History of New Guinea in Timeline

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New Guinea

New Guinea, the world's second-largest island in Melanesia, spans 785,753 km2. Situated in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, it's separated from Australia by the Torres Strait but shares a continental shelf, having been connected during Pleistocene glaciations as part of Sahul. Numerous smaller islands surround it to the west and east. The name "New Guinea" originated from Spanish explorer Yñigo Ortiz de Retez in 1545, who noted a resemblance between the island's inhabitants and those of the Guinea region in Africa.