Enga refers to both an ethnic group located in the highlands of
Papua New GuineaPapua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...
and the province in which they are the majority ethnic group.
Physical geography
Enga is the highest and is the second most rugged province (after
Simbu ProvinceSimbu, also known as Chimbu, is a Highlands Region province in Papua New Guinea. The province has an area of 6,100 km² and a population of 259,703 . The capital of the province is Kundiawa...
) in Papua New Guinea. It covers an area of 12,800 km². Much of the province is at altitudes of over 2000 meters. Lower altitude areas are typically valleys which form the watershed for the two major river systems that drain the province, the Lagaip (which is a tributary of the
FlyThe Fly at , is the second longest river, after the Sepik, in Papua New Guinea. The Fly is the largest river in Oceania, the largest in the world without a single dam in its catchment, and overall ranks as the twenty-fifth largest river in the world by volume of discharge...
) and the
LaiThe Lai River is a river of Thailand. It is a tributary of the Yom River, part of the Chao Phraya River basin.-See also:*Tributaries of the Chao Phraya River...
(which is a tributary of the Sepik).
Human geography
The Papua New Guinea census of 2000 lists the population of Enga at 295,031 people, although the accuracy of the census is questionable. The provincial capital of Enga is
WabagWabag is the capital of Enga Province, Papua New Guinea. It is the least populous provincial capital in the country. It is on the Lai River; the Highlands Highway passes through the town, between Mount Hagen and Porgera...
. The two other main centers of population are Wapenamanda and
LaiagamLaiagam is situated in the west of Enga Province, Papua New Guinea. It is the main town of the Lagaip-Porgera District; the largest and most populated district of Enga's four administrative districts....
. Porgera, at the western edge of the province, is home to a gold mine operated by
Barrick GoldBarrick Gold Corporation is the largest pure gold mining company in the world, with its headquarters in Toronto, Ontario, Canada; and four regional business units located in Australia, Africa, North America and South America...
.
Enga is unique among the provinces in Papua New Guinea in that it has only one major linguistic and ethnic group:
EngaEnga is a language of the East New Guinea Highlands that is spoken by approximately 180,000 people in Enga Province, Papua New Guinea. It has the largest body of speakers of any native language in New Guinea....
speakers. Although dialects of the Enga language vary greatly from Laiagam in the west to Wapenamanda in the east, Engans' shared ethnic identity overshadows the existence of other ethnic groups in the province, such as Ipili speakers (around Porgera) and Nete speakers.
Districts and LLGs
Each province in Papua New Guinea has one or more districts, and each district has one or more Local Level Government (LLG) areas. For
censusA census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
purposes, the LLG areas are subdivided into wards and those into census units.
| District |
District Capital |
LLG Name |
| Kandep District Kandep District is a district of Enga Province in Papua New Guinea. It is one of the four administrative districts that make up the province.-See also:*Districts of Papua New Guinea...
|
Kandep |
Kandep Rural |
| Tsak Rural |
| Wage Rural |
| Wapenamanda Rural |
| Kompiam District Kompiam District is a district of the Enga Province of Papua New Guinea. Its capital is Kompiam. The population of the district was 44,137 at the 2000 census....
|
Kompiam |
Ambum Rural |
| Kompiam Rural |
| Wapi (Uangis) Rural |
| Lagaip-Porgera District Lagaip-Porgera District is a district of the Enga Province of Papua New Guinea. Its capital is Lagaip-Porgera. The population of the district was 86,901 at the 2000 census....
|
Lagaip-Porgera |
Lagaip Rural |
| Maip-Mulitaka Rural |
| Paiela-Hewa Rural |
| Pogera Rural |
| Wabag District Wabag District is a district of the Enga Province of Papua New Guinea. Its capital is Wabag. The population of the district was 57,684 at the 2000 census....
|
Wabag Wabag is the capital of Enga Province, Papua New Guinea. It is the least populous provincial capital in the country. It is on the Lai River; the Highlands Highway passes through the town, between Mount Hagen and Porgera...
|
Maramuni Rural |
| Wabag Rural |
| Wabag Urban |
Culture
Like many other highland Papua New Guineans living west of the Daulo Pass (between
Simbu ProvinceSimbu, also known as Chimbu, is a Highlands Region province in Papua New Guinea. The province has an area of 6,100 km² and a population of 259,703 . The capital of the province is Kundiawa...
and Eastern Highlands Province), the traditional Engan settlement style is that of scattered homesteads dispersed throughout the landscape. Historically sweet potato was the staple food, sometimes supplemented by pork. The modern diet places an increasing emphasis on store bought rice and tinned fish and meat. Pigs remain a culturally valued item with elaborate systems of pig exchange also known as "tee" that mark social life in the province.
Traditional Engan culture practiced strict segregation of sexes. During initiation young men between the ages of 16 and 19 were purified in seclusion at a ceremony called the "sangai," in which their eyes were ritually washed with water, to remove any taint resulting from contact with females, and where they prepared traditional finery, the most notable item being a wig made out of their own hair. This distinctive round wig topped with sicklebird feathers is, more than any other item, an icon or symbol of Engan culture today.
Today the most popular religions in Enga are
CatholicismCatholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....
