Where is my little dude from?

[Ophidiophile]

Isn't Papua and West Papua two different provinces/states as well?

And what you just said David is exactly what I was saying, or at least trying to get across, haha.

From what I gather from Google Maps, The island is split into 3 sections: West Papau at the NW corner with Sorong and Manokwari and goes SE to about half way through the "neck". Then, it transitions to Papau which houses Merauke, Jayapura and Nabire and Yos Sudarso. The border basically splits the largest section of the island. The Eastern side is PNG. PNG appears to have more population than the other two territories based on # of settlements.

You guys are technically correct but we're getting out into the weeds here on details. On the ground, people on the Western side of the main island of New Guinea call themselves West Papuans. The international country/region codes for "Papua" and "West Papua" recognize them as one single region and so did Indonesia but with the limited autonomy granted to the areas they are now seen as two "special regions." For some administrative purposes they are the equivalent of two provinces and for others, they are one. To the Indonesian Government, they are most likely seen as two parts of the same single problem .

[Dakota]

Ohhhh, so in technicality, there is three divisions but only 2 different countries, but it is accepted by the natives Papua and West Papua are the same, leaving only two divisions on the island.. West Papua and PNG.. right?

[El Lobo]

The ID arguing is calling in the possibility of an IJ locale mix in the skink, yet the ensuing arguments deny the existence of the Irian Jaya locality, preferring to call it Papua. You can't have it both ways; the skinks are either IJ or Papuan and the same goes for the locality.

A point that seems to be mainly missed is the difference between physical geography and political geography.

As George W Bush said: "Is our children learning?"

[Susann]

To the Indonesian Government, they are most likely seen as two parts of the same single problem .

As George W Bush said: "Is our children learning?"

Yes, they is, and they is kindly named Dakota JK.