the Portuguese by this name during the era of their exploration in this part of the world.

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Papua (province)

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