formerly Irian Jaya
Province (pop., 2000 prelim.: 2,220,934), Indonesia.
It includes the western half of the island of New Guinea and its offshore islands and the Schouten and Raja Ampat island groups. The Maoke Mountains rise to 16,503 ft (5,030 m) at Puncak Jaya. First sighted by the Portuguese in 1511, Papua was claimed by the Dutch in 1828. It was transferred to Indonesia in 1963 and was made a province in 1969, with its capital at Jayapura. Rebels led a separatist movement there in the late 1990s, and Papua achieved greater autonomy in 2001.