Ethnicity, Language, & Religion of Papua New Guinea
Ethnicity
Papua New Guinea is a very diverse country and today there are ethnic Melanesians, Papuans, Negritos, Micronesians, and Europeans among others. The Melanesians, who are likely the descendants of the Papuans and Austronesians, occupy parts of Papua New Guinea and many nearby island nations, including Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. Today the people of these two nations are the Melanesian's closest relatives.
The Papuans are not technically an ethnic group, but are a linguistic group who speak Papuan languages. Despite this, many of these people consider themselves ethnically Papuan as well, which is truly a term that includes anyone who speaks a Papuan language. Despite this linguistic definition, most Papuans are closely related, although there are some Papuan-speaking Austronesians in the country who consider themselves Papuan, but are ethnically Austronesian.
The Negritos are an ethnic group that is quite distinct in the world as their origins are unknown; some people believe they arrived to the region prior to the Austronesians, while others believe they are related more closely to the Melanesians and Austronesians, but have since undergone numerous genetic variations, making them quite different from these people. Either way, the Negritos can be found in parts of Papua New Guinea and in other isolated parts of Asia as their closest relatives are these other isolated groups, which include many of the people in India's Andaman Islands.