Geography of Papua New Guinea

Geography of Papua New Guinea

Continent	Pacific Ocean
Region	Oceania
Coordinates	6°00′S 147°00′E / 6.000°S 147.000°E / -6.000; 147.000
Area	Ranked 54th
• Total	462,840 km2 (178,700 sq mi)
• Land	98%
• Water	2%
Coastline	5,152 km (3,201 mi)
Borders	820 kilometres (510 mi)
Highest point	Mount Wilhelm 4,509 metres (14,793 ft)
Lowest point	Pacific Ocean 0 m
Exclusive economic zone	2,402,288 km2 (927,529 sq mi)

The geography of Papua New Guinea describes the eastern half of the island of New Guinea, the islands of New Ireland, New Britain and Bougainville, and smaller nearby islands. Together these make up the nation of Papua New Guinea in tropical Oceania, located in the western edge of the Pacific Ocean.

Papua New Guinea is largely mountainous, and much of it is covered with tropical rainforest. The New Guinea Highlands (or Central Range) run the length of New Guinea, and the highest areas receive snowfall—a rarity in the tropics. Within Papua New Guinea Mount Wilhelm is the highest peak, at 4,509 m (14,793 ft). There are several major rivers, notably the Sepik River, which is 1,126 km (700 mi) long, which winds through lowland swamp plains to the north coast, and the Fly River at 1,050 km (650 mi) in length, which flows through one of the largest swamplands in the world to the south coast. The Highlands consist of a number of smaller ranges running west to east, such as the Finisterre Range which dominates the Huon Peninsula to the north of the city of Lae. At 462,840 km² (178,700 sq mi) it is the world's third largest island country.^[1]

Papua New Guinea has one land border—that which divides the island of New Guinea. Across the 820 km (509 mi) border is the Indonesian provinces of Papua, Highland Papua and South Papua. Papua New Guinea's border with Indonesia is not straight; the border loops slightly to the west along the Fly River in the south-central part of New Guinea, on the western edge of Papua New Guinea's Western Province. There are maritime borders with Australia to the south and Solomon Islands to the southeast.