Papua New Guinea - Geography

Papua New Guinea occupies the eastern half of the island of New Guinea with many outlying islands, just north of Australia, is located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, in a region defined as Melanesia.

The country's geography is  extremely diverse. A spine of mountains runs the length of the island of New Guinea, forming a populous highlands region. Dense tropical forests can be found in the lowland and coastal areas. This terrain has made aviation a vital transport provider.

The Indonesian province of West Papua is to the west. To the north and east are the islands of Manus, New Britain, New Ireland, and Bougainville, all part of Papua New Guinea. The interior is mountainous. There are two major river systems, the Sepik which flows north and the Fly which flows south, both are navigable for shallow-draft vessels.

At 462,840 km2, Papua New Guinea. It is comparable in size to Sweden