, the Lutheran Church (Missouri Synod) (the Papua New Guinea Missouri Synod Lutherans being confined to Enga and styling themselves the Gutnius Lutheran Church, formerly the Wabag Lutheran Church), the Baptist Church and the
Seventh-day Adventist ChurchThe Seventh-day Adventist Church is a Protestant Christian denomination distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the original seventh day of the Judeo-Christian week, as the Sabbath, and by its emphasis on the imminent second coming of Jesus Christ...
. Charismatic and pentecostal movements are growing in popularity.
The lifestyle and customs of the Enga people was extensively studied and reported upon by the American anthropologist
Mervyn MeggittMervyn Meggitt was an Australian anthropologist who was one of the pioneering researchers of higlands Papua New Guinea and Aboriginal Australia....
.
Kompiam is another District located on the Northern edge of Enga Province as Maramuni a District of its own situated a head of Kompiam sharing border with East Sepik Province. Both Kompiam and Maramuni do share the Physical geography, human geography and culture with the entire Enga Province.
Traditional architecture
For centuries Engans have constructed dwellings made from locally available bush materials. Roof construction is often of a crude thatch type, waterproofing being obtained by repeated lighting of a heavily smoking fire inside and the accretion of the soot onto the roofing material.
Floors are often dirt, covered with a semi-disposable woven layer of bush material. Sugarcane husks are also spread across the dirt to provide a disposable covering.
In wind prone areas of Enga, wind-proofing of the walls is effected by sealing with a daub mixture of pig manure, tree sap and ash.
People
Like many ethnic groups in the Papua New Guinea Highlands, Engans often possess a strong and sturdy frame, being neither remarkably short nor tall. Most men cultivate a beard after their early adult years have passed, which will be allowed to grow until it is a fine length. Women too will occasionally cultivate facial hair, it not being regarded as particularly attractive or unnattractive.
Facial tattooing of women is common, for various reasons, and the markings can be as simple as a small circle, all the way to complicated striations which cover the entire face.
As elsewhere in PNG, the wantok system is a key cultural item.
Without generalising too much, Engan people are a proud, strong-willed and independent people, extremely gifted in the arts of negotiation and diplomacy, able to withstand climatic extremes with no visible discomfort, and like most Melanesian peoples, possessing a fine sense of humor and of the ridiculous.
PolygamyPolygamy is a marriage which includes more than two partners...
is practiced by some Engan men.
Education
There are a number of state and religious schools in the province. For higher education Engans must travel to universities in
LaeLae, the capital of Morobe Province, is the second-largest city in Papua New Guinea. It is located at the start of the Highlands Highway which is the main land transport corridor from the Highlands region to the coast...
,
GorokaGoroka is the capital of the Eastern Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea. It is a town of approximately 19,000 people , 1600m above sea level. It has an airport and is on the "Highlands Highway", about 285 km from Lae in Morobe province and 90 km from the nearby town of Kainantu also...
or
Port MoresbyPort Moresby , or Pot Mosbi in Tok Pisin, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea . It is located on the shores of the Gulf of Papua, on the southeastern coast of the island of New Guinea, which made it a prime objective for conquest by the Imperial Japanese forces during 1942–43...
.
Tribal conflict
Tribal conflicts are common using crude clubs and steel bush knives, occasionally employing the use of shields made from corrugated sheeting. The usual method of engagement is for both warring parties to line up opposite each other, spend several hours verbally abusing each other, with small rushes towards and away from the enemy being made - increasing in boldness. Eventually, a critical point is reached and the battle begins in earnest.
Observing a tribal fight in progress is possible, so long as the observer remains an impartial non-combatant.
Sadly, high-powered rifles, home made shotguns and sidearms are becoming more and more popular weapons in Enga, both for tribal warfare and for raskol activities. Sniper tactics have become a more popular method of settling disputes. When projectile weaponry is utilised in a traditional tribal fight the death toll is significantly higher. This also presents additional hazards for those interested in observing a tribal fight in progress. It is recommended that the observer position themselves well out of the line of fire. Employing the use of a foxhole for protection is an excellent measure, as is the wearing of ballistic armour.
History
Although little archaeological excavation has been done in Enga, it is clear that the area has been settled for over 12,000 years. Europeans -- typically Australian gold prospectors -- originally entered what is now Enga province from the north in the late 1920s, although the best-known explorations into Enga took place during the early 1930s as prospectors moved in from Mt. Hagen to the west. By
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
Enga had been very roughly mapped by the government; Lutheran and Roman Catholic missionaries were permitted to establish stations beginning in 1949 but a permanent government presence was not established in most of the district until the late 1950s.
Enga was part of Western Highlands District until just before
Papua New GuineaPapua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...
independence in 1975, when most of the Enga-speaking part of the District (with the notable exclusion of the Baiyer River region which is inaccessible by road other than from
Mount HagenMount Hagen is third largest city in Papua New Guinea. It is the capital of the Western Highlands Province and is located in the large fertile Wahgi Valley in central mainland Papua New Guinea, at an elevation of ....
) was separated into a discrete District. The provincial government has a history of corruption and lack of capacity, and is unique in Papua New Guinea for having had its power suspended three times by the national government due to concerns over its accountability.
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