Papua New Guinea occupies a distinctive place in human history. The essay "Why I can't stop thinking about Papua New Guinea and what I think everyone should know about it" (published 13 Sep 2026 on notnottalmud.substack.com) opens with a series of striking facts: roughly 1 000 languages are spoken there—about 12 % of all languages on earth—making it the most linguistically diverse country in the world. The author notes that population estimates range from 10 million to 17 million, and that until the 1960s tribal groups were still using bows and arrows in combat. The capital, Port Moresby, is described as the world’s most dangerous city, and practices such as cannibalism, the transmission of kuru through endocannibalism, and genetic resistance to that disease are outlined. Jared Diamond’s claim that highlanders are genetically smarter than Europeans is mentioned, but the essay quickly moves to the deeper story recorded in the book *First Contact: New Guinea’s Highlanders Encounter the Outside World*.
That account documents the 1930 discovery by Australian miner Mick Leahy of a million highlanders living in lush, snow‑capped valleys—people who had no knowledge of the outside world. The encounter was filmed and photographed, showing highlanders initially mistaking white visitors for ghosts of dead relatives, then observing demonstrations of strength, handling of unfamiliar objects, and aerial trips over the coast. The essay also describes a hyperinflation episode: Australians shipped shells (a rare commodity) into the highlands to exchange for food and labour, driving shell prices up until the currency became worthless.
The essay explains why the highlands never centralized into larger states. Root crops like taro rot quickly, there were no draft animals, no writing system, and protein was scarce. These structural factors limited storage, trade, and large‑scale projects, keeping groups to a few hundred people in constant low‑intensity warfare. Gift‑giving systems such as *moka* (pairs of pigs and shells) produced temporary "big men" leaders, but leadership was not hereditary and could not endure. Even so, cultural norms—food ways, building styles, rituals—spread across valleys through imitation and marriage.
Austronesian seafarers arrived on the coast about 3 000 years ago, bringing chiefs and hereditary politics that contrast with the highland big‑man system. Over centuries, crops such as the sweet potato and tobacco moved eastward from the Spice Islands into the highlands, carried by women who married between clans; the sweet potato triggered a population surge because it yields far more calories per acre than taro.
The accompanying Wikipedia article "Languages of Papua New Guinea" confirms the linguistic breadth: 840 living languages are documented, with 25 officially recognized. The lingua franca Tok Pisin (an English‑based creole) and English itself are used in government and education, while Hiri Motu and Papua New Guinean Sign Language round out the official set. Literacy in English was about 39.9 % (2011 census) and in Tok Pisin about 68.4 %.
Together, these sources paint a picture of a land where language, social organization, and environment interacted to produce a remarkably isolated yet dynamic population—one that only recently entered the modern world, and whose history continues to shape contemporary understanding of human diversity.