Papua

Papua, officially the Federative Republic of Papua (German: Föderative Republik Papua) is a country in the Melanesian region of Oceania.

History
Melanesian peoples settled on the island of New Guinea and the Solomon Islands about 40,000 years ago.

In the 16th century, Portuguese explorers arrived at New Guinea and called it Papua. The German Empire, however, was the first to colonize the islands. Incentives were made for Germans willing to settle on these colonies as well. Around this time, a people known as the Papuans became dominant in the islands.

German New Guinea and the Solomon Islands quickly developed, and its population rose. When WWI was veering close, Germany became worried, and proposed a referendum in German New Guinea if they wanted independence. 64% of the people voted for independence, 29% voted to stay with Germany, and 7% did not vote. The independence of German New Guinea and the Solomon Islands became official under the name of the "Federative Republic of Papua" (German: Föderative Republik Papua), or "Papua" for short, named after the largest ethnic group there, on May 14, 1914. They gained independence just a few months before WWI, where the German Empire would later lose most of its colonies.

Papua first started on a rocky start without Germany funding and supplying them, which they had been dependent on. There was even rumored to be a famine in Papua around 1915. However, once the Papuans grew to be independent in its own affairs, the quality of life and economy greatly increased. Papua became known for its great agricultural and livestock products, and made tons of profit from a lot of countries wanting to buy it. Forestry, mining, tourism, and fishing also boosted the Papuan economy.

In the 1930s and 1940s, some Nazis attempted a coup d'état in Papua, attempting to bring back the country to German glory, but it failed. The memories of it, however, continue to be in Papuan history.

Papua started to develop a very good industry after WWII. Manufacturing, building, construction, transport, telecommunications, and trade increased drastically. Tourism also flourished in Papua, with millions of tourists coming every year. Papua started to make its way on to the world stage in the global market, and became very dominant in Oceania, along with Australia and New Zealand.

Trivia

 * The Papuans are rumored to not be a true ethnicity, with some being ethnic Germans, some being a mix of German and Melanesian peoples, and a minority being ethnic Melanesians.
 * Papua can into potato just like Latvia (Baltica and Baltica-Belarus in this universe), Belarus (also Baltica-Belarus in this universe), Ireland and Idaho.
 * Papua has some East Asian influence.

Meta

 * Papua is kind of a collabration between IIF210 and RedLightningStrike, with IIF first coming up with the idea for the country, and RLS helping him finish it.
 * During the development of Papua, IIF210 called Papua "Staerkeland" ("Stärkeland" in German), after the German word "Stärke" meaning "strength", but when RedLightningStrike chose the location for the country, IIF decided to change it.
 * IIF and RLS couldn't come up with a flag until July 2020, around 11 months after the country's initial creation.